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Ring of Truth provides 366 daily ‘proofs’ that the Bible is consistent throughout from Genesis to Revelation, and relevant for our lives today!
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Genesis 22:5
“He said to his servants, ‘Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.’”
This statement from Abraham is very profound and challenging to us.
Oh yes, we have already read to the end of the chapter so it is a mere statement of fact but that was not the case for Abraham. Abraham waited years and years for an heir. He got older and older, as did Sarah, until both were well beyond childbearing age and she was still barren. Yes, he was fertile but she was barren. (Abraham may even have become infertile by then, too.)
Then at last - Isaac was born. The miracle baby. Abraham enjoyed his company and he became a young man. Probably, at least about 17 or 18. (How else could he carry all that wood for the sacrifice?) Maybe even up to 37. All Abraham ‘knew’ at this point was that he had to sacrifice Isaac. Give him up.
He had already left his homeland, left his past and left his relatives for God. Now he was not only being asked to sacrifice his ‘present’ but his future as well. Isaac was his heir. He was the one through whom God was to give Abraham descendants, kings in the generations to come. But he had to sacrifice Isaac first.
Abraham was not stupid. He was not afraid to argue with God, but there was no hint of an argument here. He even left early in the morning, it seems, so Sarah wouldn’t know until they had already gone – so she couldn’t dissuade him. He reached the point from where he could see the ‘spot’. From then on, it was just Isaac and Abraham.
But what could he tell the servants. I’m going on to kill Isaac – I’ll see you again afterwards? Or has he decided to tell lies again? What was going through his mind?
The writer to the Hebrews tells us, “Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead” (Hebrews 11:19). Figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from the dead.
No one is recorded as having risen from the dead before, so how could that be true? Maybe he believed the account about Noah who ‘survived’ while the rest of the world died. Maybe he realised that though he was effectively dead, Isaac had been born. Maybe he knew a miracle-working God and had supreme faith in Him.
What about you? Do you really believe God like Abraham did? Would you risk your most treasured possession for Jesus? Do you know God as a good God, like Abraham did?
What about your ministry, your gifting, your vision, that ‘prophetic word’ spoken over you, your desire, your God-given promise – could you let go of them so that God could raise them up again in resurrection power? Try it, you’ll have a phenomenal testimony to tell, if you do.
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