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- [00:06]
A
Hey, it is Shelby and Scott here going through the book of Genesis. We're just about to the halfway point through our first book of the year, which is a really exciting thing. It is. But the passage today is a little difficult. We're in Genesis 22 through 24. That's a really good way to put it, Scott. We've got some intense things happening here. Can you walk us through it?
- [00:27]
B
Yeah. So the offering up of Isaac. And so back in Genesis 17:1, you know, God had told Abraham to. To live in my presence and be blameless. And so translation, Abraham was to be completely and totally committed to God. And the test God gives to Abraham in chapter 22 is the ultimate example of Abraham actually living that out. And I love what one commentator, John Walton, says about this passage, and he kind of points out that this isn't the first time God has asked Abraham to give up something, but it is the first time God has asked Abraham to give up something with apparently nothing in return. So leave your family to go to this new land that you'll get, but here it's just offer up your son. There's no mention of a reward here. And so, you know, the cost of following God has been offset in some ways in Abraham's life up to this point. But here, Walton says, no, no promise balances the loss. And the point simply this is, is Abraham's obedience to God motivated by what he gets out of it, or is the reward the relationship with God? Is. Is obedience itself the reward? And. And that's a super convicting question for me to ask myself, Shelby. It's like, why I want to obey God? I think you would say the same thing. We all do. We all want to obey God, but why? Is it because we think God will bless us all this stuff, or he'll answer a particular prayer request? And, you know, we pray he will, and that's great if he does. But at the end of the day, do we obey God just because we love God? That should be our goal at the end of the day?
- [02:03]
A
Yeah, that is a super challenging question. And, you know, we do see Abraham respond in obedience here. But I also think there's some connections to Jesus in this passage. Right?
- [02:17]
B
Yeah, sure. I like to read Genesis 22 alongside Romans 8:32, which is one of my favorite verses. And Paul asks this question, a rhetorical question that he says, God did not even spare his own son, but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him, grant us everything? What a great question. Like, if God gave his Best his son. He's not going to be stingy all of a sudden with gifts. And Paul's probably alluding back to Genesis 22, or God called Abraham to give his only son, and Abraham was willing to. And yet God did not allow him to actually go through it. But you see God also being willing to give up his son. Unlike Abraham, though, God actually follows through and he does it. God's son actually did die. And the. Say, they pointed out the. The intimate relationship between Abraham and Isaac. So we read that God told Abraham to take your son, your only son, whom you love, just like, kind of compounding the intimacy between them. And that just emphasizes the cost of what God was calling Abraham to do. And I think that helps us appreciate the cost of what God did by sending Jesus for our sin, to die on the cross for our sins. Because what Abraham wasn't ultimately allowed to do, God did again. And. And I just. I love Paul's line of thinking in Romans 8. Like, if. If for our benefit, shall we. God did not withhold what was most precious to him. How can we not trust him? How can we not trust him? And we talked in the first episode about Adam and Eve, you know, kind of buying into the serpent's lie that God was holding out on them. And. And how we, too, can often feel that way. We can think that God is kind of maybe holding good things just out of reach, dangling, like, almost there, come get it. That's not God at all. Like, if he gave his best gift, we can trust that God is invested in our good. He's not stingy. His hands are open to us, wanting to be good to us.
- [04:19]
A
That is such a good reminder. And, you know, I think of places in my own life where, like Abraham, I am needing to exercise faith, and there's not like, a clear reward on the other side. The reward is being obedient and experiencing our relationship with the Lord. And so I think that's my takeaway from today that all of. Although it might be more comfortable if we always knew what awaited us on the other side of faith, we don't. But we do know God's character, which we see very clearly in this passage. And so my encouragement is that in those areas of my own life where I'm needing to exercise that faith, that I can lean on knowing God and his character in order to do that.
- [04:59]
B
That's really well said.
- [05:00]
A
Yeah. All right. Thank you for walking us through these chapters. Difficult chapters, but, man, what great takeaways we have from these. And we'll continue in the book of Genesis tomorrow.