Chapter 22

Abraham’s spirituality and growth are two important factors in his life. He believed in Christ in Ur of the Chaldees. His spirituality was the faith-rest technique. His growth was his understanding, reception and application of doctrine. He is now both spiritual and mature and therefore ready for the greatest test of his life as this chapter opens.

Note 21:9 – Sarah was spying on the son of Hagar, the Egyptian, who was Ishmael. The word mocking means Isaacing, laughing. Isaac’s name is laughter. He is a young boy walking around the camp and a larger older boy, his half-brother, is walking around behind him and pointing to him, mimicking a laugh. This is actually what Sarah saw. She doesn’t think it is funny at all. Ishmael was trying to belittle Isaac. The word mocking is simply the participle form of laughter.

Verse 10 – Ishmael was disinherited at this particular point and other promises were given to him. Ishamel was loved by Abraham but Abraham loved Isaac even more than he did Ishmael. Even though it broke his heart to part with Ishmael his love for Isaac was so much greater that he was willing to break half a heart in order to have a whole heart. The love for Isaac became the greatest love in Abraham’s life—this was the promise, the fulfilment of the promise.

In chapter 22.

Testing. Abraham is going to be tested—verses 1 & 2.

Obeying—verses 3-10.

Providing—verses 11-14.

This is a mountain-top experience, one of the most difficult tests and one of the greatest spiritual heights to which any believer has ever risen. Abraham had an experience on a mountain-top that was also a mountain-top experience. He demonstrated the maturity, the tenacity, the dynamics and the stability of the faith-rest technique in three short days. All of his life he has been preparing for this moment.

Verse 1 – “And it came to pass” is an idiom which says in effect, that Abraham was prepared for the test, that he had been studying diligently for almost a half century. He had failed many times but he did not allow his failures to hold him back. If Abraham had been like many believers today he would never have come to this mountain-top experience and would never have faced such a test because many believers get discouraged, they allow their failures to keep them down, the fail to use 1 John 1:9, they fail to get up and to move on when they fail, and in addition to that they are constantly looking back at their failures.

“after these things” – after much testing, study, preparation, the use of the faith-rest technique; after many failures, successes, and after moving and arriving at maturity. “After these things” means a number of things. It means after every human prop has been removed Abraham received maximum testing. Like every believer Abraham had his human props and one by one God had to knock the props out from under him. It took nearly a half century. But when eventually all the props were knocked out from under him so that Abraham was leaning only upon God then Abraham was ready for the great test.

It means, first of all, separating from Ur of the Chaldees, the most advanced city of the ancient world in the time in which Abraham lived. Then God separated him from Terah, his father, and Haran, the dried up place where Abraham had made a fortune but his spiritual life had dried up. Then He separated him from Egypt, then from Lot, then Ishmael, then Gerar the place of compromise. God had to constantly separated him from props. And now that Abraham is leaning only on the Lord he is ready to be tested.

“that God did test Abraham” – this is going to test everything that Abraham has ever learned spiritually. He has been tested before. He has been tested by ties of nationality when he broke away from Ur of the Chaldees. He has been tested by ties of nature, but he broke away from his family as God gave him command. He was tested by ties of decay and he finally broke away from Haran. He was tested by circumstances, there was a famine in the land—he went to Egypt but he came back. He was tested by the threat on his life, and in both cases he failed by lying to Pharaoh and later on to Abimelech. He was tested by courage in battle. He was tested by the offer of being the wealthiest man in the world but he refused the offer of the king of Sodom. He was tested by Sarah’s barrenness, and sometimes he failed but eventually he succeeded—Roman 4:17-21. He was tested by disillusion and he went down to Gerar for a while, but he recovered. No believer can ever reach maturity and harbour disillusion or bitterness in his soul.

Verse 2 -- “Take now” – now doesn’t give time for excuse or substitution at this point; “thy son, thine only son Isaac.” Then to make it very clear and explicit, “whom thou lovest” – qal active participle, which means whom you continually love.

General observation about this verse: Notice that the instructions as to who is to be burned is very clear—“Isaac whom thou lovest.” But the place to go is rather obscure and it will only become clear as he starts to move out. So part of this is very specific and part of it is obscure. The point is that obedience will clarify the rest of it. God guides us through the Word and as we are obedient to the Word, then other things become obvious and eventually we learn guidance not only through the direct statement of the Word but we learn guidance through the application of doctrine to experience.

“Take now” means no time for preparation, no time to cook up a good excuse to get Isaac out of it. Abraham must take Isaac now.

“the land of Moriah” – In the Hebrew the “M” which begins this word is typical of nouns in the Hebrew as a rule, but in this case we have a participle. The vowel pointing indicates that we have a hophal participle and it, Moriah, is broken down into two words. The “ra” is the root for the word to see, ra’a; the “yh” is the root of the word Jehovah, translated LORD in the KJV Old Testament. When the two are put together we have “to cause to be seen of the Lord.” Eventually, Moriah comes to mean manifestation of Jehovah. This tells us where he was going. Where was Jehovah manifest? What hill? Calvary. The Bible calls it Golgotha. Three days later this is where Abraham is going to be. The place where the Lord is manifest is Golgotha.

What was Abraham to do with Isaac? He was to offer him as a burnt offering and this requires two things: a) He has to cut the throat of his son whom he loves more than anyone in the world; b) He must then burn the body. That is what it means to offer a burnt offering. This is all a part of the test.

Abraham obeyed the Lord. He didn’t sit down and try to figure it out. He depended upon the Lord and he trusted the Lord. He knew that if the Lord said to do this that it was the only answer. He knew there was a reason for it and the Lord didn’t share the reason with him. Note 21:12 – “…for in Isaac shall they seed be called.” That is a promise. Now he has orders to cut his throat and burn his body. But that doesn’t bother Abraham because the Word of God is more real to Abraham than anything else in life. “In Isaac shall they seed be called” is more real to him than the wonderful beloved son who walks beside him. Now he has to kill him, but that doesn’t bother him because he knows doctrine. A mature believer must come to the place where the statement of God’s Word is more real than anything in life. When it is he has inner resources that are fantastic beyond description and he is completely separated from slavery to circumstances for happiness and peace and blessing.

Verse 4 – three days of happiness and peace, and during those three days God showed Abraham the way. He didn’t tell him how to get there, He just showed him each day at a time. Here is a case of the inner resources in time of pressure being a source of great strength.

“the place afar off” – the place of a skull. Golgotha. Moriah.

Verse 5 – “I and the lad.” The Hebrew word indicates a teenager at least. The Hebrew says, “we [I and the lad] will go yonder and we will worship, and we will come again.” He said we [I and the lad] will come again.

Verse 7 – Isaac begins to wonder about some things. “Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”

Verse 8 – “And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering.” That satisfied the son. The son has learned something from his father, something about trust.

Verse 9 – this is the place where we have a very wonderful illustration of submission to the will of God. After everything is in order the father has to tell the son he is the offering. Who carried the wood? The strongest of the two physically carried the wood—Isaac. Isaac has volition, and all he has to do is physically resist. Or he could say, yes I will get on that altar. Abraham does not have the physical strength to make his son get on that altar and be bound to it. The son had to agree to go along with it. That is a picture of what Jesus Christ, the eternal Son, did for us. Many hundreds of years later this same thing would happen. Jesus would say, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” Jesus Christ in the realm of His humanity and His human volition agreed to go to the cross and be bound to the altar, just as Isaac as the picture and the type of this did so many years before. So Isaac was willing to go to the altar just as Jesus Christ was willing to obey the Father and go to the cross.

Verse 10 – now Abraham is getting ready to kill his son in obedience to what God has told him to do. At that moment we have an interruption.

Verse 11 – the angel of the Lord is Jesus Christ. In verse 16 He is called the LORD or Jehovah. Jehovah and the angel of the Lord are synonymous. Note Abraham’s name is repeated twice. A noun in the Hebrew repeated twice means perfect. “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace” in Isaiah 26:3 is Shalom, shalom, the word is repeated twice. When He says “Abraham, Abraham, He is saying mature Abraham. Abraham you have arrived, you have demonstrated something that few human beings will ever demonstrate.

Verse 12 – “…that thou fearest God.” But the word is not fearest at all, it is “that thou trustest God.” This means complete trust. This means an advanced, mature operation of the faith-rest technique.

Verse 13 – “in the stead” indicates substitution. Jesus Christ, of course, died instead of us.

Verse 14 – “Jehovah-jireh.” This means “the Lord will provide.”

“In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen” is literally, In the mount of the Lord there is provision. The mount of the Lord is still Golgotha, and in the mount of the Lord there is provision—Jesus Christ dying for our sins, taking our place, becoming our substitute, being judged by God the Father for us.

The seven lessons that are found in this passage

1. Waiting on the Lord means testing—verse 1.

2. The Lord must always have first place on our scale of values—Hebrews 12:2; Colossians 3:1,2—not the things He gives us, verse 2. If the Lord does have first place then we can appreciate and enjoy the things He gives us. You can never appreciate any gift unless you appreciate the one who gave it.

3. The impossibility of happiness in time of suffering without the faith-rest technique.

4. It isn’t enough to know the Word, you must apply it to your experience as the situation demands.

5. God remains faithful regardless of our status, carnality of spirituality. He provides for the believer.

6. The principle of substitution. A ram was substituted for Isaac. Christ was substituted for us and therefore we are delivered.

7. We lose nothing by committing it to the Lord. What we commit to the Lord is never lost.