This week we have been winding down by looking at great examples of faith found in the book of Hebrews.  We have looked at the righteousness of Abel, the trust of Enoch, and the obedience of Noah.  Tonight, we want to look at the sacrificial faith of Abraham.

Any series of lessons emphasizing faith would be incomplete without mentioning Abraham.  After all, he is the father of the faithful.  We are the spiritual seed of Abraham if we follow his example of faith.

Romans 4:12 (ESV)
¹² and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

The faith of Abraham could be described by many words.  Certainly, he had an obedient faith like the other three examples we have observed.  Tonight, however, I want to emphasize the sacrificial aspect of his faith.  The Hebrews writer emphasized this aspect of Abraham’s faith.              

Hebrews 11:17(ESV)
¹⁷ By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, 

Of all of the commandments we read about in the Bible, I do not know of a harder one than this.  Can you imagine being in Abraham’s position?  He must have wondered if he had heard God right.  While the most difficult aspect of this command was the sacrificing of his son, the beginning of the test had to do with the request itself.  You see, the foundation of this test was the promise God made to Abraham concerning Isaac.  The Hebrews writer said, “¹⁸ of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”

This offspring was Christ.  This, then, was a Messianic promise meaning that it would be through Abraham that the Savior of mankind would come.  This is why Paul once said that God preached the gospel to Abraham (Galatians 3:8).  It is important to notice here that the promise was specific.  The offspring would not only come from Abraham, but it would come by way of a specific person, and that person was Isaac.  Now God is telling Abraham to kill Isaac, which, on the surface, would make it seem as if God was not planning to keep His promise.

It is easy to see how this would test the faith of Abraham; however, by faith, he knew that God would never break a promise, so he started out for the place God told him to go (Genesis 22:3).  By the time Abraham reached the designated place for the sacrifice of his son, he had the situation all worked out in his mind.

Genesis 22:5-6 (ESV)
⁵ Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.”  ⁶ And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife.  So, they went both of them together.  

Notice that Abraham told the young men who were with him that he and Isaac would, after offering the sacrifice, come to them again.  The fact that Abraham planned on Isaac returning with him tells us that he believed that God would raise Isaac up from the dead.  We know that this is what Abraham was thinking because the Hebrews writer tells us so (Hebrews 11:19).

What an example of great faith.  But the hard part was yet to come.  Abraham had to be willing to sacrifice his son.  He demonstrated that he was by binding Isaac up, putting him on the altar, and taking his knife to plunge in his son in obedience to the command of God (Genesis 22:9-10).  Fortunately, the angel of the Lord stopped Abraham before he killed his son (Genesis 22:11-12).

Abraham passed the test.  Would we all pass such a test given to us by God?  We will never know, but I can say that if we are not willing to sacrifice things that are of far less value than our children, things such as time and effort,  it would be hard to argue that we would be willing to do what Abraham did.

Let us prove that we have the kind of sacrificial faith that Abraham had by sacrificing anything in our lives that is contrary to the will of God.  Let us demonstrate our saving faith by walking in the steps of Abraham.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.