promise believer ABRAHAM

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  Would Abraham believe God’s promises?

Gen 22:2 ( And he said,” Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the lane of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will tell you about”)

“Only son” – through Ishmael was a son by the servant girl, Isaac was the only son of Abraham and his wife, the only son related to God’s covenant and promises.

In the Bible the one true God forbids human sacrifice to the gods( Lev 18:21 And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD. And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD)

This is because other gods are not God at all and no one has right to offer anything to them, let alone fellow human being.

All things and persons belong to God the Creator, and in a double sense His redeemed people belong to Him ( Gen 1:27 so God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him. He created them male and female).

Ps 50:10 ( For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills).

Since all men are God’s property He has a perfect right to do with them as He sees fit.

He may if He wants even demand that they be offered as burnt offerings, as He told Abraham to offer Isaac.

Remember God is a just and holy God.

He would never ask Abraham to do something that was wrong (Jam 1:3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience).

Actually this is the only case in the entire Bible when God asked a person to offer another as a sacrifice.

It seems God had a two-fold purpose in this.

He wished to test Abraham’s devotion and faith and He wished to give picture of what He himself planned to do through His son Jesus Christ in offering Him for the sins of the world.

The test of Abraham was like this: God had said that Isaac was Abraham’s only son, his heir, the one with whom God would establish His covenant ( Gen 15:4 And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir).

 Would Abraham believe God’s promises seemed contrary to them?

 Would Abraham believe God’s promises seemed contrary to them?

Abraham was equal to this test.

He reasoned that if God asked him to do something God had a good reason for it, and that somehow or other God would fulfill His promises (Rom 4:21 And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.

He believed that even if he had put Isaac to death God raise him to life again to fulfill His word

  (Heb 11:17-19  By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.

All this is a picture of what God has done in Jesus Christ.

Like Isaac Jesus is the only son of father (John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

He is the heir of the world  (Heb 1:2   Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds)

The one through whom God made His covenant  (Heb 9:15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

The one through whom the blessings promised to Abraham would come to the world (Acts 3:26 Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.

God in love to mankind offered Him up as a sacrifice for sinners (Rom5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Then he raised from the dead to fulfill all His promises (I Cor 15:3,4 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

God told Abraham to take Isaac to the “land of Moriah”.

Jerusalem was located in this region.

Jerusalem of course, is the place where the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified and resurrected.