Family Linage of Abraham Preserved

Acknowledging God

Follow in My Ways

The Lord Will Provide

Hebrews 11:17-22 The Message

17-19 By faith, Abraham, at the time of testing, offered Isaac back to God. Acting in faith, he was as ready to return the promised son, his only son, as he had been to receive him—and this after he had already been told, “Your descendants shall come from Isaac.” Abraham figured that if God wanted to, he could raise the dead. In a sense, that’s what happened when he received Isaac back, alive from off the altar.
20 By an act of faith, Isaac reached into the future as he blessed Jacob and Esau.
21 By an act of faith, Jacob on his deathbed blessed each of Joseph’s sons, in turn, blessing them with God’s blessing, not his own—as he bowed worshipfully upon his staff.
22 By an act of faith, Joseph, while dying, prophesied the exodus of Israel, and made arrangements for his own burial.

For Reflection

In the Old Testament, we are often given a glimpse into the future. Acting in faith Abraham is asked to sacrifice the life of his son. He is asked to suffer the unimaginable terror of losing a son at his own hand. Abraham is asked to sacrifice that which is most dear to him to save the lineage of Godliness as he knows it. A son is raised from death to bless the world.  Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph also in the act of faith gave their sons to the service of God. Faith, an unreasonable trust in God, it has been shown, carries the capacity for each of us to be raised from our death into life as God has intended human existence to become.  Scripture prepares us to understand God's sacrifice of God's son.

Pray

Pray for the courage to die to your former secular life and be raised by faith into a life of service to and abounding love and grace.  Pray that you will arise from your dead civil existence, and be resurrected into the person and the life that God has intended for you.

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