The Lord’s Message:  Hall of Faith, Faith of Abraham and Isaac

The Lord’s Message:  Hall of Faith, Faith of Abraham and Isaac
Date:  March 2, 2025
Where:  Tilghman Methodist Church
Scripture Reference:  Hebrews 11: 1, 17-19

            We are finalizing our sermon series on the Hall of Faith.  Let us refer to our Biblical definition of Faith, Hebrews 11:1.  We started with the Faith of Abel.  Abel gave his whole heart, mind, and soul to worship God.  He did not simply go through the motions as his brother Cain had done.  Next, we look at the faith of Enoch, who started walking with God after the birth of his son, Methusaleh.  He walked with God for 300 years and then took him to heaven, because of his deep faith in God.  Next, we studied the faith of Noah.  The Bible tells us that Noah walked with God while the rest of humanity were doing all kinds of evil acts.  Noah did not let peer pressure prevent his faith in God.  Because of his faith, God told Noah to build an ark to save humanity and creation.  Noah followed God’s instruction and built the ark.  Sadly, only Noah and his family were saved.  The rest of humanity lost their lives in the flood.  Last Sunday, we looked at the faith of Abraham.  God first called his father, Terah to leave the Ur of the Chaldeans and go to the land that God would show him.  Terah left the Ur of the Chaldeans, but only went to Haran.  He died in Haran, but Abram, his son, took his wife and his nephew, Lot, and their servants and animals and went to the land of Canaan.  This is the land that God had first promised to his father, Terah.  Abram did not stop but went all the way in his faith in God.  Last Sunday, we looked at the faith of Abraham and Sarah.  God promised them that they would have a son.  They were well past the age to have children.  Abraham was 99 years old and Sarah was 90 years old.  Sarah had been barren her entire life.  God is now saying that they are going to have a son.  They laughed at God, but they still had a little faith.  That was enough for God to perform a mighty miracle and give them a son whom they named Isaac.  This Sunday, we are going to look at the faith of Abraham and Isaac. 

            Let us pray. 

            We are going to look at one of most profound, complex, disturbing, and prophetic passage of scripture.  I am not referring to Hebrews 11:17-19, but Genesis 22: 1-14.    I do not want anyone to miss this, so I am going to ask you to open your Bibles to Genesis 22:1-14.  For those present in the sanctuary this morning, turn to page 31 in the pew Bibles.  For those watching us on Facebook, pick up your Bible and turn to Genesis 22. 

Before we dive into this passage of scripture, we must understand three key points.  First, when God called Abram to leave Haran and finish the journey to the promised land that his father was first called by God to complete, Abram had a sense that this God who was calling him was different from all the false gods in Ur of Chaldeans, Haran and even in Caanan.  The false gods demanded sacrifice.  They took life.  This God gave life.  The false gods demanded human sacrifice, even child sacrifice.  Jesus said, “I came that they might have life and have it” (what church) ABUNDANTLY! This God that called Abram wanted to have a relationship with him.  Just like this God had a relationship with Adam and Eve, with Abel, with Seth, with Enoch, with Noah, and with Abraham and Sarah.  This God is not about us reaching up to God, but God reaching down to us. 

The second key point is that God promised Abraham and Sarah that they would have a son and they were to name that son Isaac.  God would continue the covenant through their son, Isaac, Genesis 17:19.  God has promised Abraham that he would have many descendants, as numerous as the stars in the sky or the sand on the shoreline.  Those descendants would come through Isaac. 

The third key point is the age of Abraham and Isaac.  Abraham was 99 years old when God visited him and Sarah under the great trees of Mamre.  God told them that the next year they would have a son.  Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born.  At this point in chapter 22 most theologians say that Isaac is between 14 and 30 years old.  Just to make things easier for us this morning, how about if we say that Isaac is 22 years old.  That would make Abraham 122 years old. 

            Now, I want you to hang on to these three key points.  First, God does not want to take life, but give life.  Second, for the promise of God to be fulfilled, Isaac must live.  Third, the age of Abraham at 122 years old and Isaac at 22 years old. 

            Now, lets us get into Genesis 22:1-2.   God wants to test Abraham’s faith.  God provides the most extreme test of faith ever found in the Bible and in life.  He asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac in the region of Moriah. 

            I suspect that Abraham had a very sleepless night.  I know that I would if God required that of me.  I must have been right, because in the next verse it says that “Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey.”  Then in the next verses he cut enough wood for the burnt offering.  Abraham, at this time, has numerous servants.  All he has to say is go saddle my donkey.  Go cut wood for a burnt offering.  But Abraham does this himself.  I think that he needed to do this to try to wrap his mind about why God was asking him to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. 

            They journeyed for three days.  For Abraham, this was a long three days.  When they got to the mountain that God had told them, Abraham tells the servants to stay with the donkeys while he and Isaac go up the mountain to worship God.  Let us look here at verse 5.  “We will worship and then we will come back to you.”  Abraham did not have any doubts, he had faith.  Faith enough to believe that he would have to sacrifice his son, Isaac, the promised one, but somehow God would resurrect Isaac from the dead.  Where do I get this thought, you might ask?  In Hebrews 11:19, “Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead.”  Where does Abraham get this thought.  None of his ancestors before him were raised from the dead.  Every one of them died.  Adam and Eve died.  Abel died.  Seth died.  Noah died.  Enoch never experienced death because God took him.  This thought had to come from God.  Abraham did not know how God was going to save Isaac, but he had faith in God.  This God that wants to give life and not take life away.

            So, Abraham and Isaac went up the mountain of Moriah.  The place that God told them  to go.  Isaac carrying the wood, Abraham carrying the fire and the knife.  As they were going up, Isaac noticed that they were missing the sacrificial animal, the lamb.  Look what Abraham says in verse 8.  In verse 9, we read that they reach the place where God told them to build the altar.  They built the altar.  They arranged the wood.  Just as they had done for some twenty years together. Then Abraham bound his son.  What age is Abraham?  122 years old.  What age is Isaac?  22 years.  Do you think that Abraham could have bound his son if Isaac did not want to be bound?  No.  Not in a million years.  Isaac allowed his father to bind him.  Isaac allowed his father to place him on the altar.  Isaac was willing to be the sacrificed.  Isaac had faith in God and in his father. 

            Abraham is now ready to the plunge the knife to his only son, Isaac.  In order to have a burnt offering, the animal must be killed and then burnt.  You would never burn an animal alive.  The most humane act is to kill the animal and then burn it.  So, just as Abraham is about to kill his son, God sent an angel, verses 11-12.  God provides an alternative sacrifice.  Look at verse 13. God provides the sacrifice.  Look at verse 14.  Abraham names this place not my testing, but The Lord Will Provide.  Jehovah-jireh.  The Lord will provide. 

            This event of Isaac being sacrificed on this mountain would again happen almost 2000 year later with another Father willingly sacrificing His Son and the Son willingly allowing the Father to sacrifice Him.  That father is God.  That son is Jesus.  Mount Moriah is located in Jerusalem.  The city where God allowed His son, Jesus, to be nailed to a cross to pay the penalty for our sins.  Jesus allowed His father to nail Him to the cross to pay for our sins.  In John 10:17-18, Jesus says that He has the authority from God to lay His life down or to take it up.  Jesus could have refused to go to the cross.  But Jesus willingly laid down His life to be an atonement for our sins, past, present, and future.  John the Baptist in John 1:29 referred to Jesus as the Lamb of God. 

            It was the hands of Jesus in which the nails were placed.  It was God’s hands that created us in His image.  It was the hands of God who brought His son back from the grave and because Jesus lives, we who believe in Jesus will have eternal life.  We are going to be studying the Hands of God throughout the Season of Lent. 

            It all begins with faith.  So, let us read the Bible, live the Bible and Be the Bible for others.  Amen.