Caribbean Christian Fellowship

1 Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”
And he said, “Here I am.” 2 Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.”


Wow! Pause on that for a moment. I'm a dad. I have just one son. This speaks to me in a very unique way. I look at this and I thought I couldn't do this. See there's a dilemma Abraham has and here it is.

The promise that God made to Abraham and Sarah required that Isaac live. I'm gonna give you a son and it's gonna be the son of a promise and I'm gonna make you the father of many nations.

And it was the promise not only of a son but of nations that would come and a population like the stars of the sky and the dust of the earth.

So the promise of God, that God had made, required that Isaac live. But now the command of God requires that Isaac die.

It was a contradiction to him; it didn't make sense.

Notice this God says in V2, “Your only son Isaac, whom you love”

This is the first mention of love in the Bible, and it was the love between father and son, connected with the idea of the sacrificial offering of the son.

Now don't get hung up on the whole idea of God commanding human sacrifice and how could God do this.

First of all, I'll say this. God is not requiring anything of Abraham that any of the other pagan religions required.

Number two, God didn't let him go through with it. He stopped him from doing it. So he didn't want a human sacrifice.

And number three, when the Law is finally developed under the Mosaic economy, it will be strictly forbidden to offer a child. The real issue is whom do you love more.

This was not so much a test to produce faith, as it was a test to reveal faith. God built Abraham slowly, piece by piece, year by year, into a man of faith.

Abraham might have wondered if Yahweh, the God of the covenant and creator of heaven and earth, was like the pagan gods the Canaanites and others worshipped.

For many of the pagan gods, there was nothing unusual about human sacrifice, but this must have seemed a strange request from Yahweh.

By the end of the story Abraham knew that God was not like the pagan gods that demanded human sacrifice – just the opposite.

Ann Kimmel Anderson was a writer of a lot of great literature. She said something interesting. She said, "Living by faith in God is sort of like jumping out of an airplane at 10,000 feet. If God doesn't catch you, you'll splatter on the ground. But how will you know if God will catch you if you don't jump?"

Abraham is about to jump out at 10,000 feet. Sort of being kicked out of the airplane. If God doesn't come through, he's toast.

Abraham had to learn the difference between trusting the promise and trusting the Promiser.

We can put God’s promise before God Himself and feel it is our responsibility to bring the promise to pass, even if we have to disobey God to do it.

Trust the Promiser no matter what, and the promise will be taken care of.

And so Abraham got up, saddled his donkey, took his entourage with him and headed to the place of which God told him.
Genesis 22:1-3
1 Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”
And he said, “Here I am.” 2 Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.”


Wow! Pause on that for a moment. I'm a dad. I have just one son. This speaks to me in a very unique way. I look at this and I thought I couldn't do this. See there's a dilemma Abraham has and here it is.

The promise that God made to Abraham and Sarah required that Isaac live. I'm gonna give you a son and it's gonna be the son of a promise and I'm gonna make you the father of many nations.

And it was the promise not only of a son but of nations that would come and a population like the stars of the sky and the dust of the earth.

So the promise of God, that God had made, required that Isaac live. But now the command of God requires that Isaac die.

It was a contradiction to him; it didn't make sense.

Notice this God says in V2, “Your only son Isaac, whom you love”

This is the first mention of love in the Bible, and it was the love between father and son, connected with the idea of the sacrificial offering of the son.

Now don't get hung up on the whole idea of God commanding human sacrifice and how could God do this.

First of all, I'll say this. God is not requiring anything of Abraham that any of the other pagan religions required.

Number two, God didn't let him go through with it. He stopped him from doing it. So he didn't want a human sacrifice.

And number three, when the Law is finally developed under the Mosaic economy, it will be strictly forbidden to offer a child. The real issue is whom do you love more.

This was not so much a test to produce faith, as it was a test to reveal faith. God built Abraham slowly, piece by piece, year by year, into a man of faith.

Abraham might have wondered if Yahweh, the God of the covenant and creator of heaven and earth, was like the pagan gods the Canaanites and others worshipped.

For many of the pagan gods, there was nothing unusual about human sacrifice, but this must have seemed a strange request from Yahweh.

By the end of the story Abraham knew that God was not like the pagan gods that demanded human sacrifice – just the opposite.

Ann Kimmel Anderson was a writer of a lot of great literature. She said something interesting. She said, "Living by faith in God is sort of like jumping out of an airplane at 10,000 feet. If God doesn't catch you, you'll splatter on the ground. But how will you know if God will catch you if you don't jump?"

Abraham is about to jump out at 10,000 feet. Sort of being kicked out of the airplane. If God doesn't come through, he's toast.

Abraham had to learn the difference between trusting the promise and trusting the Promiser.

We can put God’s promise before God Himself and feel it is our responsibility to bring the promise to pass, even if we have to disobey God to do it.

Trust the Promiser no matter what, and the promise will be taken care of.

And so Abraham got up, saddled his donkey, took his entourage with him and headed to the place of which God told him.

9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. 10 And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” So he said, “Here I am.” 12 And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” 13 Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

15 Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, 16 and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son; blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.

a. Blessing I will bless you: Imagine how happy Abraham was after passing this test of trust.

b. I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore: By rough calculations, the number of stars in the sky and grains of sand on the seashore are the same: 10 to the 25th power.

That a lot of blessings

Now I draw your attention to the phrase ‘your seed' in verse 18. Very, very important.

V18 says, “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice “

In the Bible, there's four ways the term seed is fulfilled. There's four different definitions of Abraham's seed.

Number one, his natural seed, his natural descendants. Physical descendants of Abraham, i.e., the Jewish people. that's the seed of Abraham.

Number two, natural dash spiritual seed. These are believers in Christ who are Jewish people, Romans chapter 9, 10, and 11.


Number three usage of the term seed, the spiritual non-physical descendants of Abraham. That is anybody who by faith believes in Christ and is justified by faith like Abraham was.

Non-Jewish but Gentile, that would be me and most of you. You are spiritual descendants of Abraham.

Romans 9 mentions that, Galatians chapter 3 mentions that, and here's the fourth application.

The ultimate seed who is Jesus Christ.

All of those are used in various forms in the Bible.

Galatians 3:16 says, "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made."

He does not say, ‘and to seeds', as of many or plural, but as of one.

"And to your seed who is Christ."

Now all of the world was to be blessed through Abraham's seed and that means physical descendants of Abraham, spiritual descendants of Abraham, as well as the ultimate seed, Christ.

All of the above are true.

Think what we would be missing if the Jewish people were not around. If there were no Jewish people. well, number one, we'd be missing our Bible.

I couldn't say, ‘turn in your Bibles tonight,' because we would have no Bibles to turn to.

Number two, We would have no Ten Commandments.

That was part of the covenant God gave to them.

Number three, we would have no Savior. He came through the lineage of the Jewish nation. And without a Jewish Jesus, we would have no Christianity, no salvation.

He's the ultimate seed.

And so that promise really is of the gospel, "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."

"So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba."
a. Blessing I will bless you: Imagine how happy Abraham was after passing this test of trust.

b. I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore: By rough calculations, the number of stars in the sky and grains of sand on the seashore are the same: 10 to the 25th power.

That a lot of blessings

Now I draw your attention to the phrase ‘your seed' in verse 18. Very, very important.

V18 says, “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice “

In the Bible, there's four ways the term seed is fulfilled. There's four different definitions of Abraham's seed.

Number one, his natural seed, his natural descendants. Physical descendants of Abraham, i.e., the Jewish people. that's the seed of Abraham.

Number two, natural dash spiritual seed. These are believers in Christ who are Jewish people, Romans chapter 9, 10, and 11.


Number three usage of the term seed, the spiritual non-physical descendants of Abraham. That is anybody who by faith believes in Christ and is justified by faith like Abraham was.

Non-Jewish but Gentile, that would be me and most of you. You are spiritual descendants of Abraham.

Romans 9 mentions that, Galatians chapter 3 mentions that, and here's the fourth application.

The ultimate seed who is Jesus Christ.

All of those are used in various forms in the Bible.

Galatians 3:16 says, "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made."

He does not say, ‘and to seeds', as of many or plural, but as of one.

"And to your seed who is Christ."

Now all of the world was to be blessed through Abraham's seed and that means physical descendants of Abraham, spiritual descendants of Abraham, as well as the ultimate seed, Christ.

All of the above are true.

Think what we would be missing if the Jewish people were not around. If there were no Jewish people. well, number one, we'd be missing our Bible.

I couldn't say, ‘turn in your Bibles tonight,' because we would have no Bibles to turn to.

Number two, We would have no Ten Commandments.

That was part of the covenant God gave to them.

Number three, we would have no Savior. He came through the lineage of the Jewish nation. And without a Jewish Jesus, we would have no Christianity, no salvation.

He's the ultimate seed.

And so that promise really is of the gospel, "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."

"So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba."

20 Now it came to pass after these things that it was told Abraham, saying, “Indeed Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor: 21 Huz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram, 22 Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” 23 And Bethuel begot Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. 24 His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah, Gaham, Thahash, and Maachah.

1Sarah lived one hundred and twenty-seven years; these were the years of the life of Sarah.

Sarah is the only woman in the Bible whose age at death is recorded; it gives us some measure of how highly she is regarded in the Bible.

Nowhere in in the Bible are we told to look to Mary the mother of Jesus as an example of a godly woman. Twice we are told to look to Sarah as such an example (Isaiah 51:1-2 and 1 Peter 3:3-6).

So Sarah died in Kirjath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.

Abraham came to mourn for Sarah: Abraham felt his loss of Sarah deeply and wasn’t afraid to mourn, though he did not sorrow as those without hope

As it says in 1 Thessalonians 4:13, “But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.


Abraham’s mourning was demonstrated in an appropriate way. The man of great faith, the friend of God, wept for the loss of Sarah’s companionship.

“To weep for a loved one is to show that we have been close, that the loss is keenly felt, that death is an enemy, and that sin has brought this sad punishment upon the human race.” (Boice)

Jesus Wept

3 Then Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spoke to the sons of Heth, saying, 4 “I 5 And the sons of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him, 6 “Hear us, my lord: You [a]mighty prince among us; bury your dead in the choicest of our burial places. None of us will withhold from you his burial place, that you may bury your dead.” 7 Then Abraham stood up and bowed himself to the people of the land, the sons of Heth. 8 And he spoke with them, saying, “If it is your wish that I bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and meet with Ephron the son of Zohar for me, 9 that he may give me the cave of Machpelah which he has, which I am a foreigner and a sojourner among you

Abraham did not feel this way because he came from Ur of the Chaldeans.

It was because he recognized his real home was heaven.

Moses knew the same, and commanded Israel to know it (Leviticus 25:23). David also knew this truth (1 Chronicles 29:14 and Psalm 39:12).


So they're saying, look, just bury her, you can have the place for the grave and he goes, no, I want to buy some land.

Now why does he want to buy land?

It's indicating that he believes God's promise that this land, that he's just been a tent-dweller in, now he's going to buy some land because he believes this is the land that God wants us to live in, die in, get buried in, and our family will possess eventually as according to the promise of God.

Abraham had a particular property in mind – the cave of Machpelah (Motch pel ah). That property was in the land of Ephron the son of Zohar.I am a foreigner and a sojourner among you: Abraham did not feel this way because he came from Ur of the Chaldeans.

It was because he recognized his real home was heaven.

Moses knew the same, and commanded Israel to know it (Leviticus 25:23). David also knew this truth (1 Chronicles 29:14 and Psalm 39:12).


So they're saying, look, just bury her, you can have the place for the grave and he goes, no, I want to buy some land.

Now why does he want to buy land?

It's indicating that he believes God's promise that this land, that he's just been a tent-dweller in, now he's going to buy some land because he believes this is the land that God wants us to live in, die in, get buried in, and our family will possess eventually as according to the promise of God.

Abraham had a particular property in mind – the cave of Machpelah. That property was in the land of Ephron the son of Zohar.

Now Ephron dwelt among the sons of Heth; and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the presence of the sons of Heth, all who entered at the gate of his city, saying, “No, my lord, hear me: I give you the field and the cave that is in it; I give it to you in the presence of the sons of my people. I give it to you. Bury your dead!” Then Abraham bowed himself down before the people of the land; and he spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, saying, “If you will give it, please hear me. I will give you money for the field; take it from me and I will bury my dead there.” And Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him, “My lord, listen to me; the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver. What is that between you and me? So bury your dead.” And Abraham listened to Ephron; and Abraham weighed out the silver for Ephron which he had named in the hearing of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, currency of the merchants.

This way of negotiating the price was typical of ancient and modern practices in that culture.

As a gesture of kindness, the selling party may offer to give the property in question to the buyer, until the buyer insists on paying a price.

Ephron the Hittite followed the cultural customs of bargaining. First, the seller offered to give the item. Then, when that was refused, the seller suggested a price, which he claimed was modest but was really very high.

To help us put this perspective, David in 2 Samuel 24 will buy the entire threshing floor of Arana to build the temple that his son will build. He'll buy it for 50 shekels--that whole huge top of Mount Moriah for 50 shekels. Thats 1/8 this price.

This was understood to be the starting point, and from there the bargaining began.

And we see that, in verse 12“Abraham bowed himself down to the people of the land”

Abraham showed how a follower of God should conduct business with the world: courteously, fairly, prudently.

Abraham negotiates with Ephron the Hittite for the land of Sarah’s tomb. And he pays 400 shekels

'So the field of Ephron which was in Machpelah (Motch pel ah), which was before Mamre, the field and the cave which was in it, and all the trees that were in the field, which were within all the surrounding borders, were deeded to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the sons of Heth, before all who went in at the gate of his city. And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah (Motch pel ah), before Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. So the field and the cave that is in it were deeded to Abraham by the sons of Heth as property for a burial place.

Abraham buys the field and buries Sarah.

Ok. As we close today, I want to give you a few quick take-home lessons on this whole thing of burial and death.

Number one; learn to get comfortable with the idea of death because that's where you're going. You're marching down that road.

Now I'm hoping Jesus will come back before then. But He hasn't come back yet. And barring that eventuality, we're all going to die.

Everybody so far kicks the bucket. One out of one is the going rate.

There are some exceptions, Lazarus was raised but he had to die still and some were taken up into heaven.

But the general population it is appointed unto man once to die. You're going to keep that appointment.

Billy Graham was at university years ago and this student said, "What is the one thing, Dr. Graham, that surprised you most about life?" He was quick to answer, "Its brevity."

It's a very short time we have on this earth.

So in your own families with your own children, would you learn to discuss death and life and get the proper attitude toward it?

Learn to discuss the subject, even when people say, don't want to talk about it. Because ,Well, we're gonna have to deal with it, so it's best to get comfortable with it.

Number two; get your house in order. Abraham did. He got this burial plot and for the eventuality of not just his wife but his own death and the death of his children.

This is where Isaac and Ishmael buried Abraham. Isaac and Rebekah were both buried here. Jacob buried Leah here, and Joseph buried Jacob here. And this was the place Joseph told his descendants to bury him, taking his bones with them when they came into the Promised Land.

So before you die, get your house in order

Do you have a will? Or do you have a trust or a living trust? Do you have insurance?

Have you thought about those kinds of issues?

I know a lot of Christians, who would say I don't worry about that. Well, somebody else, in your place, like your children, will have to worry about it. So I recommend that you get your house in order.

Number three, I recommend that you clear strained relationships. Nothing complicates death more than strained relationships.

That means making amends with people that you have hurt. And Forgive those who have hurt you.

So Clear up those relationships.

Number four; get a good network of friendships around you.

If you're the type of individual who's a loner and you're isolated, when somebody you know or love dies and you're isolated, not good.

So you should develop a good, strong network of believing friends, brothers and sisters, that can hold you accountable, give you strength, give you encouragement.

Who we surround ourselves with is very important.

Fifth and finally, the most important. Get prepared spiritually. Get prepared spiritually.

Are you ready to meet your Maker? Are you ready to stand before a holy, righteous God come the day of judgment? Are you spiritually prepared?

Now I’ve read this illustration in commentaries somebody's tombstone that reads: "Pause stranger as you pass me by, as you are now so once was I, as I am now so you will be, so prepare for death and follow me.”

Very profound to put on a tombstone, is it not?

Pause stranger as you pass me by, as you are now so once was I, as I am now so you will be, so prepare for death and follow me.

We're all going there. We are all going to die.

And as the story continues, a man went by this cemetery saw that sign and wrote on a makeshift sign and put it next to this tombstone, these words, "To follow you I'm not content, until I know which way you went."

Now that's even better!

Ok. So he's saying prepare for death and follow me. Ok, so where did you end up?

I don't want to follow you unless you went to heaven. Because if you went to the other place, I don't want to go there.

"To follow you I'm not content, until I know which way you went."

It is appointed unto every man once to die and after this the Judgment. That's an appointment we're all going to keep.

Moses in Psalm 90 said, "Teach us to number our days that we might have a heart of wisdom."

So that's where we're all going.

Are you spiritually prepared? Are you sure that if you were to die tonight that you would be in God's presence?

Acquitted of all of your sins, in right relationship with Him, enjoying heaven forever?

Because you know what? If you're not sure, then you better make sure today! Because we don't know how long we're going to live.

So it appropriate of us to act while we can with what we do know--to be spiritually received. And to receive the only solution for our failures, our shortcomings, that the Bible calls our sins.

And how do we do that?

We do that by receiving the finished work of Jesus Christ upon the cross that assures us of resurrected life in glory. Are you sure you have that? If not, be sure.