Genesis chapter twenty-two records God asking Abraham to sacrifice his son. It reminds me of one of the Jason Bourne movies. Bourne has a flash-back in which he remembers the way that he was trained and brainwashed to be a super-assassin. In his final test as a trainee they tell him to shoot a bound and blindfolded man in cold-blood, and . . . Bourne does it! It’s chilling to watch a cold-blooded murder committed simply on the say-so from a superior. But that is exactly what God does with Abraham in Genesis twenty-two. He asks him to kill his son with his own hand as a burnt offering to God. And we do well to remember that the ancients killed sacrificial animals by slitting their throats! So, on God’s command, Abraham drops everything
and heads out on a three-day journey to a remote site where he is to gash his son’s throat and incinerate his body!Genesis 22:1 says that God asked this of Abraham in order to “test” him. So how does Abraham do on his test? Amazingly well! The passage tells us that Abraham:
- Takes immediate action, v. 1
- Shows unhesitating and unquestioning obedience, vv. 1, 3, 11.
- Demonstrates trust and confidence in God, v. 5, 8
- Fully expects God Himself to be involved, vv. 8,14
- Surrenders what he holds dearest in life, vv. 1,12
(I should add that God stops Abraham at the last second with the knife poised for the killing stroke.)
Both Hebrews (11:17-19) and James (2:21-23) identify Abraham’s obedience as an expression of his “faith.” In Genesis God calls it “fearing God” (Gen. 22:12). I would describe it as “a trusting, faithful, willingness to do whatever God asks without questioning or hesitation.” This story takes us way beyond a mere intellectual acceptance of some religious dogma or point of doctrine. It involves risking and surrendering everything you are and have, both now and in the future, and doing it without regard to the personal cost or consequences.
So, I read this account and I think, to myself: “Man! I’m sure glad that God doesn’t give us tests like that anymore.” Or does He?
Jesus’ earliest followers were called first and foremost, “disciples.” (The New Testament writers used word “disciple 256 times, but “Christian” occurs only three times.) A disciple is a very committed, involved follower/learner of some great person. But in the Gospels, Jesus spells out exactly what is it entails to be His disciple:
And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. Luke 9:23–24
And again:
Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. . . .33So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. Luke 14: 25-33
What Jesus asks of his disciples is very close to what God asked of Abraham!
How very different this is from the “easy believe-ism” that is pawned off on the unsuspecting pew-fillers in many modern churches. Many people attend for years without every being taught what it actually means to follow Christ. No wonder so many fold at the first difficulty that comes their way and challenges their “faith.” But this is the very reason why the Apostle Paul travelled around:
. . .strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.” Acts 14:22
And challenging them with his own example:
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me. Galatians 2:20
So, what about you? Is your heart ready for the tests that will certainly come your way as a follower of Christ?