Lesson for July 15, 2020

Knowing the Bible

Lesson 9

Abraham

(Genesis 12:1-25:11)

There are three main events that surround the life of Abraham. The first is the formation of the Jewish nation, the second is the story of the deliverance of his nephew, Lot from Sodom and Gomorrah and the third is the miraculous birth and command from God to sacrifice his son, Isaac.

God chose Abram to establish the nation of Israel and the Jewish race. Abram (whose name was changed to Abraham) had left his home in Ur of the Chaldees with his father, his wife and his nephew Lot and settled in Haran. While Abram was still in Haran, God made a covenant with him, which we call the Abrahamic Covenant.

Abrahamic Covenant

(Genesis 12:1-4; 13:14-17; 15:1-7; 17:1-8)

This unconditional covenant was given to Abraham in seven parts:

1. “I will make of thee a great nation” – The Jewish nation was a great and mighty nation at various times in history.
2. “I will bless thee” – Abraham was blessed with physical prosperity, as well as spiritual prosperity.
3. “And I will make thy name great” – Considered the Father of the Jew, he has a very recognizable name among all nations of the earth.
4. “And thou shall be a great blessing” – Because of Abraham’s seed (the Lord Jesus Christ), he has been a great blessing to millions of people that have come to know Christ as Savior.
5. “I will bless them that bless thee” – Seen throughout history, those who protect and ally with Israel are always blessed.
6. “And I will curse him that curses thee” – In like manner, those who oppose Israel have eventually been destroyed.
7. “In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed” – This refers to the coming of Messiah through the linage of Abraham and the blessings that accompany those who believe in Christ.

Because this covenant was unconditional, nothing was required on the part of Abraham in order to enjoy its promises. The Abrahamic Covenant coincided with the Age of Promise in the Dispensation of Israel.

The next event of significance in the life of Abraham was the deliverance of Lot, his nephew, from Sodom. Abraham and Lot had been blessed by God with great wealth. They had very large flocks and herds. These herds became so large that they could no longer dwell in the same place. Therefore, Abraham and Lot had to separate their herds. Abraham gave Lot the choice of which land he would like to have. Lot chose the land of Jordan and the Bible says that he pitched his tent toward Sodom. 

Sodom and Gomorrah were twin cities and both were extremely corrupt. So much so, that when Lot was visited by two angels (who appeared in the form of men) and the men of the town tried to persuade Lot to let them “have their way” with the angels. (Genesis 19) The story continued and the cities were destroyed by the angels. Lot’s wife was turned into a pillar of salt for disobeying God’s command not to look back at the cities as they were fleeing.

The final event of importance in the life of Abraham is God’s command to sacrifice his son Isaac. The birth of Isaac is a story of God’s faithfulness and man’s lack of faith. One of the promises that God made to Abraham was that he would have an heir. (Genesis 15:4-5) In his impatience and at the insistence of Sarah, his wife, Abraham had a child by the handmaiden Hagar, which demonstrated Abraham and Sarah’s lack of faith in the promise of God. The child Ishmael became the father of the Arab nation and continues to be a thorn in the side of the nation of Israel to this day.

Abraham had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac. Ishmael was Abraham’s spiritually illegitimate son by his servant Hagar and became the father of the Arabic race. Isaac was Abraham’s legitimate son by his wife Sarah and took his father’s place as the head of the Jewish race. If you have wondered where the friction between the Arabs and the Jews began, it was here.

Because Abraham and Sarah lacked the faith to believe that God would provide an heir for them as He had promised, they took matters into their own hands. The result was that Ishmael was born to Hagar the servant and Abraham in defiance of the provision of God. This one act of disobedience resulted in a conflict that continues even to this day between the descendants of Ishmael and Isaac.

Sarah, who would become the mother of Isaac, was jealous of Hagar after Ishmael was born and exiled her to the wilderness with her son Ishmael. (Genesis 16) Sarah refused to believe that she could birth a child in her old age being past the time physically where she could conceive. When Jehovah (as the Angel of the Lord) appeared to Abraham, he informed him that Sarah would have a son, but Sarah listening at the door of the tent, laughed at the idea that she could become pregnant and have a child, expressing her lack of faith. (Genesis 18) However, God never lies, and Sarah did become pregnant by Abraham and bore the child Isaac. (Genesis 21)

God in His grace returned Hagar and Ishmael to Abraham and Sarah and they lived at peace until Isaac was born. Once again, Sarah had them exiled to the wilderness not wanting Isaac to have to share his inheritance with Ishmael. (Genesis 21) God once again intervened and protected Ishmael and eventually made a great nation of him and his descendants. (Genesis 17) Isaac and Ishmael buried their father Abraham together. (Genesis 25) We read very little in the Bible after this about Ishmael.

Though the descendants of Ishmael became a great and mighty nation, it was through Abraham’s legitimate son Isaac that God would fulfill his covenant with Abraham. (Genesis 14:17- 15:1-6, 21:12, 25:11) 

Isaac was the son of promise and was a faithful servant of God. As a child, he learned from his father Abraham about God and His plan for mankind. We have one of the most unusual stories and the most enlightening stories in all of the Bible in Genesis 22 about Isaac as a young boy and his father Abraham. This story is a wonderful illustration of the saving work that Jesus Christ would do for mankind on the Cross. It is also a story of the faithfulness of the servant of God, Abraham, which came in the form of evidence testing.

Genesis 22 is where we find the story of Abraham and Isaac being tested. Abraham had been a faithful servant of God for many, many years and though he failed from time to time, he remained faithful. Therefore, we will see that Abraham was prepared for the greatest test of his life. Abraham’s journey with God began in Ur of the Chaldees, the most advanced city of the ancient world in the time in which Abraham lived. God removed Abraham from his father, and his land Haran because God had a special purpose for Abraham. Abraham was a wealthy man, but he was not yet ready to pass evidence testing. Eventually, Abraham matured spiritually, but it took about 50 years and many trials and tribulations.

Abraham had been tested before when he broke away from Ur of the Chaldees, away from his family and the famine in the land of Haran. He then went to went to Egypt and was tested by the threat on his life by Pharaoh and later on by King Abimelech. He was tested by courage in battle and by the king of Sodom when he rescued Lot. He was tested by Sarah’s barrenness, and his own lack of faith regarding a son. He finally came to the place where he believed God and trusted God in every circumstance. (Genesis 14-21; Roman 4:17-21)

At a very old age when both Abraham and Sarah were past the age of childbearing, God performed a miracle and Isaac was born. It would be through the line of Isaac that the humanity of Jesus Christ would be born. To test the faithfulness of Abraham who had now learned to trust God, he was commanded by God to take Isaac and sacrifice him. This was God’s way of teaching Abraham and Isaac about the coming Messiah and His sacrifice on the Cross. 

Abraham took Isaac and put him on the altar with the full intention of sacrificing his only son. However, God provided a ram, which was caught in the bushes as the substitute sacrifice in place of Isaac. The parallel should be obvious, Abraham represented God the Father, Isaac represented the human race and the ram represented the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice the degree to which Abraham’s faith had increased according to Genesis 22:5, where he tells his servants to wait at the bottom of the mountain and he and Isaac would return to them after a time of worship. Abraham obviously believed that even if he killed Isaac that God would raise him from the dead. (Genesis 22)

Genesis 22:1-19 tells us Abraham was prepared to do the will of God. Verse 2 gives the substance of the test Abraham was going to face. Verses 3 and following tells Abraham was obedient to God’s command. God guides us as we are obedient to Him and his Word. We learn guidance not only through the direct statement of the Word of God, but we learn guidance through the application of Bible doctrine to experience. It is interesting that Abraham did not hesitate when commanded by God to take Isaac and offer him on the altar as a sacrifice. Remember, Abraham had waited a very long time to have an heir and by a supernatural miracle Isaac was born. Now God is asking Abraham to take the son he loves and sacrifice him as if he were a lamb. So, Abraham knew what he had been commanded to go to the land of Moriah where this sacrifice would take place. It was a three-day journey for Abraham, Isaac and their two servants.

The Hebrew for Moriah means “to cause to be seen of the Lord.” Moriah comes to mean manifestation of Jehovah (Jesus Christ). Where they were going would later be called Golgotha or Calvary where Jesus Christ was “manifested” to the world on the Cross as He paid the penalty of their sins. What we are about see is a perfect picture of the Cross and Christ’s substitutionary payment for sin.

Abraham obeyed the Lord and did not try to figure it out by his own human wisdom. He depended upon the Lord and he trusted the Lord. He knew that if the Lord said to do this that there was a reason for it and the Lord didn’t share the reason with him. Now he has orders to sacrifice his only son. But that didn’t bother Abraham because the Word of God was more real to Abraham than anything else in life. God’s promise that through Isaac your descendants shall be named was more real to him than the wonderful beloved son who walked beside him. A spiritually mature believer must come to the place where Bible doctrine from the Word of God is more real than anything else in life. When a believer develops these inner resources through the consistent study and application of Bible doctrine, he has reached spiritual maturity and is no longer a slave to the circumstances of life. He has reached a place in life where he is able to share the happiness and peace of God with a relaxed mental attitude. Abraham had reached this point in his spiritual life.

When Abraham, Isaac and their servants had reached Moriah, Abraham made a startling statement. He told his two servants to remain at the bottom of the mountain. In this statement, we truly see the faith of Abraham on display. He had faith in God, that if he sacrificed his son Isaac God would raise him from the dead. In verse 8 Abraham tells Isaac that God will provide a lamb for the sacrifice.

We also see the faith of Isaac as Abraham puts him on the altar and raises the knife to slay him. Never does the Scripture say that Isaac resisted in any way nor did he cry out in fear. In the same way that Abraham trusted God, Isaac must have trusted his father. Their trust paid off because God provided a ram caught in a thicket for the sacrifice to God. Isaac could have refused to get on that altar. Abraham was a very old man and did not have the physical strength to make his son get on that altar.

Isaac had to agree to obey his father. That is a picture of what Jesus Christ, God’s Son, did for us. Jesus said, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me: yet not My will, but Yours be done.” Jesus Christ agreed to go to the Cross and be sacrificed for our sin. Isaac is the picture of what Christ was willing to do for us. So, Isaac was willing to go to the altar just as Jesus Christ was willing to obey the Father and go to the Cross. The ram caught in the thicket was a picture of the substitutionary death of Christ on the Cross for the entire human race. Isaac coming down from the mountain with Abraham was a picture of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Together this beautiful story of faithfulness paints the perfect picture of what Jesus Christ would accomplish at Calvary for all mankind.

Jesus Christ is the perfect sacrifice for mankind’s sin. He alone was qualified to make the necessary payment for sin that would completely satisfy the righteousness and justice of God. Though our personal sins do not condemn us, they still must be dealt with by the justice of God. God dealt with our sins by imputing personal sin and Adam’s original sin to Christ on the Cross and judging them. Therefore, sin is not the issue in salvation – accepting God’s gift of eternal life by faith in Christ is the only issue. (John 3:17; Romans 5:18; II Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 2:8-9)

Even though Abraham made some bad choices and at times doubted God, he became a great testimony of faith, to the point of being called the “friend of God.” God doesn’t use perfect people to accomplish His purposes (since there are none), he uses faithful people, as He did with Abraham.