A life grown up by the well of the oath with the calling on the name of the Eternal God - God did not tell Abraham to offer up a baby or even a little boy, but a full-grown man. Isaac’s life was a life grown up by the well of the oath with the calling on the name of the Eternal God (21:33-34). Genesis 21:34, the last verse of chapter twenty-one, says, “Abraham sojourned in the Philistines’ land many days.” This means that Abraham remained there for a good number of years. During that time, Isaac grew up by the well of Beer-sheba, growing up by a life of planting and calling on the name of the Lord, the Eternal God. The one whom Abraham was told to offer up was a grown-up son, one who had lived with him in a life of planting and calling. The life in Beer-sheba built Isaac up to be a burnt offering, not an archer.

Offered to God on Mount Moriah where God’s temple was built - When God told Abraham to offer Isaac, He told him to go to the land of Moriah and to offer him upon one of the mountains there (v. 2). The land of Moriah was a two-day journey from Beer-sheba. The mountain on which Isaac was offered was later called Mount Moriah, eventually becoming Mount Zion, the place where the temple was built (2 Chron. 3:1).

When I read 22:2 as a youth, I was bothered. I wondered why God was so troublesome, saying, “Lord, You gave Abraham a son and asked him to offer his son back to You. That was all right, but it was not reasonable for him to go to such a far-off place. Aren’t You omnipresent? Were You not there in Beer-sheba? Why did You ask Abraham to journey to a mountain so far away?” At first, God did not even tell Abraham on which mountain he was to offer Isaac, saying only that it would be “one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.” In asking Abraham to journey far away for the offering of Isaac, God was not being troublesome. He is never troublesome; He is always meaningful. Eventually Mount Moriah became the center of the good land, and Abraham’s descendants had to go to that mountain three times a year to offer the burnt offering to God (Deut. 16:16; Psa. 132:13). Thus, we see that chapter twenty-two of Genesis is a seed.

We cannot and should not offer to God the burnt offering which He desires in the place of our choosing. We must leave our place and go to the place of God’s choice. Ishmael, the archer, the bowman, went southward toward Egypt and married an Egyptian woman. But Isaac, the burnt offering, was a different kind of person. He did not go downward to Egypt; he went upward to Moriah. If you consult a map, you will see that Moriah is north from Beer-sheba. Here we have a picture of two types of persons-an archer and a burnt offering. Which will you be?

For a burnt offering for God’s satisfaction - The picture in Genesis 22 is very vivid. In his hand Abraham held the fire and the knife. Isaac, who was carrying the wood for the burnt offering, said, “Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” He did not know that he himself was to be the offering.

Do you know that your destiny is to be a burnt offering? To be a burnt offering is to be killed and burned. The growing, living, and calling on the name of El Olam at Beer-sheba are all for the building up of a burnt offering that we might be burned on the altar on Mount Moriah. The water at Beer-sheba is for the fire on Mount Moriah. The more we drink the water from the well of Beer-sheba, the more we shall grow, and the more we grow, the more we shall be prepared for the fire on Mount Moriah. Because of this, the Lord’s recovery will never be a mass movement; it is a narrow way. At the time of Genesis 22, Isaac was the only person living and walking in this narrow way. Do not expect that many will take the way of the church. Many are happy to be a bowman, for that is a sport. But living at Beer-sheba and calling on the name of the Lord may seem, in a sense, to be boring. Eventually, after we enjoy a good time with the Lord, He will ask us to offer our Isaac to Him. He will not allow us to offer Isaac at Beer-sheba. We shall have to travel a long distance and climb Mount Moriah. The proper church life does not produce bowmen; it produces burnt offerings. We all must become a burnt offering. Although this is a narrow way, it is prevailing.

Although it is a long journey from Beer-sheba to Mount Moriah and it is a journey which causes some suffering, it results in blessing. In the following message we shall see the blessing which comes from the life that grows up by the well of Beer-sheba and is offered to God on Mount Moriah. I know of a good number of very brilliant young brothers who came into the church life with an honest heart. Although their heart was honest, they expected that one day, after having all the necessary experiences and receiving all the visions, they would become something in the Lord’s recovery. In other words, they expected to be spiritual giants. Gradually, as the years went by, I learned what was on their heart, for they came to me and told me their story. One brother said, “When I came into the church life, I came in honestly, but I expected that one day, after I had been perfected, equipped, qualified, experienced, and had seen all the visions, I would be so useful in the Lord’s hand. But now the Lord has told me that He intends to burn me up.” Do you expect that someday you will become a strong bowman? If you do, one day the Lord will say to you, “I don’t want an Ishmael, a bowman. I want an Isaac, a burnt offering. Don’t try to do anything for Me. I can do anything I want. I just want you to be a burnt offering.” The life at Beer-sheba only produces a burnt offering. The more we stay in the church life, the more it will bring us from Beer-sheba to Moriah, from the growing water to the burning fire. Are you growing? Thank God for this. But your growth is a preparation for your being burned. One day we all must pass through the process of being burned as a burnt offering.

In Hebrew the burnt offering means the ascending offering. After the burnt offering has been burned, its sweet odor ascends to God for His satisfaction. It is ascending and not spreading. As a burnt offering, we must not be spreading but ascending to God by being burned.

The experience of Genesis 22 cannot come immediately after that of Genesis 12. There must be a long journey from Genesis 12 through Genesis 21. When many of us came into the church life, that was our chapter twelve, not our chapter twenty-two. Abraham had to pass through the separation of Lot, the rejection of Eliezer, the casting out of Ishmael, and the birth of Isaac. Although God had promised Abraham a seed, He did not give it to him until Abraham had made a thorough clearance of Lot, Eliezer, and Ishmael. Only then was Isaac born. But not even Isaac’s birth was the end. Isaac needed to grow and be offered.

As we have seen, Isaac did not grow up in the wilderness but in Beer-sheba, properly growing by the life of calling on the Lord. At a certain point, God came in and asked Abraham to offer Isaac. It seemed that God was being somewhat troublesome. However, God would never have troubled Abraham in that way if Abraham had not been qualified. When God comes to trouble you like this, it is an honor, because it testifies that you are qualified. God did not ask Abraham to offer Lot as a burnt offering. Neither did He request that Abraham offer Eliezer or Ishmael. Rather, God told Abraham to cast Ishmael out. Only the seed who was promised, confirmed, and brought into being by God was the right person. He was the one who grew up by the well of Beer-sheba and who called on the name of the Lord. God seemed to say to Abraham, “You love Isaac, and I love him too. Now you must give him to Me.” Eventually, Isaac became the forefather of the entire chosen race. He also became a forefather of Christ. God’s eternal purpose can never be fulfilled by anyone other than Isaac, the one who was brought up under the care of Abraham and offered to God.

Returned in resurrection for the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose - After Isaac was offered, he was returned in resurrection for the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose (vv. 4, 12-13, 16, 18). After being returned in resurrection, Isaac was another person. He was no longer the natural Isaac, but the resurrected Isaac. This is very encouraging. After we have offered to God what we have received of Him, He will then return it to us in resurrection. Every gift, spiritual blessing, work, and success we have received of God must undergo the test of death. Eventually, it will come back to us in resurrection. The Lord Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24). Suppose God gives you a certain natural gift. That is one grain of wheat. If you keep this natural gift, never offering it to God, it will remain as one grain. But if you offer it back to God, after it has passed through death, it will be returned to you in resurrection and become a blessing. It does not depend on what we can do or intend to do for God. It all depends on our growing up to be offered to God as a burnt offering and then being raised up from the dead to be a resurrected gift. It is not a matter of being useful to God but of being under His blessing. God’s blessing always comes in resurrection. For one grain to be multiplied into a hundred grains is God’s blessing. If you offer your one grain to God and allow Him to put it into death, it will be returned to you in resurrection. Then you will see multiplication and great blessing. This is God’s way.
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