I recently led a Bible class discussion on Genesis 22 – the occasion of Abraham offering Isaac up to God. It’s a traumatic story filled with Messianic parallels and New Testament imagery, but a couple verses in particular made an impression on me this time through the familiar passage.

The first was Genesis 22:5:

And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the young man [Isaac] and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”

The Hebrew writer, in chapter 11 of his or her book, cites Abraham’s faith that God could raise Isaac from the dead, and that faith is very evident in this verse. Abraham tells his servants, “We will come back to you.” Knowing God’s commands, He affirms his faith that God will allow both of them to return after this ordeal. It’s a small but powerful statement.

The other thing that impresses me is Isaac’s compliance in this whole matter. Through the entirety of Genesis 22, we only have record of Isaac speaking once, and that’s in verse 7:

And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And [Abraham] said, “Here am I, my son.” [Isaac] said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”

In verse 8, Abraham simply answers that God will provide, and Isaac proceeds silently, as a lamb led to the slaughter. We often focus on what could have been going through Abraham’s mind, knowing full well that he may have to slay his only begotten son. We see the relief he must have felt when his hand is stayed, and a ram crowned in thorns is offered in the place of his son, paying the price of Isaac’s sacrifice.

What of Isaac, though? Surely he felt something was amiss while, with his aged and reticent father, he ascended that mountain in Moriah. The tension must have been palpable. Consider your own reaction had your father or mother built an altar and stretched you over it, bound as a trapped animal. Wouldn’t you or I cry out? Wouldn’t our first instincts be resistance and self-preservation? In Genesis 22, Isaac is much younger and likely in much better physical condition that Abraham. He could have easily overpowered the centenarian.

Yet the Biblical record says nothing of Isaac fighting back. He places his trust in his father and his Father. I think this single fact speaks volumes of the relationship Abraham had with Isaac as well as the faith passed on from father to son. Here we see a son, when faced with crisis, willing to place his fate in the hands of the man who has nurtured him and the God who can deliver him.

Tags: abraham, my thoughts, faith

Genesis is a good place to appreciate what God sees as most important. At the end of the book, in Genesis 49, Jacob is blessing his sons, and, in verse 10, the Messianic promise is passed unto Judah. The book details the line of God’s promise and why certain people are chosen or passed over as God maintains that line. Returning to the beginning of the book provides a key for all that follows. In Genesis 3:15, the promise of enmity between the seed of woman and the devil is first made.

Immediately, in Genesis 4 a contrast is drawn between Cain and Able. Genesis 6 draws a contrast between Noah and the sinful population around him. This contrast continues, and, in Genesis 21, we see this conflict between Ishmael and Isaac. This strife between the devil’s followers and the seed of the promise until it culminates with Christ’s crucifixion and victory over death in the gospels.

The Seed of Promise

Genesis 12 records the multifold promise God makes to Abraham in which God promises the blessing of the world through Abraham’s seed. This term of seed repeats through the book, and, in Genesis 21, God makes it clear that the seed of promise will continue through Isaac. Isaiah 41:8 records God calling His people the seed of Abraham His friend. Also, Acts 3:25 has Peter and John focusing in on that same language, looking back to those promises made in Genesis. Galatians 3:16 then makes it clear that this singular see was to culminate in one, that is Christ.

In II Samuel 7, God makes reference to a seed of promise when David wishes to build God a great house of worship. In verse 13, God speaks of a sure household and throne for David. The prophets refer to this offspring as a branch of David, and Jeremiah 33:26 records God saying His promises to the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and David are as sure as day and night. In John 7:42, while Jesus is calling on those around Him to come and drink the water of life, the people question his lineage, whether or not he is of the seed of David. Romans 1:1 has Paul placing emphasis on this lineage while writing to Jews and Gentiles in Rome, and, in Revelation 22:16, Jesus Himself refers to the seed of David.

Ishmael and Isaac

Returning to Genesis 21, Sarah calls on Abraham to cast Hagar and Ishmael out of their household because of the animosity between the women and their children. Approximately fifteen years separate these children, and Ishmael is pictures as mocking of Isaac. The Hebrew gives the idea that Ishmael is playing as if he is the true heir of Abraham’s household rather than the baby Isaac, only recently weaned in Genesis 21. God validates Sarah’s concerns, and He tells Abraham to follow her advice to cast Hagar and Ishmael out.

Galatians 4:22 makes a parallel that Ishmael represents that which is carnal, and Isaac represents spirituality. In verse 28, Paul makes the connection that we are supposed to be trusting in the spiritual promises of God, and he speaks of the physical standing at enmity with the spiritual. The two cannot exist together. We cannot be spiritual while holding onto the physical. The conflict in Genesis 21 is a continuation of the conflict that begins in Genesis 3, and it foreshadows John 15:18.

A Shadow of Christ

Isaac is the only begotten son of Abraham and Sarah. He is the seed of promise through whom the nations will be blest, and God even calls on him to be sacrificed. Through Isaac, God sees Abraham’s love and commitment to God, and God demonstrates that love and commitment to us in not sparing His own Son. God gave up the culmination of the seed of promise for the sake of our sins, raised Him up, and sits Him down at the throne’s right hand. It all begins in Genesis.

By Tim Smelser

Tags: abraham, jesus, parallels

It’s interesting how clear God makes it to His people that He will do things in His way as opposed to their way. However, He often communicates His plan in ways to which we can relate. He makes promises. He creates covenants. He uses imagery and forms familiar to hose with whom He is communicating.

The events of Genesis 15 is a passage that is pretty familiar to most of us. Prior to this chapter, God has made promises to Abram regarding a land, a nation, and a blessing through his descendants. This promises is repeated, but, in chapter 15, Abram asks how these promises will be fulfilled. He doesn’t see how a great nation can come from an old man and a barren woman. In response, God instructs Abram to make a sacrifice, a very unique and strange sacrifice. He cuts several animals in half and creates a path between the separated halves. Abram goes into a deep sleep filled with horrors, and God speaks to him in this sleep. Smoke and a flaming torch cross the path between the hewn animals, and God reaffirms His covenant with Abram.

The Importance of His Covenant

What happens here? God cuts a covenant with Abram in a practice familiar to Chaldeans and the nomadic tribes of the region. Tow leaders would walk together along a path between hewn animals, inferring carnage will come to those who seek to break or interfere with the covenant formed. It is the forming of a very serious relationship. Jeremiah 34:18 refers to this practice, and God says He will make His transgressing people like the sacrificed animals. He warns them of the doom involved with their breaking of the covenant they had with God. They had been unfaithful, and they would be delivered to their enemies. This is the gravity with which God views our covenant-relationship with Him.

In Matthew 26, we read of the night Judas will betray Jesus, when Jesus washes His disciples’ feet, and when Jesus institutes a memorial of His impending death. In this, He references a new covenant sealed by the dividing of His body and the spilling of His blood. Jeremiah 31, after numerous promises in the previous chapters of a coming king like David, God describes a new covenant that He will make with His people. In that upper room, Jesus is telling His disciples He is bringing that new covenant, and the Hebrew writer, in chapter 8, expounds upon how this new covenant is different from and superior to the one it replaces.

I Corinthians 11:23 again refers to Jesus’ body being broken as the bread and the cup as His blood. The Greek word translated as broken in verse 24 is often used metaphorically as shattered. It is an image of being violently torn, as if by a great force. Each record of the crucifixion in the four gospels tells of the temple’s veil being torn in half, top to bottom, when Jesus cries His last. Hebrews 10:19 compares Jesus’ flesh to that veil that was torn in half. Symbolically, Jesus is cut as the sacrifice for our covenant between us and God.

Maintaining the Covenant

Jesus lives as a spotless lamb. His blood is shed and His body broken for the institution of our new covenant. Upon His crucifixion, God cut a covenant between Himself and man, a new testament rooted in the same tradition with which He formed a covenant with Abram before the nation of Israel had even been born. In Hebrews 10:28-29, God warns us against breaking that covenant, trivializing His blood, and trampling the body broken for us. Finally, Isaiah 53:5-6 describes the wounding of God’s Servant for the sake of our transgressions. We are like straying sheep, so one spotless lamb accepts the consequences we deserve.

The events in Genesis 15 may seem strange to us now, but they illustrate a serious and committed relationship between God and Abram. It was something holy and sacred. Likewise, we today have a sacred covenant with our God. May we never break that bond lest we treat our Lord’s sacrifice as inconsequential. Instead, we should daily be renewing our commitment and our service to Him.

By Tim Smelser

Tags: examples, abraham

Degrees of Faith

Genesis 15:6 is quoted three times in the New Testament in Romans, Galatians, and James. It is a verse that challenges us to examine the faith we claim to have, how that faith is expressed in our lives and how faith influences our actions and attitudes. The degree to which we develop our faith will have a direct impact on its role. Learning, experiencing, living, and praying about our faith helps us develop a greater degree of faith.

Romans 10:17 reminds us that God’s word is the key to our faith, and James 1:22-25 reinforces our need to experience this word. The extent to which we study and practice God’s law will correlate with the degree of faith we develop. II Corinthians 5:7 tells us to walk by, or live by, our faith, and Romans 5:1-2 says that faith grants us access to the grace of Jesus Christ. James 1:6 tells us that our prayer can increase our faith, and James 5:15 also demonstrates that faith will affect our prayers in turn.

James 2:19 speaks of a faith in the existence of God, and he acknowledges that even demons have this level of faith. Such a faith is a start, but it makes us no higher or better than those demons cast away from God’s presence. John 12:42 tells of individuals who believe on Jesus, but they leave that faith unspoken due to political and social pressures. Matthew 6:19 and the subsequent verses record Jesus discussing those who have faith in God, but that faith only goes so far before the cares of this world override that faith. Finally, James 2:22 discusses a perfected, or completed, faith.

The Faith of Abraham

In Genesis 15:6, Abraham believes God – more than simply believing in Him. In Galatians 3:6, Paul applies this passage to those who are of the faith. They are referred to as sons of Abraham, receiving the blessings of his faith by there own faith. Romans 4:3 is another reference to Abraham, and Paul here puts an emphasis on Abraham’s trust in God. A third reference is in James 2:23, combining Abraham’s trust with actions – perfecting his faith. Paul and James put a great deal of significance on Abraham’s faith, illustrating his trust and obedience in that faith.

In Genesis 15, the author is not speaking of a singular point in time. Genesis 12 records Abraham departing his homeland in faith. Chapter 13 records his faith in God in allowing Lot to choose where they would separate. Genesis 17 records a promise to Abraham for a male heir, and Genesis 22 shows Abraham willing to offer his promised son because of his faith that God can raise the dead. We may be quick to say we have a faith in God, but is it a faith that can be attributed to us as righteousness like was Abraham’s faith?

A Perfected Faith

Despite Abraham’s faults and occasional sins, his faith defines our record of his life. Can the same be said of us? Despite moments of weakness, of struggles, and trials, can it be said of us that we trust in God when it counts the most? Do we give Him control over our lives when we feel the most out of control? As God accounts Abraham’s faith unto righteousness, we can accomplish the same if we learn, if we study, if we experience and live our faith. We too can believe in God and have it accounted unto us as righteousness. We too can have a perfected faith by tying our actions to our faith.

Tags: abraham, faith, examples

Throughout the Bible we esteem individuals referred to as heroes of faith., and, as we lift someone as hero, we tend to ignore their flaws and challenges while we elevate their successes. George Washington, Babe Ruth, Martin Luther King, and others are idealized in our culture as people like Abraham, Moses, or David would have been in Jewish culture. None of these people are perfect, though, and the inspiration should not be in a perception of perfection as much as it should be in the realization that these people are heroes despite their faults and shortcomings.

Abraham

In Genesis 12:1, God commands Abram to leave the land of his fathers to migrate to land God will show him. Abraham is cited as one of the examples of faith in Hebrews 11, and the children of Israel held their forefather in high esteem.

We see a chink in Abraham’s character in Genesis 12:12-13 when he asks Sarai to pose as his sister to spare their lives. In contrast, Genesis 15 records God promising Abraham a son, and Abraham trusts God enough to prepare to sacrifice that son in Genesis 22. How did Abraham grow from the point of lying to save his life to being willing to trust God with the life of his only son.

Like us, Abraham is working with a narrow timeline, and he lived in immediate dangers and consequences. He could see evidence where his life might be in danger. He could see evidence that bearing a child by Sarah would be improbable, both even laughing at the idea that they would have a child. He could see the end of the promise in sacrificing Isaac to God. The obstacles set before him are as real and tangible as those we face. However, when Abraham falls, he presses on. He grows in faith with each trial.

Moses

Moses is raised in a comfortable life, and we remember well his leadership of the people, the plagues against Egypt, his role in God’s plan to deliver Israel from Egypt. The Passover in Exodus 12 is initiated through Moses, setting up a sacrifice that would parallel that of Jesus. Moses frees Israel. He is the lawgiver, but he did not start out so strong.

In Exodus 3 and 4, when God appears to Moses on Mount Horeb, Moses makes excuse after excuse to avoid doing God’s will. He is not excited by the prospect of returning to Egypt, facing his brethren, and facing his former household. Even after accomplishing the Exodus, Moses would grow frustrated with the people over whom he shepherded. In Numbers 20:10, Moses defies God in anger when bringing water from a rock and neglects to honor God in the act. Despite the consequences of his action, Moses gets back to work and continues to guide and instruct Israel.

David

We’re familiar with the story of David and Goliath. He trusts God to protect him, not only from Goliath, but from a jealous King Saul as well. Saul continually tries to kill David, but David refuses to kill Saul even when given the opportunity. He is described as a man after God’s own heart.

Unfortunately, David meets Bathsheba – an encounter resulting in adultery, in lies, in subterfuge, and in murder. In contrasts, Psalm 51 illustrates a truly repentant heart, and this repentance is not the result of being caught. Rather, it is the result of someone who realizes he has sinned against his God. He repents, and he continues to press on for God.

Living Like Heroes

Why do we have the bad qualities of these individuals recorded along with the good? It is so we can see the humanity of these individuals and realize we are capable of the same achievements. Where are today’s heroes of faith? Some call modern day heroes “Saints,” and they are on the right track if incorrect in implementation. God’s saints are today’s heroes of faith, and that involves every person who has come to accept Christ in their lives. We are to be the role models and the leaders. We are to be the ones to spread God’s word and share His promises with others.

Each of us have our own unique challenges and obstacles, and, if we want to be the saints we should be, we have to want it bad. We have to willing to be different. What we do gives credibility to what we say. We have to be willing to be singled out. It’s not always going to be easy, and we may falter or stumble. However, like these examples we have studied, we need to be able to place our trust in God, get back up, brush ourselves off, and keep going. Wherever we are, whoever we are around, we should be role models that will make an impact on those around us. We often read of these past heroes of faith. Now it is time for us to be heroes ourselves.

By Steve Barr

Tags: examples, faith, david, moses, abraham