Abraham—Called by God: LIVING IN FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD THE OFFERING OF ISAAC (1)

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LIVING IN FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD THE OFFERING OF ISAAC (1)

And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

Genesis 22:2

By faith Abraham, being tested, offered up Isaac; indeed he who gladly received the promises was offering up his only begotten, of whom it was said, “In Isaac shall your seed be called”; counting that God was able to raise men even from the dead, from which he also received him back in figure.

Hebrews 11:17-19

In this message we come to Genesis 22, where we see the climax of Abraham’s experience with God. This chapter is the continuation of chapter twenty-one. These two chapters, giving the record of the birth and offering of Isaac, cover a period of at least twenty years. Some scholars believe that when Isaac was offered he was at least twenty years old. Thus, he was a full-grown man by then.

Everything recorded in these two chapters is very meaningful. As we pointed out in the last message, in 21:33, “Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of the Lord, the Eternal God” (Heb.). This planting of the tamarisk tree was not an insignificant thing. Although Abraham must have done many things while he was living in Beer-sheba, the Bible only records that he contended for the well, bought it back at a cost, planted a tamarisk tree, and called on the name of the Lord, the Eternal God. If these were insignificant things, the biblical record, which is very economical, would not have included them as part of the divine revelation. The fact that the divine revelation excludes many other things but includes the record of the planting of a tamarisk tree shows its importance.

The center of the revelation in Genesis 2 is the tree of life. Likewise, the center of the revelation in the second part of Genesis 21 is the tamarisk tree. If we have the spiritual realization with the divine light, we shall see that the tamarisk tree here is the tree of life experienced and expressed. When the tree of life is not experienced or expressed by us, it is simply the tree of life. But once we experience and express it, it becomes a tamarisk tree. A tamarisk tree has slender branches and very fine leaves showing the flow of the riches of life. Thus, the tamarisk tree planted by the well of an oath in Beer-sheba pictures the flow of the riches of life, the issue of the experience of the tree of life. Is the tree of life a tamarisk tree in your experience? Whenever we come to the meetings, the tree of life must become a tamarisk tree.

With Ishmael there was not a tree flowing with the riches of life; there was a bow. While the sign of Ishmael’s life was a life-killing bow, the sign of Isaac’s life was a life-flowing tree. As a Christian, a child of God and a descendant of Abraham, what is your sign—a bow or a tamarisk tree? Are you killing life, or is life with all its riches flowing in you?

If the tree of life in Genesis 2 is important, then the tamarisk tree in Genesis 21 must also be important. Very few Christians, if any, have seen the importance of the tamarisk tree at Beer-sheba. Although some have paid a little attention to the tree of life, they have not paid attention to the tamarisk tree. In the past we did see the tree of life, but we did not see the tamarisk tree. Thank the Lord that in these days He has given us the vision of the tamarisk tree. One day, the inward stirring told me that I had to know the significance of the tamarisk tree in chapter twenty-one. Although this chapter does not waste a word, ignoring the other things that Abraham must have done, it specifically says that he planted a tamarisk tree in Beer-sheba. According to our opinion, the planting of a tamarisk tree may be insignificant, perhaps being only an ancient type of landscaping. But the Bible connects the planting of the tamarisk tree with calling on a new title of the Lord, the Eternal God. Notice how the conjunction “and” is used to connect these two items in 21:33. Abraham planted a tamarisk tree and there called on the name of Jehovah, El Olam. According to our human thought, planting a tree is unrelated to calling on the name of the Lord, especially to such a new and recently revealed title. But in the Bible here it gives us the ground for the proper calling on the Lord. If we would call on the name of the Lord, we need a tamarisk tree. If we do not have this tamarisk tree experience, we can only call on the old title of God, Jehovah, not on His newly unveiled title, El Olam.

In chapter twenty-one, Abraham called on a new title of God—El Olam, the mysterious, hidden, secret, yet so real, living, and ever-existing God. This title of God implies the term eternal life, for the eternal God means the eternal life. Abraham experienced the eternal life, but he did not have this term. The people in ancient times ate vitamins, but they had no scientific knowledge of them nor scientific terms to describe them. Because we were born after the writing of the New Testament, we have the term eternal life. But Abraham, who lived in ancient times, did not have such a divine term. Nevertheless, when he called on the name of Jehovah, El Olam, it is implied that he experienced God as the ever-existing and ever-living life, as the One who is real and living, yet so mysterious and secret.

We need to consider our own experience. Whenever we have had the flow of the riches of the divine life, that was the time when we called on the name of the Lord Jesus with a new realization. We called on the same Lord, but in our calling we had a fresh sense. Do you think that if you held the life-killing bow in your hand you would be able to call on the Lord’s name? No, rather you would go to find an Egyptian wife.

ABRAHAM TESTED BY GOD

In the original text of the Bible, there are no chapters, verses, or paragraphs. Chapter twenty-two is the immediate continuation of chapter twenty-one. After the mention of Abraham’s planting a tamarisk tree and calling on the name of the Lord, God came in to test him (v. 1, Heb.). God, unlike Satan, never tempts anyone. But He does test us like He tested Abraham. I say again that after Abraham redeemed the well in Beer-sheba, he undoubtedly did many things, but, except for the planting of the tamarisk and calling on the name of the Lord, the Bible does not mention them. Rather, it immediately speaks of God’s testing Abraham.

TO OFFER TO GOD WHAT GOD HAS GIVEN HIM IN GRACE • Often after we have had the best enjoyment of the Lord, He will not ask us to do something for Him; rather, He will tell us to offer back to Him what He has given us. At such a time the Lord may say, “You have received a gift from and of Me. Now I ask you to return it.” We always expect that after having a good time with the Lord He will command us to do something for Him. We never imagine that He may ask us to give back to Him that which He has given us. As Abraham was enjoying intimate fellowship with God, he was not commanded to work for Him. He received the highest demand from God—to give back to God what God had given him. From the very beginning, God never accepted anything that Abraham had. He did not care for Lot, rejected Eliezer, and told him to cast out Ishmael. Now, after Eliezer, Lot, and Ishmael had all been rejected, Abraham had acquired Isaac, the seed promised by God, and was at peace. Everything concerning Isaac was of God and by God. Never again would God say no to what Abraham had. But suddenly God came in and seemed to say, “I would never refuse Isaac. He was born of and from Me. But, Abraham, now you must give him back to Me.”

Abraham was marvelous. If I had been he, I would have said, “Lord, what are You doing? You did not care for Lot, and You have refused Eliezer and Ishmael. Now You want Isaac, the one who was of You, to be given back to You. Will You rob me to such an extent?” If I had been Abraham, I would not have offered Isaac. I would have shook my head and said, “No, this certainly is not of the Lord. It would have been logical for Him to want Eliezer, and reasonable to demand Ishmael. But how could God want me to give Isaac back to Him? God is not purposeless. He promised to give me a seed, and His promise has been confirmed and fulfilled. Why would He now waste all that He has been doing with me?” Yes, God is a God of purpose, and He certainly had a purpose in asking Abraham to give Isaac back to Him.

Many Christians, including some Christian workers, have never learned the lesson of offering back to God what He has given them. Have you received a gift? Do not hold on to it. Sooner or later God will come in and say, “Offer back to Me the gift which I have given you.” Has God given you a successful work? At a certain time, God may say, “This work is the Isaac which I have given to you. Now I want you to offer it back to Me.” However, many Christian workers will not take their hands off the work which God has given them. Nevertheless, all that God has given us, even what He has wrought in and through us, must be offered back to Him.

TO OFFER TO GOD HIS ONLY SON WHOM HE LOVES • In verse 2 God said to Abraham, “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.” God told Abraham to offer Isaac, his only son whom he loved. How hard it must have been for Abraham to do this! If we had been he, we would have said, “Lord, I am more than a hundred twenty years of age, and Sarah is about to die. How can You ask me to offer back to You what You have given me?” If you have not had this experience, you will have it some day. We can testify that quite a number of times in the past God asked us to give back to Him what He had given us. The gifts, power, work, and success which He gives us must be offered back to Him. This is a real test. It would have been easy for Abraham to give up Lot or Eliezer. Even casting out Ishmael was not that difficult. But for him to offer his only son whom he loved was a very difficult thing. One day, after our having a good enjoyment of the Lord, He will ask us to give back to Him the gift, work, or success He has given us. He may say, “Now is the time for Me to ask you for something. I don’t ask you to work for Me or to go to the mission field. I ask you to offer back what I have given you.” This is the way we all must take today.

A life grown up by the well of the oath with the calling on the name of the Eternal God • God did not tell Abraham to offer up a baby or even a little boy, but a full-grown man. Isaac’s life was a life grown up by the well of the oath with the calling on the name of the Eternal God (21:33-34). Genesis 21:34, the last verse of chapter twenty-one, says, “Abraham sojourned in the Philistines’ land many days.” This means that Abraham remained there for a good number of years. During that time, Isaac grew up by the well of Beer-sheba, growing up by a life of planting and calling on the name of the Lord, the Eternal God. The one whom Abraham was told to offer up was a grown-up son, one who had lived with him in a life of planting and calling. The life in Beer-sheba built Isaac up to be a burnt offering, not an archer.

Offered to God on Mount Moriah where God’s temple was built • When God told Abraham to offer Isaac, He told him to go to the land of Moriah and to offer him upon one of the mountains there (v. 2). The land of Moriah was a two-day journey from Beer-sheba. The mountain on which Isaac was offered was later called Mount Moriah, eventually becoming Mount Zion, the place where the temple was built (2 Chron. 3:1).

When I read 22:2 as a youth, I was bothered. I wondered why God was so troublesome, saying, “Lord, You gave Abraham a son and asked him to offer his son back to You. That was all right, but it was not reasonable for him to go to such a far-off place. Aren’t You omnipresent? Were You not there in Beer-sheba? Why did You ask Abraham to journey to a mountain so far away?” At first, God did not even tell Abraham on which mountain he was to offer Isaac, saying only that it would be “one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.” In asking Abraham to journey far away for the offering of Isaac, God was not being troublesome. He is never troublesome; He is always meaningful. Eventually Mount Moriah became the center of the good land, and Abraham’s descendants had to go to that mountain three times a year to offer the burnt offering to God (Deut. 16:16; Psa. 132:13). Thus, we see that chapter twenty-two of Genesis is a seed.

We cannot and should not offer to God the burnt offering which He desires in the place of our choosing. We must leave our place and go to the place of God’s choice. Ishmael, the archer, the bowman, went southward toward Egypt and married an Egyptian woman. But Isaac, the burnt offering, was a different kind of person. He did not go downward to Egypt; he went upward to Moriah. If you consult a map, you will see that Moriah is north from Beer-sheba. Here we have a picture of two types of persons—an archer and a burnt offering. Which will you be?

For a burnt offering for God’s satisfaction • The picture in Genesis 22 is very vivid. In his hand Abraham held the fire and the knife. Isaac, who was carrying the wood for the burnt offering, said, “Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” He did not know that he himself was to be the offering.

Do you know that your destiny is to be a burnt offering? To be a burnt offering is to be killed and burned. The growing, living, and calling on the name of El Olam at Beer-sheba are all for the building up of a burnt offering that we might be burned on the altar on Mount Moriah. The water at Beer-sheba is for the fire on Mount Moriah. The more we drink the water from the well of Beer-sheba, the more we shall grow, and the more we grow, the more we shall be prepared for the fire on Mount Moriah. Because of this, the Lord’s recovery will never be a mass movement; it is a narrow way. At the time of Genesis 22, Isaac was the only person living and walking in this narrow way. Do not expect that many will take the way of the church. Many are happy to be a bowman, for that is a sport. But living at Beer-sheba and calling on the name of the Lord may seem, in a sense, to be boring. Eventually, after we enjoy a good time with the Lord, He will ask us to offer our Isaac to Him. He will not allow us to offer Isaac at Beer-sheba. We shall have to travel a long distance and climb Mount Moriah. The proper church life does not produce bowmen; it produces burnt offerings. We all must become a burnt offering. Although this is a narrow way, it is prevailing.

Although it is a long journey from Beer-sheba to Mount Moriah and it is a journey which causes some suffering, it results in blessing. In the following message we shall see the blessing which comes from the life that grows up by the well of Beer-sheba and is offered to God on Mount Moriah. I know of a good number of very brilliant young brothers who came into the church life with an honest heart. Although their heart was honest, they expected that one day, after having all the necessary experiences and receiving all the visions, they would become something in the Lord’s recovery. In other words, they expected to be spiritual giants. Gradually, as the years went by, I learned what was on their heart, for they came to me and told me their story. One brother said, “When I came into the church life, I came in honestly, but I expected that one day, after I had been perfected, equipped, qualified, experienced, and had seen all the visions, I would be so useful in the Lord’s hand. But now the Lord has told me that He intends to burn me up.” Do you expect that someday you will become a strong bowman? If you do, one day the Lord will say to you, “I don’t want an Ishmael, a bowman. I want an Isaac, a burnt offering. Don’t try to do anything for Me. I can do anything I want. I just want you to be a burnt offering.” The life at Beer-sheba only produces a burnt offering. The more we stay in the church life, the more it will bring us from Beer-sheba to Moriah, from the growing water to the burning fire. Are you growing? Thank God for this. But your growth is a preparation for your being burned. One day we all must pass through the process of being burned as a burnt offering.

In Hebrew the burnt offering means the ascending offering. After the burnt offering has been burned, its sweet odor ascends to God for His satisfaction. It is ascending and not spreading. As a burnt offering, we must not be spreading but ascending to God by being burned.

The experience of Genesis 22 cannot come immediately after that of Genesis 12. There must be a long journey from Genesis 12 through Genesis 21. When many of us came into the church life, that was our chapter twelve, not our chapter twenty-two. Abraham had to pass through the separation of Lot, the rejection of Eliezer, the casting out of Ishmael, and the birth of Isaac. Although God had promised Abraham a seed, He did not give it to him until Abraham had made a thorough clearance of Lot, Eliezer, and Ishmael. Only then was Isaac born. But not even Isaac’s birth was the end. Isaac needed to grow and be offered.

As we have seen, Isaac did not grow up in the wilderness but in Beer-sheba, properly growing by the life of calling on the Lord. At a certain point, God came in and asked Abraham to offer Isaac. It seemed that God was being somewhat troublesome. However, God would never have troubled Abraham in that way if Abraham had not been qualified. When God comes to trouble you like this, it is an honor, because it testifies that you are qualified. God did not ask Abraham to offer Lot as a burnt offering. Neither did He request that Abraham offer Eliezer or Ishmael. Rather, God told Abraham to cast Ishmael out. Only the seed who was promised, confirmed, and brought into being by God was the right person. He was the one who grew up by the well of Beer-sheba and who called on the name of the Lord. God seemed to say to Abraham, “You love Isaac, and I love him too. Now you must give him to Me.” Eventually, Isaac became the forefather of the entire chosen race. He also became a forefather of Christ. God’s eternal purpose can never be fulfilled by anyone other than Isaac, the one who was brought up under the care of Abraham and offered to God.

Returned in resurrection for the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose • After Isaac was offered, he was returned in resurrection for the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose (vv. 4, 12-13, 16, 18). After being returned in resurrection, Isaac was another person. He was no longer the natural Isaac, but the resurrected Isaac. This is very encouraging. After we have offered to God what we have received of Him, He will then return it to us in resurrection. Every gift, spiritual blessing, work, and success we have received of God must undergo the test of death. Eventually, it will come back to us in resurrection. The Lord Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24). Suppose God gives you a certain natural gift. That is one grain of wheat. If you keep this natural gift, never offering it to God, it will remain as one grain. But if you offer it back to God, after it has passed through death, it will be returned to you in resurrection and become a blessing. It does not depend on what we can do or intend to do for God. It all depends on our growing up to be offered to God as a burnt offering and then being raised up from the dead to be a resurrected gift. It is not a matter of being useful to God but of being under His blessing. God’s blessing always comes in resurrection. For one grain to be multiplied into a hundred grains is God’s blessing. If you offer your one grain to God and allow Him to put it into death, it will be returned to you in resurrection. Then you will see multiplication and great blessing. This is God’s way.

BRAHAM’S OBEDIENCE BY FAITH

In Genesis 22 we see Abraham’s obedience by faith. When I read this chapter as a young man, I could not understand how Abraham as a human being and a father could have been so bold. When God asked him to offer to Him his beloved son Isaac, he did it immediately. In this chapter there is no mention of Abraham’s wife. According to the record here, we are not told that Abraham talked with his wife about offering Isaac. We are only shown that he responded quickly and boldly to God’s command, rising up early in the morning and going to the place of which God had spoken.

BELIEVING IN THE RESURRECTING GOD • In the Old Testament we cannot see why Abraham obeyed God so quickly and boldly. But in the New Testament we see that Abraham believed in the resurrecting God (Heb. 11:17-19; James 2:21-22). He had the faith which counted on God to raise up the very Isaac whom he was about to slay. He had received the firm and even confirmed promise that God’s covenant would be established with Isaac and that he would become a great nation (17:19-21). If Abraham had offered Isaac on the altar, slaying him and burning him as an offering to God, and God did not raise him from the dead, then God’s word would have been in vain. Abraham’s faith was based upon God’s confirmed promise. Abraham could have said, “If God wants Isaac, I will just slay him. God will raise him up for the fulfillment of His promise.”

Romans 4:17, speaking of Abraham, says that the God in whom he believed is the One who “gives life to the dead and calls the things not being as being.” Here we see that Abraham believed in God for two things: for giving life to the dead and for calling things not being as being. The birth of Isaac was related to God’s calling things not being as being, and his being returned was related to God’s giving life to the dead. Because Abraham had such faith, he obeyed God’s commandment immediately. Hebrews 11:17-19 says that when Abraham was tried, he offered up Isaac by faith, “counting that God was able to raise him even from among the dead, from whence he also received him back in a figure.”

ACTING ACCORDING TO GOD’S REVELATION • In obeying God by faith, Abraham acted according to God’s revelation (vv. 3-4, 9-10). Everything Abraham did in this chapter was absolutely of God. Abraham did not initiate anything nor do anything according to his concept. Nothing was done by his desire or understanding. God told Abraham what to do, how to do it, and where to do it. In every aspect of his action in offering Isaac, Abraham acted according to God’s revelation and instructions.

Going to Mount Moriah, the place of God’s choice • Abraham went to Mount Moriah, the place of God’s choice. In verse 2 God told Abraham to go into the land of Moriah and offer Isaac on one of the mountains of which He would tell him. In the next verse we are told that Abraham “rose up and went to the place of which God had told him.” Before Abraham began his journey, God must have told him which mountain He had chosen. In verse 4 we are told that “on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.” Abraham did nothing according to his concept or choice; he did everything according to God’s revelation.

What Abraham did in Genesis 22 is an important seed in the Bible. As I have already pointed out, Abraham’s descendants, the children of Israel, were commanded by God to go three times a year to Mount Moriah to worship God and there to offer to Him their burnt offerings. We have seen that Mount Moriah became Mount Zion, the very center of the good land. Abraham was the first to worship God with the burnt offering on Mount Zion. Eventually, we all shall be on Mount Zion worshipping God. On the one hand, in the church life today, as true descendants of Abraham, we are on Mount Zion; on the other hand, we are on our way there. What Abraham did in chapter twenty-two was the seed. His descendants, the Israelites, were the development of this seed, and we today are the further development of the seed. We all, including Abraham, shall be in the harvest of the seed. Perhaps one day we shall shake hands with Abraham on the eternal Mount Zion and say to him, “You were on the ancient Mount Zion, we were on the new testament Mount Zion, and now we are all together here on the eternal Mount Zion.”

Traveling for three days • Verse 4 indicates that Abraham traveled for three days, for we are told that on the third day he saw the appointed place afar off. In the eyes of God and according to Abraham’s feeling, Isaac had been killed for three days. On the third day Abraham not only offered Isaac; he also received him back. Hence, the third day is surely a sign of resurrection. It is very meaningful that the Bible does not call it the second or fourth day. If you look at a map, you will see that the distance between Beer-sheba and Moriah is approximately fifty-five miles. According to the ancient method of travel, it would have taken two days to journey from Beer-sheba to Moriah. On the third day Abraham put Isaac on the altar, and then what he offered to God was given back to him in resurrection. This is marvelous. We all must see the seed here. Praise the Lord that today we are Isaacs, not Ishmaels. We are not journeying southward toward Egypt; we are traveling northward to Mount Zion.

In order to see this, we must have the life at Beer-sheba, because only this life builds us up and qualifies us to be the burnt offering for God’s satisfaction and to receive the vision. The name Moriah means “the vision of Jah,” that is, the vision of Jehovah, the vision of the Lord. This has two meanings—that we see the Lord and that the Lord sees us. On Mount Moriah Abraham undoubtedly saw God and God saw him. Likewise, on today’s Mount Zion we have a vision. There is no cloud here. We are not in darkness; we are in the vision. The church life is a vision in which we see God and God sees us.

The translators are troubled about how to render verse 14, uncertain whether it should be “in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen” or “it shall be provided.” According to the King James Version, verse 14 says, “And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.” Other versions say, “In the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.” Some versions even say, “On the mount of the Lord he will see.” Although this verse is difficult to translate, it is easy to understand according to our experience. God’s provision is always His vision. Whenever we participate in and enjoy God’s provision, we have a vision. We see God and He sees us. Because we are in His provision and have the vision, everything is clear, nothing is opaque, and there is no separation between us and Him.

Where is God’s provision today? It is in the church life on Mount Zion. We all can testify what a provision there is in the church life. As we are enjoying the provision, what a vision we have! We see God. We see eternity. Here in the church life everything is crystal clear and transparent in God’s eyes and in ours, and nothing is opaque. We did not have this experience in Christianity. When we were there, we were in a low dungeon that was opaque on every side. But today in the church life on Mount Zion we have the full provision with the full vision. We see God and are seen by Him; God sees us and is seen by us. In God’s provision, everything is transparent.

Building an altar and offering Isaac • Abraham went to a primitive region, built an altar on a mountain, and there offered his only son Isaac (vv. 9-10). To build an altar there was not easy, and to offer his only son by killing him was even more difficult. But he did this. He truly meant business with the Lord. We also must build an altar and offer what God demands. This surely will cost us something.

We have seen the record of Abraham’s obedience by faith. The faith with which he was thoroughly infused by God gave him this obedience. It was this infused faith that brought him to Mount Moriah where he enjoyed God’s provision and had a thoroughly transparent vision from God. At that time there was no one on earth nor in the whole universe who was as clear about divine things as Abraham was. There, on Mount Moriah, Abraham experienced God’s provision and received a clear vision. Everything was clear in his eyes. We must not read Genesis 22 merely as a story. We must receive divine light from it and see that Abraham’s experience is being repeated in us today. Praise the Lord that we have today’s Beer-sheba and Moriah. We are not going downward to Egypt; we are traveling upward to Mount Moriah, where we shall enjoy God’s provision and have a transparent vision.