Imagine God blessing you with a son. Only for your joy to give way to heartache when he requires that son to be sacrificed. Today, on Turning Point, Dr. David Jeremiah shares the story of Abraham and his son Isaac. what their experience meant for them and means for us today.
from ordinary people. Extraordinary faith. Here's David to introduce the conclusion of his message, Abraham. And you know, the title of this series is really. Pertinent to today's discussion: ordinary people, extraordinary faith.
Abraham wasn't a saint. As we know from studying his life, he made many mistakes. He did things he shouldn't have done. He sinned against God. But God used him.
And God gave him the faith to believe that he would trust God's word, God would be faithful. I look at my sons and I think I don't know if I could have done that. But I guess if you put yourself in his place and God was doing in your life what he did in Abraham's life, you would do it. And God showed Abraham that he could be trusted. How many of you know that that's one of the things God loves to do, to demonstrate to us every day that He is worthy of our trust?
And we're going to find that out more today as we finish our discussion on the life of Abraham from Ordinary People, Extraordinary Faith, the series of Turning Point right now. During this month we are highlighting a very special resource. That we want you to have. It's a beautiful new book called Where to Go in the Bible: 89 topics. And let me just tell you how this works.
This little book that can fit in your hand, you carry it with you, and somebody says to you where you work, what is this about? What about that? Because of what's happened in our country recently with Charlie Kirk, many people are asking questions who never asked questions before. Are you ready to answer them? Here's the little book that will help you find the scriptures that answer the questions that you're receiving and the questions in your own heart.
89 different topics, 270 pages, hundreds of scripture verses. But now they're organized so you can use them. to help others. And be blessed yourself. This book is available to you during the month of November for a gift of any size.
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So thank you for your... investment in for your generosity. Here is part two. Abraham. This test that God is about to give to Abraham is going to make a difference in his will.
Abraham's will was tested. Genesis 22, verses 2 and 3. Listen to these words. Listen carefully. Then God said, Abraham, 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.
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.
Now as we already know Isaac was the beloved son of the aged Abraham. It would have been easy for him to say, you know, Lord God, this is really a hard thing you're asking me to do. I need a few weeks to pray about this. But the Bible says that the next day. Abraham got up, prepared the wood, gathered his young men, headed out in obedience to do what God had told him to do.
This was an act of his will. He knew what God had said. He may not have processed it, and we're pretty sure he didn't. Emotionally, he was not prepared for this. Intellectually, he had not dealt with this yet.
But what he knew was simply that God had spoken, and in an act of faith, in obedience, Abraham began to do. What God told him to do. The psalmist puts it this way: I made haste and did not delay to keep your commandments. His will was tested. But here is where I think the test really took place, in his intellect.
The Bible says, by faith Abraham, when he was tested, Offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, In Isaac your seed shall be called. And I want you to just see if you can get into the intellectual dilemma that faced Abraham at this moment. All the way back. to the beginning of the story of Isaac, we have the prophecies. That begin In the 12th chapter of Genesis, that God is going to bless Abraham through giving him a son.
And you know, Abraham had his moments when he didn't believe this. He tried to take things into his own hands, and he wanted Ishmael to fulfill that promise, and he wanted the steward to fulfill it. And God said, No, Abraham, I want you to know this. I'm going to give you your own son. You and Sarah are going to have a son, and in this son is going to be the blessing of the whole world.
Out of this son that I'm going to give you in your old age, I'm going to bless the whole world, and in the process, I'm going to bless you and Sarah. And they wavered in their faith not at all. And they believed, and the Bible says God justified Abraham because of his faith. And one day, just as God had promised, Sarah gave birth. Isaac.
And the Bible says she was past the age of childbearing. I guess so. And Isaac began to grow, and every time Abraham looked at Isaac, He heard the promises of God that this was the Son of God's blessing. He knew that this was a miraculous thing that God had done. On the other hand, Isaac is now 20 years old.
And God comes to Abraham and He says, Abraham, I want you to take this son. Notice it says, The son you love. And I want you to take him to the mountain. that I will tell you about. And there on that mountain, I want you to sacrifice him to me.
And Abraham is caught in this dilemma. What do I do? If I believe this is true, I can't do that. And if I do that, then this can't be true. And God, I've heard you both times, and I believe in the promise because it was fulfilled in the birth of Isaac.
And I hear you now, and I know that's what you're telling me to do. And I don't know what to do. And in his mind, you can see these two promises that are in conflict with each other, that literally cancel each other out. And Abraham wrestles with these two things. And if you read the book of Genesis, you do not know how he resolved it.
In fact, you do not know how he resolved it until you get all the way through the Old Testament and almost all the way through the New Testament and you come to the 11th chapter of the book of Hebrews. And in Hebrews 11, 19 we read, That Abraham concluded that God was able to raise Isaac up even from the dead. from which he also received him ultimately in a figurative sense. Abraham said, Lord, I don't understand this. He's supposed to be the son of blessing, and you want me to take his life?
The only way I can resolve this and believe that you are speaking the truth to me in both occasions. Is to recognize that you ultimately must have a plan to raise Isaac from the dead.
Now, if you want to know what's truly remarkable about this, Up until this time, there had never been a resurrection. in history. There's no record of it in the Bible. Where did this come from, this thought? that God gave to Abraham.
At a time when Abraham must have been bewildered by God's command. He continued to believe God and he refused to act in any other way than that which God had commanded him to act. F. F. Bruce, one of the great writers, said, Apparently, what Abraham did was he just finally came to the conclusion that this was not his problem.
This was God's problem. He just said, Lord, I can't reconcile this with what you've told me to do, so I'm just leaving it with you. You take care of it. I'll do what you tell me to do. I'll follow every step that you tell me to take, but I don't get this.
I don't know how you're going to make this work. His will was tested, his intellect was tested. And then finally, the other part of the personality of man is his emotion was tested. His heart was tested. I mean, how could he imagine taking a knife and plunging it into the heart of his handsome viral son?
How could he ever face Sarah coming home without Isaac? I have two sons in my family. I couldn't help but think about this as I thought about David and Daniel. And wondered what you would do if God should give you such a command? It is so incomprehensible.
And you may think that this story of Abraham and Isaac exists in some kind of biblical bubble, but it is a human story given to us as a picture of something we'll see in a moment. The Bible says Abraham, not knowing how this was all going to turn out, believed God. Against all of the evidence that would tell him not to believe God, he believed God. This was a test that rips into the heart. of every one of us when we think about it.
Why did God send him through this experience? He wasn't after Isaac. God was after Abraham, wasn't he? He wasn't trying to figure out whether Isaac would comply.
Some have suggested that when this great miracle son was born to Abraham and Sarah, they became so enamored with Isaac they forgot about God. They became so caught up in the gift that the giver of the gift was lost. God wanted Abraham to know in his heart that God was more important to him, even than his own son, Isaac. the legitimacy of the test. It was a test of his intellect.
His emotion and his will. Let me just speak for a moment about the length of the test because this is really the way it is for many tests that we face. The Bible says that on the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off.
Now, the Bible says that as soon as God told Abraham to do this, he did it the next day. But that he didn't get to the place where this was supposed to take place for three whole days. Can you imagine Abraham making the three-day journey? Knowing what ultimately awaited him at the end of the journey. I see Abraham walking, and I see him walking as slowly as he can.
His shoulders bent over. This is not a victorious march he is taking. How many of you know? That when God tells you to do something and it's hard, it's not the doing of it that's the hardest. It's the waiting to do it, it's the preparing to do it, it's getting to the place where you do it.
That is anguishing, and the anguish for Abraham in that three-day march. Perhaps even in the conversations that we know about, when Isaac said, Dad, here's the wood, and here's the fire.
Well, where's the sacrifice? Isaac's trumpeting along with his father toward this moment where they're going to worship God on the mountain, but he doesn't see a sacrifice. Abram couldn't bring himself to tell his son immediately. What was going on? What a long and lonely walk that must have been.
And may I say to you that that often is the case when God asks you to do something that no one else understands. It can be a very long period of time that you exist in a very short chronological time. How many of you know you can live a year in three days? And notice the loneliness of it. Five and six, we're told that when they got to the place where the sacrifice was going to take place, that Abraham took the wood and he took his son and they went up by themselves, just Abraham and Isaac.
And in essence, Abraham was all alone. Even though Isaac was with him, there was no way he could explain to Isaac what was going on in his heart. He faced all of this by himself. And I want to just point out to you that this is transferable into our lives because many of the trials that we face in life we live out alone. I've had so many people tell me over the years that I've been a pastor.
What I experienced, there was no one I could talk to about it. I couldn't talk to my wife. I couldn't talk to my husband. It was just the kind of thing that God was just doing in my heart. And it was just so.
Singular. And it was so hard, and it was so lonely. I have to believe that that may be the picture of one of the loneliest moments in history. When Abram walked up that mountain with his son, knowing what God had asked him to do.
Well, let me speak to a fourth thing: the legitimacy of it, and the length of it, and the loneliness of it. Look at the loftiness of it. This is just an interesting little aside. The Bible says that this event that is about to happen, where Abraham offers his son to God. Is three things.
First of all, the Bible says it is worship. I'm astounded at this. Chapter 22, verse 5 says, The lad and I will go yonder, and we will worship. Did you know that this is the first time the word worship appears in the Bible? And if it sets the tone for every other time that it's to appear in the Bible after that, it surely does have something to say about what we call worship these days.
What does the Bible say worship was? It was Abraham offering to God the very best that he had, his own son. It wasn't the willy-nilly things that so often suffice for worship in our churches, sometimes the frivolous things that happen. This was an act of a man of God who gave back to God everything God required of him, even though it was the best that he had. The Bible also says it was an offering, and it says it was a sacrifice.
This was a moment that God said. was a high and holy moment. This testing of Abraham. This sacrifice, this worship, this offering. that was offered to God.
Notice the lesson of this test.
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. And Abraham said, My son, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering.
So the two of them went together. And so we find Abraham and Isaac Now on the mountain. And we're about to see the triumph. of Abram's faith. First of all, verse 10 of Genesis 22 tells us That the heavenly silence was broken.
Up until this point in time, since the instruction to do what Abraham was called to do, God has not spoken. But now he speaks. In verse 10 says, And Abraham stretched out his hand and he took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, Here I am.
And Abraham had his son already bound on the altar. The wood was underneath. He was ready to light the fire. In his hand was the dagger. He was about ready to take his own son's life.
And I would imagine that he did this all very slowly. And as he drew back, His arm to plunge the dagger into Isaac, it's almost as if God reached out and took hold of his arm and stopped him. And he said, Abraham. The heavenly silence was broken, and the heavenly solution was given. Do not lay your hand on the lad, do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.
And Abraham lifted his eyes and looked. and the heavenly silence and the heavenly solution was concluded by the heavenly substitute And Abraham went and took the ram that was caught in the thicket. And he offered it up. in place of Isaac. Do you see what's happened?
Here is Abraham in the center of God's will, doing an unthinkable thing, and God in that moment shows Himself to be faithful to God. Abraham. And that brings us to the testimony of Abraham's faith. Abraham proved God to be faithful. Did you know that in the 14th verse of Genesis 22, we have an interesting little name for the place where this happened?
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. This is where the word Jehovah Jirah comes from. Jehovah Jirah means the Lord will provide. And when this was all over, and Abraham was able to step back from it for a moment and realize how God had instantly provided what he needed, he named that mountain Jehovah Jirah.
The Lord will provide. He not only proved the faithfulness of God, he proved his own faith. For the scripture says, as they came down the mountain, Abraham and God knew something together that they might not have known intuitively on the way up. In fact, I remember reading this story in the past and try to visualize in my mind the difference between the journey up the mountain and the journey back down the mountain. I think the journey up the mountain was a slow pace, deliberate, and very sad.
The journey from the top back down, I think Abraham was probably skipping along in his old age with his son on his arm, rejoicing in the fact that God had provided for him. And notice what the Scripture says. The scripture says. That as they came down the mountain, when this event was over, That we read in verse 12, now I know. that you fear God.
since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. God did not need to be enlightened about Abraham. God knew that he was first in Abraham's life. But he wanted Abraham to know that. He wanted Abraham to be tested.
to prove that God was first in his life.
So As we look at this, we see not only Abraham's faithfulness to God. and his faith in his own heart. We see his fellowship with God as well. Can you imagine now Abraham, who's the friend of God, and they've gone through this test together? Whatever their relationship was before, it's even greater now.
Isn't it true that when you go through something in life that's really testing you and your faith in the midst of the test? You are closer to God than you ever are at any other time. In fact, I have a reason to believe that with every serious test that you face, Your relationship with God takes a step. in a more intimate direction than it could ever have known without it. How do we know if God is faithful until we find Him to be faithful to us even in the midst of crisis and difficulty?
Abraham now had a fellowship with God that was born not only about what he knew about God, but what he knew God to be himself. He didn't just know who God was, he knew God. because he had walked with God through this moment.
Now When we pull all this back and take a step away from it, What does it mean to us today? Let me just tell you that. There's a way we can look at this that I hope you will never forget. I know I never forgot it when I saw it.
Some years ago I came across a list. of the comparisons between Isaac and Jesus Christ. What is this story about? Why is it placed in the Bible? What does it mean to us?
And how should we approach this story as we look back at it through our New Testament lenses? Listen. Both Isaac and Christ. were miraculously born. Both Isaac and Christ brought joy to their Father.
Both Isaac and Christ were born at a set time. Both Isaac and Christ were persecuted by their brothers. Both Isaac and Christ were obedient unto death. Two young men went with Isaac Christ was crucified between two thieves. Isaac carried the wood.
Christ carried the cross. Isaac questioned his father, and Christ said, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? Christ was obedient unto death. Isaac was raised from death in a figure. Abraham returned, but Isaac is not heard from until he is introduced to his bride, and that is exactly the way it is with the Lord himself.
You say, what a bunch of coincidences. Yeah. Every story in the Old Testament is somehow related to the story. Of the New Testament. And this is the greatest picture.
of the love of the Father. that you will ever find in the Bible. One last thought. Romans 8:32 says, There's one unique difference between Father Abraham. And Father God.
He who did not spare his own son. but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Almighty God, Allowed Abraham to spare his son from death. But there was a day when Almighty God had the dagger in his hand.
And it was headed toward the heart of his Son, Jesus Christ. and that dagger was not stopped. It was plunged into his heart at the crucifixion, and Jesus, God's only beloved Son. was allowed to die. He loved us so much that he would not spare his own son.
But delivered him up so that we might be forgiven of our sin. Because you see, the Bible says the wages of sin is death, and the wages had to be paid. If we paid those wages, we could never be with God. And so God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, into this world. And the story of Isaac is very much like it until you get to the very end.
And the Bible says that God did not spare his own son. but delivered him up for us all. That's how much God loves you. That's how much he loves me. that even his own beloved son was not a price too high for him to pay.
that you and I might be saved from our sin and forgiven. and go to heaven. Hallelujah. Amen. Yeah.
what God would not let Abraham do. With his son, He allowed to be done to his own son. That Jesus would die and pay the penalty for your sin and mine. I have this burden in my heart for those of you who listen to us. I know there are many who listen to Turning Point on the radio who have yet to receive Jesus Christ as their Savior, but I wonder if you've ever comprehended the love that God has for you, that He would do for you what He wouldn't let Abraham do to His own son.
He gave up His Son. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, and that includes you. Would you receive him today? Would you bow where you are? Would you close your eyes in a quiet place and just whisper this prayer?
Lord God, I need you in my life. I want to receive your Son, Jesus Christ, as my Savior. I do that now with all my heart. Thank you for hearing my prayer. I will live for you from this day forward.
Thank you for praying for those who make that decision. And if you're one of those people, welcome to the kingdom. We'll see you next time right here on Turning Point. The message you just heard originated from Shadow Mountain Community Church and Dr. David Jeremiah, the senior pastor.
Turning Point is also on radio and TV this weekend. To learn where to find it, visit our website davidjeremiah.org slash radio. That's davidjeremiah.org slash radio or call 800-947-1993. Ask for your copy of David's newly updated scripture reference guide, Where to Go in the Bible When. It's yours for a gift of any amount.
You can also purchase the Jeremiah Study Bible in the English Standard, New International and New King James Versions. available in a variety of handsome and resilient cover options. Let us know how this ministry is helping you grow by writing to Turning Point, PO Box 3838, San Diego, California, 92163. This is David Michael Jeremiah. Join us Monday as we continue the series, Ordinary People, Extraordinary Faith, on Turning Point.
