abraham and issac?

[georgie_02]

why did god ask abraham to sacrifice his son issac as a test of faith? 

[Zoltan777]

Maybe someone can give you a better answer. But the way I see, Abraham was the "forefather" for all of us in faith and God wanted to teach him and us the way we should walk. Asking him to sacrifice his son is quite radical way to teach things but in that time there was no Bible no church no information. So it was necessary in order to make him learn about some important things. Mainly:

1. Devotion. Obeying or disobeying God? 

2. Believing in resurrection. Abraham received Issac from God as a promise through whom many will come. The only way to accept this is to come to faith that God would resurrect Issac.

You may ask why was it so important to believe in resurrection? Abraham received many promises some of which never came true in his life. Same like us. This life is not our final destiny where we should receive EVERYTHING but to believe God will fulfil His words in His Kingdom. In the meantime we need to follow Him in obedience as Abraham did.

Edited August 20, 2017 by Zoltan777

[Heleadethme]

20 minutes ago, Zoltan777 said:

Maybe someone can give you a better answer. But the way I see, Abraham was the "forefather" for all of us in faith and God wanted to teach him and us the way we should walk. Asking him to sacrifice his son is quite radical way to teach things but in that time there was no Bible no church no information. So it was necessary in order to make him learn about some important things. Mainly:

1. Devotion. Obeying or disobeying God? 

2. Believing in resurrection. Abraham received Issac from God as a promise through whom many will come. The only way to accept this is to come to faith that God would resurrect Issac.

You may ask why was it so important to believe in resurrection? Abraham received many promises some of which never came true in his life. Same like us. This life is not our final destiny where we should receive EVERYTHING but to believe God will fulfil His words in His Kingdom. 

AMEN brother.......that is some glorious and deep truth, praise the Lord.  Seeking and looking for HIS Day, affections and thoughts above........and Abraham was looking for a heavenly city, as well, not an earthly one.

[HAZARD]

11 hours ago, georgie_02 said:

why did god ask abraham to sacrifice his son issac as a test of faith? 

Hi Georgie,

We have all been created with absolute free moral agency. God does not know what a free moral agent will do or how he will choose until the person acts or how they will choose.

God needed to know if Abraham could be trusted with the promised blessings God had in store for him and his descendants. 

When did God know Abraham would choose to go, to obey God or not, and with-hold nothing from God including his own son?

Genesis 22:12, And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for "NOW" I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast NOT withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

Here are the blessings God gave Abraham, his seed, and in his seed all the nations of the earth because Abraham obeyed God's voice.

Genesis 22:15-18.   

v. 15, And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,

v.. 16, And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:
v. 17, That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
v.18, And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

[georgie_02]

different times i understand now thanks everyone for the responses  

[Heleadethme]

I hardly even know how to put this, and seeing it through a glass darkly, so I pray the Lord to help, and to help us see His lovely truth here.  Recently I read something in Oswald Chamber's little book....My Utmost for His Highest.  This part:  "God puts His disapproval on human experience when we begin to adhere to the conception that sanctification is merely an experience, and forget that sanctification itself has to be sanctified.  (See John 17:19)  I have deliberately to give my sanctified life to God for His service, so that He can use me as His hands and His feet."

John 17:19  "And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth."

Sanctify means to set apart to God, to give something to Him.  Not that Jesus needed to but for our sakes, He sanctified His life by giving it back to God on the cross.  And even after His resurrection Jesus had to leave His followers to return (offer/give Himself) to the Father so that the Holy Spirit could come to them.

"Lord, Lord, why hast though forsaken me."....the Father turning His face away only briefly so that Jesus' flesh could die.  Imagine those disciples 10 days without either Jesus or the Holy Spirit, it must have seemed like such a bleak and dry desert time after all that had happened when Jesus was with them.....yet they remained faithful, and waited for the promise.

This principle of sanctification (giving our gifts & sanctified life back to God, which was bought with the blood of Jesus) is echoed here:

2 Samuel 23:15-17

And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!

And the three mighty men brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: nevertheless he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the LORD.

And he said, Be it far from me, O LORD, that I should do this: is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? therefore he would not drink it. These things did these three mighty men.

The Lord is so amazing how He often speaks many things in one.  Where Abraham offered Isaac to God on the altar is also a picture of this principle of sanctification too.......pouring out the promise (gift) back to God for His use.....sanctifying it, by dying to it ourselves.....even as we die to many things when we put them on the altar (cross) to be burned away.  But the Lord gives back the promise, refined in the fire so to speak, wielded in spirit in His hands and no longer our hands of flesh.  Like Jesus returned to the Father, but He came back to His disciples in His Spirit.

(Just a thought, but I wonder if one of the problems with today's churches and ministries is that they have not been through the fires of sanctification, pouring out their drink (gifts) as an offering to the Lord........they are still wielding them in their own hands of flesh.)

 

Edited August 21, 2017 by Heleadethme

[Sister]

On 8/21/2017 at 11:41 AM, georgie_02 said:

different times i understand now thanks everyone for the responses  

Hi georgie_02

You got a lot of great replies, but I will explain it real basic for you.

God knows the end at the beginning.  He already saw that Abraham would be stopped from killing his son as a sacrifice, but tested Abraham so he would have the opportunity in carrying out righteousness.  Because of Abraham's willingness to obey God, this act went down in history as a record of faith.  Now if we have that same faith, trusting God that he knows what he's doing, and obeying his command no matter what, we automatically become sons of Abraham,...not through blood, but through faith.  The children of God are all connected through that same faith, and become family.  God was not really after Abraham's child, but after sacrifices of the heart.  To put God first no matter what.

This was Abraham's biggest trial, and he was God's favourite.  We also get trials, and there's always that big one we will receive sometime in our life.

It also represents God sacrificing his son, but God went the whole way.  In the old testament, a lot of what happened is a symbol for what was to come.

 

 

[georgie_02]

thank you for the help :-) i thought god didnt have favourites?

[Sister]

2 hours ago, georgie_02 said:

thank you for the help :-) i thought god didnt have favourites?

georgie_02

 2 Timothy 2:20   But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.

 

 

 

[georgie_02]

11 hours ago, Sister said:

georgie_02

 2 Timothy 2:20   But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.

 

 

 

thanks again 21 ^'Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work' can abraham sin if he is holly?