Piercing question.
“How can I know…?” Gen 15:8
How can I know God will keep His promises to me?
How can I know I will keep them to Him?
Perfect in Beauty is the God who pours out of Abraham. Psalm 50:2
Abram willfully left his father, his father’s land. Lived as an alien in hard famines. Childless.
I went through 7 years of secondary infertility—lost 5 babies to miscarriage—conceived again at 40.
And the holy moment of holding my newborn after 7 infertile years was beyond words.
I cannot fathom Abram and Sarai waiting for a child through almost 9 decades.
And then, God says:
Kill your only son, Isaac. The son of your laughter. The one of your very own soul.
And do it in the land of Moriah,
a 3-day journey where a heavy-hearted father and son walked 40+ miles together.
No known reason.
No delay to carry this out on Abraham’s part and that is undeniably beautiful.
How? Abram had mastery of his circumstances.
Tim Keller's 1996 Sermon, "Abraham and the Torch" paints Abraham's big life.
Drop what you are doing and find the podcast on YouTube about the raw presence of God.
Keller says it is the most significant passage in all of the Old Testament.
The podcast explains this passage of cutting animals in two and passing through.
The King walked through Alone.
The contract requires no cooperation on our part.
He will keep it all.
There is an anchor for our soul. Hebrews 6:17.
That Anchor will outlast heaven and earth.
Why did Abraham move so quickly to kill his son.
Scripture interprets Scripture.
Abram lived Genesis 15:1-20.
A signed contract is how you will know if it is God.
A covenant ratification ceremony.
Verse 12: the Presence of God. A searing streak of lightning.
An incomparable Covenant of Love.
A day Abraham will never ever forget—and neither can we.
Promised seed. Christ Himself.
Promised land. Heaven.
And Abram loves God more than his son.
I have read “through the Bible in one year” every year for the past few decades.
I’ve never heard this interpretation before --- this passage is the Gospel.
PHOTO: the Bible Museum. The Gospel is on the ceiling.
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