From Promise to Oath
Patrick J van Rensburg
Abraham Tested
Genesis 22:1 (NIV) “Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”
When God wants to have an encounter with you it will involve a test. This is a test related to a promise. This test is unique because involves a series of contradictions
Genesis 12 (NIV) 2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.
In Genesis 12 God gives the promise, and in Genesis 22 God tells Abraham to kill the promise. It is a contradiction. Theologically, Emotionally and Spiritually.
An encounter with God will involve a test that does not make sense
Genesis 22:3-4 (NIV) Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.
Hebrews 11:17-19 (NIV) “By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.”
Abraham had a high view of God. He believed that although the test did not make sense, he had a promise from God. His picture of God was much bigger that the test. He knew that he served a God that would provide. Abraham believed that God could raise Isaac from the dead. If God could give Abraham Isaac when he was a 100 years and Sarah 90 years, out of the dead, he could do it again.
You have to remember what God has done yesterday for the new that God wants to do today.
It is a problem if you don’t have any remembrance, then the situation that you are now in, will be your first memory.
Hebrews 12:1 (NLT) Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.
Abraham says that God will provide.
Genesis 22:8 NLT) “God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham answered. And they both walked on together. Isaac sees everything, the wood, the fire, but no lamb.
Genesis 22:9 (NLT) When they arrived at the place where God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood.
Genesis 22:10 (NLT) And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice.
Genesis 22:11 (NLT) At that moment the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Yes,” Abraham replied. “Here I am!”
Now I know
Genesis 22:12 (NLT) “Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.”
The problem is these three words “now I know “ God knows everything although he did not experience everything. He did not experience sin. When God wanted to know what it is like to become a man, He became flesh, to experience it. Why does God put you through a test? Because he wants to feel your love. How does God feel it? When you choose something above Him that you already love. “Now I know” that you love me, because you did not withhold your son.
When Abraham had to choose between his son and God, he chose God. Now I know that you truly fear God
Genesis 22:13 (NLT) Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son.
You will not see the solution until the obedience occurs. A lot of us are looking for the ram before I have been obedient. The solution was already there, it had not yet been revealed, until God tested him.
Genesis 22:14 (NLT) Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the Lord will provide”). To this day, people still use that name as a proverb: “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
Yahweh-Yireh . Yireh – To pre-see. God provides when he pre-sees. He needs to pre-see what you see so that you can see Him provide. If you don’t give Him something to see, then you may not see what He can provide.
From Promise to Oath
Genesis 22:15-17 (NKJV) Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, 16 and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— 17 blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.
Genesis 22:18 (NKJV) In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
I swear by my own name. God made a promise to Abraham in Genesis 12. In Genesis 22 He swears by it. From the promise of Isaac was given until he was born took 25 years.
Years have passed since you have received the promise, and nothing has happened yet. You need to understand that between God’s promise and His oath is time. In this time, God is busy getting you ready for the promise, while God is busy getting the promise ready for you. Between Genesis 12 to 22 Abraham made a lot of mistakes. Abraham was not ready to receive the promise. Between the promise and the oath is the time of preparation. Now that you have obeyed, now God can fulfil his promise
Hebrews 6:13-18 (NLT) 13 For example, there was God’s promise to Abraham. Since there was no one greater to swear by, God took an oath in his own name, saying: 14 “I will certainly bless you, and I will multiply your descendants beyond number.” 15 Then Abraham waited patiently, and Abraham received what God had promised. 16 Now when people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any question that oath is binding. 16 Now when people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any question that oath is binding. 17 God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. 18 So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us.
“I swear by myself,” I don’t need anyone outside of myself to make it happen.
When God makes the promise, you need to follow in obedience for God to make the oath.
Hebrews 11:17-19 (MSG)
17-19 By faith, Abraham, at the time of testing, offered Isaac back to God. Acting in faith, he was as ready to return the promised son, his only son, as he had been to receive him—and this after he had already been told, “Your descendants shall come from Isaac.” Abraham figured that if God wanted to, he could raise the dead. In a sense, that’s what happened when he received Isaac back, alive from off the altar.
When you pass the test it becomes an oath and God takes over from there.
Lev 27:30 And every tenth part of the land, of the seed planted, or of the fruit of trees, is holy to the Lord.
Malachi 3:8-12 (NLT) 8 “Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me! “But you ask, ‘What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?’ “You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me. 9 You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me. 10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test 11 Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease. Your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 12 “Then all nations will call you blessed, for your land will be such a delight,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.