Abraham and Isaac

     KARIM AND ABOU LEARN ABOUT 

 ABRAHAM AND ISAAC

The footsteps of father and son sound loud in the quiet of the vast landscape as they walk silently towards the blue mountains on the horizon.  The father carries fire and a knife.  The son carries a heavy load of wood.  The servants they left behind.  The last part of the journey to the mountains they will walk alone. 

They do not talk much.  As the day grows, so does the heat.   In the end the son breaks the silence:  “Father?” 

“Yes, my son.”

“We have the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”   

The father takes a long time before he answers:  “God will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”  The father sighs deeply and falls back into silence.

Isaac glances at his father from time to time.  He notices something strange in the countenance of his ageing father.  He looks sad and deep in thought.  He respects his old father and keeps silent.

They reach the mountainous area and Abraham points to a rocky mountain.  “This is the mountain God has chosen, Son,” he says.  “Here are enough stones to build an altar.”

Isaac puts the wood down and starts to build the altar, taking the heavy stones from his father, not allowing the old man to work too hard.  He knows exactly what to do, having done this many times before.  It does not take too long before the altar was complete. They put the wood in place, ready for the sacrifice to be burnt.

Then Isaac looks his father straight in the eye.  “Father, the altar for the sacrifice is ready.  Where is the lamb?”

For the first time Isaac notices the strain on his father’s face as the old man fights back his tears.  Then Abraham steps over to his son.  He lays a heavy hand on his shoulder.  Tears start to run down the old man’s cheeks and trickle down his grey beard.

“Father?”

“God demands of me to bring you as a sacrifice to Him, my son.”  Abraham can hardly get the words out.  His voice cracks.

“Father?  Why?”  Isaac’s throat feels dry.  His heart misses a beat.  For a moment he doesn’t breathe.

“As a proof that I will obey Him in everything He asks of me, Son.”

Deep in his heart Abraham knows God has a plan.  He trusts God with all his heart because he loves God.  If God wants him to sacrifice his son and that means killing him and then burning him as a burnt offering, he will do it although it feels if someone is tearing his heart out of him.  God demands obedience and Abraham does not even think of disobeying the Living God, but he also knows that God is faithful, He has always been.  He cannot change.  God said that Abraham’s descendants would be uncountable and that the nations would be blessed through his seed.  He trusts God that this promise is going to ring true even if it means that the all powerful living God has to raise his son from the dead.

There is something else Abraham has pondered during these days. He knows that the living God hates sacrifices where people sacrifice their sons to their gods.  Isn’t he doing the same thing now?  God is holy in character.  He will never stoop down to the lowliness of idolaters.  He has to have something else in mind.  Abraham trusts the God he knows implicitly.  God is more than just a God to him.  God is his friend; his own trustful, devoted, loving friend.

Isaac slowly sits down on the side of the stone structure.  Abraham comes to sit beside him.  For a long time they just sit there, quietly, as if they wait for God to provide the lamb for the burnt offering.  Isaac’s life passes before him.  He is not married; has no offspring.  How will the nations one day be blessed through the seed of Abraham if there is no seed?  Are they all wrong in understanding who the covenant son is?    His life is to end.  God must have something else in mind.

He looks at his old suffering father and puts his arm around his shoulders.  “Father,” he says.  “Let us do as God desires.  Bind me onto the altar as we do with the lambs.  God will give you the strength to complete the task.”

The father takes the ropes and he binds his son on to the wood.  His movements are slow but secure.  With his left hand Abraham covers the eyes of his son and with his right arm he lifts the razor-sharp knife.  The muscles of his arm tighten.  For a moment his hand hovers over his son and then....

The air around them floods with electricity as if from a bolt of lightning.  Shivers run through the bodies of Abraham’s and Isaac as a voice thunders from above:  “Abraham!  Abraham! Do not kill your son!  Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from Me your son, your only son!”¹

Abraham jerks back the knife and swivels around.  Behind them they saw a ram caught by his horns in a bush.

“Father! God has provided!”  

“God has provided, my Son!”  sobs the father.

Together they loosen the ram and sacrifice it on the altar while they worship and praise God.

   +-+-+-+-+-                               

“What a marvellous story!” exclaims Karim.  “You really know how to tell a story, Abou! “But there are a few things I do not understand.  Why would the Almighty God take Abraham to the point of   nearly killing his son and then stop him.  Isn’t it a little meaningless?”

“If one looks on the surface, one could say that,”  Abou answers.  “But there is much more to the story.  In fact in the sacrifice of Isaac by his father Abraham, the whole story of redemption is foretold.”

“How can you say that?”   Karim asks.

“Abraham was told:  ‘Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love’.” ²  The Scriptures tell us: ‘God so loved the world’, that is you and me and others,  ‘that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life’.³  You see, Karim,  the death of Jesus was not something that just happened to Jesus while God, the Father watched from afar.  No the Father GAVE his only Son because He loved man and wanted man to be saved.

The apostle John puts it this way: ‘In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the expiation of our sins’.” ⁴ 

Abou goes on explaining, “Furthermore Isaac was born in unique circumstances.  Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit. Both were born from a promise of God.  Isaac was to be sacrificed as a burnt offering.  A burnt offering is a sin offering.  Remember the words of John the Baptist when he saw Jesus coming to him:  Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. ⁵   Here is a difference though.  God spared Abraham the killing of his son, Jesus had to go all the way through death.  But after He had accomplished what He was sent for, He was resurrected.

“Do you now understand the deeper meaning behind the sacrifice of Isaac?” Abou asked.

“I think so.”  Karim nods.  “God was showing his people  that He plans to do something else much later.”

“Yes, exactly.  Abraham took Isaac to a rocky mountain that God had pointed out to him for the sacrifice of his son and through that God said to man: ‘One day I will choose another rocky mountain where I will sacrifice My own Son for the sins of mankind, because I love man and want them reconciled to Me.’”

Karim is astonished.  “This is awesome! I never understood the story of Abraham and Isaac in this way.”

“And there is more, Abou says.  “The ram was not a ram by chance.  It had to be a male animal.  When God later gave the exact conditions for sacrifices to Moses, He specified that the burnt offering had to be a male without defect, a perfect animal.  This also pointed to Jesus who was the only man ever without sin.”

“What exactly was the burnt offering?” Karim wants to know.

“This was a sin offering.  The man who wanted to make a sacrifice for his sins brought a ram to the priest. He first  put his hands on the head of the animal to say ‘I identify with this animal that now dies in my place’.  This took place hundreds of times everyday.”

“Do we still have to do it today?” Karim asks.

“No. This is the happy ending.  Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice. When Jesus was sacrificed all animal sacrifices ended.  The Scriptures say:  ‘For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless, unstained, separated from sinners, exalted above the heavens.    He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people; he did this once for all when he offered up himself’.” ⁶ 

“So, Jesus took the sins of all people and now man is without sin?” 

“No, not all,” explains Abou.   “Remember the man who identifies with the animal and accepts that the animal dies in his place?   It was the same with Jesus.  The man who accepts His sacrifice is cleansed from sin.  John puts it like this:  ‘...but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.  If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.    If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.    If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.⁷  But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God…⁸

“So how do I confess my sins?”

“You tell Him.  God is alive and you can talk to Him whenever and wherever you want to like we talk to each other.  Let me give you and example of how to do it. You pray:

Living God, I honour you as the only Living and True God who loved me so much that you gave your Son to die in my place.  I accept the sacrifice Jesus made for my sin.  I confess my sins.  I agree that I am a sinner.  Thank You, Jesus, that you died in my place.  Thank you that you forgive my sins and that you cleanse me from my sins by your blood.  I receive you as my Saviour. According to your Word you give me the power to become your child when I receive you and believe in your Name.  I believe in your Name.  I thank you Jesus.

                        

¹Genesis 21:11-12; ²Genesis 22:2; ³John 3:16;  ⁴1 John 4:10; ⁵John 1:29; ⁶Hebrew 7:26-27. ⁷1 John 1:7-10; ⁸John 1:12.

Ishmael, Abraham's son

KARIM AND ABOU LEARN ABOUT ABRAHAM AND ISHMAEL

It was late evening when the two friends, Karim and Abou, sat at the seaside chatting.

“How could Abraham find it in his heart to chase his young son, Ishmael, away from his house?” Karim asked out of the blue.

“Do you know how old Ishmael was when Abraham sent him and his mother away?” Abou asked a little surprised.

“No, I don’t.  How old was he?”  Karim wanted to know.

“The Torah says: ‘Abram was 86 years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.’  When Abraham was 99 years old, God appeared to Abraham again and confirmed that he would have a son by Sarah a year later.”¹

“So Ishmael was 14 when Isaac was born,” said Karim. “At what stage was he then sent away?”

“Three years later, at the age of seventeen, when Isaac was weaned.²   It was not the first time that his mother left the house of Abraham.”

 “When was the first time?” Karim sounded surprised.

    “Before Ishmael was born.  According to the Torah, Hagar fell pregnant with Ishmael and began to despise her mistress.  So Sarah mistreated her and Hagar fled, but God Himself intervened and sent Hagar back to Abraham’s house.  We must read the whole story in Genesis Chapter 16: The angel of the LORD met Hagar at a spring in the desert on the road to Shur   and said, "Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?" She answered, "I am running away from my mistress."    He said, "Go back to her and be her slave."  Then he said, "I will give you so many descendants that no one will be able to count them.  You are going to have a son, and you will name him Ishmael, because the LORD has heard your cry of distress.    But your son will live like a wild donkey; he will be against everyone, and everyone will be against him. He will live apart from all his relatives."  Hagar asked herself, "Have I really seen God and lived to tell about it?" So she called the LORD, who had spoken to her, "A God Who Sees.”’³

“Here is something very important we must not overlook.  Hagar knew it was not only an angel talking to her.  She recognized the Living God.  She gave Him the name: The One who sees me.  It is clear that an   angel could not make the promise: ‘I will so greatly multiply your descendants that they cannot be numbered for multitude.’  Ishmael was the first baby mentioned in the Scriptures who received his name from God before he was born and the meaning of this name is: God Hears.  This name  would always remind Ishmael and his descendants that God would hear them every time they sincerely cry out to Him for salvation.”
“This is awesome!” said Karim.  “But I still think it is very sad that his father sent him away even at the age of 17. Didn’t he love him anymore?”
“Yes, he did.  We find a few very significant clues in the story to prove this. When Ishmael was 13 years old, God appeared to Abraham again to confirm the covenant He had made with Abraham before Ishmael was born: ‘A son coming from your own body will be your heir’. ⁴    Abraham had thought throughout these 13 years that the son God referred to was Ishmael. He loved him and nurtured him.  No doubt Abraham had explained to Ishmael the blessing for nations God had promised, would come through his seed. And now God appeared to him again saying Sarah was going to have a son. Abraham realized he had made a mistake. The real covenant boy would only be born a year later.
“Abraham fell face down before God begging: ‘If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!’ ⁵ Then God answered him:   ‘And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall father twelve chiefs, and I will make him a great nation.’  ⁶
“The covenant God made with Abraham was a blood covenant with circumcision as a sign of the closest and most sacred of all contracts between two parties.  The Word of God says: ‘Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised on that same day’.⁷   Every word God uses means something.  He wanted the world then, and the world thereafter to know that He included Ishmael in this eternal blood covenant.”
“What did this mean?” Karim wanted to know.
“It meant that one day God would shed blood for the eternal salvation of the descendants of Ishmael.”
 “Was it wrong for Abraham to take Hagar as his second wife?”  Karim asked anxiously.
“Not according to the customs of the time, but according to God’s principles, yes.  God never told Abraham to take a second wife.  To have more than one wife always causes problems.  God intended man to have only one wife in the way He created Eve for Adam in the Garden of Eden.  Customs and cultures are not our standards.  The laws of God are.”
“And Ishmael? What happened to him after Abraham chased them away?”
“Wait!  Not so harsh?  I don’t think there was ever any intention of chasing them out of the house!  When Sarah asked Abraham to send Ishmael away because Ishmael was mocking at the feast of weaning, the Torah tells us: ...to send him away was very evil in Abraham’s sight, because of his son.  God again intervened and told Abraham not to be anxious about Ishmael.  He would bless Ishmael.  But God immediately put things straight with Abraham: The seed – in the singular referring to a Person (Jesus) -who will bless the nations, will come  through Isaac’s descendants”.⁸
“Was Isaac so much better then?”

“No, it has nothing to do with who is good and who is bad. The prophet Isaiah says all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment (Is 64:6). God chose the line of Isaac and the land of Israel with a plan.  Through this line and in that small country the Saviour for all mankind was to be born and there in the centre of this world, Jesus will return as King to judge the world.”

“Are the Jews then automatically saved because God chose that line and land?”

“No, not at all.  Nobody can earn salvation through good works.  The Jews today have to accept Jesus as their Saviour the same way all the other nations have to accept him.  As a matter of fact the apostle Paul says the following in Romans 11:25: ‘I want you to understand this mystery, brethren: a hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles come in…’ In these last days we can expect a great number of the descendants of Ishmael to understand who Jesus really is.”

“Let’s continue with the story of Ishmael.  Abraham gave Hagar and Ishmael enough provisions to reach the next well. This well, it appears, Hagar missed.  When she realized they had a problem, she left Ishmael alone and went some distance away where she sat crying.  The angel of the Lord came to her there and what do you think he said to her?”
 “I guess he would say: ‘Don’t cry, Hagar, God hears you!”  Karim answered.
“Excellent! The Scripture says:  ‘And He said to her, ‘What ails you, Hagar? Do not fear, for God has heard the voice of the boy, there where he is’.⁹  Don’t forget Ishmael means ‘God hears’.  God even today hears the sincere cries for salvation of the descendants of Ishmael. There after God showed Hagar the well of water near them that saved their lives.” 
“The fact that they were chased away and were lost in the desert must have had a very strong influence on the young boy,” Karim said.
“Yes, no doubt the sadness, rejection, bitterness and pain lie deeply embedded in the roots of the nation that descended from him. But again God hears them and will provide the healing water. As Jesus once called out at a feast in Jerusalem: ‘If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.’ Now this he said about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were to receive’.” ¹⁰.
What did God mean by the 12 chiefs he promised to Ishmael.?”  Karim asked.

“Ishmael had 12 sons. God mentioned them all in the Scriptures.  You can read the story of the 12 sons and where they went to live in Genesis 25 from verse 13 – 17.  They spread out from Egypt to Arabia and further on. Ishmael’s descendants are exceedingly blessed in numbers as God had said.  But the most important blessing is the promise of Salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ, the only worthy Saviour, because He was without sin.

“Do you know  that Abraham died at the age of 175 and the Torah says that  ‘Isaac and Ishmael, his sons, buried him in the cave of Mach-pe’lah’.¹¹   This was 62 years after Ishmael was sent away.  Ishmael was 89 by then and his half brother Isaac 75.”  
“It is a pity that the descendants of the two brothers do not see eye to eye today.  They seem to miss that they are both included in the promise of salvation for the nations,” says Karim.

 “Yes, it is a pity,” said Abou.  “But it is not too late.  Anyone can enter into this covenant at anytime.  In prayer you simply confess to God that you are a sinner and that you cannot save yourself. You then enter into the covenant by asking Jesus to come into your life and be your personal Saviour.  At this point God accepts you in the covenant through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  Jesus then sends His Holy Spirit to live His life in you.  The Holy Spirit will now bear witness to your own human spirit that you have entered into the covenant and become a child of God.  Anyone may pray this prayer. It does not matter to which nation you belong because this blessing is for all the nations.  The Scripture says ‘No one who believes in him will be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek (gentile); the same Lord is Lord of all and bestows his riches upon all who call upon him.  For, every one who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved’. ¹²

“The bottom line of this story about Ishmael is summed up in one short sentence:  GOD SEES, GOD HEARS and GOD CARES for the descendants of Ishmael.  He loves you and HE wants you to be saved!

       

 ¹ Gen 16:16; 17:1,19;  ² Gen 21:8-14;     ³  Gen 16:7-13;   ⁴ Gen 15:4;  ⁵ Genesis 17:18;    ⁶ Gen 17:20.  ⁷ Gen. 17:26;   ⁸ Gen 21:10-13; ⁹ Gen 21:17;   ¹⁰ John 7:37-39;   ¹¹ Gen 25:9;   ¹²  Rom 10:11-13.