When Abraham was 100 years old Isaac was born to him and Sarah. That sentence shows us the amazing power of God to keep His promises. God had told Abraham he would become the father of many nations, and Isaac was the “down payment” on that promise. After all, before one can have descendants as numerous as the sands of the seashore, one must have one descendant. God always keeps His promises. We are beneficiaries of one of God’s promises to Abraham. God told Abraham all the nations of the earth would be blessed through Him. Through Jesus that promise is being fulfilled across the planet. God told Abraham the promise of land for his people wouldn’t be fulfilled for 400 years, long after Abraham would see the fulfillment. Yet, Abraham believed God and experienced many blessings from Him throughout his life.
In Genesis 22, we read of God’s “test” for Abraham. Imagine waiting all your adult life, waiting until you were 100 years old, before having your first-born child. Then, after the joy of having a son, and watching him grow, God tells you to take that only son, whom you love a great deal, and offer him as a sacrifice to God. Unimaginable, right? Actually, quite imaginable to any of us who have read the Bible in even a cursory way, because the account of Abraham’s willingness to offer Isaac as a sacrifice to God is one of the most familiar stories in Genesis. We know God spared Isaac at the last minute, telling Abraham to put down the knife. But Abraham’s obedience to God went to the extreme of being willing to offer Isaac as a sacrifice to Him.
Living in the 21st century, as we do, we find it hard to imagine “our” God, carrying out such a test in anyone’s life. “Our” God is loving and kind. He doesn’t hurt anyone, or want us to hurt anyone. Our God is loving and kind. He is also holy and majestic. He alone is God, and He deserves our absolute allegiance. Jesus’ fame and miraculous ministry demonstrated God’s power in ways the people of Israel must have nearly forgotten. Yet, when Jesus went home to Nazareth, the people didn’t acknowledge His authority and power. As a result Jesus wasn’t able to do many miracles there. “All” He could do was lay His hands on a few sick people and heal them. (I’ve always thought laying my hands on a few sick people and healing them would be a fantastic day!) Jesus was amazed at the people’s unbelief. What a sad reason for Jesus’ amazement. I often wonder whether Jesus is amazed at our unbelief, and at how often we mold God into our image of what we think He ought to be like, rather than loving and serving Him for who He is.
God is not nice. He isn’t sweet. God does call us to radical obedience, and He has given us the same Spirit that was in Abraham. He has also given us salvation through the blood shed by Jesus on the cross. We must read every passage in the Bible, and must live out our lives remembering that God has never been formed in our image. His constant goal is to shape us into His! For Abraham the greatest test was to give up His beloved son, Isaac. He passed the test with flying colors. Whatever tests God sends our way today, may we call on the power of the Holy Spirit that we, too, may pass!