"To Abraham and His Seed" 13       This is an edited version of the lecture titled, "To Abraham and His Seed," which was preached on January 5th, 2008.   So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.    Genesis 22:3       Faith and WorksNow it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." Then He said, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you." So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you." So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, "My father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." Then he said, "Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" And Abraham said, "My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering." So the two of them went together. Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" So he said, "Here I am." And He said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me." Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place, The-LORD-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, "In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided." Then the Angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, 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 -- 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. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice." So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba. Now it came to pass after these things that it was told Abraham, saying, "Indeed Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor: Huz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram, Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel." And Bethuel begot Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham's brother. His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah, Gaham, Thahash, and Maachah. (Genesis 22:1-24)   You have probably read, several times already, this passage in which Abraham goes up to Mount Moriah to offer his son as a burnt offering. I also assume you have already heard several lectures on this. The series of lectures that I am giving is titled, "To Abraham and His Seed," and in view of this title, I think that the content of this passage is central. In Genesis chapters 15 and 17, God gives Abraham a promise. That promise is linked to today's passage; this passage is about the fulfillment of that promise.When we read the Bible, we sometimes try to interpret each verse individually, in a reckless manner. For instance, when you read the letter of James, you come across a discussion that makes you stop for a moment. It talks about the two conditions: faith and works. "Faith" has been given in the form of the word. "Works" refers to how the given word is realized. You may take this to have a meaning on a personal level or a historical level. For instance, it says, "Thus also faith by it self, If it does not have works, is dead" (James 2:17). When I read this, I might get worried. I know I have been born again, but this verse says, "Faith without works is dead," so it is possible for you to think that your being born again might be taken away from you. It would be like buying an item and returning it. If we take one verse and force an interpretation upon it, we tend to get caught up in our own thoughts. In the Bible, there are many instances where passages that do not seem to be directly related to the passage that I am reading explain the passage.Abraham was given the promise that he should be "a father of many nations" (17:4), and that in his "seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed" (22:18). God gave this promise to Abraham once before the birth of Ishmael and once after it. It is about Israel - which is born through the history of the Old Testament; it is about the promise that Israel received; it is about the fulfillment of the tremendous promise of the salvation of God for all nations of the world when Israel failed.If we consider Genesis chapter 22 as we try to understand previous passages, we might say that the previous passages are part of the historical prophecy, and the content of chapter 22 corresponds to the fulfillment of that prophecy. When you read the Old Testament, it often talks about what will happen in the future. In the Old Testament, we find historical events that are centered around Israel; we find the prophecies about the Messiah who will be born within Israel; we find the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. In the Old Testament, we study the history of Israel, which continues in order for these words to be fulfilled. The New Testament begins with the words, "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham" (Matthew 1:1), and we see that a Child is born in the New Testament. And when He grew up to be about 33 years of age, the Jewish people conspired with the Gentiles and nailed Him on the cross. The people who were doing this at the time thought that this was the way to worship God. What they did without knowing came about at the beginning of the fulfillment of the tremendous prophecies in the Old Testament about which God had been speaking. But these people did not know it.The content of Genesis chapter 22 reveals historical events through the history of one household. The passage deals with the most important part of the preparations for the realization and the fulfillment of the many promises that had been made in advance.In view of this passage, on a personal level, we might consider two images of ourselves. It is about faith and works, as mentioned in the letter of James. One day, quite apart from our efforts, a seed of the word fell onto each of our hearts. Did this happen through works? Or, did God do it for you? God did it for you.Man is born regardless of his will. He is born and as he grows up, the free will with which he was born shoots forth, and he acts accordingly. As such, first faith is accomplished in our hearts, and as we live our lives, what has been accomplished serves as the basis, and certain actions are manifested, and that is what we call, "works." It is not revealed only through some honorable death or tremendous persecution, like that of the martyrs of the Catacombs; it may be manifested rather quietly and secretly in our lives, in the form of obedience.   The Path of a BelieverWe will take a look from Genesis chapter 22 verse 1.   Now it came to pass after these things ....   It begins with the words, "Now it came to pass after these things." The wording is a little different in English, but what happened before that? After Isaac was born, Abraham sent away the maidservant and her son, Ishmael. And God gave His promise to the maidservant and her son, Ishmael. Around that time, Abraham rebuked Abimelech because his servants took Abraham's well of water for their own. Through this passage, we examined in detail the meaning that a well holds for us.This passage is a shadow of what will be fulfilled later in history, but on a personal level, it shows us the long journey of the life of a believer. The fact that the maidservant and her son were cast out may reflect how we were confronted with our conscience, which had become as sharp as the blade of a knife, when we first came to know the Bible and believe in our hearts the work that Jesus has done for us.It was because the word of the Bible has been planted in our hearts that we came to search the Bible more diligently, and we came to love it. It was not that we forced ourselves to think and resolve to read the Bible diligently. Rather, if we did not read the Bible we felt frustrated.Abraham dug a well. Abraham turned over the ground and dug it, and there he obtained a well for water that springs from inside. In light of this custom, we might think about the life of a believer. We hold the words of the Bible to be the most precious, and we bring our flesh to submission and bring out the things of the flesh; and we have to continue our journey towards the precious life that God has planted within us. That is the path that we believers have to take.In Genesis chapter 22, there is a conflict. After you are saved, you have to make some sacrifices and obey; you cannot live as you please. We can see this clearly after reading through the New Testament just once. There is not anyone that does not know this. When this actually happens to your family or to the people you love, or when struggles that you cannot handle come your way, h

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