Hebrews Chapter Eleven, Abraham's Test Of Faith

 

Hebrews 11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who 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.

 

The writer turns to Genesis chapter 22, which details the account of God’s command to sacrifice Isaac on an altar. Focusing on verse 2, we read, “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.”

This command is profound in its manifold implications. First, God seems to contradict Himself upon a superficial glance. Prior to this moment God confirmed to Abraham that through Isaac, not Ishmael or any other descendant, He would make of Abraham a great nation. Isaac was the child of promise, given to a barren Sarah in her old age. Ishmael was the child of Hagar, begotten by Abraham by Sarah’s contrivances in an effort to do God’s job for Him. In this verse, however, Ishmael isn’t regarded as one of Abraham’s sons, as far as the covenant between God and Abraham is concerned. God refers to Isaac as Abraham’s only son, though Ishmael is the elder, and by that privilege should have been the inheritor. But neither is Abraham the eldest; later Jacob would succeed Esau in the same manner, called by God despite the tradition of the firstborn.

 

God confirms Abraham’s love for his son, and predicated on that, commands that the patriarch offer Isaac as a burnt offering on a mountain in the land of Moriah. There is much debate about where Moriah was. The orthodox opinion was that Moriah lay just north of the Jebusite city of Jerusalem; the same hilltop, or mountain, that David purchased from Araunah the Jebusite to offer sacrifice to God when he commanded a census in Israel, 2 Samuel 24:18, 21. Moreover, the most accepted timeline for Abraham’s testing was when Isaac was himself already a young man, or lad, Genesis 22:5. The Hebrew term, “na’ar,” can mean child, but often means a young man of marriageable age, but still a bachelor.

 

Further, it has already been established since Eden how God was approached regarding offerings. Abel knew this, having undoubtedly learned it from his parents, if not perhaps from God Himself. Animal sacrifice, and specified kinds of animals at that (see Genesis 7:8) was the established method of propitiation. Human sacrifice, which God would later denounce as an abomination, was not permitted as a burnt offering, see Leviticus 18:21. The parameters for this test of faith were put in place. But who was this test for? God already declared Abraham righteous years prior to this event, Genesis 15:6. The test then, was not just for Abraham, or Isaac, for that matter, but for people to see what faith looks like when it enters our day-to-day practical lives. Faith in action leads to obedience; rather, faith in action IS obedience. This is the essence of what James was attempting to convey about this self-same issue in his own epistle, James 2:21, 22.

 

Moreover, we are told that Abraham believed that God would return Isaac to him, even if it were from the dead. In Genesis 22:5 it is written, “the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.” He leaves behind his servants, takes his son to his presumed demise by immolation, and ventures on in faith, trusting that God can raise the dead. Again, Isaac was likely a young man at this point. By Genesis chapter 24, we find a near-40 year old Isaac grieving the loss of his mother, as was recorded in Genesis 23:1, 2. He was not an innocent, gullible child being led by his father to his death. Neither was Abraham lying to his servants when he told them that they were going to worship together, and then return together. No, this was a confession of Abraham’s confidence in God’s providential care over them. Otherwise Hebrews 11:19 conflicts with Abraham’s verbal confession that they (plural, in reference to both father and son) would return after worshiping. How were they to worship? By faithfully doing as they were commanded, from the heart. Abraham’s walk of faith began by leaving Ur, and then leaving Haran after Terah’s death, listening to the command of his God. Now God’s leadership led him to Moriah and a seemingly impossible act. Moral implications aside, what would happen to the promises of God? But it would seem that Abraham was not honestly troubled by this; the account doesn’t write that Abraham wavered in his faith, dragged his feet or argued with the Lord. It does record that Abraham bound his son to the altar, took up the knife, and was wiling to do what he was told, Genesis 22:10.

 

The end result of his unflagging obedience was a clear testimony to his faith toward God, Genesis 22:12. Furthermore, Isaac was indeed restored to him, and God, as Abraham predicted, provided a sacrifice of His own in Isaac’s stead, Genesis 22:8, 13. This brief account of Abraham’s faith is a parable of God’s providential care for mankind. Abraham could represent the Father, and Isaac humanity, bound to the altar to suffer the punishment our sin deserves. The ram in the thicket is Jesus Christ our Lord, who takes our place, setting us free from the penalty of sin, which is death, dying in our stead. The guilty party is redeemed to the Father by the vicarious death of another. As Hebrews 11:19 attests, Abraham certainly received his son back in a figurative sense, since the ram took his appointed place as the burnt offering. Jesus, when teaching the Jews of His day, told them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham,” John 8:39. Jesus was teaching the Jewish people that physical pedigree did not save; if they wished to be saved they must become Abraham’s children and demonstrate a faith similar to Israel’s founding patriarch. Salvation is individual, based on the response every person has toward God’s call in Jesus Christ. In this roster of faith, the author was reminding his Jewish readership that their nation was not saved simply because they were Jewish; they were saved, each man or woman, because their faith was like Abraham’s, a singular and unique reflection of his trust in God that transcended circumstance and heredity.