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God Tests Abraham: Genesis 22

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God Tests Abraham: Genesis 22

7 minuten leestijd Arcering uitzetten

Who made you? Where did you come from?

Maybe you remember the story of how God created everything. Now you know who created you! God did. God has made each and every one of us. He has given you to your parents so that they can raise you and teach you about Him.

Now, let’s pretend that you had some clay or playdough. You’re going to make a man. Let’s pretend that you can make this man walk and talk, be happy and sad, and think like we do. Don’t you think this man should listen to what you tell him, because you made him? What would happen if he disobeyed your rules? What if he will have nothing to do with you anymore? That would be wrong, wouldn’t it?

That’s how it is with God and us. We must obey His rules and worship Him because He has made us.

Because of the fall in Paradise we have turned away from God. Maybe we’d rather play at home than go to church. Maybe we’d rather read comic books or “bad” books instead of good books or the Bible. Or maybe we spend so much time making ourselves look nice, raising animals that win prizes, or playing with other things that we have no time for God and His service. Then these things become our gods. We call them—idols. Remember that word if you can. Idols are things or people that we think too much of, putting them before the Lord.

Abraham loved his son Isaac very much. God wanted to test Abraham, to see if Abraham loved Isaac even more than God. So one day God called Abraham. He told him to go to a certain mountain and to make Him a sacrifice.

What is a sacrifice? It’s a way of giving a gift to God. Remember how Cain and Abel gave offerings to God? Well, that is what Abraham was told to do. He was to give an offering, or sacrifice, to God. Remember how people had to give God the best and healthiest of all their animals or belongings? So Abraham had to give the best and dearest thing that he owned.

What do you think God asked him to kill and to offer to Him? Not his best goat, not his healthiest lamb, but — his own son! Isaac!

Why do you think God would ask Abraham to kill his own son? Killing is wrong, isn’t it? Yes, it is, but remember that God was testing Abraham. He was trying to find out something.

The Bible doesn’t tell us what Abraham said, but we know that he didn’t say no. The Bible tells us that the next morning Abraham got up very early. He got a donkey ready and prepared some wood on which to burn the sacrifice. Two servants went with him. And, of course, Isaac came too.

Abraham and his group walked and walked. It was a long way to the mountain to which God wanted him to go. They had to walk three days to get there.

I wonder what Abraham was thinking. I’m sure he wondered why God wanted him to give up his only son. God had promised that he would have many children and grandchildren through Isaac, but now look what was going to happen! God seemed to want to take Isaac away! Why wasn’t God going to keep His promise?

But Abraham had faith. Remember what faith is? It means that Abraham believed what God told him because he knew that God always had his best interests in mind. He knew that God would work out all things right. He trusted Him.

Isaac was thinking, too. He was probably worried and quiet. Something bothered him. His father was forgetting something!

Finally they came to the mountain. Isaac and Abraham went up the mountain together. The servants stayed behind. Isaac was still worried. Finally he said, “My Father.”

“Here am I, my son,” answered Abraham.

“Look at the things we have brought with us,” said Isaac. “We have the fire,...the wood... but where is the lamb we have to offer to God?”

Now what could Abraham say? He could not lie. That is a sin. But he didn’t want to say, “You are the offering. You, my son, are the one we are going to kill.” What should he say?

God gave Abraham the right words to say. Abraham sighed and said quietly, “My son, God Himself will give us a lamb for the offering.” Then Isaac felt better.

Soon they came to the place where God wanted him to go. First Abraham made the altar. An altar is a raised place on which the offering is made. Then he covered it with the wood to burn. Then—he took Isaac, his own son, tied him with rope, and laid him on top. And now—he had to kill him.

Did Abraham stop now? Did he say, “I just can’t do this”? No, the Bible says nothing about this. We read in the Bible that Abraham picked up his knife,...put his hand above Isaac,...and then...

But wait! Stop! There was a voice! It was the angel of the Lord. What did he say? Listen —

“Abraham, Abraham,” said the voice. It was God speaking through an angel.

“Here am I,” answered Abraham.

“Do not lay your hand on your son,” said the angel, “neither do anything to hurt him. Now I know that you love God more than you love your son, because you obeyed Me.”

Hearing a noise, Abraham looked up, and saw something! There was a ram caught by his horns in the bushes! Quickly Abraham took the ram and killed it, offering it as a sacrifice instead of Isaac. God had provided the sacrifice.

I think Abraham was very happy, don’t you? He had his dear son back again. He even gave the place where this happened a special name, calling it Jehovah-jireh.

Then God spoke to Abraham a second time. He told him that he would be greatly blessed. Because of one of his “grandchildren,” a way to be saved from sin would be told to all the nations of the world.

Do you know who that Person is? I’m sure you’ve heard of Him. He is the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus would be born many, many years later from one of the grandchildren of Abraham. Jesus was the Son of God, but would be born of Mary in Bethlehem, and would later be killed as an offering to God to pay for all the sins God’s people have done. If Jesus had not died as an offering for them, His people would not be able to go to heaven or to be with God. God is too holy and clean to allow anything evil in His heaven. Jesus cleaned His people from their black sins. We can say that Isaac shows us a picture of what Jesus would be later.

Always let us ask God to show us the wrong things we have done. Once we see how very sinful we are in God’s eyes, we will need the Lord Jesus, who is the only One who can make us clean.

—SW

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Bekijk de hele uitgave van dinsdag 1 januari 1991

The Banner of Truth | 28 Pagina's

God Tests Abraham: Genesis 22

Bekijk de hele uitgave van dinsdag 1 januari 1991

The Banner of Truth | 28 Pagina's