When Abraham was called to quit his kindred and country and to put his trust under the shadow of the Almighty’s wing, his going—notwithstanding that he knew not whither, and that he was perfectly unacquainted in what manner or to what extent he was to be provided for—constitutes that peculiar feature in his obedience, which all Christians feel and appreciate, and the spirit of which they profess to desire to have animating their own.
The same is also observable in the sacrifice of his son. Compliance in this case seems the death-blow to his fondest hopes; and to trust that, notwithstanding his compliance, the promises which God had made to him would be fulfilled, was a confidence resting on somewhat beyond the bounds of all human probability. Yet he does not hesitate to obey (and the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews tells us why), because he believed that God was able to raise his son up from the dead. Was this then tempting God? What says his Word? “The Angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of Heaven the second time, and said, ‘By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord; for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son; that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore: and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice‘” (Gen. 22. 15, etc.).
Excerpted from Christian Devotedness by Anthony Norris Groves. Public domain.
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