obedience when God told him to sacrifice his only son. He must have thought to himself: Am I hearing correctly? Is this a bad dream? I am sure he thought no way, this can't be I love my son dearly. I cannot put Isaac to death. Kings & nations are promised to come through him, how can this promise come through him if I kill him.
He cries out to God you promised me that kings & nations would come through him! There was no divine response, only silence.
Abraham's emotions must have been all over the place, & I am quiet sure he didn't have a good night's sleep. How many of us would take a few weeks, months or even years to think this over & eventually conclude it wasn't reasonable.
But Abraham was different he gets up the next morning saddles his donkeys (Gen 22:3) He obeys instantly.
Have you been around people who lightly comment, "God has been dealing with me about this for several months," & laugh it off? It's tragic when you think about it, what they are in fact
doing is bragging about their lack of godly fear.
God instructs Abraham to sacrifice the greatest promise of his life whom he had waited for, for twenty five years, now God doesn’t give a reason for the request. It just doesn’t make sense for Abraham to give up Isaac, yet he obeys.
The thought of sacrificing his young son hurts him deeply. The inward pain continues to nag at Abraham through the three day journey. It was a little easier up front after hearing God's voice, but with each passing day of divine silence the pain must have intensified. The struggle hits the high point when Abraham & his beloved son build the altar. Yet Abraham obeys Him.
The Almighty God does not tell Abraham that if he obeys, another sacrifice will be provided in place of his son. Unlike you & I Abraham doesn't have the Book of Genesis to read so he doesn't know the outcome. He sees no benefit, & yet he still obeys.
How different it is today? So many need to see the benefit in obeying God before they actually obey.
Finally, Abraham goes the distance, that is he climbs the mountain, builds the altar, ties Isaac up, & is ready to thrust the knife into the heart of his dear son. He obeys to completion.
While the knife looms over Isaac, an angel suddenly appears & cries out do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him for now I know that you fear God. Gen 22:12
The angel knows Abraham fears God because he obeyed instantly, even though it didn't make any sense, when it was painful, & with no promised benefit-he went the distance. He was a man of great wealth with his most valued possession being his son. Wealth isn't the focus for Abraham. His priority is obedience to God.
Obedience is the outward evidence of the true fear of the Lord. When we fear God we will:
* Obey Him instantly.
* Obey Him even if it doesn’t make sense.
* Obey Him even if it hurts,
* Obey Him even if we don't see the benefit.
* Obey Him to completion.
As we have seen Abraham's actions reveals that he fulfilled each of these points.
If we compare Jesus' disciple Judas to Abraham,
we see a huge difference. Judas conveniently ignored the truth unless it benefited his cause. He embezzled funds from the ministry's treasury, was deceptive, betrayed his Leader, didn't care for the poor, & was a hypocrite Matt 26:25,49
Then Judas, who was betraying Him, answered and said, “Rabbi, is it I?”He said to him, “You have said it.” V49 Immediately he went up to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed Him.
The Greek word for kissed indicates more than a casual greeting. Judas gave to Jesus the affectionate & fervent greeting of intimate friends. John 12:6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it. John 13:2 And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him, His judgement was clouded. Because he lacked godly fear, he couldn't discern between right & wrong. & good & evil.
One day a particular wealthy woman poured an entire bottle of expensive perfume on Jesus. Now Judas was indignant & outspoken about her foolish behaviour. You see that perfume was worth a years wage. Judas said that it should have been sold & the money given to the poor (John 12:25). His comment was logical & persuasive, & it influenced the other disciples. They too chimed in condemning her actions.
In Mark 14:6 Jesus corrected Judas' influence by saying Let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for Me. & V9 says Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.
Expense is not a consideration in performing an act of devotion for a loved one soon to die. Jesus identified her action as good & lasting; Judas judged her behaviour as bad & fleeting. His discernment was warped. He was out of sync with God's heart.
Mark 14:10 Judas' motive was one of greed, a trait he had had all along since he had been embezzling funds entrusted to him. This was the straw that broke the camel's back. Judas had it; he was fed up with Jesus' leadership. He had followed the Man from Galilee, expecting Him to re establish the throne
of David. According to the prophet Isaiah, ruling forever is what the Messiah is supposed to do. After three years of waiting, what was Jesus waiting for? If Jesus would just set up the kingdom, then Judas-as one of His chief leaders & His treasurer-could come into a place of honour, having wealth & authority. Judas probably thought to himself: I'll speed up the process. I am not going to wait any longer. I want my place of power, influence, & riches. I've had enough of being the target of ridicule & persecution by the leaders. I don't want to be viewed as the companion of a lunatic any longer. He'll finally show off His power & set up His Kingdom; & I'll have my place of prominence.
You may question this interpretation of Judas' motives; However, Judas was consistently seeing the power of the healing the sick, calming the storm, raising the dead, cursing the fig tree, opening the eyes of the blind, & the ears of the deaf, & numerous other miracles. Judas had heard Jesus frequently speak of the kingdom. He heard Peter & others confess-even hail-Jesus as the Messiah. Jesus greatness was before him daily.
Once Jesus was condemned to die, Judas realised he was wrong in his thinking, regretting his actions hung himself. His plan of action hadn't accomplished what he had lusted for. Both Abraham & Judas clearly illustrate the difference between one who fears God & one who doesn't. One had discernment; the other was living in deception. Their individual choices only mirrored what was in their hearts.
The outcome of these two men were vastly different. They are both remembered but for different reasons. We will all be remembered; there's no doubt of that, for we are all eternal beings. The question we need to ask ourselves is, how do we want to be remembered? Your fear of God will determine the answer. We need a pure heart so our judgement will be sound, not clouded. Then, when it comes to determining whether an endeavour is inspired or simply carries the appearance of fleeting good, we won't be misled. We'll make wise choices in regard to our spouses, people we associate with, close friends, careers opportunities, investments, the way we raise our children, the churches we serve in, the education we embrace, & endless other decisions we face in our lives.
Eccl 12:13-14 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter; Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgement, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil. Do not attempt to substitute scholarship for obedience. Cultivate the fear of the Lord. The preacher in Ecclesiastes counsels his readers towards godly living. We are to live with a view to the futility & vanity of a life spent without reference to God. Much of the energy we spend trying to accomplish various tasks ends up "sowing to the wind" The life lived in fidelity & integrity is the only one that has any real meaning. Solomon had become a madman because he had lost his discernment, & could no longer distinguish what was truly good & what wasn't. God gives us a glimpse into his madness through the book of Ecclesiastes. But the great news is that we get a peek into Solomon's coming back to sound judgement. He realised there was nothing more important in life than maintaining godly fear.
If you desire to see things the way God does, that is to perceive & know wisdom in its highest order, then choose to fear the Lord. As we come into communion to day, let us humble ourselves before the Lord, telling Him we desire His will in our lives above our own, & that we long to be more like Him everyday.
Acknowledgements John Bevere.
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