He is Able to Resurrect

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.
Hebrews 11:17-19, NKJV

I began this latest series of blogs with one about Abraham, and now toward the end we come to Abraham again. By faith, Abraham and Sarah earned their place in the hall of heroes catalogued in Hebrews 11, following God wherever He led, obeying God whatever He said. And in His own time, He gave them a son. Isaac, the child of laughter, brought such delight to the hearts of his parents. He grew and gave them joy. And then one day, God shows up again.

And God asked Abraham for a burnt offering, a sacrifice of worship. He asked Abraham for his son Isaac, the son and heir, the child of promise. He asked Abraham to give up the son he had waited for many many years. He asked Abraham to take that which was most precious to him and put it on the altar of sacrifice. And the most amazing part of this story is that Abraham actually did it. He took the wood, the fire, the knife, and his son up to the mountain to meet God, and there he prepared an altar and laid his only and beloved son on it. Raising the knife in the air, he prepared to plunge it into Isaac's heart or slice it across Isaac's throat.

Could you have done that? If God had asked, could you have given up your only begotten son? We shudder at the thought, yet we must realize that God has the right and authority to ask those things of us. In His sovereign power He can ask anything He wants of us, and be just in doing it. After all, He sent His only begotten son to die for the world, that the world through Him might be saved. God purchased our lives with His very own. He can ask anything He wants of us, and be absolutely right in doing so. And then the question becomes one of our obedience. Will we give to God whatever He asks?

And then we ask: How was Abraham able to do it? Where did Abraham find the strength to do what God required of him? There is only one thing it could have been: Faith.

You see, Abraham took God at His word. He fully believed and accepted the promises of God. God said, "I'm going to give you a son, and you shall name Him Isaac." And God fulfilled His promise. God said, "In Isaac all your seed shall be called." Then God said, "Now give Isaac to me." This wasn't a dedication; this was a sacrifice. "Give Isaac to me as a burnt offering." And Abraham was willing and ready to do it. Why? Because Abraham took God at His word, and if God's word promised Isaac, then even if now God required Isaac to die, He was also able to raise Isaac up from the dead in a glorious resurrection from the ashes of sacrifice. Genesis doesn't fully explain that part, but Hebrews does.

In Abraham's mind, he thought, "God told me I would be the father of many nations, and Isaac would be the source of my seed. If God now asks me to kill Isaac and offer him as a burnt offering, then God will also raise up dead Isaac and give Him life again, because God is not a man that He should lie!" Once again, Abraham believed God...and it was accounted to Him for righteousness sake.

Abraham did not have to kill Isaac and burn him to ashes. His heart was laid bare before the Lord, and the Lord recognized that Abraham would not waver in faith, and would give whatever was asked of Him. And in that moment, God provided a substituted, a ram to take Isaac's place. And after they worshiped God, they came back down the mountain together.

Did you know God is still able to give life to the dead, and call those things into existence that are not as though they are. The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Will you bless the name of the Lord anyway? Will you offer Him thanks and praise and say, "Thy will be done? Will you sacrifice your own desires and dreams and answered prayers on the altar of God in an act of faith that only God Himself can reward? Will you say, "All to Jesus I surrender, all to Him I freely give"?

If you are willing, then also believe that what God has promised, that will he also do. What God has started He will complete in you. For God's words are faithful and true. They can be trusted. They can be depended upon. They can be acted upon. Because He is able to take what you thought was dead and make it live again!