God commanded, "Take your son, your only son, whom you loveIsaacand go to the region of Moriah. The Gospel of John: The Great News - A Look at the Book, Lesson 1 - The Public Ministry of Jesus Christ, Lesson 2 - The Private Ministry of Jesus Christ, Lesson 3 - The Passion Ministry of Jesus Christ, The Gospel of John: The Great News - REVIEW QUESTIONS, Galatians: The Constitution of Christian Liberty, Galatians - The Constitution of Christian Liberty - PREFACE, Lesson 1 - An Introduction to Christian Liberty - Galatians 1, Lesson 2 - The Apostle of Christian Liberty - Galatians 2, Lesson 3 - The Doctrine of Christian Liberty / Arguments - Galatians 3, Lesson 4 - The Doctrine of Christian Liberty / An Appeal - Galatians 4, Lesson 5 - The Life of Christian Liberty / The Call - Galatians 5, Lesson 6 - The Life of Christian Liberty / The Challenge - Galatians 6, Galatians: The Constitution of Christian Liberty - REVIEW QUESTIONS, Philippians: A Prison Letter of Joy - Introduction, Philippians: A Prison Letter of Joy - REVIEW QUESTIONS, Lesson 1 - Witnessing to the Word of Life, 1 John: Walking with God - REVIEW QUESTIONS, 3 John: The Three Church Leaders - REVIEW QUESTIONS, The Prophecy of Habakkuk - Habakkuk 1 and 2, Lesson 2: Two Important Scripture Passages, Lesson 5: The Effectual Working Of the Scriptures, The Inspiration of the Scriptures - REVIEW QUESTIONS, Lesson 1: Basic Requisites To Soul Winning, Lesson 4: Simple Presentation of the Gospel, Basic Christology - The Person of Jesus Christ, Basic Christology - The Work of Jesus Christ, Basic Eschatology - An Introduction to Bible Prophecy, Basic Eschatology - Part One: Fulfilled Prophecy, Basic Eschatology - Part Two: Unfulfilled Prophecy, Basic Eschatology - Prophetic Schools of Interpretation, Eschatology - An Introduction to Bible Prophecy, The Hardening of Pharaoh's Heart - Exodus 7, The Way Through the Wilderness - Exodus 13, Jesus Christ, Our High Priest - Exodus 28, The Promise of God's Presence - Exodus 33, The Tabernacle: Inside and Out - Exodus 39, The Parable of the Unjust Judge - Luke 18, The God Who Has Revealed Himself - Romans 1, What Does It Mean to Believe? And so, early in the morning,73 Abraham gave provisions to Hagar, and sent her on her way. 2 pencil. Here is the boy for whom Abraham and Sarah waited 30 years. God used these years to test their faith. Jonah wanted to see the entire city of Nineveh incinerated, including the children and cattle. In Luke 14:25-27 (above), Jesus not only requires His disciples to love Him more than their families, He insists that His disciples love Him more than themselves. In one of the early scenes in the movie Forrest Gump, Forrests mom, played by actress Sally Field, visits Mr. Hancock, the principal of the Greenbough County Central School. 15 In fact, if they had been thinking of the land that they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Sarah lived to be 127 years old, and then she died in Hebron. Over and over, Abraham failed. Do not lay your hand on the lad; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son, from Me." I believe that while Sarah was right in thinking the boy must go, she was wrong in her motivation. 73 Is this meant to reflect, and even anticipate, the words of 22:3? 3) Most studies are part of a series (category or sub-category). Abraham got up and ran out to meet them and to urge them to come to his home and have a little refreshment. Abraham obeyed, and departed from Ur not knowing where he was going. God had given he and Sarah who were as good as dead the child He had promised. God does place us in circumstances where it may appear that there is no way out. Food was scarce. This time she laughed in joy and wonder, not in disbelief. Abrahams Greatest Test of Faith (Genesis 22:1-2). His mission was accomplished, and now Abraham is ready to die. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." There, God would say to Abraham. In some way, Abraham saw that day by faith and rejoiced in it (John 8:56). 3 You must not intermarry with them. God promised that He would bless Ishmael, but not as Abrahams promised seed. "Here I am.". Answer Abraham had obeyed God many times in his walk with Him, but no test could have been more severe than the one in Genesis 22. But the life of Abraham should make it very clear to us that Abrahams salvation was not earned; it was a gift from God. What Is an Abrahamic Test? Early in the morning,75 he saddled his donkey, two servants, firewood, fire, the knife and his beloved son, and set out for the place of sacrifice. No wonder this is one of the qualifications for an elder (1 Timothy 3:2). It is in Ur that Haran, the father of Lot, dies (Genesis 11:28). God did not spare the city for the sake of the righteous, but He did spare the righteous from His wrath upon the wicked city. All rights reserved. He would never convince her that he should carry out this mission! He wants to see how we will respond. Lot would never have offered his virgin daughters to the men of the city under normal circumstances. 3 Not only this, but we also rejoice in sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance, character, and character, hope. 6. Abraham's Finest Hour (Genesis 18:1-26:35) | Bible.org It is my opinion that Mrs. The same God who provided a sacrificial lamb so that Abrahams son might live provided the ultimate sacrificial lamb, his own son Jesus Christ, so that we might live. Bob was born and raised in a Christian home i More, You must not acquire a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, You must go instead to my country and to my relatives to find a wife for my son Isaac, Be careful never to take my son back there. (If there is no arrow, just click on the item.) If you have a "wheel mouse," you should be able to roll it toward you to see more of the drop-down menu. Then the wrath of the Lord will erupt against you and he will soon destroy you. The ends justify the means! This is the same philosophy Abraham and Sarah followed, and they failed Gods test of faith! She exploded, demanding that Abraham send the lad and his mother away (verse 10). God told Abraham to listen to his wife and to do as she said.71 He reiterated once again72 that Abrahams descendants would be counted through Isaac, and not through Ishmael. God constantly tests our faith to see who we love more! Here is the fire and the wood, Isaac said, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? 8 God will provide for himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son, Abraham replied. And so Abraham was forced to buy a burial place from Ephron the Hethite (23:3-18). Abram does not immediately leave his family and go directly to Canaan; instead, it is his father, Terah, who leads Abram and others to Haran, where they settle down (11:31). God gave him a command to take a big step of faith. What encouragement and incentive the story of Abraham must have given the Israelites who were about to occupy the land. Lots wife (never named) is not even mentioned until the flight from Sodom, and then not in a favorable light. He was declared righteous before he was circumcised, and many years before the law was given. I believe that Abraham loved Isaac more than life itself and would have gladly taken the place of his son (or his wife). Abraham must bury his wife, and yet he did not own any land in Canaan. Furthermore, Abraham witnessed the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Immediately, God provided a ram, but ultimately God provided the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world (Isaiah 52:1353:9). Attempts have been made to explain Lots actions: (1) This was the custom of the day; it was expected that once Lot took these men into his house, he had to protect them. Lot may have been righteous, but he failed in many ways. 27 Whoever does not carry his own cross and follow me cannot be my disciple (Luke 14:25-27). 22 Some time later, God tested Abraham's faith. That premise is that God places us in circumstances where we must sin. As Abraham had hoped (verse 8), God did provide the sacrifice (verse 13). Abraham Passes His Greatest Test. Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. His intercession with God in chapter 18 is one of the high water marks of spirituality in his life. In chapter 22, God commands Abraham to take his son Isaac to a mountain He will designate and to sacrifice him there. The greatest thing you can do for your children is to worship their Creator. During a famine, he left the promised land of Canaan and went to sojourn in Egypt (Genesis 12). One is inclined to suspect that Mrs. But when God put Abrahams faith to the test, he chose God over everything else, and everyone else, including himself. That means that Sarah will become pregnant within three months of the promise. Mrs. Gump insists on enrolling Forrest in that school. He was declared righteous, based upon faith, not works (15:6). And this when God had just given their relatives (Abraham and Sarah) a son in their old age! He listened to his wife, Sarai, and took Hagar as his concubine, bearing Ishmael through her (Genesis 16). The life of Abraham shows us that he was not saved because of his faithfulness to God, but because of Gods faithfulness to him. Isaac was an impossible child. 5) ANSWERS to Review Questions and Quizzes are found in links at the end of the Review Questions or Quiz. This certainly falls short of Gods ideal for marriage as spelled out in Ephesians 5:22-33. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. Make no covenant with them nor show them compassion! 64 This is the edited manuscript of a message delivered by Robert L. Deffinbaugh, teacher and elder at Community Bible Chapel, on December 3, 2000. Situational ethics refuses to trust Gods ability to save when the situation looks impossible. God has very clearly forbidden the Israelites from inter-marrying with the Canaanites: 1 When the Lord your God brings you to the land that you are going to occupy and forces out many nations before youHittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and powerful than you2 and he delivers them over to you and you attack them, you must utterly annihilate them. The Faith of Abraham | Community | tucson.com - Arizona Daily Star His wife is not mentioned anywhere in the text until the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in chapter 19. Abraham's Greatest Test | Elon Small Group And perhaps most disturbing of all, Abraham admits that this is an established policy that he and Sarah had practiced for years, everywhere they went (verses 12-13). In both cases (Pharaoh in chapter 12 and Abimelech in chapter 20), it was not Abraham who stopped the wedding; it was God. Abram and his allies rescue Lot, but before the king of Sodom greets Abram as the victor, Melchizedek meets him on the way, reminding him that it was God, the Creator of heaven and earth, who gave him the victory (14:17-24). Even when we are faithless, he is faithful to us! Abraham was 75 when he left Haran (12:4). The title of this lesson is Abrahams Finest Hour. There are some wonderful evidences of faith in chapters 18-25, but not all are examples of faith, as we shall see. God intervened! Abraham would enter into a treaty with Abimelech, but not until after they had resolved a conflict over a certain well that Abimelechs men claimed for themselves. Abraham answered, God himself will provide. Literally, God himself will see to it. After the fact, in verse 14, Abraham called the place The Lord will provide. And to this day it is said, On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.. Abraham and Sarah had no idea how many problems their failed test of faith would produce. They were far from subtle in letting their intentions be known. . The Israelites who would first hear Moses account of Abrahams calling and life were those who were poised at the entrance of the land of Canaan. Twelve Tests of Abraham | Bible.org It has been a long and difficult road for Abraham, but he is now to receive the ultimate test of his faith. You deal with her. So, Sarah mistreated Hagar and she ran away. Further evidence for this conclusion can be seen in our text. How about you? Sarah became pregnant and bore Abraham a son in his old age. While the three men speak with Abraham, it is only the Lord who exposes Sarahs inner thoughts. It took Donna a couple of minutes to see Franks work, and she giggled. As I conclude, go back to verse 8 for a moment. You are being forced to choose between worshiping God and worshiping your child. Abraham understood that he was a sinner, and that his salvation rested in Gods provision of the seed, the seed promised in Genesis 3:15, the seed who was the Lord Jesus Christ. He has been told that the child would be born the same time the following year. Sarah assisted Abraham in showing hospitality (18:6); Rebekah was also a woman committed to showing hospitality (24:17-20). 5 Instead, this is what you must do to them: You must tear down their altars, shatter their sacred pillars, cut down their sacred Asherah poles, and burn up their images. Sarah was Abrahams wife, and yet in order to save his own life, he was willing to hand her off in marriage to another man. 1. It is in Him that we must place our faith for the forgiveness of sins and for eternal salvation. When she returned, Frank tried hard to conceal his amusement. Now, God has commanded me to take the life of my son. Before long, Lot is caught in the middle of a power struggle, and is taken captive by the kings who opposed and defeated the king of Sodom and four others (14:1-12).