Genesis 22:1–14

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Assistant Professor of Christian Ministries, University of Mobile

THE FAITH TEST

Genesis 22:1–14

The Test Presented (1–2)

Abraham’s life of faith was launched when he left Ur in obedience to God’s promise that He would make Abraham into a great nation and bless him and all the nations of the earth would be blessed through him (12:1–3). Over the years that promise was repeated and reiterated with remarkable drama and specificity, but Abraham’s growth in faith was inconsistent.

The announcement in Verse 1 that God was testing Abraham serves to cushion the reader from the shock that follows. As God tests our faith it is stretched and thereby grows. Here Abraham’s faith was going to be stretched to the limit, and because he held firm his faith has become the grand example of faith.

We know it was a test but Abraham did not. God’s command must have been excruciating beyond words because he was to sacrifice his son as a burnt offering. For the ancient Middle Easterner burnt offering implied a process by which the throat of the sacrifice was cut, then dismemberment and then a sacrifice by fire in which the body parts were consumed on the altar. 

The Test Preparation (3–8)

Astounded by God’s command to Abraham, we are even more astounded by his immediate obedience. No hesitation whatsoever. After three days of travel to Mount Moriah, Abraham and Isaac went up the mountain to worship and Abraham was convinced that after offering Isaac as a burnt offering they would return together. We know this with certainty because of what the writer of Hebrews wrote in Hebrews 11:17–19. Abraham so believed God’s promise that Isaac’s children would carry on the bloodline that he reasoned that God would have to raise Isaac from the dead.

The ascent up the mount, with the son carrying the wood and the father carrying the implements of sacrifice, evidently went on for a while. Isaac eventually asked his father, “Where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Isaac’s question indicates not only his unawareness of what was about to transpire but his absolute trust in his father. Abraham’s answer is the turning point of the story: “God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” Here we see Abraham’s absolute trust in God while allowing God to be God.

Abraham cannot tell Isaac all that he would like to know because Abraham truly does not know what God will do. Abraham’s answer to Isaac’s question is a declaration of trust, an expression of hope and a prophecy of the future.

The Test Passed (9–12)

Isaac had decided to obey his father whatever the cost, just as Abraham had decided to obey God whatever the cost. Abraham built an altar, arranged the wood, bound his beloved son, laid him on the altar and then grabbed the knife for the sacrificial cut. Then the angel of the Lord intervened and told him not to do anything to Isaac. Abraham’s action confirmed his faithful obedience to God.

The Test Provision (13–14)

The hearing of God’s voice and the seeing of the substitute offering took place in an instant. As the flames consumed the ram, Abraham and Isaac worshipped the Lord together. Abraham called the name of the place “the Lord will provide.” The Lord who tests us is the Lord who provides. God is faithful. When we are called to give our “Isaacs,” those things that are most precious to us, we must remember that God is the Lord who provides (Jehovah Jireh).