The Promise

¹ After these things God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I." ² He said, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Mori'ah, and offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I shall tell you." ³ So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; and he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. ⁴ On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off. ⁵ Then Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the ass; I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you." ⁶ And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. ⁷ And Isaac said to his father Abraham, "My father!" And he said, "Here am I, my son." He said, "Behold, the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" ⁸ Abraham said, "God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." So they went both of them together. ⁹ When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. ¹⁰ Then Abraham put forth 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!" And he said, "Here am I." ¹² He said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me." ¹³ And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴ So Abraham called the name of that place The LORD will provide; as it is said to this day, "On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided." ¹⁵ And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven, ¹⁶ and said, "By myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, ¹⁷ I will indeed bless you, and I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore. And your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies, ¹⁸ and by your descendants shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves, because you have obeyed my voice." Genesis 22: 1-18.

The story of Abraham's testing is one that all readers of the Bible know well. Yet, as I read and re-read it, I see things that are new to me. Issac's birth had been a miracle. His parents were very old when he was born. Even though the Lord had promised Abraham descendants, Abraham did not become a father until he was ninety-nine years of age. He was a father and a grandfather all wrapped up together. Can you imagine how Abraham must have made Issac as the center of his world? And, yet the Lord comes to Abraham and asks him for the one thing that Abraham built his world and his hope upon. I don't think that God did this for his pleasure. I think he was performing radical surgery on Abraham's heart to help him understand that when one tries to hold onto something as precious as "your only son" that the principle of faith is that if you want to save your life, you first have to be willing to give it over to the Lord.

This land of Moriah was a special place that the Lord wanted him to travel to for this test. I cannot help but believe that the spot of this trial was perhaps the same hill that the New Testament would describe as "Golgotha" i.e. the same place where Jesus would later be crucified and die. The symbolism is to great to make me think that it could be any other place.

The writer in Hebews says in chapter 11 verses 17-19 that:

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son, ¹⁸ of whom it was said, "Through Isaac shall your descendants be named." ¹⁹ He considered that God was able to raise men even from the dead; hence, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.


Abraham somehow figured out that resurrection had to be part of God's plan of salvation. Issac is a foreshadowing of the sacrifice that God would have to make to allow the world to be reconciled by the shedding of the blood of his only son. We can only see the kingdom when we are willing to put the Lord first in our lives above anything else, including family and possessions. Abraham's faith was rewarded because he loved God with all his heart, soul, strength and might. He was willing to entrust God with that which was the precious thing in his life.

I have had some near death experiences with each of my three children over the years. The older I become the more I realize that children are gifts from God and that they do not belong to me. They are on loan from the Creator. Realizing that everything I have and possess is a gift from God and that nothing is mine is the most liberating, energizing thought I have ever experienced. When we learn to trust God and to walk in His ways, we will discover the true meaning of faith. It is not about getting all the answers right. It is about a trusting relationship with the one who made you. If you have want to save your life, you first have to learn how to give it away.