INTERESTING FACTS : THE KING JAMES BIBLE HAS 31,102 VERSES 

 

DAILY READING : [GENESIS 22- 24]

 

TEXT : GEN_21:1  AND THE LORD VISITED SARAH AS HE HAD SAID, AND THE LORD DID UNTO SARAH AS HE HAD SPOKEN. GEN 22:1  AND IT CAME TO PASS AFTER THESE THINGS, THAT GOD DID TEMPT ABRAHAM, AND SAID UNTO HIM, ABRAHAM: AND HE SAID, BEHOLD, HERE I AM. GEN 22:2  AND HE SAID, TAKE NOW THY SON, THINE ONLY SON ISAAC, WHOM THOU LOVEST, AND GET THEE INTO THE LAND OF MORIAH; AND OFFER HIM THERE FOR A BURNT OFFERING UPON ONE OF THE MOUNTAINS WHICH I WILL TELL THEE OF.

 

THEME : THE TESTING OF OUR FAITH

 

All the Bible records, in one way or another is a benefit and encouragement to the believer. The main characters of the Bible are God and Man, and therefore we learn much about God and ourselves when we diligently read and study the Word of God. One of the most comforting and reassuring truths in God's Word is His compete control over all that He has created.  This includes heaven and earth, and all of humanity. It is a comfort to know that God is never without a plan to help us, since He knows all there is to know – now and forever – and He has known this from eternity past. For example, notice that God names Isaac before he is born in chapter 17:21. This is the identical to how He named Jesus before the Holy Spirit placed Christ in the womb of Mary before she had "known" a man. These signs are indications of God's control over history as He works out His plan for this world and the world to come. It is also an indication how God announces what will take place in the future as He writes in the Bible through the prophets telling us before it happens what will take place in the course of time. The best illustration of this of course, is the many prophecies we have about Christ, specifically His role as prophet, priest, and king. Also, note that Isaac was born at the "set time" in chapter 17:21 and 21:2. This is the same type of statement made about Jesus when Paul says – "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law." [Gal. 4:4] The same is said of Christ's death -"For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." [Rom. 5:6] These statements in the Bible reveal that God is directing and commanding everything.

 

What a blessing it is to the weak, the downcast, the depressed, the anxious, the brokenhearted, and the hopeless to learn God is able, willing, and prepared to hear our cries for help in the time of need and save us from our destructions! What a pity it is for those who do not have Christ. Even more so, how sad it is that many Christians do not think about God when they do not need Him!

 

Abraham is the father of faith because he trusted in God no matter how long the God delayed the promise, and because he did not have boundaries on how much God could require of him before he gave up believing. Again, he is our example under the New Covenant to believe in Christ who never changes, and to come to Him with all our concerns expecting to receive an answer. We come like Abraham to Christ believing and therefore receiving. Still, as we see in chapter 22, God "tempts" Abraham [an alternate meaning for the word "test," since God never tempts anyone to sin], which will try Abraham in a demanding, challenging, and arduous way. God will take Abraham to the limits of his frail humanity in testing his love and dedication to God, just as God tests our faith in similar ways.  No true believer in Christ is free from the trials of faith. More than that, tests of our faith –no matter what the trial is – is the norm for the Christian. It is not a strange happening, but rather it is a part of God's plan to make us stronger in the inner man. This is the similar to how the weight on a barbell stresses then stimulates growth in the muscles of a weightlifter. 

 

After twenty-five years of waiting, Sarah finally gives birth to the son God promised. Then, after they receive the promise, God wants it returned to Him! Imagine how perplexed and saddened the soul of Abraham must have been. He prayed and waited for a quarter of a century for God to fulfill His word, and then God asks for it back. Surely, men's ideas of a walk of faith – many of whom fill Church pulpits today, promising unending health, wealth, and anything else you may want – is a far cry from the true walk of faith! Every character in the Bible – from Adam to the Apostles – experienced severe testing that brought them right to the limits of human endurance. Yet, God who is all-powerful shows Himself as the Almighty God of the universe, and proves Himself strong to the man or woman of faith as He makes them a partaker of His holiness through His own tests! How different are God's ways from ours! This is what He reveals to us through the prophet Isaiah -"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.   For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." [Isa. 55:8-9]

 

Abraham takes Isaac to Moriah [which means - "seen of Jah or Jehovah"] as directed by God, and prepares to sacrifice his only son. The father of faith – Abraham, withholds nothing from God. Yet, when asked by Isaac where the sacrifice was, Abraham tells Isaac God will provide Himself a sacrifice. We learn in the New Testament that Abraham believed God would raise Isaac from the dead, since God, who cannot lie, promised to bless the nations through Isaac. Logic forbids Isaac to be dead and have children. Therefore, Abraham believed that God would raise Isaac back up from the dead since this was the only way God could do both. That is, if God required Isaac's death, He must also provide for Isaac's revival. This is why Abraham renames the mountain – Jehovahjireh, meaning, not only does the Lord see, but He will also provide.[1] These are the great lessons one learns by living a life of faith! Still, God tests us like Abraham repeatedly throughout our life.

 

TRUTH FOR TODAY : FAITH IS A CONTEST BETWEEN WINNING OR LOSING

 

In the life of Abraham, we have a foreshadowing of what God has done for us in Christ. Crucified on a Roman cross, God the Father raised Jesus again on the third day. Christ, now seated at the right Hand of God and making intercession for us, will return to take us to Heaven. He will judge all those who live now, who will live, or have lived when He returns at the end of His thousand-year rule.

 

The Apostle Paul determined to preach only what Jesus and the Bible taught, and in particular, the fact that the Savior of those who believe had to die for our sins. "And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.  For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.  And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.  And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:  That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." [1 Cor. 2:1-5]What a contrast to today's theology and sermons!

 

I should mention, have you ever thought about how Isaac viewed the events that took place that day on Moriah? Perhaps he became a great man of faith not only by the power and providence of God, by also by the example of his father, whom he knew by experience, held nothing back from God! If ever a generation needed a demonstration of faith by the people who claim to believe in God, this is the generation. Remember, faith for it to be faith, must be tested. Let us come forth as gold, once God is finished testing our faith in Him! As Peter wrote, the testing of faith is not a strange event for any believer.

 

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,  Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. [1 Peter 1:3 – 9]