“Testing of Abraham”

Sermon Title: Testing of Abraham

Scripture: Genesis 22:1-14 ESV

Introduction

Today’s passage is one of my favourite stories in the Bible because when I was an enemy of God, this was one of the places I would look to in order to prove that God is not good. Later, after becoming a follower of Christ, this became one of the stories I almost wished was not in the Bible because I wrestled with the question: Did God go too far? Even though I knew it was only a test, it still felt too cruel. Yet the more I studied this passage, the more I came to see that God did not go too far. Instead, this passage reveals just how good our God truly is.

The story begins with the words in verse 1, "After these things." These words point back to everything God had been doing in Abraham's life. God had fulfilled His promise by giving Abraham and Sarah Isaac. The troubles surrounding Hagar and Ishmael had largely been resolved. Abraham had also matured greatly in his faith. At the end of Genesis 21, Abraham worships the everlasting God, acknowledging His faithfulness and His promises. Earlier in his life, Abraham feared kings and powerful men so much that he twice gave up his own wife to save himself. But now he had become a different man. He was no longer ruled by fear or doubt because he trusted in God. It is precisely after this season of spiritual growth that God tests Abraham.

The Bible tells us immediately why God does this: to test him. Abraham does not know this, but we as the readers do. This is important because it tells us that Isaac was never actually in danger. God never intended for Abraham to kill his son. Yet the command itself creates tremendous tension because Abraham must now wrestle with what appears to contradict everything God had promised and his life is turned upside down.

"Here I Am"

God commands Abraham in verse 2 to offer Isaac as a burnt offering. In light of God’s revelation that this is a test and that no harm is to come to Isaac, I was convinced early in my faith journey because I was convinced that there must be something in the text, something in the grammar, some hidden meaning in the Hebrew that demonstrates that what we read on the surface is not what it means. There was nothing. The command is crystal clear. This creates a tension even for the reader who should be aware that Isaac will be safe. Yet for the reader, there is something strange for us to notice - God’s command itself is incomplete and ambiguous. There is no mention of killing, no mention of the time or day, nor even the specific place. Within that ambiguity we can understand that God is doing something.

The remarkable part of the story is not the command itself, but Abraham's response in verse 3: So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, 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.

Instead of protesting, grieving publicly, or being angry at God, Abraham simply rises early the next morning and obeys. The secret to his response is found in the first words he speaks to God in verse 1: "Here I am." This is the Hebrew word “hineni”. It is much more than saying, "I'm here." It is not about physical attendance but it expresses the heart posture and spiritual maturity before God. It is a heart that is fully available before God—ready to listen, obey and serve.

This teaches us something important about spiritual maturity. Spiritual maturity does not mean we stop feeling emotions or somehow become detached from suffering or gain enlightenment. It is about your faith and trust in God not being contingent upon your emotions and circumstances. Abraham undoubtedly felt the full weight of God's command. His heart must have been breaking. Yet his faith was not governed by his emotions or circumstances. It was governed by the truth of God's Word and the character of God.

Trusting the God Who Can Do the Impossible

As Abraham and Isaac travel together, Abraham tells his servants, "We will go over there and worship and come again to you." Was Abraham lying to his servants and trying to cover up what was about to take place and keep the servants away? No, he was speaking what he really believed. Hebrews 11:19 explains why Abraham could say this. He believed that God was able even to raise Isaac from the dead. Abraham did not know how God would fulfill His promise, but he knew the God who made the promise. He had learned the lesson from the previous chapter: nothing is too hard for the Lord. Another possibility is that Abraham, like many other people of faith, may have spoken better than they know, which means they spoke prophetically without realizing they were doing so because it was the Holy Spirit speaking.

This is observed again when Isaac asks the heartbreaking question, "Where is the lamb?" Abraham responds, "God will provide for himself the lamb." Again, Abraham speaks out of trust. He does not fully understand what God is about to do, but he trusts Him completely.

The repeated phrase in verse 8 (also v.6), "the two of them went together," also tells us something important. It tells us that father and son were united in one spirit. It suggests that Isaac now understood what was happening. Isaac knowing is the only explanation for what we see in verse 9 which is silence. Scripture records no struggle, no protest and no cry for help. Isaac trusted the God that his father trusted. Having watched Abraham grow in faith throughout his life, Isaac willingly submitted himself. In this way Isaac becomes a beautiful foreshadowing of Jesus Christ, who also willingly submitted Himself to the Father's will and carried the wood of His own sacrifice.

The God Who Provides

Just as Abraham is about to sacrifice Isaac, the Angel of the Lord calls out from heaven to stop Abraham. Abraham stops, but what’s more amazing is Abraham's response which is exactly the same as it was at the beginning, "Here I am." Even at the most terrifying moment of his life, Abraham's heart posture has not changed. The posture of his heart in the darkest moment of his life is Lord, I am here, ready to listen and obey and serve you.

We believe the Angel of the Lord is the pre-incarnate Christ. How fitting that the One who stopped Abraham from sacrificing his beloved son would one day become the beloved Son whom the Father would not spare for our salvation.

God then provides a ram as a substitute for Isaac. Yet the question throughout the story had never been, "Where is the ram?" Isaac asked, "Where is the lamb?" That answer would not come until centuries later. God ultimately provided His own Son, the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. Abraham names the place, "The Lord will provide," because God had shown Himself to be the God who provides exactly what is needed at exactly the right time.

The Purpose of the Test

Who are tests really for? For the one taking the test. It is for the benefit of the one taking the test. It demonstrates something about the student. Likewise, God did not test Abraham because He lacked knowledge and didn’t know Abraham’s heart or response. It was for his benefit. The Hebrew word yada ("know") carries the idea of confirming or establishing something in lived experience that God already knows. It was God’s acknowledgement of what God already knew was in Abraham’s heart.

This was the climax of Abraham's life and his story in the Bible. It demonstrated the faith that God had been patiently shaping over many years. This was his redemption story. His redemption story of the fearful man who once relied upon his own wisdom, made so many mistakes, who had doubted God, had now become a man who trusted God with everything. This was Abraham's redemption story. God was saying, in effect, "Abraham, I know you, and now you know Me.” Abraham also came to understand something about the character of God. Having grown up among nations whose gods demanded human sacrifice, Abraham now knew that the God of Israel was unlike any other god. Child sacrifice was never God's desire, never did He ask for it, nor did it ever enter His mind. What God wanted was Abraham's heart.

Isaac represented Abraham's heart, his deepest love and greatest treasure. God was asking whether Abraham trusted Him even with that.

Conclusion

Brothers and sisters, in light of a God who did not spare His own Son for us, can we not trust Him with our Isaac? Unlike God, who gave us everything in Jesus Christ, God does not ask us to sacrifice our children or destroy ourselves. He simply asks us to trust Him with everything. Every one of us has an Isaac—something we hold most dearly. The Lord asks us today: Will you trust Me with your life and death? Will you trust Me in your grief and suffering? Will you trust Me with your family, your children, their future, your finances, your brokenness and even your sin?

Abraham did not withhold his son because he knew the God who provides. May we become a people who know God so deeply that we also trust Him with our Isaac. Like Abraham, may our lives be firmly rooted in God's Word, unmoved by fear or circumstances, but moved only by the voice of the Lord who has already proven His goodness through Jesus Christ.

Reflection

Brothers and sisters, what is your Isaac?

Whatever that your Isaac may be, is your faith like that of Abraham that offered up to the Lord his Isaac, his everything?

Offering up your Isaac can be scary, maybe even offensive to you. It may feel like the plank upon which your entire life stands on – and you fear what would happen when you offer it to God – in your heart you may feel like you may fall to the depths below if that plank were to be removed.

There are those, many among Christians who have told me that they are afraid that God might command them to do things that are evil against the people they love; my answer would be perhaps you don’t know God at all.

And for those who fear that God may be demanding the good things that you have in your life, perhaps today the Lord is inviting you to get to know Him more.

Brothers and sisters, our God is the God who provides, and He has provided on the cross of Jesus Christ.