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.”[c] 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 an amazing thing Abraham did when God told him to sacrifice Isaac! The author brings this out in these verses, and let’s just stop and think about it for a moment. God’s big promise to Abraham was that he would have offspring greater in number than the stars in the sky and the sand on the shore, pretty amazing considering his age. The greatest promise of all was that through his seed, all nations of the earth would be blessed, and when the son of promise finally comes along, nothing short of a miracle in itself, God tells Abraham to sacrifice him… and Abraham was about to do what God had told him to do! Now that is putting faith into action!
I can’t imagine what Abraham must have been thinking… I really can’t! But our author tells us, and apparently it occurred to Abraham that if God made this promise, and then told him to kill the boy, God must have a plan to raise Isaac from the dead. His faith was so strong, he wasn’t thinking that God had changed His mind. So, in a way, he did receive Isaac back from the dead, for at that critical moment, poor Isaac was a dead boy walking.
By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.
By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.
By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.
By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.
Hebrews 11:20-23
Take a close look at these “by faith” verses…. very close. What do they all have common, other than “by faith”. It’s no trick, there is a clear pattern…
Each one of these “by faith” incidents is directly related to covenant faithfulness. The main things mentioned about Abraham from yesterday’s posts related to the land promise. In the verses above, it’s the son of promise. Isaac and Jacob verses are referring to the covenant birthrights. Joseph was concerned about the exodus, also a promise of the covenant. Moses was no ordinary child, because God would make another covenant with him… and later we’ll see more about Moses.
All of these people were imperfect, and the truth is that some of them were very imperfect! All, however, placed their priority on their covenant relationship with God, over all else, and when things were tough, that’s where their hearts were to be found. The really big question is this: What does that tell us about God’s priorities in relation to our sins?
In case I haven’t made this quite clear enough, let’s go about this in a slightly different way. None of the patriarchs was a saint. A few of them were a mess, and I’m including Abraham in this group. How many times did he allow Sarah, the woman who was to bear the son of promise, go into the harem of a pagan king? Not once, but twice! Now I haven’t been so perfect in my lifetime, but I most certainly have never done anything like that! Have you? Probably not… Yet Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness, because Abraham, in spite of his faults, placed his highest priority on his covenant with God; in this area, he was faultless. The same can also be said of his son and grandsons.
Back to the original recipients… Everything in this letter is in the context of covenant. Just think about all of the amazing things we’ve learned about the New Covenant in Hebrews. Think about what we’ve learned about our relationship with God in Hebrews. With all of that in mind, can you see what an insult it would be to God if we, after all He has done, and after all He has given to us, would turn our backs and walk away from this covenant relationship when the going got tough? You see, these warnings aren’t so much about our petty sins which are already forgiven anyway, they are about protecting and maintaining our covenant relationship with God.
It’s something to reflect upon, I should think.
Life Project Blog 
One thought today reading your “clunk click, there is no trick” wonderful style … Whenever we put anyone of these bible guys on a pedestal, implicit is that we “look up” not at. With a history of celeb, we are all practiced at looking up. Implicit in that is separation. Seems to me that looking up and being separate from requires tick boxes to lessen the gap. So long as we view GodJesus as a celeb – on a pedestal – us looking up … we need the old covenant … We need the tick boxes.
LM and those pearls. Your walking through Hebrews and the new. There is no celeb on a pedestal. And the longer we teach celeb stays and “we are not worthy” we teach clinging to the old. We teach looking up. We teach separation.
Free means no celeb status. Relationship means no pedestal. Love means no looking up. Teaching needs to stop “celeb making”. Just as you take the magic out. Just as you look Him in the eye. Just as you “clunk click, there is no trick”. Kept teaching, Don.
Once upon a time, I was the master of ceremonies at a banquet that featured a famous after dinner speaker, one I’m confident you’ve heard of. I arrived early for the event, since it was an out of towner for me and was sitting in the lounge killing time when a smartly dressed gentleman came up and asked if I was me. I said yes and he introduced himself saying his name and “Scotland Yard.” He asked me to accompany him, and off I went wondering what I was in trouble for! We entered the hotel elevator. Not a word was spoken. Reaching the top floor we exited and the man led to a door and knocked softly. A female voice inside bid us entrance and he opened the door and introduced me to Mrs. Thatcher, our “special guest” speaker for the evening. You can imagine my surprise at that moment, because I had no advance knowledge of this audience. We sat together chatting for over an hour. Mrs. Thatcher was a regular person, no sign of the Iron Lady! She was concerned that my wine glass was filled and that I had enough appetizers. She commented on how beautiful the sky was there (Las Vegas) and wondered if it was always so strikingly blue.
Actually, she reminded me of my mother in her manner.Yes, and she also asked me a couple of “business” questions, for this wasn’t just a social call, but I came away with a reinforced appreciation of something I had learned years before in dealing with “celebs.” They’re just people. Some have accomplished amazing things, some have great ideas or courage, but in the final analysis, they are people just like you and me, and the smart ones don’t pay any attention to their own press releases! I’m sure you’ve had a similar insight in your past dealings…
I hope that people can learn these lessons and come to realize that the “great” figures of the Bible are also regular people, just like all of us. None was perfect, all made mistakes and blunders, and all are forgiven in Christ.
Obviously, Jesus was different! But in His “difference” He took away the separation between us and God, because God wants relationship, and this my friend, as you have so often pointed out is the key factor that all of us must keep in mind as we comb through His Word and try to understand.
Thank you as always for bringing this out, not only in your comment here, but every day on your blog!
Don, sometimes I wonder if there is a yearning for the real person or not. When they turn out to be “normal” it becomes so much harder to maintain a polarised dogma. Mrs T was many things to many people. My own political view is unimportant. Yet a real person revealed as just that? Us smart ones should pay attention to that.
And God? Your words brought to mind the wedding feast. And the can’t attend, too busy to come, sorry have to be else where’s. Many are invited to relationship, few choose ….
You’re so right Paul! Few choose that relationship: So busy, so important so… afraid! Much like with those ‘earthly’ leaders. You’re right about that too. Most people want to think they are our “betters.” It isn’t so scary if they are somehow smarter than we “regular” folk. But that isn’t reality, is it? The ones who are really dangerous are the ones who have forgotten who they really are! (They’re also insufferable when you meet them; no names mentioned of course) There’s an important application for us here: How empowering it is when we come to realize that each of us has that potential for greatness! As it relates to matters of faith in particular. Look at the disciples; who were those guys? Nobodies, commoners, blue collar dudes, workers. Look at what God did through them! Because they said “Yes, Lord.” And then there’s most of us who say “No Lord, surely not me! Why I’m nobody.” Yet each of us has the same call and the same Spirit within us as the disciples did, but what do most of us do? Most of us can’t trust Him enough to use us for His purpose because we’d rather believe the lie that we aren’t good enough!