What Does Faith Look Like As a Parent? (Genesis 21:22-22)
- Abraham/Sarah – Faith & Family
- It takes faith to be a XN. It takes a lot of faith to be a XN parent.
- Alexie – kindergarten to graduation
Faith for Your Family
Genesis 21:22 At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army said to Abraham, “God is with you in all that you do. 23 Now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my descendants or with my posterity, but as I have dealt kindly with you, so you will deal with me and with the land where you have sojourned.” 24 And Abraham said, “I will swear.” 25 When Abraham reproved Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech’s servants had seized, 26 Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, and I have not heard of it until today.” 27 So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a covenant. 28 Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock apart. 29 And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you have set apart?” 30 He said, “These seven ewe lambs you will take from my hand, that this may be a witness for me that I dug this well.” 31 Therefore that place was called Beersheba, because there both of them swore an oath. 32 So they made a covenant at Beersheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army rose up and returned to the land of the Philistines. 33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called there on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God. 34 And Abraham sojourned many days in the land of the Philistines.
- Philistines – archenemy of God’s people “sea peoples” who arrived in boat migrations
- Debate here is over water rights @ Beersheba (“well of an oath”=place of treaties)
= Long peace/prosperity (at least decade)– then TEST
New faith for an old fear – previously feared life, gave Sarah away (RETAKE TEST)
Faith for Your Child
22 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take 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.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” 6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. 7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together. 9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.” 15 And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, 18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” 19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham lived at Beersheba.
Test – Old English can mean to tempt you to fail or prove you by passing
- This test may have been for Isaac to see the faith of his father
- “Go” command #2 (Gen. 12)
- 50 miles is time to change your mind & turn back
- = slaughter/dismember, burn body (Lev. 18:21, 20:2)
- Sacrificing Children – 63 million Roe v Wade
- Isaac- between teens & early 30’s
- Up early no complaints or rebellion
- Wood was scarce so you had to pack it in
- Only recorded conversation between father and son alone in the book
- ?Last words God to Abraham 22:17-18
- Greatest test of his life is later in life when faith is most mature
- God did not want Isaac’s life. God wanted Abraham and Isaac’s heart
- Substitutionary atonement in focus
- Jesus shows up “the angel of the Lord” – to say sacrifice will be provided
= Stan Lee 20 cameos in his Marvel movies
What was Abraham Thinking with the “Sacrifice” of Isaac?
James 2:21–22 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works…
- Faith is internal conviction & external action
- Parents???? What faith act is for your child????
= Key to being a good parent is being a good child
Hebrews 11:17-19 “By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.
· Already lost Ishmael. Had 2 sons may be @ 0
· After seeing God bring his wife back twice, Abraham believed God could bring his son back
· Judges 19:25 – 1st resurr. mentioned in Bible
= we know more & trust less (I don’t have this much faith)
What was God Doing with the “Sacrifice” of Isaac?
Genesis 22:2 “Take 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.”
2 Chronicles 3:1 Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to David his father…
Temple – 1). Connected Heaven/Earth 2). Substitutionary sacrifices
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Romans 8:32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
God adopts us as Father/child
Mt. Moriah – in Old City Jerusalem = Temple Mount
XN, Jew (wailing wall) , Muslims (Dome of Rock & Al-Aqsa Mosque)
37 acre former Temple Destroyed 70 AD (NO MORE SACRIFICES)
This photo https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-is-beneath-the-temple-mount-920764/
NOTE: Let’s have these go up one at a time as I read them:
Realfaith.com Genesis study guide free
Jesus is the Greater Isaac (Genesis 22)
1. Isaac and Jesus were both born in accordance with promises given many years before
2. Isaac and Jesus were both born at God’s appointed time after years of waiting
3. Isaac and Jesus were both born of miracles
4. Isaac and Jesus were both firstborn sons
5. Isaac and Jesus were both loved by their fathers
6. Isaac and Jesus were both left their fathers home (Beersheba/Heaven)
7. Isaac and Jesus both journeyed three days (Beersheba-Moriah, cross-empty tomb)
8. Isaac and Jesus were both escorted by two men to their sacrifice (2 servants, 2 thieves)
9. Isaac and Jesus were both young men who carried wood upon their back to their sacrifice
10. Isaac and Jesus both willingly submitted their lives to their father
11. Isaac and Jesus were both laid down as an offering for sin
12. Isaac and Jesus both asked their father a question. “Where is the lamb?”, “Why have you forsaken me?”
13. Jesus is the Angel of the Lord who spared Isaac and died as the sacrifice for sin
14. Isaac was promised that God would provide, and Jesus was that provision
15. Isaac was raised from death figuratively, and Jesus was raised from death literally
16. Isaac & Jesus went forth to get their bride (Rebekah, Church)