Hebrews 11:8-9 says, “By faith Abraham, being called, obeyed to go out to a place which he was about to receive for an inheritance, and he went out without knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt as a foreigner in the land of promise as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents.”
From Haran Abraham brought Sarah his wife, Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance and people into the land of Canaan. When Abraham came to the place of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh, Jehovah appeared again to him, and there he built an altar unto Jehovah, who appeared to him (Gen. 12:7).
After Abraham built an altar, he pitched a tent (Gen. 12:8). At Babel, the people first built a city and then erected a tower. But Abraham first built an altar and then erected a tent. This means that Abraham was for God. He first took care of the worship of God, his fellowship with God. Then he took care of his living. His dwelling in a tent also shows that he did not belong to the world, but lived the life of a sojourner on the earth.
Abraham’s nephew, Lot, had separated himself from Abraham and dwelt in Sodom. Because of the fighting between the four kings and the five kings, Lot was taken captive. When Abraham heard this, he led forth his trained men who were born in his house, and fought against the four kings; he smote them and brought back all the goods. After his return, Melchisedec, king of Salem, met him with bread and wine and blessed him (Gen. 14:18). Melchisedec as the priest of the Most High God is a type of Christ as God’s High Priest (Heb. 7:1-3, 16-17). Christ today is the High Priest according to the order of Melchisedec. He is always living to intercede for us and to nourish us with bread and wine.
Genesis 18 speaks of Abraham’s intimate experience of God. When Abraham was sitting in the tent door one day, he saw three men coming to him. Of the three, one was Jehovah God and the other two were angels. Abraham prepared water for God to wash His feet and served Him with a meal. Thus, Abraham enjoyed the sweet fellowship with God, and in this fellowship he received the revelation from God regarding the birth of Isaac and the destruction of Sodom.
Genesis 22 speaks of the peak of Abraham’s experience with God. In verse 2 God said to Abraham, “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.” How difficult it must have been for Abraham to do this! By faith, however, Abraham immediately obeyed God’s word and did it. Abraham took his son and journeyed three days to the mountain. “And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood” (v. 9). As he stretched forth his hand and took the knife to slay his son, the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven and said, “Lay not thine hand upon the lad” (v. 12). Then God prepared a ram to replace Isaac. Therefore, as far as Abraham was concerned, Isaac was raised from among the dead. This was Abraham’s peak experience in satisfying God because of his obedience by faith. The offering of Isaac typifies the offering of Christ, God’s only begotten Son, on the cross.