Origins: The Promise (Genesis 12–25)Sample

By Danny Saavedra

“Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, ‘Abraham!’ ‘Here I am,’ he replied. Then God said, ‘Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.’” Genesis 22:1–2 (NIV)

Have you ever been asked to do something absolutely crazy? I imagine the craziest thing you or I have ever been asked to do pales in comparison to what the Lord commanded Abraham to do. 

In today’s passage, the Lord tells Abraham to sacrifice His son. The question must be asked: why did God ask Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, the son God promised Abraham in his old age, whom God declared as the child of promise through whom God would create a great nation and bless all families of the earth? Why did God nissah (put to the test) Abraham in this manner? 

Did God doubt Abraham? It would seem to be contradictory to everything that has been stated about God and His power, character, and nature to believe that He was testing Abraham because He was uncertain of Abraham’s true heart and level of dedication and trust in God. After all, God is omniscient and omnipresent. He surely would have known Abraham’s heart, his level of faith and trust in the Lord, and the outcome of this testing. 

No, I’d like to offer a different reason and a perspective on this. God didn’t doubt Abraham nor did He need to test Him to really be sure of his faith. In fact, God knew Abraham would go through with it because Abraham knew God would never contradict His promises. Abraham completely trusted God’s promise, so he knew God would provide another sacrifice and not make him kill his own son; Abraham knew they’d both return—more on that tomorrow. 

Instead, I believe God was foreshadowing the gospel and declaring it in all its fullness to Abraham (Galatians 3:7–9). I also believe God was giving us a picture of what true devotion and faith in Him looks like. Abraham provides us an amazing example of being a faithful servant, evidenced by his only words in this passage, “Here I am,” which beautifully mirrors what the author of Hebrews wrote about Jesus, “Here I am, I have come to do your will” (Hebrews 10:9 NIV).

Friends, take heart: no matter how crazy or hard God’s calling for you may seem, know that He is faithful, His plan for you is going to bring you joy and Him glory, and your life and the lives of others will be enriched and blessed by it! So, as His faithful children, like Abraham, like Jesus, when the call comes, I pray we answer with a humble, “Here I am.”

DIG: What do you believe was God’s reasoning for asking Abraham to sacrifice his son?

DISCOVER: Read Matthew 10:34–49 and Matthew 16:24–26. What does today’s passage and these passages from Matthew tell us about being a disciple of Jesus? 

DO: What is the Lord asking you to do today? Seek His face, and genuinely, humbly say to Him, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.”