Genesis

How does God refer to Isaac when He addresses Abraham in Genesis 22:2, and what is significant about this?

The intent of this question is to draw the clear imagery symbolized by this sacrifice as a type of God's sacrifice of Jesus.

God refers to Isaac as, "your son, your only son, whom you love." The significance of this is to communicate to Abraham then, and us today, the value of Isaac to Abraham. This son's importance to Abraham is intensified when we realize how long Abraham waited for Isaac to be born.

It further lays the foundation for understanding the relationship between God and Jesus, and the depth of love God has for us. Jesus was God's Son, His only Son and His beloved Son. This adds an incredible depth of understanding to John 3:16 and other references discussing God's willingness to sacrifice Jesus for our sins.

How was Abraham's love for Isaac like God's love for us?

The kind of love shown here is a father's love for his son. This is the same love God has for Jesus and His love for us as His children. A wonderful difference between Abraham's love for Isaac and God's love for us is that God loves us even before we accept Him, and even when we so frequently disobey Him. This is the love communicated in the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15). This love is such that seeks only the best for the Prodigal even at the father's personal sacrifice and loss.

How does the testing of Abraham and the testing of Job compare?

In Job we see that God allowed Satan to test Job in order to show that Job's faith would fail if he lost all he had. Satan destroys all of Job's possessions and kills his children. Job's faith does not waiver even though he does not understand why God is allowing these evil events. In similar fashion God called upon Abraham to give up his most precious "possession", his deeply loved son, Isaac. Abraham demonstrated the strength of his faith, even though he did not understand the reason for God's demand.

God allows us to be tested. He does not personally bring the tests into our lives but allows them to happen. In doing so, as James states in James 1:2-4, when we withstand the demands of the test we see our faith grow stronger.

The faith God wishes for us to develop is a deep, trusting faith that acts even if we don't understand. When we exhibit that level of faith then nothing will prevent us from obeying and serving God.

One use of testing is to determine one's faith as we see in the case of Abraham. Another use is to help us understand a concept. In the context of our spiritual relationship, Satan uses tests (temptations) to draw us into evil or to destroy our holy relationship with God. This serves to weaken our faith. This is behind the various temptations Satan used against Jesus (Matthew 4).

Test are also used to teach us. Abraham learned through this test. In John 6 Jesus "tests" Philip to teach him about Jesus' power and to offer a lesson on faith. James 1:2-4 tells us to rejoice in trials (tests) because they produce steadfastness and completeness. Abraham passed the test and had his faith strengthened.

We also face tests in our lives in various forms. When we stand fast in our faith, our faith grows. It is a positive cycle of spiritual growth. We also can learn from the tests of others, both through their failures and their victories which help strengthen our own faith.

This information is directly from the text for this lesson.

• The sacrifice of Christ
• Vicarious atonement
• Relationship between faith and works

We must be aware that when we seek a relationship with God, Satan will seek to attack us in order to prevent that relationship (I Peter 5:8-10). He does this in a variety of ways, one of which is to manipulate relationships that are valuable to us. We must also understand that Satan will continue to attack us by weakening relationships or destroying our effectiveness as a child of God. It is important, therefore, that we resolve to strengthen our faith and develop a greater reliance on God. We do this through various ways including: prayer, knowledge of God's word, relationships with fellow Christians and going on the offensive in our service to God (Ephesians 6:10-18).