2. The Miracle on the Hudson

3. “By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice
“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.” 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)

4. ABRAHAM AND ISAAC

5. AN IMPOSSIBLE REQUEST
God again calls out to Abraham, instructing him to do the seemingly impossible – sacrifice Isaac as a burnt offering to God.
The promise was that through Isaac “all peoples on earth will be blessed” (Genesis 12:3), so if Isaac is lost, we would all lose in a significant way. The whole of salvation history is distinctly tied up in this moment.

6. We are told that “early the next morning, Abraham got up and … set out for the place the God had told him about” (Genesis 22:3).
Abraham’s surety in what he hoped for – his faith in God’s promises - and his certainty in what he could not see – how God would make this circumstance turn out well - enabled his obedient response.

7. As the story rolls out, mere seconds before Abraham was to sacrifice Isaac, God intervened, preventing Isaac’s death and providing a ram to sacrifice in Isaac’s place.
God was faithful as Abraham was obedient even in this impossible request

9. Abraham is eager to respond to the voice of God because he recognized the amazing privilege of being called by God.
“I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’ (Isaiah 65:1)
Abraham knew the privilege of hearing God’s voice, relished opportunities to say “here I am” to God and was emboldened in obedience because he knew how privileged he was to have heard God’s voice in the first place.

10. For Abraham, knowing God and hearing His voice was so valuable that he was willing to withhold nothing, not even his only son, to remain in right relationship with Him.
Matthew 13:44-46: The Parable of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl
Jesus intimates that a similar willingness to part with everything else in pursuit of His kingdom ought to reside in those who follow Him; we ought to be willing to withhold nothing even when God calls us to the impossible.

11. Reflection Questions
Is participation in Christ’s Kingdom the pearl of all surpassing worth, the treasure hidden in a field in your life or are there things in your life that supplant Jesus as items of prime importance?

12. Are you eagerly awaiting opportunities to respond to God’s leading in your life? Do we recognize the awesome privilege of hearing God voice, of God saying “here I am” to us?
When we are privileged to hear the voice of God and respond to it in obedience, we are literally delivered from death to life according to John 5:24.
Even if in following Jesus we are aimed toward the heart of danger, even if we are led “through the valley of the shadow of death”, even if we “make our beds in Sheol” – the realm of death - God is there with us! And if God is present with us, how could this turn our poorly?

13. We worship a God who “did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all” (Romans 8:32) only to see Him “endure the cross, scorning its shame, and sit down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).