Brother M.K. Shivakumar
In Gen 12, God called Abraham and said thus:
“Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
When God called Abraham, Abraham was 75 years old, but he did not have any children.
Even after the promise that he will have a child was given to Abraham, still nothing happened. He still did not have a child. So Abraham‘s wife Sarah made a plan. She thought OK, since nothing happened so far. So let’s try and help God. She asked Abraham to have a child with Hagar, her maid servant. Abraham listens to Sarah and Ismail is born.
In Chapter 15, God made a covenant with Abraham. God appears to him in a vision and said:
“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”
But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!”
And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.” Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”
Now 24 years after God made the covenant with Abraham, he is 99 years old. In Genesis 17, God appears to Abraham and makes a covenant with him again saying you shall be the father of Nations, no longer your name would be Abraham, but Abraham. Likewise Sarai will have her name changed to Sarah.
“I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.” Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”
We read about Abraham’s faith in Romans, 4:17: “in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;”
Abraham believed against hope that he will surely become the father of nations. He was not weak in his faith, but gave glory to God.
After waiting for 25 years, he got a child at the age of 100. Imagine Abraham’s joy after getting Isaac after 25 years of waiting. Imagine how much Abraham and Sarah would’ve loved him. Those of us who are parents and grandparents can imagine the amount of love and affection that we shower upon our children and how long we have for them. We take care of them, we feed them, we bathe them, and do all kinds of things for them.
Let’s remember that it is in such a situation that God tests Abraham.
Gen 22:1 “Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham”
How many of us like to write tests or examinations? Nowadays children have plenty of tests, class tests, monthly tests, midterms, half yearly and annual exams. When I was studying in school and college, I always feared tests. One day before the exam, my dad would ask me questions about the things that I had studied. After completing the test and when I return home, my dad will be waiting for me. Even before I removed my uniform, he will take the question paper from me and ask me the answers. If I got anything wrong, he would yell and beat me with a cane. The next fear I had was about the results whether I would pass or fail.
In Genesis 22:3, 5 we read:
“So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.”
Such great faith that Abraham had that he was confident that he would return with Isaac! When Isaac asked Abraham, “father, we have the wood and the fire, where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said “God will provide, Jehovah Jireh.” Our God is a provider. God has asked him to sacrifice his son Isaac. That means he was going to kill Isaac. How can both Abraham and Isaac come back again? How great his faith was!
Let’s now consider Isaac. When Abraham took Isaac for sacrificing, scholars said that he must have been at least 20 years old.
“Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.”
Genesis 22:9
Abraham must have been around the 120 years. It wouldn’t be possible for a person at that age to lift Isaac and make him lie down on the altar or force this young man to lie down on the altar to give us life. He himself accepted, and obeyed his father’s word and laid down on the altar.
Genesis 22:12
God says to Abraham,
“And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
I know you fear God now. Why did God say this to Abraham? Did he not fear God earlier. Let us take a look at some earlier portions of scripture.
In Gen 12, God calls Abraham while he was in Mesopotamia. Abraham obeys God and goes to a place called Bethel and sets up a tent and stays there. Then there was a famine in that land and Abraham went to Egypt. God did not ask him to go to Egypt asked him to go to Canaan, but he left after reaching Egypt. He says to his wife Sarai, “You are so beautiful. When the Egyptian’s see you, will kill me and let you live. So say that you are, my sister.” Now what Abraham is saying a lie.
What he should’ve told is, “Don’t worry. God called us. He will be with us and protect us.” We read that God took care of the situation and saved both of them. At least at this time, Abraham should’ve realized God‘s power and calling.
However, yet again, in Gen 20:2, Abraham and Sarah go to a place called Gerar, where the king was Abimelech. Even here, Abraham says to the king, “Sarah is my sister.” Again God intervenes speaking to Abimelech in a dream. The king immediately set her free. Children of God, Abraham did not realize his calling and forgot what God had promised him.
Even after he was chosen by God to be the father of many nations, he had a fall in his faith. He stumbled many times in faith. Even when we will fall in faith, in our difficult times, when it seems there is nothing going in favor of us, even after doctors are not able to do anything, we lose our jobs or we are still in the same position, even after we are saved for many years feeling stuck, we need to realize our purpose and calling. What is our ultimate purpose?
We read the answer to that question in Acts 1:8:
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Our purpose is to be His witnesses to the end of the earth. Let us realize our purpose and calling and stand firm, knowing that our God gives life to the dead and calls into existence things that do not exist.