by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
The test for Abraham was a type of the test that God Himself would undergo. In Abraham’s case, offering his only son, Isaac, was a test of his love for God. Would he trust and love God above his emotional attachment to his only son?<\/p>\n
Even though the command made no sense, since God had promised to build a great nation through Isaac (Genesis 17:16), Abraham figured that God would keep His promise, even if it took raising Isaac from the dead. He trusted God would work it out, and he loved God enough to pass the test (Genesis 22:1ff).<\/p>\n
Little did the Israelite people know that as Moses shared this story with them about their father Abraham, it was also foreshadowing the ultimate sacrifice of Christ, the ultimate sacrifice of God. God was demonstrating that He would undergo a test of His love for humanity.<\/p>\n
Would God love man enough to give His <\/b>“only Son?” There was an inward struggle in Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, but He took His great love for mankind in hand and went to the very hill on which Isaac had almost been sacrificed, and laid down His life for us. The ultimate test of God’s love was displayed for us to see and remember.<\/p>\n
How much did God love me? “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life<\/em>” (John 3:16 NKJV).<\/p>\n There is no doubt that I do not deserve this kind of love. But, it would be a disbelief to think I am not worth it to God. When you put yourself down as worthless, you are saying that you do not believe in God. You are saying that God made a mistake in making you, and you are saying that God was wrong in valuing you enough to give His only begotten Son for you. While you should be feeling mighty important, unbelief has a way of undermining the truth within us.<\/p>\n The test for us is to believe God does not make junk, and He took His only Son to show us how valuable we are to Him. Do you believe God knows better than you what value needs to be assessed in you? Do you realize that unbelief is the reason we put ourselves down? You can be on your way to eternal life if you start believing the evidence of God’s love for you. Why not believe God and obey the gospel of Christ?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry Wane Benton The test for Abraham was a type of the test that God Himself would undergo. In Abraham’s case, offering his only son, Isaac, was a test of his love for God. Would he trust and love God above his emotional attachment to his only son? Even though the command made no…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[23,73,1675],"class_list":["post-86901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-abraham","tag-jesus","tag-sacrifice"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":63413,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-sacrifice-of-isaac\/","url_meta":{"origin":86901,"position":0},"title":"The Sacrifice of Isaac","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 20, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Genesis 22:1-14 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There are stories that cause some concern because they involve the concept of sacrificing a human being to God. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They cause concern because the Bible is very clear about God\u2019s opinion on human sacrifices. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The slaying of humans invokes a death sentence\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":95647,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/trials-of-life-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":86901,"position":1},"title":"Trials of Life (Behle)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 14, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jack Behle via\u00a0Sentry Magazine, Vol. 21 No. 2, June 1995 If it is not certain that God knows the condition of our hearts at all times, it is certain that He could know. In I Samuel 16:7 we find, \"The Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":815,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-old-was-isaac-when-he-was-offered-up-to-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":86901,"position":2},"title":"How old was Isaac when he was offered up to God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 29, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How old was Isaac when he was to be sacrificed? Answer: The Bible does not give a specific age, but there are events surrounding Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac which gives us clues. Most scholars believe that Isaac was in his late teens or early twenties at the time of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":91137,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/abrahams-informed-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":86901,"position":3},"title":"Abraham\u2019s Informed Faith","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 9, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Clay Gentry God's command for Abraham to sacrifice Isaac is arguably one of the most staggering tests of faith in the Bible. How could he trust God in the face of such a shocking demand? Abraham's obedience was not an act of blind, desperate loyalty, but a calculated step\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":63627,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/trials-of-life-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":86901,"position":4},"title":"Trials of Life (Sermon)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 27, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0God knows the hearts of men \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I Samuel 16:7 \u201cThe Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Luke 16:15 \u201cYou are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":62764,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/human-sacrifices\/","url_meta":{"origin":86901,"position":5},"title":"Human Sacrifices?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 15, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Judges 11:29-40 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There are two stories that cause some concern because they involve the concept of sacrificing a human being to God. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They cause concern because the Bible is very clear about God\u2019s opinion on human sacrifices. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The slaying of humans invokes a death\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86901\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}