The Remnant and the Covenant’s Weight (Advent 12, 2022)

Of all the stories in the Bible,
this is probably one that makes Christians cringe the most.
Asking WHAT? I cannot believe God would test Abraham this way!
I cannot believe Abraham would go there to do that. I can’t believe that!

Well, believe it.

Put yourself in the sandals of Isaac for a moment. Maybe Dad has told you that you’re the child of promise and about the covenant being fulfilled through you. You’ve heard it over and over since you were old enough to hear it. Time goes by. A lot of time. Dad hasn’t heard from God lately. In years. Life goes on and time enough has passed to forget about God, to grow complacent, to become a little arrogant. You’re now old enough to have firewood stacked on your back and haul it up a mountain. And your dad is still calling you “son” and “the boy” (Genesis 22:5).

You head to the top of the mountain and Genesis 22: 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” 8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

Jewish scholars are quick to point out that this episode
is the last time in the Bible
that we’d read about Abraham and Isaac being together…alive.
(Go ahead, be the Berean. Check it out. I did.)

Even though child sacrifice is utterly repugnant to modern minds, it was less out of the possibility in the Canaanite world in which the same God who gave fertility to an old man and old woman was entitled to any sacrifice He wanted. Yet, it was unheard of that He’d demand such a thing of such a child.

The Book of Hebrews states, “By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death. (Hebrews 11:17-19).

What does this have to do with a remnant?

Everything, if you follow this logic.

I’d argue it this way: Abraham hasn’t heard from God in ages. He receives a radical command and obediently follows, an excruciating act of faith in the covenant promises of a trustworthy and supreme God, and in doing so, Abraham transfers the covenant weight of importance to Isaac. Isaac’s faith—as his own—would need to be every bit as sold out for God. At an age where Isaac could understand, God tests Abraham and transfers the covenant of faith to Isaac in all its weight and responsibility with the experiential knowledge that faith requires sacrifice, sometimes of even what we hold most dear, and when it makes no sense.

Apart from this test and Isaac being witness to it, seeing God’s provision as Abraham believed, Isaac could have grown up as a complacent, arrogant, and petulant child growing into entitled manhood, lacking the faith that is required of a true patriarch and inheritor of the covenant promises.

Questions for further thought:

Why might God have waited to test Abraham until Isaac was no small child?

“So in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.” In what way does the author of Hebrews point to the living aspect of faith, and redemption from spiritual death of trying to live life apart from God?

What valuable lessons regarding hearing from God and faith did Isaac learn, to make his faith his own?

In what way did Isaac go up the mountain with firewood on his back and go down the mountain with the heavy weight of covenant promises to carry by faith to manhood, to fatherhood, and for the rest of his life?

Prayer:

Lord God, when we look at the life of Abraham and see the model of faith that he presents for us, it causes me to wonder if I would obey when the sacrifice seems so great. I ask Lord that You would give me the kind of faith that perseveres through the most difficult of times; through the most uncertain of outcomes; and through the most incomprehensible requirements of faith. Thank You, Jesus, for promising us that the Holy Spirit will teach us all things, and that everything which has been made known to You will be made known to us by Your grace and in Your timing. Thank You that in James, Your Word promises that if we lack wisdom that we can ask God. We don’t need to fear Your judgment for merely asking, and we thank You that You give generously to all without finding fault. We praise You and exalt Your mighty Name, Lord Jesus. Amen.

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Advent began Sunday, November 27, 2022 and continues to Saturday, December 24th as we explore the remnant spoken of in Scripture and awaken as the end draws near.

By signing up on the sidebar of my Home Page you can receive these daily “Awaken, Remnant” devotionals. Or they will be reposted on SeminaryGal’s Facebook page as well.

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Acknowledging inquiries about an entire season’s devotionals for your study group’s planning purposes, Seminary Gal’s prior seasons’ Advent devotionals can be accessed via the archives to the right and are as follows:

The multi-faceted Interlude between the promise of a Deliverer and the birth of our Messiah and King was the theme of 2021’s devotional series. It is archived beginning November 28, 2021.
2020’s Devotional Series Divine Intervention began on November 29, 2020 and explored God’s activity on behalf of a hurting world and nations in tumult– Intervention for you and for me when our status as sinners required nothing short of a miracle.
God’s Christmas list explored what might be on God’s Christmas list, learning what He wants from us. It began December 1, 2019.
Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times. Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence. His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology. They began November 29, 2015.
Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols. You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives. They began November 30, 2014.
The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John. It began December 1, 2013.
The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story. It began December 1, 2012.