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.