Abraham's Unique Test — Chuck Smith

Oh, let the sun... A Word For Today, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California. Pastor Chuck is currently leading us on a verse-by-verse study through the entire Bible.

And on today's edition of The Word For Today, we'll begin to look at God's progressive fellowship with Abraham as we pick up in Genesis, Chapter 22, Verse 1. So let's follow along as Pastor Chuck Smith focuses on a very unique test for Abraham.

God's Test of Abraham and the First Mention of Love

Now it came to pass, after these things, and now we probably have a period of 25 years or so later. This last instant, of course, that we had a date was the weaning of Isaac. Now some 25 years after Isaac was weaned.

It came to pass that God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham. He said, here I am. And he said, take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love. Love is probably one of the most important words in the Bible, and interestingly enough, this is the first time the word is found in the Bible.

And there is a study of the Bible that takes the first use of the word in the Bible, and usually the first time that a word is used in the Bible sets the pattern for that use of the word throughout the Bible.

So there is what they call first mention in biblical interpretation. And so when you're studying a particular subject, you go back to the first mention of that word or the first mention of that subject, and you study the circumstances of the first mention to get a light upon wherever it is mentioned.

So in the law of first mention, this is an important thing. The first mention of the word love in the Bible is interestingly enough the love of a father for a son. Now we hear a lot of mother love, but the first mention of love in the Bible is not of a mother for her child, a husband for his wife, but it is of the father for his son.

Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom you love. Turning to the New Testament, what is the first mention of love in the New Testament? In Matthew's gospel, we are told when Jesus was baptized that the voice of God spoke from heaven, saying, This is my beloved son.

The love of the father for the son. Mark's gospel, the first mention of love, is also at the baptism of Jesus where Mark records the voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved son. In Luke's gospel, the first mention of love is again at the baptism of Jesus when God said, This is my beloved son.

But what's the first mention of love in John's gospel? We have the synoptic gospels. They all agree. What's the first mention of love in John's gospel? Can you guess? Of course you can. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.

God's love for the world. My beloved son in whom I am well pleased. God is giving his beloved son. So God said to Abraham, Take now your son Isaac. Thine only son whom you love. God does not here recognize Ishmael.

The Works of the Flesh and the Work of the Spirit

Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac. Ishmael was the work of the flesh. God refused to recognize him because of the work of the flesh. He's not the child of promise. He isn't the work of God, the work of the spirit.

He's the work of the flesh. And so God doesn't acknowledge him. But acknowledges only that work of the spirit, Isaac. Take now thy son, thine only son whom thou lovest or whom you love. We so often are guilty of trying to offer to God the works of our flesh and we want God to accept them.

God will not accept the works of your flesh. So much of the endeavor for God is endeavor in the flesh. That's one of the weaknesses and the problems of the church today. We are endeavoring in the ability and the energy of the flesh to do the work of the spirit.

The psalmist said, except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build it. Except the Lord watch the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. We're going to be surprised, shocked, and perhaps greatly disappointed when we stand before God and our works are then tried by fire.

Because so many of the works are going to be burned. The works of the flesh. Those things that I've done in the flesh. Listen, I spent years, years, trying in the ability and the energy of my flesh to do the work of God.

I tried for years in my flesh to build the church of Jesus Christ. And it all went for naught. Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain. And I'll tell you, I spent a lot of years laboring in vain.

God doesn't recognize the works of your flesh. He wants the work of his spirit in your life. So take your son Isaac, whom you love, your only son, go to the land of Moriah to offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.

Abraham's Journey to Mount Moriah

The land of Moriah was the area of Jerusalem. Abraham living down near Beersheba about 30 miles away. You made 10 miles a day walking. And so it was a three-day journey. And so Abraham rose early in the morning.

He saddled his donkey. He took two of his young men. And interestingly enough, the Hebrew word translated here, young men, is the same word that is translated lad for Isaac. So he was about the same age as these young servants that Abraham took, probably in their 20s.

He took his young men with him and Isaac his son, and he split the wood for the burnt offering. And he arose and went to the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off.

Now, Paul, writing to the Corinthians, speaks of the gospel that he had preached to them. And he said the gospel that he had preached to them was that of Christ who died and was three days dead but who rose again on the third day.

That's the gospel, Paul said, which he preached to them. And he speaks of it as being really from the Old Testament. Now, where do you have the teaching of the resurrection of Christ? How Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture, was raised again the third day according to the Scriptures.

What Scriptures? Where in the Old Testament does it say that he would be raised again the third day? And as I look at the Old Testament, this must be the reference to which Paul was referring. For three days as they journeyed, Isaac was as dead in the mind of his father Abraham.

Nonetheless, Abraham the whole while was believing in the resurrection. He could not understand what was going on. He could not understand the command of God. He saw a real dilemma, God's dilemma. God had said through Isaac shall thy seed be called.

Isaac didn't have any children. He was not yet married. So the seed has to come through Isaac and yet God is saying offer him as a sacrifice on the Mount that I will show you, the place that I will show you.

So how can then Isaac have seed? The only way he can is to be resurrected. So in Hebrews 11 it said, by faith Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice unto God, knowing that God would if necessary raise him from the dead in order to fulfill the promise through Isaac shall thy seed be called.

So Abraham is going in faith, the faith in the promise of God that through Isaac shall thy seed be called. And on the basis of that promise, he was willing to make this sacrifice. God's word is going to be kept.

Isaac is going to be the father of the race. God, you've got a problem. I don't know how you're going to solve it, but that's your problem. And so he came within sight of Mount Moriah. And as he came within sight of the mountain, he said to the two servants, you stay here.

Worship as the Surrender of the Will

I and the lad will go and worship. Now this is the first mention of worship in the Bible. And we sometimes sing together, close our eyes, lift our hands as we sing songs to God and we say, well, we've been worshiping God.

Technically that isn't what the Bible terms as worship. The word worship literally means to bow down. That's the literal meaning of the word translated worship. And what it is a reference to is the bowing down of my will to God.

That's what God looks at as worship. When I bow down my will to God, God looks upon that as my worshiping Him. And that's what worshiping God is all about. You see, you can lift your hands and sing with your eyes closed, but you may be resisting God in your heart.

You say, oh, I had such a wonderful time worshiping God. No, you didn't. Because the worship is that bowing down of my will to God. And Abraham is saying to these boys, we're going to go up to that mountain and we're going to bow down our will to God.

I'm bowing down to God's will. Going up to bow down, to surrender to the will of God. We will go and we will worship, we will bow down, and we will come again. Don't know how we're going to come again yet, but we will.

Because through Isaac shall the seed be called. So Abraham declares they're going to worship and they're going to come again. The word come, we will come again, the word come is a plural verb. So it is, we will come again.

We will come back to you. So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and he laid it on Isaac, his son. Even as Jesus, they put upon him the cross and he bore it towards Golgotha. He took the fire in his hand and a knife and the two of them went together.

God Provides the Lamb

But Isaac spoke to Abraham, his father, and said, My father? And he said, Here I am, my son. And he said, Look, the fire and the wood. But where is the lamb for the burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself the lamb for the burnt offering.

And the two of them went together. Not God will provide for himself, as you read in the New King James, that's a poor translation, but God will provide himself. This is a prophecy of Abraham concerning Jesus Christ, God the Son, who was provided as a lamb slain for our sins.

We are redeemed not with corruptible things such as silver and gold from our vain manner of living, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ who was slain as a lamb without spot or blemish. As John cried, Behold the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.

God will provide himself a lamb for the burnt offering. Marvelous prophecy. So the two of them went together. And they came to the place which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there. He placed the wood in order.

Isaac's Submission and Christ's Obedience

And then he bound Isaac, his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. Isaac, 25, 30, maybe even 33 years old at this point. We're not sure. Possibly. The next event we read about is the death of Sarah.

And Isaac was about 37 when his mother died. His father now 125, 30 years old. Surely at this point, Isaac could have overpowered his dad. He could have said, Wait a minute, Dad. I see what's going on.

None of that. You know, you're crazy if you think I'm going to let you go any further. And he could have overpowered his dad. But he submitted to his father. He allowed his father to tie him and place him on the altar.

Even as Jesus, in going to the cross, submitted to the will of the father. He could have escaped it. In the garden, he prayed, Father, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not what I will, thy will be done.

And then when the soldiers came to arrest him and Peter pulled out his sword and began to swing away, Jesus said, Peter, put away your sword, the cup that the father has given me to drink. Shall I not drink it?

Don't you realize I could call 10 legions of angels to wipe these guys out? But the cup the father has given me to drink, shall I not drink it? As he was praying there in John 17, Father, glorify me with the glory that I had with thee before the world ever existed.

What shall I say? He said, I desire to escape this hour, but to this hour was I come into the world. Submitting to the father, he went to the cross. Isaac, submitting to his father, was bound and placed on the altar.

The Father Gives His Beloved Son

And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. I imagine at this point Isaac was looking up at his dad, and he saw the tears rolling down his dad's cheek, the hardest thing Abraham ever did.

I mean, this is the greatest test of faith he could ever have. Somehow God's going to bring this kid back to life. I don't know how, but, you know, he's got to be the one through which the promise comes.

God has said through Isaac shall thy seed be called. And there was that moment, father, son. And if you ask me which one was suffering the most, Abraham or Isaac, being a dad, I would venture to say Abraham was suffering more than Isaac.

When Jesus was hanging on the cross, who suffered the most? Take now thy son, thy son whom thou lovest. This is my beloved son. And we don't often think of the pain of the father's heart when the son was being sacrificed for our sins.

Faith Demonstrated by Corresponding Works

Abraham raised the knife, and the angel of the Lord, again, not the angel of God, but back to the angel of the Lord, called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, here I am. He said, do not lay your hand on the lad, the young man, nor do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.

James gives to us a very interesting commentary on this particular passage of scripture, declaring that Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness, but the proof that he believed God was manifested when he sacrificed his son.

And thus, that work of sacrificing son was the proof of his faith. So that faith without works is dead, abiding alone. He uses that as part of his argument, that faith has to produce works that are corresponding and in harmony with what I declare I believe.

And so the faith of Abraham was demonstrated in his willingness to offer his son.

We'll return with more of our verse-by-verse study through the book of Genesis in our next lesson, as we continue to follow the testing of Abraham. And we do hope you'll make plans to join us. But right now, I'd like to remind you that if you missed any part of today's message, or perhaps you'd like to order a copy for that special friend or loved one, you can do so by simply contacting one of our customer service representatives, and they'd be more than happy to assist you with the ordering details.

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That's right here, on the next edition of The Word for Today. Here's Pastor Chuck Smith. May the Lord be with you.

May His hand be upon your life. And may your heart be open to God to deal with the issues of your life where sin is moving in, because sin is crouching at your door. It's wanting to rule over you. But even so, Jesus wants to rule over your life, and you should rule over sin through Him.

May God give you victory and power as you live in fellowship with Him through Jesus. I am the lion.

What's going on? Don't be afraid. We have God on our side. My name is David, and I know all about big, scary giants. I've defeated lions and bears, and God will help me defeat Goliath, too. It's true, and Pastor Chuck wants to tell you all about the story of David and Goliath in his new book, Just for Kids.

So come along on a great adventure and discover how God used David to defeat a big, scary giant, and learn why David believed that God was big enough even to conquer Goliath. And as a gift, each book contains an audio CD of Pastor Chuck actually reading the story of David and Goliath so your kids can read along.

To order your copy, call The Word For Today at 800 -272-WORD. Or to see a sneak preview of the story of David and Goliath, visit us online at thewordfortoday .org. Again, the number to call is... 20!

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