Our text today is the 22nd chapter of Genesis, the Binding of Isaac, when Abraham's faith was tested.
Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
The Lord is most emphatic about this being a test.
From Hebrews 11 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18 of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,” 19 concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.
So, why? What is the purpose of God testing Abraham? Testing is always designed to reveal something about the person or thing being tested. I think that we can take it for granted that this is a test designed to reveal Abraham's faith, but reveal it to who? It didn't reveal anything to God, who didn't merely know Abraham's faith with omniscience, but knew that faith as it's constant maker and sustainer. Was it to reveal it to Abraham? For what purpose? That instead of depending on God's mere grace Abraham might bring his faith forward as if it gave him some claim upon God? I can't think of any good that it ever does a man to know that he has faith. We are not meant to dwell in God's salvation in sedentary confidence but in the fear and trembling of always knowing that it is only a goodness that we have no claim on, a grace which God is in no way bound to give us. We are made to trust in Him, not to trust in our faith, and so I say that the purpose of this test was not to reveal Abraham's faith to Abraham. Well if it wasn't for God and it wasn't for Abraham that he was tested who was it for?
From Romans 4 speaking of Abraham's faith Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, 24 but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.
What does Abraham's faith have to do with you and me? Abraham is the father of us all.(from Romans 4 again) Your faith follows the pattern of Abraham's faith, there is nothing in your faith which is not contained in Abraham's faith. And that is why it has to be revealed to us in such dramatic fashion. And what is the faith that is revealed by this test? It is often held up as some kind of perfect model of faith but I don't think that that is the case at all. The Father of the Faithful's faith does have all of the good and beautiful things that any of his children's faith has, but it seems to me that it also has all of the defects. And this is the point I want to look at today. Not to drag Abraham through the mud but to say to you as plainly and emphatically as I can, what I believe is the message of God's test of Abraham, that no defects in your faith, no flaws of any kind, exclude you from the community of the faithful, and that who you are cannot separate you from the love of God in Christ.
2 Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”3 So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. 5 And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”6 So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. 7 But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!”And he said, “Here I am, my son.”Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”8 And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. 10 And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
The links between this passage and our Lord's crucifixion are numerous and strong. I am not going to try and trace all of the similarities right now, but rather to use this comparison as a lens to look at Abraham and his faith. The first thing that strikes me in our passage, is Abraham's silence. He didn't tell Isaac what was going on. It seems clear that the two men who came with them didn't know the purpose of their journey. And although it isn't directly mentioned, I feel certain that Isaac's mother didn't know that her husband was planning to stab and burn her son. Why? Abraham was silent because he was trying to be faithful. He felt certain that if he told Sarah his plan that she would prevent him. He had nothing to show to anyone that would distinguish him from a madman. What could he say, what could he do that would convince even the most trusting that the destruction of his son was an act of love and divine obedience? So, Abraham remained silent, in order to avoid difficulties which he imagined would arise to stop him from completing his mission. Did this silence come from faith? I say no. It was the typical scheming of fallen man. For a contrast, look at our Lord's repeated predictions of His death, a course which set all men against him causing most of His disciples to abandon Him and straining terribly relations with those who remained. He was not silent about the scandal to come. He embraced the possibility of offense and of being isolated from all men. But Abraham didn't. Abraham was silent. If Abraham is not like Christ in this respect then who is he like? Abraham's silence is analogous to Peter's denial and to the disciples hiding wherever they were when their Lord was killed. Abraham's feet may have been walking up the mountain but he was trying to stay as far from it as possible.
Abraham led Isaac up the mountain deceitfully. He wasn't merely silent, when Isaac asked where the sacrifice was He cunningly concealed from his son the truth, under a mask of piety. I am not saying that the piety was fake, I am not saying that Abraham didn't believe that God would provide a sacrifice, but Abraham betrayed his son, he plotted his murder. Abraham must have known that Isaac, tired from carrying a bundle of wood up a mountain, weighed down by that same wood which his father had tied to him, and caught in shock and surprise when attacked by his beloved father would have no chance to resist him. We always tell the story with Isaac as a willing victim, and perhaps that makes the parallels with Christ the strongest, but we really don't know that. Isaac very probably had no chance to resist, whether or not he tried to we will never know. His father betrayed him, maybe quite literally with a Judas kiss.
The Gospel is death to who we are, death to our selves. The way that God chose to reveal faith, through Abraham binding Isaac, shows us a faith that includes cowards and weak men like Peter and the other disciples. It includes men who are silent when they should speak, who are hidden in the bushes when they should be a light to all men. The Gospel is hard to take. It is hard to swallow when its light shines on Peter's denial and the disciples cowardice and shows that they are me. But it is worse when it shows Abraham betraying his son for his own gain, I can't say why Abraham was sacrificing Isaac, but he deceived him and rendered him helpless to make this hated task easier on himself, and to guarantee that his design succeeded. I don't pretend to know Judas' fate, but Abraham's faith includes men like Judas. This is the faith that God's test reveals to us, a faith that is contaminated with selfishness and treason.
From Romans 4 What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
The faith which God counts as righteousness is not some perfect, celestial faith. It is a faith which is cowardly, deceitful, and treacherous. It is a faith which denies Christ like Peter and betrays Him like Judas. It is a faith which holds the knife above an innocent victim, condemning him just like Pilate did. Perhaps the greatest thing about the Crucifixion as recorded in Scripture is that there are no good guys. We must place ourselves somewhere in the story, and since we aren't Christ at best we are the weak and cowardly disciples. But more and more I see myself in Judas and Pilate. The faith which God counts as righteousness in Abraham, deserves exactly what Judas and Pilate deserve. But it doesn't get what it deserves.
Romans 4:4 Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,
Faith is not meritorious. It doesn't deserve anything good. If what I have is faith, then faith is contemptible and deserving of damnation.
11 But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”
So he said, “Here I am.”
12 And He 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.”
13 Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
15 Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, 16 and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— 17 blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” 19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.
Faith is not meritorious, but God treats it as if it is. And the only reason for it is because of His love for us, love which he pours out on the most unworthy.
5 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
