Again, after the flood, the people on the earth began to sin
and do what was right in their own eyes.
Yet, again, one man named Abraham and his wife Sarah, were found to be
faithful to God. God promised great
things to Abraham as he was obedient to God – including the fact that Abraham
would be the father of a great nation.
This would seem impossible because Abraham and Sarah were very old
without any children. God fulfilled that
promise in the birth of Isaac. When
Isaac was young, as a test of Abraham’s faith, God told Abraham to sacrifice
his own son. This seemed so improbable
to Abraham, because after all, he was old and God promised him to be a great
nation. Out of great faith and
obedience to God, though, Abraham obeyed.
He believed God’s promise to him even though the situation seemed
improbable. He took his son to the place
God commanded and began to prepare Isaac as a sacrifice. How puzzling it must have been to Isaac, but
Isaac trusted his father and was obedient – obedient to the point of
understanding his own father would sacrifice him. He did not struggle, but obeyed even unto the
point of death. When God saw Abraham’s
obedience, God halted the sacrifice and provided a substitute for Isaac. A ram
was caught in the thicket and Abraham sacrificed the ram in place of Isaac, a
substitute – so Isaac wouldn’t have to die.
God provides us today the substitute for our own eternal death – that in
his own Son Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ
willingly laid down His life as a sacrifice for our sins. The Bible states, like Isaac, He didn’t
struggle – He willingly layed down His life.
Jesus Christ was also like the ram who died in Isaac’s place. Jesus Christ died for our sins so we wouldn’t
have to. He didn’t stay dead, as the ram
stayed dead, because He conquered the power of death when He rose from the
grave. In order to enjoy that freedom
from eternal death, we must have faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our
sins and be obedient to God, trying to live for Him by being repentant of our
sins and turning away from them. This
can be found recorded in Genesis 17-21. You
are welcome to join us anytime at Sparks!
You can also check out the AWANA
program at www.fbc.littletonil.org
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