WEEKLY
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
An
international Sunday school lesson commentary
For
Sunday March 4, 2018
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THE
LORD WILL PROVIDE
(Our
obedience leads to GOD’s provisions)
(Genesis
22)
Genesis 22
comprises the, now famous account, of Abraham’s “faith and obedience test” that
is actually given by GOD to all those who profess to love, worship, and serve
HIM, even to those here in this 21st century. However, in Abraham’s
test, GOD instructs him to take his son, Isaac, to the land of Moriah (which means
“bitterness of the LORD”) some 50 miles away (approximately 3 days journey)
from his home in Beersheba.
Mount Moriah is an elevated area in
Jerusalem, then known as Salem, where Abraham once met with Melchizedek
(Genesis 14:17-24). It is also the place where King Solomon would later build
the first temple of GOD here on earth (2 Chronicles 3:1-2). By sending Abraham
to Moriah, and with Abraham knowing the meaning and history of the name, GOD
was setting the stage for Abraham’s greatest test of faith.
Real tests from GOD often defies human
logic, because, in order for a test of faith to be effective, it has to be
composed of those elements that the flesh will vehemently be opposed to. The
test has to present us with a genuine opportunity to choose between obeying the
flesh (satan), or clinging to the SPIRIT (GOD). Through those tests, GOD is
seeking to prove to us, for our own spiritual confidence, whether or not we are
“true believers”, or just “professed Christians”.
In order to serve GOD properly, we have to
prove through our actions and behavior (not just through our mouth), that we
love HIM more than our father, mother, sister, brother, children, or property
here on earth (Mark 10:29-31), and be willing to give up any and all things
(your whole life) for the kingdom, and for CHRIST’s sake, the way JESUS did for
us.
GOD never intended for Abraham to kill his
son Isaac, but rather, HE was trying to prove to Abraham himself, if he would
truly be willing to do it, if he had to. Our tests are never done for GOD’s sake,
because GOD already knows the answer to all things. However, in order for us to
serve HIM with complete confidence and faith, we ourselves have to know where
we truly stand at all times, and how we will react in pressure situations when
things aren’t going well, and we are beset with tribulations and persecutions
from the world (satan).
Several things in this passage confirm
Abraham’s faith in GOD, and we’ll investigate some of those right now. First of
all, GOD tells Abraham up front that he would be taking Isaac to Moriah to
present him as a sacrifice to HIM (v.2). In those days, child sacrifices by
pagan cultures, especially to the idol god Mollech, were very popular, and was
almost certainly a ritual term that Abraham was familiar with. However, he also
knew that it was something that his GOD detested and would never indorse among
HIS people.
Nevertheless, operating on total faith,
Abraham got up early the next morning, saddled a donkey, and took Isaac, along
with two of his servants and some wood for the sacrificial burnt offering, and
set out on the 50-mile journey that had been designated by “the GOD of his
faith”. We can assume that GOD requested this be done some 50 miles away so
that Abraham would have at least three days to think about it, and have amble
time to change his mind, and not go through with it, if he chose to. This was
indeed, another part of the test.
On the third day of the journey, Abraham
could see from a distance, the place where GOD had instructed him to go, and so
he directed his servants to stay where they were, and he traveled the remaining
short distance alone with Isaac, and the supply of wood. He told them that they
would go and worship, and would be back shortly.
This was an astounding statement by Abraham
that seemed to confirm his faith that GOD would keep HIS promise to him and
would not actually kill the heir to that promise, which was Isaac, or, at
worse, GOD would kill him, and then raise him from the dead. However, either
way, his “faith reasoning” was that, he would not lose his son in this ordeal.
Throughout Old Testament Scripture, and, in
levitical law, the lamb is not only the animal most preferred for sacrificial
offerings, but, over time, it has become the literal symbol of sacrifice.
JESUS, WHO is the innocent lamb of GOD, voluntarily offered HIMSELF up as a
sacrifice for all mankind. HE, quite literally, took our place “as payment” for
our sins against GOD, past, present, and future.
Here in Genesis 22, verses 6-8, Abraham
places the wood for the burnt offering on “Isaac’s shoulder” and he took a
lighted torch and a knife in his own hands, and the two of them begin to “walk
to their final destination” (this is reminiscent of JESUS’ death walk from the
courthouse to Golgotha, bearing HIS OWN cross). It was then that Isaac said to
his father, “We have the wood and the fire, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?
Here Abraham responds with another statement of faith, “GOD will provide a lamb
my son”.
When they arrived at the place where GOD
had told Abraham to go, he built an altar to the LORD and placed the supply of
wood on it. He then tied Isaac up, and laid him on top of the wood and took his
knife and raised it up over his head to kill him as a sacrifice to the LORD. At
that moment “The ANGEL of the LORD”, which is a theophany of CHRIST in the Old
Testament, shouted out to Abraham from Heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!”
Abraham immediately stopped his downward
motion with the knife and said, “I’m listening” (Vs.9-11). The ANGEL then told
Abraham to “Lay down the knife. Do not hurt the boy in any way, for “now I
know” that you truly fear GOD. You have not withheld even your beloved son from
ME”.
In the Old Testament, prophets were
reformers of sort, who, not only delivered GOD’s Word, but also, at one and the
same time, challenged the people to actually serve the LORD and obey HIS Word.
They were called “men of GOD” or “seers”, and were distinguished by their holy
lifestyle before men, under GOD. They were able to faithfully see beyond that
which is natural in the eyes of man.
JESUS wholly fitted the role of the Old
Testament prophet. In fact, in the Old Testament, the future CHRIST served in
the role of a prophet as “The ANGEL of the LORD” and even “The COMMANDER of the
LORD’s Army” in Joshua 5:13-15. As a prophet, HE delivered many messages from
GOD the FATHER to men such as Abraham here in Genesis 22:11-17, to Moses in
Exodus 3:2-3 (the burning bush), to Joshua, to Baalam in Numbers 22:21-35, and,
to the Israelites in general at Bokim in
Judges 2:1-5.
The Scriptures teaches us that “the
pre-incarnate JESUS” and “the incarnate JESUS” was not “all-knowing”
(omniscient) as GOD the FATHER is. We see that here in this passage in the
ANGEL’s response to Abraham, were HE says “now I know” that you truly fear
GOD”, meaning that HE didn’t know how Abraham would respond to his test
from GOD the FATHER beforehand. Also, JESUS tells us HIMSELF in Matthew 24:36
that HE was not all-knowing at that stage in HIS humanity, but was not granted
omni-power, in Heaven and on earth, until just before HIS ascension back into
Heaven, as “the Resurrected JESUS”, and SAVIOR of the world (Matthew 28:18).
In verses 13-14 we see Abraham looking up
and seeing a ram (symbolic of CHRIST) caught in a bush, a “sacrificial
substitute” to replace his son, Isaac (mankind), on the altar of GOD. Here the
concept of how GOD would later bring salvation to man, through HIS only
begotten SON, CHRIST JESUS, is being introduced into the world. And Abraham
named the place “The LORD will provide”. This name gave rise to a future
popular Jewish proverb that would state “On the mountain of the LORD, it will
be provided”.
Then “The ANGEL of the LORD” spoke again to
Abraham saying, “This is what the LORD says: “Because you have obeyed ME and
have not withheld even your beloved son, I swear by MY OWN SELF that I will
bless you richly, I will multiply your descendants into countless millions,
like the stars of the sky and the sands on the seashore, they will conquer
their enemies, and through your descendants, all the nations of the earth will
be blessed---all because you have obeyed ME”.
Abraham then traveled back to Beersheba and
lived there for a long time. As this chapter ends, we see GOD already making
preparations in the life of young Isaac, and we are introduced to his future
wife, Rebekah, who had already been born to the youngest son of Abraham’s
brother, Nahor, who was now living in the east. Rebekah’s father’s name was
Bethuel. Stay tuned.
A
Sunday school lesson by,
Larry
D. Alexander
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