Adventuring Faith

MEMORY VERSE: “For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” —Romans 4:3

GENESIS 12:1-3,7; 22:1-8

ABRAHAM is often referred to as “the father of the faithful,” and indeed he was a man of great faith. God promised him that his “seed” would bless all families of the earth, and this no doubt rejoiced his heart. However, from the very beginning his faith was tested with respect to this promise. In the first place, his wife, Sarah, was barren.

But Abraham did not let this deter him from obeying the Lord in connection with the promise. He was to go into a land which the Lord would show him, which was the land of Canaan, and he went to that land. But years passed by and no child was born to him, so he concluded that perhaps the Lord would be pleased if he took his trusted servant, Eliezer into his household, and make him his heir.

Thus, when the Lord said to Abraham, “Fear not, … I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward,” he replied, “Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.”—Gen. 15:1-3

We are not to think of Abraham as doubting the Lord, but sincerely endeavoring to find out what he intended to do about his promise of a seed. Abraham had taken the matter into his own hands, but his solution was not pleasing to the Lord, who said to him, “This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.”—Gen. 15:4

But again time went on, and no child was born. By now Sarah, in addition to being barren, was too old to bare children. Being sympathetic with Abraham, and herself desiring to see the promise fulfilled, Sarah suggested that her husband take their bond maid to wife, and have a child by her. This he did, but again the Lord was not pleased, and Abraham was to learn that not only was he to be the father of the promised seed, but that Sarah was to be the mother.

“And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her, … and she shall be a mother of nations: kings of people shall be of her. Then Abraham fell on his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?”—Gen. 17:15-17

To this God replied, “Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.” (Gen. 17:19) Here Abraham was given the additional information that the name of his son would be Isaac.

In due course Isaac was born. Thus Abraham’s faith was being rewarded, but it also continued to be tested. There was the long wait for Isaac to mature, and even then he was not used of the Lord to extend blessings to “all families of the earth.” Instead of receiving further instructions in this regard, God appeared to Abraham and asked him to offer up his beloved son, his miracle child, as a burnt offering.

By now, however, Abraham’s faith had grown to the point that he could fully trust the Lord, so he willingly proceeded to obey his instructions. As the account indicates, however, Abraham did not have to go completely through with this harrowing test of his faith, for the Lord provided a ram as a substitute for Isaac.—Gen. 22:13

Isaac, we believe, foreshadowed Christ. Christ is the One through whom all families of the earth will really be blessed. (Gal. 3:16) In order for Jesus to bless the people with life it was essential for him to be the slain Lamb, to give up his own life as a sacrifice, and this he gladly did on Calvary.

Paul explains further that those who suffer and die with Jesus are also a part of the promised seed of blessing. (Gal. 3:27-29) He also wrote, “Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise” (Gal. 4:28) What an incentive to faithfulness it should be to realize that we have the opportunity of being associated with Jesus in the future work of blessing all the families of the earth.

QUESTIONS

Explain the ways in which Abraham’s faith was tested.

According to the New Testament, who is the Seed of promise?

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