Please Sacrifice And Prove Your Faith To All Universe!
One of the most intriguing verses in the whole Bible is when God told to Abraham, "1 Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 Then He said, “Take now 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.”" (Gen 22:1-2).
Reading the above verse plainly in English, we see a tough God who commands his servant, 'Take now 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," which doesn't seem to be like a good God. But if we directly translate from the original Hebrew the same verse will say, " 2 and he said, please take your son, your solitary one which you love, Yits'hhaq [He laughs] and you will walk to the land of Moriyah [Appearance of Yah] and make him go up there for a rising upon one of the hills which I will say to you."" (Gen 22:1-2, AHRC-RMT). In the original Hebrew, there no word for 'Now' as it looks like God is commanding Abraham like a insensitive cruel master, rather it is 'naw' in Hebrew which is a prayer, a pleading and a request of God that says to Abraham to take his only son Isaac and sacrifice to show to the universe how much he loves God.
In other words, because God knows the faith that is in Abraham regarding Him and His unchangeable promises, God pleaded with Abraham to show to the world how much faith He had in Yahweh the true God who gives life to all human beings. Unless faith is demonstrated in action it is not genuine (James 2:17; 2 Cor 4:13-14), no one can come to know about this genuine faith within you for God to justly reward people now and for eternity as none but God only understands the thoughts of faith (James 2:22-23). In other words, trials from God only come to those who have real faith within them and that is the reason Apostle James told all believers to rejoice and count it all joy when it actually comes for you to face and come out of it victoriously (James 1:2). The same way God pleaded to Abraham saying, 'Please...sacrifice as burnt offering your only son Isaac whom you love' through which He blessed him without limit for the demonstration of his faith, God pleads with all of us believers, to accept the trials that comes to us even though it might be unreasonable for our human mind that He wants us to allow these trials to be accepted willingly and joyfully so that the world might come to know our faith working through love towards God which will bring glory to Him for eternity ahead and for us to be blessed and favored by God legally before the whole universe working under Him (Gal 5:6).
This equation of love and obedience like unto Abraham and Isaac was expressed simply to all of us believers when Jesus said to his friends, "If you love me, keep my commandments." (John 14:15; 15:10, 12, 13-14). In other words Jesus was saying, "If you love me, please do what I say to you even though it is unreasonable to your human mind or your own feelings." Abraham loved God and was a friend of God, so he obeyed this pleading prayer of God to fulfill it to show to all the humans and angels alike in the whole universe his loyalty to his one and only closest friend in this life who is God Himself (James 2:23; Isa 41:8). It was love that brought forth obedience out of Abraham in devotion towards God. It was not law or compulsion that made Abraham sacrifice his only son whom he loved, to be kept on the altar of sacrifice in obedience to God. I believe that this truth will shift the way you see forever these Scriptures we saw, which reveals God Himself doing a pleading prayer to Abraham to show his love for Him outwardly before the whole universe, which Abraham did in complete obedience for the glory of God. In other words, if we have genuine faith within us like Abraham, we will be willing to sacrifice the most valuable thing in our life for God and His Glory because of our love towards Him.
Jesus said, "37 He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39 He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it." (Matt 10:37-39). Our mother, father, son and daughter are the closest thing in our earthly life who fills our heart, but God is worthy of filling our heart more than them because of the Sacrifice that He has done in redeeming us from our sins and giving for us His own only begotten Son Jesus Christ to die for each one of us so that we could have eternal friendship and life with Him forever (John 3:16; Rom 8:32). So we know when Abraham was tested whether he loved God more than the only son of his old age, he proved to the whole world and universe that he is worthy of the God whom He followed through much sacrifices done for Him in his own personal life, and one of the greatest zenith of those sacrifices was letting go of his only son Isaac whom he loved in to the safe hands of God to demonstrate his obedience and love towards God through burnt offering. Abraham did not see the comfort of earthly life and soul life to be cherished more than obedience to God who is worthy of all his love, respect, adoration and awe as He is his Creator Almighty, so he gained the very life of heaven on earth and also inside his soul for eternity ahead. The grand friendship and favor of God he gained in the end in this life and in the life to come. Any one who wants to save their comfort of earthly life and soul life, will actually lose it all at the end of their selfish life lived for themselves.
In our lives too, there will come a time when we will be tested in this area, whether we love God more than our father, mother, wife, son and daughter, in such times of great testing it is wonderful to understand that it is God who is praying and pleading to us to embrace such trials in our personal lives to demonstrate our love for Him to the whole world and universe for His glory which will be recorded forever in the remembrance book of heaven (Malachi 3:16–18). If we positively embrace such trials (James 1:2-4), we are assured by God of a good and a expected ending with great favor and eternal reward with Abraham in our lives too (Gal 3:9; James 5:10-11; Matt 8:11).
We know that God is the one who had promised to Abraham and Sarah in their old age that He is going to supernaturally give them a boy baby, and even gave to them his name as Isaac even before he was conceived in his mothers womb and had promised to establish His covenant to multiply them as a nation for Himself (Gen 17:1, 15-19, 21). So we know that Isaac was not Abraham's or Sarah's idea, but was rather God's idea to bring an eternal covenant with Abraham in to existence and fulfillment through him.
Then we see God made Sarah to conceive supernaturally and at the set time as God had previously promised to Abraham and Sarah, exactly the next year God made Isaac to come alive and well as a healthy baby boy out of Sarah's womb. Thus God made both Abraham and Sarah to laugh and enjoy the company of Isaac in their old age (Gen 21:5-7).
The Hebrew Bible abundantly attests that the burnt offering of children was current in early Palestinian religion (Lev. 20:2; Deut. 12:31; 2 Ki. 16:3; 17:31; 23:10; Jer. 7:30-32; 19:3-5; Ezek. 16:20-21). For instance, Jeremiah, an Israelite prophet, mentioned many times that Israelites have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in fire as offerings to Baal (Jer. 19:5).
Burnt offering of humans or little children was something that God prohibited as pagan abomination by saying in the Law of Moses, " 10 There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter to be burned as an sacrificial offering to an idol through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. 12 For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD your God drives them out from before you. 13 You shall be blameless before the LORD your God." (Deut 18:10-13).
The burnt offering of children really existed in ancient Canaan which actually God disliked and wanted to stop, but still we know that Abraham was willing to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, as a burnt offering and to kill Isaac before burning him when he was told by God to do so (Gen. 22:1-19). How could the God to whom such human sacrifices are abominable and hates it, at this instance could say to Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac as a burnt offering? Did God speak or did the devil spoke to Abraham? Abraham knew more than 100% for sure that it was God who has spoken to him to sacrifice (Gen 22:1; John 10:27), if it had been a Satanic deception, God as a very close friend of Abraham would have stopped him from such a thing much much time before he could reach mount Moriah (Gen 18:17-19; 20:6-7; Amos 3:7).
One person whom I know one day painted a very bad picture about God for saying to Abraham to kill his own son Isaac, he said how could a God who is good could say such a evil thing to be done, and then could suddenly speak from heaven to stop this vicarious killing of a child? How can I accept Him as a good God?
I replied to him saying, 'God knew that He will stop Abraham from killing Isaac just a moment before it could happen, God has the right to say that because He has the power to stop the killing of any child or human at the last moment or even raise a killed person from the dead (2 Cor 1:9; Acts 26:8).' This is what the Bible reveals by saying, "17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18 of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,” 19 concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense." (Heb 11:17-19). In other words, when Abraham heard the very familiar voice of God speaking within him, faith came rushing in to him and he started to work out that which God started to work within him (Rom 10:17; Php 2:12-13).
When Abraham was tested by God saying to him to offer Isaac his only Son on the altar as a burnt offering, Abraham believed the promise of God that He gave to him previously saying, "In Isaac your seed shall be called,” (Gen 21:12; Heb 11:18; Rom 9:7) and came to a conclusion within himself out of all the turmoil and pains that he had before putting Isaac on the altar, that God who said that Isaac will be the one through whom his progenies will come is faithful to His promises and cannot lie (Tit 1:2; Num 23:19), even if Isaac is burnt on the altar, God because He has promised already to multiply my descendants through Isaac, will raise him out of ashes as He has the power to raise people from the dead (2 Cor 1:9). Symbolically it happened when God stopped the killing of Isaac and provided a ram to be sacrificed instead of Isaac, in fact God raised him out of the throes of death symbolically at the last moment (Gen 22:11-13).
So understand that Abraham's mind set showed a different belief than the mind set of pagans who sacrificed their children as burnt offering with a mind to appease their gods who demanded it to make them show their loyalty to them, of which the living God Yahweh hated and prohibited. In other words, what is the difference in Abraham offering his only son Isaac whom he loved and the other pagan worshipers offering their children to their gods? Pagan gods demanded offering of children which God hated, Yahweh the God of heaven and earth prays and pleads to Abraham to show his love in obedience. Fear rules a pagan worshiper to sacrifice their children, whereas faith motivated Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac. Pagan worshipers have no assurance that their so called gods behind their idols have the power to bring back their children to life, whereas Abraham believed that His Living and Loving God who gave Isaac as a son of Promise to bring a nation out of him will bring Isaac out of death and ashes in to life of which symbolically God fulfilled it. When pagan gods command children to be sacrificed without having power to give life back to them, it is a murder of innocent and helpless children. But when the living God commanded to Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac whom he loved, it was just a test as he had the power to give life back to the dead. So pagan demons were evil and still is evil to demand tyrannically such a loyalty from people to make them obey them out of fear for their own lives and well being, but God is a good God to request, pray and plead to Abraham and all the believers who follow Him to embrace such tests and trials because He is in full control of it all and that He has promised them that no matter what may happen to them, He will turn all of it positively for their own temporal and eternal good and bring an expected, peaceful and a blessed end to receive His favor for eternity ahead (Jer 29:11; Rom 8:28). When people obey demons, they show that their own life and well being is more important to them more than the life of their innocent children. When Abraham obeyed God, he showed that God is more important to Him because of who He is to him and his child Isaac whom He had given to him as a gift, joy and pleasure in their old age. In other words, Abraham without grabbing and holding to himself what God has given, he gives back to God what He has given to him and Sarah out of his benevolence (Psa 127:3). This shows that Abraham lived selflessly towards God, and was ready to honor the giver of life more than the gift of life in Isaac which He had given to him (Psa 63:3).
Abraham the father of faith had sacrificed Isaac his only begotten son around 2000 B.C. and God our Heavenly Father and source of all true faith sacrificed his one and only begotten Son Jesus on Calvary tree 30 A.D. (Rom 4:16; Eph 4:4-6), our mind sees in to it and connects easily these two events separated by 2000 years of history because there is a parallel that it finds in both cases. The unique parallel truth we see is that the earlier event is pointing to the second event two thousand years later. Both Moses who wrote it and Abraham who demonstrated it by giving to that place where the test occurred its name ‘The LORD will provide’ is actually said in future tense (Genesis 22:13-14), signifying that some time later that God was going to re-enact and demonstrate what Abraham and Isaac did for Him in love and obedience, to the whole humanity. In other words, God the Father of all humanity and His only begotten Son Jesus the Christ will demonstrate in the same way like Abraham and Isaac by sacrificing His only begotten Son Jesus Christ whom He loved on the same mount of Moriah which was called Calvary in Jerusalem at that time around 30 A.D. in faith working through His Love towards Abraham and His offspring of faith in all nations (2 Chronicles 3:1; Luke 23:7; Luke 23:33). So exactly two thousand years later the arrest, trial and sentencing of Jesus happened in Jerusalem (= Mount Moriah which is where exactly Abraham sacrificed Isaac). "And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha (Calvary), that is to say, a place of a skull . . ." (Matthew 27:33, see also Mark 15:22 and John 19:17), they crucified Jesus for the sins of the whole world.
If Abraham is thinking of the ram – already dead, sacrificed and burnt – he would have named it ‘The LORD has provided’, i.e. in the past tense. And Moses, if he was thinking of the ram that took the place of Abraham’s son would have commented ‘And to this day it is said “On the mountain of the LORD it was provided”’. But both Abraham and Moses clearly give it a name in future tense and therefore are not thinking of that already dead and sacrificed ram, but rather the future Lamb of God Jesus the Christ who will take on the sin of the whole world to redeem them from it (Genesis 22:13-14; John 1:29-30). Both Abraham and Moses waited to see the day when Jesus the Christ would demonstrate on Calvary what Abraham and Isaac demonstrated 2000 years before He died for all humanity (Matt 17:3, 5; Mark 9:4-10; Deut 18:15, 18-19; John 8:56-58). At the end of the exchange of lamb for Isaac God declares to Abraham “…through your offspring [i.e Isaac physically through whom Jesus Christ will appear one day to fulfill it spiritually] all nations on earth will be blessed because you have obeyed me” (Genesis 22:18). In other words, God was saying to Abraham that just like the ram saved Isaac from death by dying in his place, so the Lamb of God, by his death, will save people of all nations of the world who will have faith in Him from the power of death to inherit eternal life and live forever like himself as a friend with God. Hallelujah!!! Praise the Lord!
Think about it for a while – in that drama Isaac is saved from death at the last moment because a lamb dies in his place. Two thousand years later, Jesus who is called ‘the Lamb of God’ and is arrested and dies on the same spot to save us all humans from death both spiritually and physically! Both Abraham and Moses claimed that it was revealed to them by God and Jesus Christ fulfilled it by God. Hallelujah! Now we who believe in Jesus are friends with Jesus who is God and children of God our Father in heaven (John 15:14-15; 1:12; Matt 6:9).
In my own life I will share what kind of trials I have been going through, my parents named me Abraham because God told them to name me with that name. Even before God gave me a son, he told me and my wife to name the boy whom He will give to us as Isaac. True to my name, God told me and promised me certain things, then He told me to do His work and promised me that He will bless me. Please read my Testimony to know the full details : I Have Found My Purpose, Have you?. Out of great personal sacrifice and turmoil I started pursuing this great and wonderful promise of God not knowing where I am actually going in my personal life of faith (Heb 6:13; 11:8). But thank God that He is in control, whenever I feel I have lost the way in life, He has become my light and life to lead me in the path He has already prepared for me (John 1:4; 8:12). I believe now and have also believed that God never makes mistakes in any ones life when we are truly the disciples of Jesus who has called us to sacrificially live life which is worthy of God by carrying our cross [i.e. severe trials] that God has given by his own design personally and follow the foot steps of Jesus (Matt 10:38; 1 Peter 2:23-25).
But recently out of the depth of hell (Matt 16:18), I have found darkness coming against me to engulf me and test me of my faith and love towards God in the area where we have been discussing. Now you know, that it is towards the little son Isaac whom God gave and whom I loved. He was taken unlawfully away from me. I felt deeply saddened by what had happened. But then I understood through the trial that God is pleading me to commit my Isaac in to the safe care of His hands. I responded to this trial by embracing it. So I want you to understand that everyone of us will be tested, I have learned more through this trial to respond like the way Jesus responded to forgive and forget, to bless the same people who have been close to me but now have falsely accused me publicly for something that is not true (Matt 5:43-44, 45-48). I am very much hopeful and sure that at the end of this ordeal that I will come victorious and bring glory to God by conforming myself to the image of His Son (Rom 8:28, 29). I pray that the God who led me by giving His promise the last fifteen years of my life will also help me to carry on in life and ministry till the end of my life on earth. May the people of God pray and support in whatever way you can through this great trial in the continuance of this ministry that God has given for the blessing of all the people of God around the world. My loyalty towards God and the love he has given me towards His worldwide Body the Church to bless it will continue.
I am reminded by God today to tell you, please sacrifice whatever you can when God pleads and prays to you to prove your faith and love towards God to the whole universe of angels and men, so that at the end of each trial you will come to know that it is for a sure promotion that God has tested you.
Love you all in the Love of the Lord!
Much Blessings....
Reading the above verse plainly in English, we see a tough God who commands his servant, 'Take now 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," which doesn't seem to be like a good God. But if we directly translate from the original Hebrew the same verse will say, " 2 and he said, please take your son, your solitary one which you love, Yits'hhaq [He laughs] and you will walk to the land of Moriyah [Appearance of Yah] and make him go up there for a rising upon one of the hills which I will say to you."" (Gen 22:1-2, AHRC-RMT). In the original Hebrew, there no word for 'Now' as it looks like God is commanding Abraham like a insensitive cruel master, rather it is 'naw' in Hebrew which is a prayer, a pleading and a request of God that says to Abraham to take his only son Isaac and sacrifice to show to the universe how much he loves God.
In other words, because God knows the faith that is in Abraham regarding Him and His unchangeable promises, God pleaded with Abraham to show to the world how much faith He had in Yahweh the true God who gives life to all human beings. Unless faith is demonstrated in action it is not genuine (James 2:17; 2 Cor 4:13-14), no one can come to know about this genuine faith within you for God to justly reward people now and for eternity as none but God only understands the thoughts of faith (James 2:22-23). In other words, trials from God only come to those who have real faith within them and that is the reason Apostle James told all believers to rejoice and count it all joy when it actually comes for you to face and come out of it victoriously (James 1:2). The same way God pleaded to Abraham saying, 'Please...sacrifice as burnt offering your only son Isaac whom you love' through which He blessed him without limit for the demonstration of his faith, God pleads with all of us believers, to accept the trials that comes to us even though it might be unreasonable for our human mind that He wants us to allow these trials to be accepted willingly and joyfully so that the world might come to know our faith working through love towards God which will bring glory to Him for eternity ahead and for us to be blessed and favored by God legally before the whole universe working under Him (Gal 5:6).
This equation of love and obedience like unto Abraham and Isaac was expressed simply to all of us believers when Jesus said to his friends, "If you love me, keep my commandments." (John 14:15; 15:10, 12, 13-14). In other words Jesus was saying, "If you love me, please do what I say to you even though it is unreasonable to your human mind or your own feelings." Abraham loved God and was a friend of God, so he obeyed this pleading prayer of God to fulfill it to show to all the humans and angels alike in the whole universe his loyalty to his one and only closest friend in this life who is God Himself (James 2:23; Isa 41:8). It was love that brought forth obedience out of Abraham in devotion towards God. It was not law or compulsion that made Abraham sacrifice his only son whom he loved, to be kept on the altar of sacrifice in obedience to God. I believe that this truth will shift the way you see forever these Scriptures we saw, which reveals God Himself doing a pleading prayer to Abraham to show his love for Him outwardly before the whole universe, which Abraham did in complete obedience for the glory of God. In other words, if we have genuine faith within us like Abraham, we will be willing to sacrifice the most valuable thing in our life for God and His Glory because of our love towards Him.
Jesus said, "37 He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39 He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it." (Matt 10:37-39). Our mother, father, son and daughter are the closest thing in our earthly life who fills our heart, but God is worthy of filling our heart more than them because of the Sacrifice that He has done in redeeming us from our sins and giving for us His own only begotten Son Jesus Christ to die for each one of us so that we could have eternal friendship and life with Him forever (John 3:16; Rom 8:32). So we know when Abraham was tested whether he loved God more than the only son of his old age, he proved to the whole world and universe that he is worthy of the God whom He followed through much sacrifices done for Him in his own personal life, and one of the greatest zenith of those sacrifices was letting go of his only son Isaac whom he loved in to the safe hands of God to demonstrate his obedience and love towards God through burnt offering. Abraham did not see the comfort of earthly life and soul life to be cherished more than obedience to God who is worthy of all his love, respect, adoration and awe as He is his Creator Almighty, so he gained the very life of heaven on earth and also inside his soul for eternity ahead. The grand friendship and favor of God he gained in the end in this life and in the life to come. Any one who wants to save their comfort of earthly life and soul life, will actually lose it all at the end of their selfish life lived for themselves.
In our lives too, there will come a time when we will be tested in this area, whether we love God more than our father, mother, wife, son and daughter, in such times of great testing it is wonderful to understand that it is God who is praying and pleading to us to embrace such trials in our personal lives to demonstrate our love for Him to the whole world and universe for His glory which will be recorded forever in the remembrance book of heaven (Malachi 3:16–18). If we positively embrace such trials (James 1:2-4), we are assured by God of a good and a expected ending with great favor and eternal reward with Abraham in our lives too (Gal 3:9; James 5:10-11; Matt 8:11).
We know that God is the one who had promised to Abraham and Sarah in their old age that He is going to supernaturally give them a boy baby, and even gave to them his name as Isaac even before he was conceived in his mothers womb and had promised to establish His covenant to multiply them as a nation for Himself (Gen 17:1, 15-19, 21). So we know that Isaac was not Abraham's or Sarah's idea, but was rather God's idea to bring an eternal covenant with Abraham in to existence and fulfillment through him.
Then we see God made Sarah to conceive supernaturally and at the set time as God had previously promised to Abraham and Sarah, exactly the next year God made Isaac to come alive and well as a healthy baby boy out of Sarah's womb. Thus God made both Abraham and Sarah to laugh and enjoy the company of Isaac in their old age (Gen 21:5-7).
The Hebrew Bible abundantly attests that the burnt offering of children was current in early Palestinian religion (Lev. 20:2; Deut. 12:31; 2 Ki. 16:3; 17:31; 23:10; Jer. 7:30-32; 19:3-5; Ezek. 16:20-21). For instance, Jeremiah, an Israelite prophet, mentioned many times that Israelites have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in fire as offerings to Baal (Jer. 19:5).
Burnt offering of humans or little children was something that God prohibited as pagan abomination by saying in the Law of Moses, " 10 There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter to be burned as an sacrificial offering to an idol through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. 12 For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD your God drives them out from before you. 13 You shall be blameless before the LORD your God." (Deut 18:10-13).
The burnt offering of children really existed in ancient Canaan which actually God disliked and wanted to stop, but still we know that Abraham was willing to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, as a burnt offering and to kill Isaac before burning him when he was told by God to do so (Gen. 22:1-19). How could the God to whom such human sacrifices are abominable and hates it, at this instance could say to Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac as a burnt offering? Did God speak or did the devil spoke to Abraham? Abraham knew more than 100% for sure that it was God who has spoken to him to sacrifice (Gen 22:1; John 10:27), if it had been a Satanic deception, God as a very close friend of Abraham would have stopped him from such a thing much much time before he could reach mount Moriah (Gen 18:17-19; 20:6-7; Amos 3:7).
One person whom I know one day painted a very bad picture about God for saying to Abraham to kill his own son Isaac, he said how could a God who is good could say such a evil thing to be done, and then could suddenly speak from heaven to stop this vicarious killing of a child? How can I accept Him as a good God?
I replied to him saying, 'God knew that He will stop Abraham from killing Isaac just a moment before it could happen, God has the right to say that because He has the power to stop the killing of any child or human at the last moment or even raise a killed person from the dead (2 Cor 1:9; Acts 26:8).' This is what the Bible reveals by saying, "17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18 of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,” 19 concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense." (Heb 11:17-19). In other words, when Abraham heard the very familiar voice of God speaking within him, faith came rushing in to him and he started to work out that which God started to work within him (Rom 10:17; Php 2:12-13).
When Abraham was tested by God saying to him to offer Isaac his only Son on the altar as a burnt offering, Abraham believed the promise of God that He gave to him previously saying, "In Isaac your seed shall be called,” (Gen 21:12; Heb 11:18; Rom 9:7) and came to a conclusion within himself out of all the turmoil and pains that he had before putting Isaac on the altar, that God who said that Isaac will be the one through whom his progenies will come is faithful to His promises and cannot lie (Tit 1:2; Num 23:19), even if Isaac is burnt on the altar, God because He has promised already to multiply my descendants through Isaac, will raise him out of ashes as He has the power to raise people from the dead (2 Cor 1:9). Symbolically it happened when God stopped the killing of Isaac and provided a ram to be sacrificed instead of Isaac, in fact God raised him out of the throes of death symbolically at the last moment (Gen 22:11-13).
So understand that Abraham's mind set showed a different belief than the mind set of pagans who sacrificed their children as burnt offering with a mind to appease their gods who demanded it to make them show their loyalty to them, of which the living God Yahweh hated and prohibited. In other words, what is the difference in Abraham offering his only son Isaac whom he loved and the other pagan worshipers offering their children to their gods? Pagan gods demanded offering of children which God hated, Yahweh the God of heaven and earth prays and pleads to Abraham to show his love in obedience. Fear rules a pagan worshiper to sacrifice their children, whereas faith motivated Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac. Pagan worshipers have no assurance that their so called gods behind their idols have the power to bring back their children to life, whereas Abraham believed that His Living and Loving God who gave Isaac as a son of Promise to bring a nation out of him will bring Isaac out of death and ashes in to life of which symbolically God fulfilled it. When pagan gods command children to be sacrificed without having power to give life back to them, it is a murder of innocent and helpless children. But when the living God commanded to Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac whom he loved, it was just a test as he had the power to give life back to the dead. So pagan demons were evil and still is evil to demand tyrannically such a loyalty from people to make them obey them out of fear for their own lives and well being, but God is a good God to request, pray and plead to Abraham and all the believers who follow Him to embrace such tests and trials because He is in full control of it all and that He has promised them that no matter what may happen to them, He will turn all of it positively for their own temporal and eternal good and bring an expected, peaceful and a blessed end to receive His favor for eternity ahead (Jer 29:11; Rom 8:28). When people obey demons, they show that their own life and well being is more important to them more than the life of their innocent children. When Abraham obeyed God, he showed that God is more important to Him because of who He is to him and his child Isaac whom He had given to him as a gift, joy and pleasure in their old age. In other words, Abraham without grabbing and holding to himself what God has given, he gives back to God what He has given to him and Sarah out of his benevolence (Psa 127:3). This shows that Abraham lived selflessly towards God, and was ready to honor the giver of life more than the gift of life in Isaac which He had given to him (Psa 63:3).
If Abraham is thinking of the ram – already dead, sacrificed and burnt – he would have named it ‘The LORD has provided’, i.e. in the past tense. And Moses, if he was thinking of the ram that took the place of Abraham’s son would have commented ‘And to this day it is said “On the mountain of the LORD it was provided”’. But both Abraham and Moses clearly give it a name in future tense and therefore are not thinking of that already dead and sacrificed ram, but rather the future Lamb of God Jesus the Christ who will take on the sin of the whole world to redeem them from it (Genesis 22:13-14; John 1:29-30). Both Abraham and Moses waited to see the day when Jesus the Christ would demonstrate on Calvary what Abraham and Isaac demonstrated 2000 years before He died for all humanity (Matt 17:3, 5; Mark 9:4-10; Deut 18:15, 18-19; John 8:56-58). At the end of the exchange of lamb for Isaac God declares to Abraham “…through your offspring [i.e Isaac physically through whom Jesus Christ will appear one day to fulfill it spiritually] all nations on earth will be blessed because you have obeyed me” (Genesis 22:18). In other words, God was saying to Abraham that just like the ram saved Isaac from death by dying in his place, so the Lamb of God, by his death, will save people of all nations of the world who will have faith in Him from the power of death to inherit eternal life and live forever like himself as a friend with God. Hallelujah!!! Praise the Lord!
Think about it for a while – in that drama Isaac is saved from death at the last moment because a lamb dies in his place. Two thousand years later, Jesus who is called ‘the Lamb of God’ and is arrested and dies on the same spot to save us all humans from death both spiritually and physically! Both Abraham and Moses claimed that it was revealed to them by God and Jesus Christ fulfilled it by God. Hallelujah! Now we who believe in Jesus are friends with Jesus who is God and children of God our Father in heaven (John 15:14-15; 1:12; Matt 6:9).
In my own life I will share what kind of trials I have been going through, my parents named me Abraham because God told them to name me with that name. Even before God gave me a son, he told me and my wife to name the boy whom He will give to us as Isaac. True to my name, God told me and promised me certain things, then He told me to do His work and promised me that He will bless me. Please read my Testimony to know the full details : I Have Found My Purpose, Have you?. Out of great personal sacrifice and turmoil I started pursuing this great and wonderful promise of God not knowing where I am actually going in my personal life of faith (Heb 6:13; 11:8). But thank God that He is in control, whenever I feel I have lost the way in life, He has become my light and life to lead me in the path He has already prepared for me (John 1:4; 8:12). I believe now and have also believed that God never makes mistakes in any ones life when we are truly the disciples of Jesus who has called us to sacrificially live life which is worthy of God by carrying our cross [i.e. severe trials] that God has given by his own design personally and follow the foot steps of Jesus (Matt 10:38; 1 Peter 2:23-25).
But recently out of the depth of hell (Matt 16:18), I have found darkness coming against me to engulf me and test me of my faith and love towards God in the area where we have been discussing. Now you know, that it is towards the little son Isaac whom God gave and whom I loved. He was taken unlawfully away from me. I felt deeply saddened by what had happened. But then I understood through the trial that God is pleading me to commit my Isaac in to the safe care of His hands. I responded to this trial by embracing it. So I want you to understand that everyone of us will be tested, I have learned more through this trial to respond like the way Jesus responded to forgive and forget, to bless the same people who have been close to me but now have falsely accused me publicly for something that is not true (Matt 5:43-44, 45-48). I am very much hopeful and sure that at the end of this ordeal that I will come victorious and bring glory to God by conforming myself to the image of His Son (Rom 8:28, 29). I pray that the God who led me by giving His promise the last fifteen years of my life will also help me to carry on in life and ministry till the end of my life on earth. May the people of God pray and support in whatever way you can through this great trial in the continuance of this ministry that God has given for the blessing of all the people of God around the world. My loyalty towards God and the love he has given me towards His worldwide Body the Church to bless it will continue.
I am reminded by God today to tell you, please sacrifice whatever you can when God pleads and prays to you to prove your faith and love towards God to the whole universe of angels and men, so that at the end of each trial you will come to know that it is for a sure promotion that God has tested you.
Love you all in the Love of the Lord!
Much Blessings....
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