Living FaithfullySample

Resurrection Faith  

We will spend the next several lessons looking at the lives of 14 heroes and heroines of the Old Testament, most of whom are mentioned in Hebrews 11. 

All of us—especially when we are young—have heroes, people we admire and want to be like. God is invisible, but He has made His admirable qualities visible in His images, which are other people. The Bible provides us stories of the saints—their sinful failures as well as their godly triumphs—so that we can learn from them. 

Hebrews 11:17–19 tell us about Abraham’s faith, which is resurrection faith. The author of Hebrews has already called attention to the resurrection by saying that Abraham was “as good as dead” when God gave him Isaac (Heb. 11:12). One day when Isaac was about 20 years old, God told Abraham to offer him up as a burnt sacrifice. God had promised that Abraham’s seed would come through Isaac, but now Isaac was to be killed. As Abraham thought about the matter, he may have hoped that God would raise Isaac from the dead. Thus, when he left his servants and took Isaac up to the place of sacrifice, he told the servants, “we will come back to you” (Gen. 22:5). 

And what about Isaac? He was no small boy; he was a young man old enough to carry the wood on his shoulders up the mountain. Undoubtedly, he soon figured out what was going on. Yet instead of fighting his father and running away, as he surely could have done, he allowed himself to be tied to the altar. What was going on in his heart as his own beloved father raised the knife to kill him? Perhaps Abraham had explained the resurrection to him, just as Jesus knew that He would be raised. But at the last minute, God promised a substitute for Isaac, providing the ram caught by its horn in the thicket. 

The Son of Man could have bypassed His death. He too was bound, tied to a tree. He watched as His Father in heaven raised His knife at Calvary. In that instance, no angel commanded God to stop. That sacrifice was finished. The Greater Isaac was the sacrifice that God had promised Abraham.

Coram Deo  

Abraham deduced truth based on God’s words to him. His action of faith sprang from his knowledge of God. So with us, knowing should precede doing. What challenges do you face? Determine now to bring your actions (both the important and the mundane) into harmony with your knowledge and convictions.