Monday, December 18, 2006

By Faith... Abraham - Part II, Part 75 of 79

TEXT: "[God] 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'" (Genesis 22:12).

IDEA: Abraham was able to face this test because he must have believed in a God who can raise the dead.

PURPOSE: To help listeners see that it was godly logic that brought Abraham to believe that God was a God of resurrection.

The text is clear that God sent Abraham to a mountain that was a 3-day journey away from home. Why did He do that? Why couldn't He have picked a nearby mountain? Why the long trip?

I. Abraham's offering of his son was not an impetuous response to God's request. It was a considered response.

Are there things that you can do in an impetuous way that you probably would not do if you had a long time to think about it?

What do you imagine that Abraham thought about as he and Isaac walked together for three days to the mountain?

He had come to some kind of certainty about God. We see that when he tells the servants, "We will come back." Do you think that was simply a wish or a conviction?

Do you think that Abraham thought that God really wouldn't ask him to do this, so "we will come back"?

Do you think when he said to Isaac, "God will provide a sacrifice, that it had been revealed to him, or was he saying, "Somehow all of this will be resolved"?

II. In the light of Abraham's experience, what had he already learned about God that helped him face this test?

He learned that God could give life to an old couple who were practically dead as far as having children was concerned.

Neither Abraham nor Sarah believed that it was possible when God first promised it to them.

God had waited a long time so that with each passing year the birth of a child became more and more impossible.

It was in the midst of that encounter with God about having a baby that God asked, "Is there anything too hard for God?"

Abraham and Sarah ultimately discovered that the answer was No, there is nothing too hard for God.