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| Volume 25 Number 12 December 2023 |
Page 14 |
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| Volume 25 Number 12 December 2023 |
Page 14 |
Editor's NoteMarilyn LaStrape
How much time do we allow to lapse before or if we choose to obey God? Are we waiting to confer with flesh and blood? What is it that restrains us from immediate obedience? We have an example of God giving a command to Abram in Genesis 12:1-4, which was the first time God spoke to him. Verse 1 reads, “Now the LORD had said to Abram: ‘Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you’” (NKJV). The first part of verse 4 reads, “So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him…” We are given further insight into Abraham’s unquestioning obedience on this occasion in Hebrews 11:8. “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.” Would we have done that?
Genesis 21:1-14 is the account of Abraham and Sarah becoming parents to Isaac when Abraham was one hundred years old, and Sarah was ninety. Abraham had fathered a child by Hagar, an arrangement made by Sarah, since Hagar was her bondwoman. Ishmael was fourteen years old when Isaac was born. Genesis 21:9 says, “And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, scoffing.” Sarah was very distressed and told Abraham to “…Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac.” Verse 11 tells us, “And the matter was very displeasing in Abraham’s sight because of his son.”
However, God told Abraham not to let it be displeasing in his sight because of Ishmael or Hagar. In the latter part of verse 12 and verse 13, God said to Abraham, “…Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for in Isaac your seed shall be called. Yet I will also make a nation of the son of the bondwoman, because he is your seed.” Abraham’s actions in Genesis 21:14 are noteworthy. “So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water; and putting it on her shoulder, he gave it and the boy to Hagar, and sent her way. Then she departed and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba.”
Genesis 22:1-8 is the account of God’s ultimate test of Abraham’s faith and obedience. In verse 2, God said to Abraham, “…Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” In verse 3, Abraham’s response was outstanding. “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 the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.” Once again, his faith and obedience was unwavering – even after Isaac inquired of his father, upon observing the fire and the wood, “…where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” (v. 7). Abraham’s answer in verse eight is the model response for all time. “…‘My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering. So the two of them went together.’” God always provides for what He calls for us to do.
Hebrews 11:17-19 gives us further insight into this account and the unique relationship between God and Abraham. “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, ‘In Isaac your seed shall be called,’ concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead from which he also received him in a figurative sense.” Romans 4:19-24 speaks to that divine truth forthrightly.
And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. And therefore “It was accounted to him for righteousness.”
Another side of Abraham’s sterling character is revealed in Genesis 18 and 19 in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. God said He knew Abraham and that he commanded “…his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him” (Genesis 18:19). God told the two men, who Abraham and Sarah had welcomed to their home, what He would do regarding Sodom and Gomorrah. Genesis 18:20-22 tells us:
And the LORD said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know.” Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the LORD.
The remainder of Genesis 18 contains Abraham’s impassioned plea to God not to destroy the righteous with the wicked. What Abraham said to God in Genesis 18:25 will cause any reverent, submissive, obedient Christian to catch his or her breath as he or she attempts to comprehend what Abraham said to the Almighty Creator of the universe! “Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked, far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” This was a man talking to and questioning God about what is right! Had he forgotten that it is a total impossibility for God to be wrong about anything?
Abraham started out asking God if fifty righteous people were found would He destroy the city. He kept supposing from fifty down to ten righteous people being found. In verse 32, God said He would not destroy it for the sake of ten. Verse 33 is another of those verses that reveals God’s longsuffering. One of the definitions of longsuffering is the ability to keep a hopeful, forgiving attitude toward people to avoid retaliating against a wrong. “So the LORD went His way as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place.” After the destruction of the cities, Genesis 19:27 tells us, “And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD. He looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain; and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land which went up like the smoke of a furnace.” Genesis 19:29 says, “And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had dwelt.” Longsuffering!
James 2:21-24 puts inspired insight to this relationship between God and Abraham regarding faith and works.
Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.
Abraham was remembered in 2 Chronicles 20:7 as God’s friend forever. Why was Abraham called the friend of God? He always responded to God’s commands and expectations with no wavering, no questioning and no hesitation. His example shows us “early in the morning” obedience opens the door for God’s exceedingly abundant blessings for the remainder of the day and beyond. Glorify and magnify His holy and righteous name forever!
