Abraham, my Friend 57

God is able

In the ‘National Gallery of the Heroes of Faith,’ there is just one portrait that appears twice — Abraham. Hebrews 11 twice focuses on this extraordinary man as a God-given illustration of faith. First, the writer tells us that it was ‘by faith’ that Abraham obeyed, went out, sojourned and looked for a city.

By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out unto a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he became a sojourner in the land of promise, as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents, with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: for he looked for the city which hath the foundations, whose builder and maker is God. (Heb 11:8–10 ASV)

Surely Abraham’s was a life of faith from its commencement and every step of the way. These are ‘the steps of the faith of our father Abraham’ (Rom 4:11 KJV).

When it comes to the arrival of Isaac, the writer to the Hebrews singles out the faith of Sarah, but then returns to focus on Abraham at the point of the journey to Moriah:

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,” concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense. (Heb 11:17–19 NKJV)

The American Standard Version has, ‘being tried…’ In the moment of this greatest trial, Abraham believed God. Temptations are a great opportunity for faith. Martin Luther once wrote ‘Prayer and temptation, the Bible and meditation, make a true minister of the gospel.’ It’s an interesting list.

The story is graphically retold here: tried, offered, reckoning, received; the intention is regarded as the deed. As the old saying has it, ‘Man sees the mark we make, God sees the aim we take.’ This is another important Bible principle, for good or ill.

For as he thinketh within himself, so is he…  (Prov 23:7a ASV)

Abraham offered up Isaac. Not by strength of character or willpower, not in reckless fanaticism, but in faith. It is not the costliness of the sacrifice that is the focus but that which made the sacrifice possible — Abraham’s faith. We often think of  Abraham’s amazing sacrifice; the Bible concentrates on Abraham’s amazing faith.

By faith Abraham, being tried, offered up Isaac: yea, he that had gladly received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; even he to whom it was said, In Isaac shall thy seed be called: accounting that God is able to raise up, even from the dead; from whence he did also in a figure receive him back. (Heb 11:17-19 ASV)

Abraham was able because he believed God was able

The letter to the Hebrews declares that Abraham did what he did in the consciousness that ‘God is able’. I note that the American Standard Version changes the tense.  The verb is not there in the original but I like the ASV’s choice, God is able. Dunatos (able) is not a verb but an adjective; the verb ‘to be’ is assumed.

This truth sustained Abraham on the three-day journey to Moriah — God is able. Did he question whether or not he would be able to go through with this sacrifice? God is able. Knowing that he was heading for bloodshed and the conflagration of his sacrifice, Hebrews says he did it ‘accounting that God is able to raise up even from the dead…’.We are reminded that it was faith in the God who could create life which had made Isaac’s birth possible.

(As it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did… (Rom 4:17 NKJV)

This had characterised Isaac’s beginning: the deadness of Abraham’s body and the deadness of Sarah’s womb and the God who gives life to the dead. Abraham had seen the miracle of resurrection, to a degree, in his own body and in Sarah’s, but this was something different. Isaac’s body was going to be reduced to ashes, but Abraham was ‘accounting that God is able’. It was not the memory of God’s historic ability, but the assurance of God’s present ability; God is able. Faith in the God who is able would carry Abraham through the test of Moriah.

The word ‘accounting’ in Hebrews 11:19 is the same word that we considered in our meditations on justification by faith. ‘Abraham believed God and it was (ac)counted unto him for righteousness.’ God measured and credited righteousness to Abraham’s account on the single condition of his faith. Now Abraham credits God with present tense ability, accounting that God is able.

The psalmist said:

Ascribe ye strength unto God:
His excellency is over Israel,
And his strength is in the skies. (Ps 68:34 ASV)

God’s ‘credit’ rating?

Ascribe/credit God with strength; credit him with ability. Many years ago the English bible translator J B Phillips wrote a book entitled, ‘Your God is too small’. Abraham is ‘accounting that God is able’. Much of what we do is based on a calculation of risks and resources. Abraham was no different. He knew the risks, but his calculation included the factor that God is able to raise the dead, and he was counting on it.

In a figure, says the writer to the Hebrews, Abraham actually received Isaac from the dead (Heb 11:19). From this moment Isaac is, in figure, the beloved Son who has passed through death and resurrection and has been ‘received’ by the Father.

All that follows in his story will need to be seen in this light; Isaac is alive from the dead and at his father’s side. Not only Calvary, but the open tomb, and the Son’s ascension to glory at his Father’s side are all here, in a figure. Following Isaac’s ‘death, resurrection and ascension’ God speaks, and says to Abraham:

By myself have I sworn, saith Jehovah, because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is upon the sea-shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. (Gen 22:16–18 ASV)

‘Because thou hast done this…’ Is this a conscious echo of God’s word to the Serpent?

And Jehovah God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, cursed art thou above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life… (Gen 3:14 ASV)

Satan’s temptation which culminated in the man ‘standing up for his rights’ resulted in a curse, but here in the story of the Father and his Son, the yielding up of all his rights results in a blessing. Through the first Adam and his cooperation with the ‘god of this world’ a worldwide curse comes into our world, but through the last Adam and his cooperation with the true and living God comes the promise of a worldwide blessing. There are glimpses of truth here that Paul opens out in Romans:

Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. (Rom 5:13–14 NKJV)

The full blessing comes into view

There is surely significance too in that this full blessing for the nations comes into clear view at this point, beyond the sacrifice and the resurrection and the restoration to the father’s side. It is surely significant too that there is no mention of territory in this blessing. This promise and blessing sees far beyond the Promised Land and its destiny. Abraham has revealed the Father’s purpose and the future of the Son and his seed, and all because Abraham ‘obeyed my voice’ (Gen 22:18). The blessing will be unstoppable:

…Thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies… (Gen 22:17 ASV)

…On this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. (Matt 16:18 NKJV)

Abraham and Isaac now return to the ‘well of the seven’ at Beersheba. In a figure, the sacrifice has been ‘offered’. The son has been ‘raised’ and the father has ‘received’ him again. They return, as they had gone out to Moriah, ‘together’… to Beersheba.

Isaac, the son of laughter will never leave the land. This was the father’s decree:

And the servant said unto him, Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this land: must I needs bring thy son again unto the land from whence thou camest? And Abraham said unto him, Beware thou that thou bring not my son thither again. (Gen 24:5–6 ASV)

…From that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. (Heb 10:13 NKJV)

The Son will wait now, by his father’s side. Now the bride must come to the son.

A post-script to Genesis 22

That story awaits us, but we can conclude this one with an observation that comes in the closing verses of Genesis 22. It is after the events of Moriah, after the offering and after the resurrection, that a key figure appears in the account.

 And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she also hath borne children unto thy brother Nahor: Uz his first-born, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram, and Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel. And Bethuel begat Rebekah. These eight did Milcah bear to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she also bare Tebah, and Gaham, and Tahash, and Maacah. (Gen 22:20–24 ASV)

After many years a message reaches Abraham from his kin. Nahor, Abraham’s older brother, has prospered too, and the result is a key link in God’s amazing plan. Nahor has fathered eight sons, and one of the sons has had a daughter — Rebekah.

As the story unfolds she will become a type of the bride of the Son who passed through death and resurrection and is ‘together’ with his Father. There could be no prospect of a bride without Moriah. Just as there could be no Church without Calvary.

And the place Moriah too has its later significance in the history of God’s people:

Then Solomon began to build the house of Jehovah at Jerusalem on mount Moriah, where Jehovah appeared unto David his father, which he made ready in the place that David had appointed, in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite. (2 Chr 3:1 ASV)

In this spot where Abraham offered Isaac, in a figure, and received him from the dead, Solomon would build a House for God. How wonderfully all the pictures interlock:

Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. (Matt 16:17–18 NKJV)

Is God still able to quicken the dead? Abraham’s faith was built upon the solid foundation of the nature and character of God, not upon his own inadequacy. Am I able to be what God wants me to be? Am I able to fulfil all he has prepared for me? These questions fatally put the wrong target before our faith; the real question is, ‘Is God able?’

And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. (2 Cor 9:8 NKJV)

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Eph 3:20–21 NKJV)

Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. (Heb 7:25 NKJV)

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,
And to present you faultless
Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
To God our Savior,
Who alone is wise,
Be glory and majesty,
Dominion and power,
Both now and forever.
Amen. (Jude 1:24–25 NKJV)

Able to make…, able to do… able to save… able to keep…

The truth rings through to our own day… whatever our inadequacies, God is able.