Genesis 22:1-2 says,
1 “Now it came to pass after these things that God tested [to assay] [1] Abraham, and said to him, ‘Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ Then He said, ‘Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.’”
There have been many speculations, wonderful sermons and even books on Genesis chapter 22, as to why God asked Abraham to obey such a command to take the life of his promised son Isaac, or the life of any human being.
I do not submit that what I am writing here is the only application for this very important chapter, but I can tell you how God used this in many real life situations with my wife and me and other personal friends. I can testify how God used this chapter in several situations in my family. The fibers of our lives were greatly stretched in a profitable way.
These experiences involved generational curses. We have dealt with many and have watched the Lord overcome them through many trials and with much grace and mercy. He is still at work in our lives, as He is in the lives of all of His children.
This chapter is a type and shadow of God offering His own Son Jesus on the Cross and the resulting resurrection. It shows that when one blood covenant partner gives his son, then the other one is obligated to give His Son. This story shows that God does indeed “test” us, not so that we may pass or fail a test, but so that He can “assay” us to see if we continually follow and obey Him no matter the cost. He already knows how the test will come out, He simply wants us to know ourselves. I suppose there is a display here for Satan as well.
Beyond these wonderful symmetries and analogies, there is another sometimes overlooked, issue: God was walking Abraham up the hill in order to overcome his generational curses.
I submit that Abraham and Sarah were under the curse of being without child. That was one of the most serious and shameful maladies of that age. God gave Abram the promise of having a child, and through that child many nations would be blessed. Abram did his best to obey and follow the Lord, until Genesis chapter 16 when he took matters into his own hands and produced Ishmael. Then in Genesis chapter 21 the supernatural promise was fulfilled; Isaac, the son of promise, was born of barren Sarah and Abraham. One would have thought that the issue of being childless was over. Right? Wrong!
I submit that Isaac and Abraham were still subject to the curse and that they needed to complete the overcoming process with God to destroy the curse.
Deuteronomy chapter 28 is a good place to study curses and blessings.
A curse is the opposite of a blessing. A blessing is some type of prosperity from God that is the result of good and positive words or deeds. A curse is some type of failure caused or propagated by wicked or negative words or deeds that can be perpetrated by people and satanic beings. In Deuteronomy 28 Moses lists the blessings if one obeys the commandments of God, and the curses if one does not obey the commandments of God. According to Deuteronomy chapters 27-30, blessings come by hearing and obeying God, and curses come by not hearing and/or not obeying God. The good or evil acts from former generations come down to you as well.
Exodus 34:5-8 says that curses are passed down to future generations.
Exodus 34:7 says,
7 “Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”
God’s original purpose was for us to have blessings passed down to future generations, which would have resulted from man's free will in right relationship to Him. However, justice demands that if blessings can be passed down, so must curses be passed down.
Notice, in this passage of Scripture there seems to be a paradox. How can God keep mercy and forgive or remove sin, but not clear the guilty?
No one knew how this was possible until Jesus was revealed as the Lamb of God. All of God’s wrath was put on Jesus at the Cross; nothing was left out. All of your curses and mine were on Jesus. That is how can God be merciful, removing sin, without clearing the guilty? He made Jesus “guilty” for you and me.
Wouldn't it be nice if we could just read the Bible, discover that we are forgiven and that Jesus took our curse, then say a nice tidy prayer and see the blessings come? Sorry, often it does not work that way, although sometimes it has and can. Curses can be broken by prayer, however my experience has been going through the hard times of the overcoming process, much in the same way Abraham did with Isaac.
I believe that Genesis chapter 22 and the entire Book of Revelation indicate to us that we realize blessings by overcoming through the death and resurrection process.
Revelation 12:11 says,
11 “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”
The blood of the Lamb is all about our blood covenant exchange of character. We are new creations in Christ who are no longer subject to the curse. However, the word of our testimony represents spiritual warfare against Satan. Notice very carefully that we must not love our lives to the death. This indicates a death and resurrection experience.
I believe that while blessings are indeed our rightful inheritance, they are resisted by Satan. Through the power of God we have to overcome in order to realize the blessings.
Look at what these Scriptures say about the Kingdom of God.
Hebrews 12:26-29 says,
26 “[W]hose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, ‘Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.’
27 Now this, ‘Yet once more,’ indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom, which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.
29 For our God is a consuming fire.”
Acts 14:22 says,
22 “strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, ‘We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.’”
Matthew 11:12 says,
12 “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.”
The word violence carries with it the meaning to amputate. Some have said that it is similar to the violence that a tree root exerts when it grows through a concrete sidewalk.
The Book of Revelation gives us instructions on living this life in this violence mindset. I submit that the Book of Revelation was intended for more than Western-minded Bible scholars to determine exactly how and when the world will end and when Jesus will return. It does give many clues and can be a picture of the end of the history of this world as we know it. Actually, the Lord used this type of writing to bring me to the New Birth. However, it is much more than that, it is also a picture of ending our own generational curses.
John wrote Revelation while he was suffering on the Isle of Patmos. He was trying to make some sense out of his life and he owed some explanation to his churches on why they were being persecuted so violently and why some of them were being beheaded and tortured. Notice in Revelation Chapter 5, there is a word picture of Jesus at the Throne holding the Scroll. We know from the Book of Zechariah the Scroll represents God’s inheritance for man and the curse for Satan.
Jesus wants us to know that our curse has been put on Him, and that the blessings are due us, but that we must go through the “shaking” process to shake them loose from Satan. Actually, Jesus is doing the shaking, and our part is to believe in His blood, speak the Word against the enemy and not hold on to our old nature but rather continually take up our cross and walk in repentance and in the Spirit rather than the flesh.
This is worked out in Oriental Eastern mystic writings in the rest of Revelation as Jesus revealed to John, in picture form something that would show him, and you and me the prophetic victory for his sufferings. Revelation chapters 20-22 reveals our anointing for ministry after we go through the overcoming process.
Now, let's refer back to Abraham and Isaac.
Genesis 22:3-14 says,
3 “So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off.
5 And Abraham said to his young men, ‘Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.’
6 So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together.
7 But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, ‘My father!’ And he said, ‘Here I am, my son.’ Then he said, ‘Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?’
8 And Abraham said, ‘My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.’ So the two of them went together.
9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood.
10 And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
11 But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, ‘Abraham, Abraham!’ So he said, ‘Here I am.’
12 And He said, ‘Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.’
13 Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.
14 And Abraham called the name of the place, The-LORD-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, ‘In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided.’”
I ask you a question. If the ram caught in the thicket represents the substitution of Jesus being slain for our sins and our curses, then where and when did that animal appear, at the bottom of the hill or at the top? Actually, it is over the top of the hill. The ram was over the top; it could not be seen until Abram was at the top.
In like manner, where does the Lamb of God appear for your curse? In your easy chair, or in the white knuckles and bloody fingernails of prayer and searching the Word to hear what God is saying about your life and death situation?
I knew a family who had this testimony. In the 1940s when he was seven years old, his fourteen-year-old sister contracted a generational brain tumor, cancer. She was the loveliest person he knew. She was totally unselfish and kind. He remembers the pain and agony the entire family experienced for the years preceding her death and even for years and decades after.
When this man's child, in 1991, was diagnosed with a brain tumor, he knew immediately what it was. He and his wife were smitten with pain. But the Lord spoke, time and time again. He would speak at 2 AM when their sleep could no longer remain. He would speak during the day in His Word, through others, and in so many ways that everything would be all right. They truly expected a miracle healing, but they heard from Him that their path would be different.
In spite of the promises given to them, like Abraham who also received the promised child, symptoms worsened. Daily, hourly, they had to renew their faith; they had to find breath to praise the Lord in all circumstances. Many of their promises God gave to them were based upon what would seem like "end time" Scriptures. It was the end time for this curse!
Finally surgery took place. After six hours, the surgeon told them that when they went in, the tumor, previously shown on many MRI’s, was gone, and all they found was just scar tissue. During those six hours he and his wife were walking up the hill with their child, giving the child to the Lord one layer at a time.
One year later, they had a follow up MRI. While in the machine with his child, the father asked the Lord, “Why did we have to go through surgery and all the heartache for months, why could you just not have just healed her by a miracle?” The Lord answered so clearly saying, “If I had, the curse would have remained. When did I appear as the Lamb to take away Abraham’s curse? Was it at the bottom or (over) the top of the hill? If I had appeared at the bottom with a miracle, the curse would have been perpetuated. But I had you walk all the way up so that you could experience My resurrection overcoming power to remove this curse forever.”
Genesis 22:15-17 says,
15 “Then the Angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time out of heaven,
16 and said: ‘By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son –
17 blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.’”
Notice the promise and confirmation of blessings and anointed ministry after this type of testing and trial!
Genesis 22:18-19 says,
18 “‘In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.’
19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.”
I have often wondered why Abraham believed that Isaac could be raised from the dead.
Hebrews 11:19 says,
19 “[Abraham] concluding that God was able to raise him [Isaac] up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.”
Could it have been that when God appeared to Abraham that he saw not only the incarnation, as Jesus stated in John 8:56, but that he also saw Jesus the resurrected One?
When God takes what He promised to us, and even the promises that we have already received, through death and resurrection, they are ours for eternity. Satan can no longer take them. Also, these resurrected promises are tools in the hand of God to perform His mighty purposes on earth and for eternity!
Can you see this resurrected One in your circumstance? Can you see God walking you up your hill? Has He failed to give you the miracle at the bottom of this hill? Maybe it is for your benefit and for the benefit of His Kingdom. Maybe it is to put some generational demons into early retirement as in the Book of Revelation chapters 20-22.
Can you see Him bringing you face to face with the absolute worse conclusion to your suffering and tribulation right now? Will you walk all the way up the hill praising Him every step of the way? Will you just stop everything and concentrate on Jesus in the Word and in prayer long enough for Him to make this real in your life so that you will have the confidence of Abraham?
Construction Workers
Limited number of positions open for the construction of New Jerusalem, a City designed by Jehovah God and being built by Jesus of Nazareth. Exceptional pay. The Master has a habit of paying for a full day in compensation for one hour of work. Fringe benefits include health insurance, retirement with full pay, protection from all forms of evil, relief from need and want; free emotional and psychological counseling.
Job consists of using The Master’s own tools and property to add several finishing sections to The City, called New Jerusalem.
Qualifications: Applicants must be willing to submit to being changed (during a probation period) from a foolish to a wise virgin in the context of Matthew chapter 25.
Warning-Disclosure: Many former applicants have been disappointed and quit during the probation period when they discovered that the Master’s tools were their problems, perplexities, infirmities and handicaps which have been strained through The Master’s Cross, washed and coated in His Blood, disarmed and defused of all evil and their ability to harm, and converted to a highly valuable construction material known as jewels through an amazing, but time proven process known as “overcoming.” Many preferred to stay as foolish virgins and see these “tools” as enemies. When their Master returned at the end of the probation period, they did not even recognize Him.
After the conversion process from foolish to wise, the few that made it discovered that they had been carrying around the most valuable raw material in the universe. When they plunged these problems into the Cross the very nature of these former problems had actually been changed from bitter to sweet, from enemy to friend, and their reward was beyond explanation. Some actually reported that they saw wolves fellowshipping with lambs.
Interested parties should contact:
The Holy Spirit
[1] Assay: an examination and analysis of something, chemical testing carried out to determine the composition or a substance of the concentration of various components in a substance, a sample of material for analysis.
Click here to return to the beginning of this book Click here to Go to Chapter 13