Learn more about Abraham — the first of the Hebrew patriarchs through whom God chose to bless all the nations of the world. Known for his deep faith and unquestionable obedience to God, Abraham answered God’s call to leave his home and journey to an unknown land to start a new nation. In this episode, we see how challenging being faithful can be as Abraham is further tested by God in the second season of his life.
A year after his son by Sarah, Isaac, was born, God asked Abraham to send away his first son, Ishmael, with the slave Hagar. He did, believing in God’s promise that He would take care of them. Years later, God told Abraham to take Isaac and sacrifice him as a burnt offering. Once again, Abraham demonstrates being a hero of faith, despite his feet of clay. He faithfully followed where God would lead him, trusting that He Himself would provide the sacrifice.
The mastery of this ancient story is that its suspenseful silence leads the reader to anticipate what was so prevalent in pagan religious history — what everyone would have expected — until, at the last moment, God revealed that He is not like all the other gods. Our God would never require something so dreadful of humanity.
Abraham’s curious obedience enable us to see through the eyes of faith a foretaste of what God has accomplished for us: offering His only Son as a substitute for us. Abraham is a hero with feet of clay — deeply faithful and deeply human. Abraham’s faith was accredited to him as righteousness. The New Testament declares that Abraham is the spiritual father of all who trust in God through Jesus Christ. He was the father of many nations, and our forefather in the faith.
