All the patriarchs are buried here, except Joseph (near Shechem) and Rachel (near Bethlehem). You will recall that the Lord had instructed Abraham, “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are—northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever” (Gen […]
Read More… from May 28, 2021 — Abraham’s Only Real Estate Purchase
Don’t forget Sarah! She too moved hither and yon, living in a tent her whole life. God didn’t forget. Following Abraham’s return to the south, we have recorded some of his extended family. In other words, God’s promise just given, “I will multiply your descendants,” was already coming true! But then we read a significant […]
Every heavenly blessing is to be found just a short distance on the other side of death. After the heart-wrenching experience at Mount Moriah, “the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven” (Gen 22:15). But what a different message this time! No longer is it about a son being […]
Significantly, it was a ram, not a lamb. If caught in the thicket by any part but its horns, it would have been unusable. I don’t think there’s any doubt that the Angel of the Lord who arrested Abraham and kept him from harming his son is the One described in the New Testament in […]
Is a test a test if you know it’s a test? If Abraham had known it was a test, he wouldn’t have been tested. Far from curious eyes, alone on the heights of Moriah, like those Two who met there behind a veil of thick darkness, Abraham prepared to do the deed. I confess my […]
The Father and Son agreed that we are the living answers to the question, “My God, why have You forsaken Me?” With the wood fuel on Isaac’s back, and the fire and knife in Abraham’s hands, we read, “and the two of them went together” (Gen 22:6). Then, having answered Isaac’s question—at least in part—about […]
When it comes to God’s ways, some questions aren’t answered for a really long time. As Abraham and Isaac approached Mount Moriah from the south, the old man turned to the young men traveling with them and said, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will […]
What place did Abraham see? The same place of which it would be written, “the place which is called Calvary.” We read in Genesis 22:4, “On the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off,” the place where he had been called to offer his son. Travelling north from his encampment […]
Obedience doesn’t only involve what we do, but also when we do it. I know it’s hard to imagine, but just for a moment consider if God had asked you to do what He asked Abraham to do in Genesis 22. Would what we read of the patriarch be recorded of us? “So Abraham rose […]
Read More… from May 18, 2021 — Is It Obedience If I Decide When To Obey?