Today ‘s Thought is based on
Genesis 16; 17:18-20; 21:1-14; 22:1-19. This is in response to the question on
the Test of Faith of Abraham posed by one recipient of “Thought for the Day”.
Please bear with me for it is long because of some excerpt from the book
Patriarch and Prophets pgs 147-155.
God had called Abraham to be the father of the faithful,
and his life was to stand as an example of faith to succeeding generations. But
his faith had not been perfect. He had shown distrust of God in concealing the
fact that Sarah was his wife, and again in his marriage with Hagar. That he
might reach the highest standard, God subjected him to another test, the
closest which man was ever called to endure. In a vision of the night he was
directed to repair to the land of Moriah, and there offer up his son as a burnt
offering upon a mountain that should be shown him.
The command was expressed in words that must have wrung
with anguish that father's heart: "Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac,
whom thou lovest, . . . and offer him there for a burnt offering." Isaac
was the light of his home, the solace of his old age, above all else the
inheritor of the promised blessing. The loss of such a son by accident or
disease would have been heart rending to the fond father; it would have bowed
down his whitened head with grief; but he was commanded to shed the blood of
that son with his own hand. It seemed to him a fearful impossibility.
Satan was at hand to suggest that he must be deceived,
for the divine law commands, "Thou shalt not kill," and God would not
require what He had once forbidden. Going outside his tent, Abraham looked up
to the calm brightness of the unclouded heavens, and recalled the promise made
nearly fifty years before, that his seed should be innumerable as the stars. If
this promise was to be fulfilled through Isaac, how could he be put to death?
Abraham was tempted to believe that he might be under a delusion. In his doubt
and anguish he bowed upon the earth, and prayed, as he had never prayed before,
for some confirmation of the command if he must perform this terrible duty. He
remembered the angels sent to reveal to him God's purpose to destroy Sodom, and
who bore to him the promise of this same son Isaac, and he went to the place
where he had several times met the heavenly messengers, hoping to meet them
again, and receive some further direction; but none came to his relief.
Darkness seemed to shut him in; but the command of God was sounding in his
ears, "Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest." That
command must be obeyed, and he dared not delay. Day was approaching, and he
must be on his journey.
Returning to his tent, he went to the place where Isaac
lay sleeping the deep, untroubled sleep of youth and innocence. For a moment
the father looked upon the dear face of his son, then turned tremblingly away.
He went to the side of Sarah, who was also sleeping. Should he awaken her, that
she might once more embrace her child? Should he tell her of God's requirement?
He longed to unburden his heart to her, and share with her this terrible
responsibility; but he was restrained by the fear that she might hinder him.
Isaac was her joy and pride; her life was bound up in him, and the mother's
love might refuse the sacrifice.
Abraham at last summoned his son, telling him of the
command to offer sacrifice upon a distant mountain. Isaac had often gone with
his father to worship at some one of the various altars that marked his
wanderings, and this summons excited no surprise. The preparations for the
journey were quickly completed. The wood was made ready and put upon the ass,
and with two menservants they set forth.
Side by side the father and the son journeyed in silence.
The patriarch, pondering his heavy secret, had no heart for words. His thoughts
were of the proud, fond mother, and the day when he should return to her alone.
Well he knew that the knife would pierce her heart when it took the life of her
son.
That day--the longest that Abraham had ever
experienced--dragged slowly to its close. While his son and the young men were
sleeping, he spent the night in prayer, still hoping that some heavenly
messenger might come to say that the trial was enough, that the youth might
return unharmed to his mother. But no relief came to his tortured soul. Another
long day, another night of humiliation and prayer, while ever the command that
was to leave him childless was ringing in his ears. Satan was near to whisper
doubts and unbelief, but Abraham resisted his suggestions. As they were about
to begin the journey of the third day, the patriarch, looking northward, saw
the promised sign, a cloud of glory hovering over Mount Moriah, and he knew
that the voice which had spoken to him was from heaven.
Even now he did not murmur against God, but strengthened
his soul by dwelling upon the evidences of the Lord's goodness and
faithfulness. This son had been unexpectedly given; and had not He who bestowed
the precious gift a right to recall His own? Then faith repeated the promise,
"In Isaac shall they seed be called"--a seed numberless as the grains
of sand upon the shore. Isaac was the child of a miracle, and could not the
power that gave him life restore it? Looking beyond that which was seen,
Abraham grasped the divine word, "accounting that God was able to raise
him up, even from the dead." Hebrews 11:19.
Yet none but God could understand how great was the
father's sacrifice in yielding up his son to death; Abraham desired that none
but God should witness the parting scene. He bade his servants remain behind,
saying, "I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to
you." The wood was laid upon Isaac, the one to be offered, the father took
the knife and the fire, and together they ascended toward the mountain summit,
the young man silently wondering whence, so far from folds and flocks, the
offering was to come. At last he spoke, "My father," "behold the
fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" Oh, what a
test was this! How the endearing words, "my father," pierced
Abraham's heart! Not yet--he could not tell him now . "My son," he
said, "God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering."
At the appointed place they built the altar and laid the
wood upon it. Then, with trembling voice, Abraham unfolded to his son the
divine message. It was with terror and amazement that Isaac learned his fate,
but he offered no resistance. He could have escaped his doom, had he chosen to
do so; the grief-stricken old man, exhausted with the struggle of those three
terrible days, could not have opposed the will of the vigorous youth. But Isaac
had been trained from childhood to ready, trusting obedience, and as the
purpose of God was opened before him, he yielded a willing submission. He was a
sharer in Abraham's faith, and he felt that he was honored in being called to
give his life as an offering to God. He tenderly seeks to lighten the father's
grief, and encourages his nerveless hands to bind the cords that confine him to
the altar.
And now the last words of love are spoken, the last tears
are shed, the last embrace is given. The father lifts the knife to slay his
son, when suddenly his arm is stayed. An angel of God calls to the patriarch
out of heaven, "Abraham, Abraham!" He quickly answers, "Here am
I," And again the voice is heard, "Lay not thine hand upon the lad,
neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God,
seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from Me."
APPLICATION
Abraham's great act of faith stands like a pillar of
light, illuminating the pathway of God's servants in all succeeding ages.
Abraham did not seek to excuse himself from doing the will of God. During that
three days' journey he had sufficient time to reason, and to doubt God, if he
was disposed to doubt. He might have reasoned that the slaying of his son would
cause him to be looked upon as a murderer, a second Cain; that it would cause
his teaching to be rejected and despised; and thus destroy his power to do good
to his fellow men. He might have pleaded that age should excuse him from
obedience. But the patriarch did not take refuge in any of these excuses.
Abraham was human; his passions and attachments were like ours; but he did not
stop to question how the promise could be fulfilled if Isaac should be slain.
He did not stay to reason with his aching heart. He knew that God is just and
righteous in all His requirements, and he obeyed the command to the very
letter.
"Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him
for righteousness: and he was called the friend of God." James 2:23. And
Paul says, "They which are of faith, the same are the children of
Abraham." Galatians 3:7. But Abraham's faith was made manifest by his
works. "Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered
Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and
by works was faith made perfect?" James 2:21, 22. There are many who fail
to understand the relation of faith and works. They say, "Only believe in
Christ, and you are safe. You have nothing to do with keeping the law."
But genuine faith will be manifest in obedience. Said Christ to the unbelieving
Jews, "If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of
Abraham." John 8:39. And concerning the father of the faithful the Lord
declares, "Abraham obeyed My voice, and kept My charge, My commandments,
My statutes, and My laws." Genesis 26:5. Says the apostle James,
"Faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone." James 2:17. And
John, who dwells so fully upon love, tells us, "This is the love of God,
that we keep His commandments." 1 John 5:3.
Through type and promise God "preached before the
gospel unto Abraham." Galatians 3:8. And the patriarch's faith was fixed
upon the Redeemer to come. Said Christ to the Jews. "Your father Abraham
rejoiced that he should see My day; and he saw it, and was glad." John
8:56, R.V., margin. The ram offered in the place of Isaac represented the Son
of God, who was to be sacrificed in our stead. When man was doomed to death by
transgression of the law of God, the Father, looking upon His Son, said to the
sinner, "Live: I have found a ransom."
