54 Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. 55 Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and obey his word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”
57 “You are not yet fifty years old,” they said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!”
Genesis 22:1-19
God Tests Abraham
1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” Abraham replied.
2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son. He is the one you love. Take Isaac. Go to the place called Moriah. Give your son to me there as a burnt offering. Sacrifice him on the mountain I will show you.”
3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took two of his servants and his son Isaac with him. He cut enough wood for the burnt offering. Then he started out for the place God had shown him. 4 On the third day Abraham saw the place a long way off. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey. I and the boy will go over there and worship. Then we’ll come back to you.”
6 Abraham had his son Isaac carry the wood for the burnt offering. He himself carried the fire and the knife. And the two of them walked on together. 7 Then Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said. “But where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them walked on together.
9 They reached the place God had shown Abraham. There Abraham built an altar. He arranged the wood on it. He tied up his son Isaac. Abraham placed him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand. He picked up the knife to kill his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven. He said, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am,” Abraham replied.
12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not harm him. Now I know that you would do anything for God. You have not held back from me your son, your only son.”
13 Abraham looked around. There in a bush he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram. He sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham named that place The Lord Will Provide. To this day people say, “It will be provided on the mountain of the Lord.”
15 The angel of the Lord called out to Abraham from heaven a second time.16 He said, “I am giving you my word that I will bless you. I will bless you because of what you have done,” announces the Lord. “You have not held back your son, your only son. 17 So I will certainly bless you. I will make the children born into your family as many as the stars in the sky. I will make them as many as the grains of sand on the seashore. They will take over the cities of their enemies. 18 All nations on earth will be blessed because of your children. All these things will happen because you have obeyed me.”
19 Then Abraham returned to his servants. They started out together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba.
Job 19:25-27
Job Knew Somehow His Redeemer Lives
25 I know that my redeemer lives.
In the end he will stand on the earth.
26 Though my skin will be destroyed,
in my body I’ll see God.
27 I myself will see him with my own eyes.
I’ll see him, and he won’t be a stranger to me.
How my heart longs for that day!
Sigmund Freud said, “We tell ourselves that it would be very nice if there was a God who created the world and was a benevolent Providence and if there were a moral order in the universe and an after-life; but it is the very striking fact that all this is exactly as we are bound to wish it to be.”...These words could make you believe that faith is easy and by having faith life is easy and a pleasant one...This type of argument against God is an interesting one...I, personally, start with the premise of believing that Christianity is not easy...There is this great difficulty in following the cross and doing what Jesus teaches...I do not believe faith is an easy thing as the atheist Freud seems to describe here...
Abraham did not have an easy life...Abraham, our first Patriarch, had his faith tested many times...We might have to have these tests to see where we are in our faith...At the start of his faith journey, Abraham was asked to leave his homeland and his country and his people...God said 'and go to the land I will show you.'...And traveling was tough, no cars, or planes -but off went Abraham to find this land that God had told him about...And throughout Abraham's life he was tested, he failed some of his faith tests, and he passed others...
And here we see God's greatest test of Abraham...God has ask Abraham to sacrifice his son...Sacrifices were understood by Abraham and the people of his time...Covenants of his time were often made by sacrifice...But who can sacrifice their son...All the thoughts that would have been going through Abraham's head about his young son...Abraham would be full of grief...But maybe we are given a great clue of what Abraham believed...Jesus said something years later about Abraham and his faith...Jesus spoke of Abraham being able to see His day...Jesus told some unbelieving Jews this about their father and descendant and Patriarch Abraham, "Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing My day; he saw it and was glad."...So from the point Jesus makes here, Abraham knew of Him...Abraham very much believed in God, and was able to see a Redeemer quality in God...Job believed the same thing....Somehow Abraham and Job knew that their Redeemer lived...Both Abraham and Job knew that there was a Redeemer and they would rejoice at being with Him...God tested Job with his suffering by the evil one...Job, while suffering greatly, told his friends I know that my Redeemer lives and in the end He will stand on the earth...
Abraham and Job both believed in a Redeemer who could bring back one from the dead...They both seem to have no problem in believing in the resurrection...Somehow and someway Abraham and Job believed that in the last days their Redeemer would come...Their Redeemer would judge the world, raise the dead, and God would redeem His people...Job said it this, "I myself will see Him with my own eyes...I'll see Him, and He won't be a Stranger to me...How my heart longs for that day."...Job too would rejoice in the day of Jesus, just like Abraham did...