Why did God test Abraham with Isaac?
God asked Abraham to give up the very son through whom every promise had to come, and Abraham obeyed, reasoning that God could raise the dead. At the last moment the Angel of Yahweh stopped the knife, a ram died in Isaac's place, and Abraham named the place Yahweh Will Provide. Hebrews reads the scene as a picture of resurrection, James as faith brought to completion, and both point ahead to the Father who actually gave His own Son.
This question arose from studying Why did God call Abraham?.
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The test met Abraham's 'Here I am'
After decades of walking with God, Abraham heard the hardest command imaginable: 'take your son, your only son, whom you love, even Isaac', and offer him on Moriah. Notice how he moves: he rose early, saddled the donkey, split the wood himself, and answered every call, from heaven or from his boy, with 'Here I am.' The test was not information God lacked; it was the visible proof of what a lifetime of faith had grown into.
After these things, God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” He said, “Here I am.” He said, “Now take your son, your only son, whom you love, even Isaac, and go into the land of Moriah. Offer him there for a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will tell you of.”
Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son. He split the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went to the place of which God had told him.
The command cut against the promise itself
Isaac was not just beloved; he was irreplaceable, the child through whom God had said, 'In Isaac will your seed be called.' To offer him seemed to unravel the covenant. Hebrews names the tension precisely: the one who had gladly received the promises was offering up his one and only son. Sometimes real trust has to carry a promise and an impossibility in the same arms, and this chapter shows what that looks like.
By faith, Abraham, being tested, offered up Isaac. Yes, he who had gladly received the promises was offering up his one and only son;
even he to whom it was said, “In Isaac will your seed be called”;
God will provide himself the lamb
When Isaac asked where the lamb was, Abraham answered, 'God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.' A ram caught by its horns died so the son could live, and Abraham called that place Yahweh Will Provide. On Moriah a father got his boy back because a substitute died in his place. On Calvary God actually went through with it: He is 'who didn’t spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all'.
Isaac spoke to Abraham his father, and said, “My father?” He said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
Abraham said, “God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they both went together.
Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and saw that behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering instead of his son.
Abraham called the name of that place Yahweh Will Provide. As it is said to this day, “On Yahweh’s mountain, it will be provided.”
He who didn’t spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things?
Abraham reasoned that God raises the dead
Hebrews opens the logic behind the knife: Abraham concluded 'that God is able to raise up even from the dead.' If the promise required a living Isaac, and God demanded an offered Isaac, then resurrection was the only road left, and Abraham took it. That is why he told the servants, 'We will worship, and come back to you.' Then, at the last second, the Angel stopped his hand, saying, 'now I know that you fear God'.
Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go yonder. We will worship, and come back to you.”
Abraham stretched out his hand, and took the knife to kill his son.
He said, “Don’t lay your hand on the boy, neither do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
concluding that God is able to raise up even from the dead. Figuratively speaking, he also did receive him back from the dead.
Faith was perfected by obedience
James asks plainly whether Abraham our father was justified by works when he offered Isaac, and answers: 'faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected.' The word spoken years earlier, that 'Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness', was fulfilled on Moriah, and Abraham 'was called the friend of God.' Faith alone saves, but the faith that saves is never left alone.
Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?
You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected;
and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness”; and he was called the friend of God.
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How did Jacob become Israel?→“Behold, I am with you, and will keep you, wherever you go, and will bring you again into this land. For I will not leave you, until I have done that which I have spoken of to you.””What was God doing in Joseph's slavery?→“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save many people alive.”Explore further
Why did Jesus have to die?→Jesus Christ trail“for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God;”What is faith, exactly?→The Gospel trail“Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, proof of things not seen.”Hold onto these
Verses to meditate on
Abraham said, “God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they both went together.
Abraham called the name of that place Yahweh Will Provide. As it is said to this day, “On Yahweh’s mountain, it will be provided.”
concluding that God is able to raise up even from the dead. Figuratively speaking, he also did receive him back from the dead.
He who didn’t spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things?
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