In Genesis, chapter twenty-two, Abraham’s faith in and commitment to God get tested. God commanded him to do something completely contrary to common sense and his fatherly love and lifelong hope. Abraham receives three challenges. The call to separate himself from his people and country and go forth not knowing where he is going; the requirement to trust God for the promise of the covenant without seeing the fulfillment of that promise for twenty-five years; the command that he offers up to Isaac, the promised son.
Like Abraham, the true faith of all believers will encounter a test. Why do we receive these tests in life as children of God? To advance, to grow. To be promoted by God so He could give specified work that He has for each person that serves and lives for Him. The factor of these pop-up tests is to increase the gift of knowledge that God has blessed him.
Abraham commanded to sacrifice his son Isaac. The central issue lay in two areas that illustrate God’s measure in dealing with all believers. Was Abraham’s love for God more than his love for others, even his beloved son? Was Abraham’s hope of the promise still in God, or did he now hope in something else?
In all these tests, He forces Abraham to clarify if he feared Him with all his heart. God did not desire Isaac’s physical death, for he later condemned human sacrifice as a terrible sin. However, he did want to test Abraham’s commitment.
Abraham’s statement that he and Issac would return from the sacrifice was a testimony to his faith and conviction that God’s promises for Isaac are a fulfillment that came to fruition. This example illustrates that if anyone holds on to the word received from God, He will bring it to pass.