Lessons from Abraham and Isaac- prophecy and Signs
As we go through life we are always learning. Just last week while we were in Exmouth Di told me very proudly that she had killed 5 flies with her new fly-swatter. I said that’s fantastic- 5 less flies! Yes she said 3 were male and 2 were female. That’s incredible how can you tell which fly is male and which female. Well she said its simple, there were three on the fridge and two on the phone! You never stop learning do you!
Well what has this to do with Abraham! I’ve gone through Genesis and the story of Abraham many times and each time its seems I learn something new.
There are two points I want to look at today
How could God ask Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac- it seems so wrong?
Abraham’s servant asks God for a sign in choosing a wife for Isaac. Does God not say we should not test him? How then can the servant ask for a sign?
Let’s start in Genesis 22:1-2 and look at the first question
Genesis22:1-2 The Offering of Isaac: 1 Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”
If you think like me you might say how can God do this? This is terrible, it’s horrific- this is not good at all? But you know this would not be the first time God tells his prophets to do something exceptionally strange or unusual. In fact sometimes you would think they have gone crazy!
What about Isaiah going around naked and barefoot for 3 years Isaiah 20:2-4
2 at that time the Lord spoke through Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go and loosen the sackcloth from your hips and take your shoes off your feet.” And he did so, going naked and barefoot. 3 And the Lord said, “Even as My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot three years as a [a]sign and token against Egypt and [b]Cush, 4 so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old, naked and barefoot with buttocks uncovered, to the [c]shame of Egypt.
What about Hosea marrying a harlot as a sign to the people
What about Ezekiel lying on his side for 1 year, or cooking food using human excrement as fuel!
Ezekiel 4:12 12 Eat the food as you would a loaf of barley bread; bake it in the sight of the people, using human excrement for fuel.”
They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. All of these are a prophetic enactment that conveys to us in human terms a message more profoundly than words can ever do. If Gary came to church naked as a sign of prophecy to us, do you think any of us would ever forget it! (As much as we want to forget it!)
And what is happening with Abraham and the sacrifice of Isaac is a prophetic enactment that teaches us more than words ever could. In my mind I had put the intended sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham into the “this is bad basket” and I had put the sacrifice of Jesus into the “this is good basket”.
If you were in Abrahams shoes could you imagine the pain, the anguish, the heartache of having to kill your own child- words could not describe it. This is a big deal! Now we get a feeling for what our Father in heaven felt when He allowed Jesus to go through with His crucifixion. This is a big deal- lets never take the anguish and suffering that our Father in heaven must have felt for granted.
God would never have allowed Isaac to be sacrificed. Firstly Isaac was not an unblemished lamb- he was a sinner- so he could never be an adequate sacrifice for anybody else. Man can’t do that. Secondly in Leviticus human sacrifice is forbidden (Lev 18:21) and God does not change. And so this story is as much about prophetic enactment as anything else?
And while Abraham is prepared to sacrifice Isaac he is also expecting him to come back
Genesis 22:5-6 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”
6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together,
This story is prophetic in so many ways
Isaac is not a child, he is a grown man at this stage and you can see that in v6 Abraham takes the wood and places it on Isaac’s back and Isaac carries the wood up the hill. Similarly we read in John
John 19:1717 Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha).
Likewise Jesus carried the wooden cross on His back.
This region of this mountain is called Moriah, the same mountainous area upon which David built his altar and later Solomon later builds the Temple. This becomes home to the Temple Mount. And on these same hills, Jesus is sacrificed on a cross
Isaac’s obedience to the father is total. As an adult man he allowed himself to be bound and placed on the altar in complete obedience. It’s extraordinary! And this is what Jesus did too
Because of Abraham’s obedience we read
Genesis 22:18 (NASB) 18 In your [a]seed all the nations of the earth shall [b]be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
In the same way all nations of the earth are blessed because Jesus obeyed the Fathers voice. How fortunate we are!
The second point I would like to look at follows on from this event on Mount Moriah. In Chapter 24 the servant finds a wife for Isaac by asking God for a sign to enable him to choose the right person.
Abraham did not want Isaac to intermarry with pagan natives and neighbours of the land so he sends out his servant
Genesis 24:1-9 Isaac and Rebekah: Abraham was now very old, and the Lord had blessed him in every way. 2 He said to the senior servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh. 3 I want you to swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, 4 but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac.”
So the servant sets out to find a wife in a land some 500 miles away! (I suppose the good thing about this is his mother-in law is a long way from Isaac- joke!) And the servant eventually makes his way to the town of Nahor where he has to find a wife for Isaac. (The 'town of Nahor' is simply the town where Nahor lived, ie in Haran). A good place to start is the town well.
This is because women had the duty of drawing water and bringing it back to the home, often a few times a day and so wells were a gathering place of women. Isaac, Jacob and Moses all found their wives at wells! But how do you choose a wife. We probably all have opinions on that and so without getting myself into any trouble lest see what the servant did.
Genesis 24:11-14
11 He had the camels kneel down near the well outside the town; it was toward evening, the time the women go out to draw water.
12 Then he prayed, “Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. 13 See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. 14 May it be that when I say to a young woman, ‘Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too’—let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.”
And so the servant effectively asks God for a sign and devises a little test to find the right woman for Isaac. That sign being that if a woman offers to give not only him water but also to give his camels water, then she would be the one.
The question is ; Is this wrong to ask God for a sign and test the will of God?
We know in Deuteronomy it says:
Deuteronomy 6:1616 Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah.
Looking at what happened as Massah in Exodus 17:1-7 a bit closer
Water From the Rock
17 The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?”3 But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”4 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”
5 The Lord answered Moses, “Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the place Massah[a] and Meribah[b] because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
In the New Testament there are also a few examples of testing God.
For instance this happened when Satan tried to test Jesus in the wilderness
Matthew 4:1-11 Jesus Is Tested in the Wilderness: 4 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted[a] by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’[b]”
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’[c]”
7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’[d]”
Similarly when Jesus was dealing with the Pharisees in Matthew 16 :1-4 The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven.
Matthew 16 :1-4
2 He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ 3 and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.[a] 4 A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus then left them and went away.
So was it wrong for the servant to put God to the test?
Well what is a test?. Classically a teacher will instruct a student and then typically a student will undergo a test. By preparing for the test the student learns, and in passing the test, proves that the student has adequate ability to move on to the next stage in the student’s life in the direction he has chosen.
In all these cases, in Massah, Jesus in the wilderness, and the Pharisees, this role has been reversed. The people at Massah, Satan and the Pharisees have taken the teacher position to try and ensure that the student (God), will either prove Himself or has the ability to change their circumstances allowing the teacher to benefit. In all these situations when it is based on a lack of faith such as when we try and prove God , or gain personal benefit or where it is already clear biblically and force God to do something as happened with Moses at Massah, then this testing or asking for a sign is clearly unacceptable and sinful.
However when we realise that God is the teacher and we are the student and we are clarifying by means of a test something the teacher has communicated to us directly, so that we can move on in the direction God has chosen, then that is a very different scenario.
This type of test is always based on faith and acknowledgement of God’s omnipotence and acceptance of out current situation. It invariably seems to occur when unsure of the specific direction to take, after specific instruction by God.
This happened in the case of the servant, after instruction from God (through Abraham) in finding a wife for Rebecca. It also happened in Judges 6 when Gideon put out a fleece. For Gideon, it was whether to go ahead with the attack against the much more powerful forces aligned against Israel, after direct instruction from God. In all these cases the teacher instructs the student directly, and it is the student or pupil who then seeks clarification on the instruction. Big difference
Moses also in a manner asked God to confirm His presence by showing Moses His glory , ie a sign in
Exodus 33:15-1815 Then he [Moses]said to Him, “If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. 16 For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the [a]earth?”
17 The Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; for you have found favor in My sight and I have known you by name.” 18 Then [b]Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!
So when we are given direction from the Lord and through prayer, circumstance, or His word, and lack clarity, it may be acceptable to ask God to give you the direction to take or to show you how to proceed . To open the doors that need to be open or to close the door that needs to be closed. In these circumstances it is not unreasonable to ask God to open a door that is unlikely to be opened except by His power and grace. Alternatively to confirm what He has said to you in some unmistakable way so that it will be a sign to you that you have heard God clearly. And this is what the servant did
David in the Psalms writes this
Psalm 86:17 (NIV)
17 Give me a sign of your goodness,
that my enemies may see it and be put to shame,
for you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.
So if you hear God telling you to sell all your possessions or if you are told you should become a missionary in China, verification and confirmation in some unmistakable way might be the right thing to do. Asking for an unmistakable sign would not be unreasonable. Even doing something akin to what the servant did in finding a wife for Isaac is not unreasonable
For those completely opposed to asking God for a sign under any circumstance keep in mind the story of Ahaz in Isaiah 7
Isaiah 7:10-1410 Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, 11 “Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.”
12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the test.”
13 Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you[a] a sign: The virgin[b] will conceive and give birth to a son, and[c] will call him Immanuel
So lets not throw the baby out with the bath water. There is a place to ask God (under the right circumstances) for confirmation in an unmistakable way of a direction take in your life, that it may be a sign to you of the path you are to take.
To close. In the end the twin story of Genesis 24 and the betrothal of Rebecca to Isaac is the story of the Holy Spirit as represented by the unnamed servant, who at the directions of the Father (Abraham) witnesses to the church bride to be (Rebecca), bestows upon her gifts and seals the church as that belonging to Jesus (Isaac). The betrothed Church is then led and guided by the Holy Spirit (the servant) back to the groom to be. Upon which time Isaac comes out to meet Rebecca and she becomes the bride of Isaac and the church becomes the bride of Christ.
The word of God is mighty and multi-dimensional, it is folly and foolishness to this world. It is only understood through the Spirit. Let us ask God to open our eyes to see the treasures within.