Day 19: Genesis 22-24

Welcome to 5 -Minute Bible, your daily guide for your daily reading. Today's January the 19th, and we'll be covering

Genesis 22 -24. Now, today's reading brings us to the core of one of the most emotionally intense moments in the book of Genesis, for sure, but also in the

Bible. You see, Genesis 22 -24 sits at the heart of Abraham's story, and it presses

God's promises to the brink. Isaac, the long -awaited son, the visible proof that God has kept

His word to Abraham, is now placed at the very center of a paralyzing test.

These chapters don't ask whether God can fulfill His promises. He did. He gave Abraham this child even when his wife was far beyond the age of conceiving.

But the question these chapters are asking is, can God be trusted after those promises arrive?

Genesis 22 records God's command for Abraham to offer his son Isaac, his only son, on a mountain called

Moriah. And this is not a command towards immorality. It was not a command for Abraham to commit child sacrifice.

Scripture is overwhelmingly clear that God hates that. He calls that an abomination. So this is not what

God is asking Abraham to do. Instead, God is calling Abraham at the final moment when

Abraham has surrendered all of his trust to God and he's ready to fulfill this sacrifice.

God stops Abraham and provides a substitute by a ram caught in the thicket, making clear that He never intended

Isaac's death. Even the book of Hebrews says that Abraham knew, even if he sacrificed

Isaac, that God could raise him from the dead. Now Genesis 23 then jolts the narrative forward.

The son is spared and yet Sarah, his wife, dies. And Abraham himself is tasked with purchasing the burial plot for his bride, which just so happens to be the first piece of land that Abraham actually owns.

You see, God promised Abraham the entire land of Canaan, but he only owns a grave by the end of Genesis 23.

Now, Genesis 24 concludes with Abraham securing a wife for Isaac, ensuring that the promise and the covenant are going to continue on into the next generation.

And together, these chapters move from the testing to the death to the faithful continuation.

And as you read these passages today, I want you to ask yourself the following question. Do I trust

God with His promises, or do I only trust Him so long as everything makes sense?

See, Abraham wasn't asked to surrender something sinful. He was asked to surrender the very gift that God gave him, which is what makes this test so searching and so revealing.

Now, the central tension in Genesis 23 -24 is trust after fulfillment.

Abraham waited decades for Isaac, and now God is asking him to place that fulfilled promise back into God's hands.

And Scripture makes something very clear here. God was not asking him to sacrifice his son.

Ultimately, he desires faith. The test was meant to expose a temptation that all of us face.

Once God gives us a gift, we begin to rely on the gift instead of the giver.

And this test was there to sever that connection so that Abraham would not put his trust in his son, but he would put his trust in the

Lord. Genesis 23 -24 then quietly reinforced this lesson. Abraham lays claim to the land of promise, but not by conquest, not by war, but by purchasing a tomb.

And in that sense, we see that faith moves forward through death before it ever moves forward into life and even the possession of the land that God has promised.

God's promises advance not through control, not through human striving, but through faith and trust in God.

Now Genesis 22 -24 also points powerfully to Jesus Christ because Isaac carried the wood up the hill for his own sacrifice.

That reminds us of Jesus, who also carried his own wood up the hill and also became a substitute for his people.

Where Isaac is spared, however, Christ is not. And Abraham's word, God will provide a sacrifice, reached their fullest meaning at the cross because God did.

Now the burial of Sarah also adds a stunning layer of typology because Abraham's first claim on the promised land was not a city or a field.

It was a grave. And in the same way, when Jesus lays claim to the world that God promised him, he doesn't begin with a throne.

He begins by conquering a tomb. And through his death and resurrection, Christ will take dominion over the grave itself, securing the inheritance for his people forever.

Now just as Isaac receives a bride through the careful faithfulness of Abraham, Christ himself will receive a bride through the careful preparation of his father.

Now as we close, I want you to recognize that this passage actually speaks directly to your everyday life and faith.

God may test us, not by taking away evil things, but sometimes by asking us to trust him when he takes away the good.

Families are going to learn obedience does not always mean understanding everything that God has purposed.

Children are going to learn that God is good even when his way feels scary to them. Believers are going to learn that death and loss and waiting are not interruptions to God's plan, but they're often the very means by which

God advances it. So as you read Genesis 22 through 24 today, I want you to watch how faith is maturing.

It moves from dramatic obedience on a mountain to quiet faithfulness in a burial pot to patient trust in the next generation.

And tomorrow, Abraham's life will begin to fade from view, but the promise will not.

It will move forward because God said that it would. And with that, read your

Bible carefully, devotionally, and joyfully, and may the Lord use his word to sanctify you completely, and we will continue our journey tomorrow.