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THE K I N G ’ S BUS I NESS
God is asking Christian parents today to give their sons and their daughters to Him for service in the home lands and in the foreign mission fields. Many, perhaps most, are respond ing to the call as gladly and as promptly as did Abraham; but, alas, there are others who refuse to make the sacri fice and yet claim to love God, who sac It was a three days’ journey from Hebron to the land of Moriah. Did this make it easier or harder for Abraham to carry out God’s will? Some of us make sacrifices on the spur of the moment which further deliberation would probably have prevented. Abra ham must be tested in that particular point. Notice four things- connected with the journey. 1. His promptitude. He “ rose up early in the morning.” Some of us would have put off the sacrifice until the very last possible moment. Procras tination spoils the sacrifice. “ The Lord loveth a cheerful giver.” 2. His preparation. While he obeyed promptly, he went deliberately about the preparation for the journey. The ass is taken, for the journey is a long one. Two young men are taken for the per sonal service that they could render to the old man and his son. The wood is carefully provided before leaving so that the sacrifice cannot be hindered by any chance circumstance at Moriah. Just how; Abraham knew the exact mountain in the land of Moriah, we are not told, but it is enough that he knew the place. There is no real reason for doubting that the mountain on which the temple was built later on, in Jeru salem, is the very placé that was the scene of Abraham giving up Isaac. 3. His prophecy. How beautiful the father’s words to the young man, when he bids them accompany him no further. He tells them that ' the lad and he are going on to worship and that they will come back again. Surely rificed His Son for them. II. The Trying Journey.
I. The Test Applied. 1. , The Command.
It is regrettable that the word “ tempt” is used in our King James translation/ The word used in the revised version is “ prove.” The command in this case is like LESSON the call given to Abra- EXPOSITION ham years before. It is very definite. Isaac is specified by name. The purpose is plain,— he was to offer him for a burnt offering; and the place is also plain,—- the land of Moriah. The special moun tain was left unrevealed. God would show him the place in His own good time. Notice how promptly Abraham responds when God calls his name. He had an open ear. Some of us are so dull of hearing that God has to call many times before we catch his voice and respond. How we need to pray for the opened ear. See Isa. 50:4, 5. Carrying out His purpose of separat ing Abraham from everything dear to the natural man, God tests him now by directing him to make the supreme sacrifice o f ,his only son,«-the son in whom the very promises of God were bound up. The test really went further than the natural man, for it tested the man of faith in his spiritual nature. Only through the test, however, could Abraham become the man that God wanted him to he. Deep though the mystery may be, we read that our Lord Jesus Christ, Himself, was made per fect through suffering, Heb. 5:8, 9. In asking Abraham to give up his only son Isaac, God was only asking Abraham to do what He, Himself, had already done,— that which was consummated in time, when God’s Son was made the sacrifice for both Abraham and his son on the cross of Calvary. Heathen par ents then, and now, were sacrificing their children to their gods that were no gods. Abraham, the man who knew the true God, himself showed forth his love,- loyalty and obedience in a like willingness.
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