Jan 19: Genesis 22-24

Jan 19, Gen 22-24

Genesis 22. God wants to see how much Abraham truly trusts the Lord. God asks Abraham to take his only son, who God promised to Abraham that would be the beginning of the lineage of all of his numerous descendants. God asks Abraham to sacrifice Isaac to the Lord. I know this sounds psychotic to us in our day and age, especially when some preachers today preach that, “You can have God and everything else too!” But that really isn’t how the God of the Bible is. Later in the New Testament, we will see that Jesus Himself said, “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple (Luke 14).” We see the heart of God and He needs to be number 1 in our lives. Sometimes, He even makes sure that He stays number 1, so that we might be saved. And here, in Genesis we see that God did ask this of Abraham - and he proved to God and to himself that God was still his number 1. Even with the son of his dreams. The highlights are incredible! Abraham takes his son and some servants and starts walking. Abraham doesn't know where to go, but God will tell him. He gets to that place, and Abraham tells his servants to stay put and that they will both be back. Abraham had faith that even if the Lord would make him sacrifice Isaac that God would raise him from the dead (Hebrews 11:19). So the 2 of them went up the mountain with the fire and the wood, and with no sacrifice. So, Isaac asks his father where the sacrifice was, and Abraham says that God will provide it. And God did. As Abraham had his son tied up to sacrifice him, God stopped him and through an angel affirmed that Abraham’s faith in God was now clearly seen. After this, Abraham looked up and saw a ram with its head caught in some bushes, and the Lord provided that sacrifice to take the place of Isaac. This is when God is called Jehovah Jireh - The Lord Provides. God tested Abraham and Abraham was willing to give up his only son to God. It is also interesting to note that God didn’t ask something of Abraham, that He wasn’t willing to do Himself. As we know, God did sacrifice His only Son… for you and me (God leads by example). 

Genesis 23 - Sarah dies at 127 years old. Abraham wants to bury her and we are introduced to the long exchange between Abraham and the Hittites over buying a burial ground for her. Abraham buys the burial plot and by doing this establishes his future rights for his family and begins his small possession in the land of Canaan.

Genesis 24. Abraham is getting real old and wants to secure a good wife for Isaac. This is another awesome example of Jehovah Jireh. This is the account of how Rebecca becomes Isaacs wife and how the Lord supernaturally lines things up for his purposes and people. Here, we learn how important it was to get a good wife, and how influential certain people groups are. As the women were the ones who would raise the kids and teach them, it was also very important what family and lineage they came from. Abraham doesn’t want his son to marry the locals, and sends a servant back to his family, to get a wife for his son. We see that God ordained (preplanned) everything and that God hears our prayers. We also see in verse 19 how the Lord God also controlled what Rebecca’s response to the servant would be, so that he would know that she was the one. How crazy and awesome our God is! But, as we keep on seeing, our God is amazing. We see how the new Bride not only accepts her new husband without seeing him, but leaves her family right away, to a new and unknown land. She shows the faith that she will need in the One True God, to be one of the Mothers of the future people of God. 

To sum it all up:

• Crazy obedience is what God is looking for in His followers. I am not advocating attempting to kill your children to prove your faith in God, just to obey at any cost. How much do you trust God?
• So. What are you willing to give up for Jesus?
• What are you unwilling to give up for Jesus? If you are unwilling to give up things for Christ, this shows a heart condition and a priority list that needs to be changed. We will get into this later, but for now - just know that God will not share Himself with things in our lives, as this is called idolatry. This is where we prove that things in our life are more important to us that God is and we will not be going to heaven with God if He is not number 1 as it says in vs 9-11
• So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple… Think about it.