Scripture Reading: Gen. 22:1-18; Heb. 11:17-19; Rom. 4:17
Ⅰ
At Beer-sheba Abraham planted a tamarisk tree and called upon the name of Jehovah, the Eternal God—Gen. 21:22-33:
A
The tamarisk tree signifies the tree of life experienced and expressed— v. 33:
１
The tamarisk tree planted by the well of an oath in Beer-sheba portrays the flow of the riches of life, the issue of the experience of the tree of life.
２
When we drink of the water from the well at Beer-sheba and live by it, we will be like a tamarisk tree flowing with the riches of life.
B
The Bible connects the planting of the tamarisk tree with calling "on the name of Jehovah, the Eternal God"—v. 33:
１
The Eternal God is the secret, mysterious One, who is our eternal life.
２
Abraham lived by calling on Jehovah, El Olam, by experiencing the eternal, hidden God as his life.
Ⅱ
The life at Beer-sheba produces a burnt offering (Isaac) that is offered to God on Mount Moriah—22:1-2:
A
Isaac's source of living made him a burnt offering, one who was offered to God for His satisfaction—vv. 2, 7-9.
B
The proper church life produces burnt offerings—Lev. 1:1-2; Rom. 12:1-2:
１
The living, growing, and calling on the name of Jehovah, El Olam, at Beer-sheba are all for the producing of a burnt offering—Gen. 21:33; 22:1-2.
２
The more we stay in the church life, the more it will bring us from Beer-sheba to Moriah.
Ⅲ
We need to learn the lesson of offering back to God what He has given to us—Rom. 11:36:
A
The highest demand from God is to give back to Him what He has given us.
B
All that God has given us, including what He has wrought into us, must be offered back to Him, that we may live a life of faith, not holding on to anything, even to the things given by God, but relying only on Him.
C
Everything concerning Isaac was of God and by God, and God required that Abraham offer Isaac back to Him as a burnt offering—Gen. 22:1-2.
Ⅳ
In Genesis 22 we see Abraham's obedience of faith—Heb. 11:17-19:
A
Abraham did not initiate anything or do anything according to his concept.
B
The faith which had been infused into Abraham brought him to Mount Moriah, which is another name for Mount Zion, and enabled him to offer Isaac as a burnt offering—Gen. 22:1-2; 2 Chron. 3:1.
C
Abraham was the first to worship God on Mount Zion, and eventually we will join him on the eternal Mount Zion, worshipping God—Rev. 14:1.
Ⅴ
After Isaac was offered, he was returned in resurrection for the fulfillment of God's purpose—Gen. 22:16-18; Heb. 11:17-19; Rom. 4:17:
A
In receiving Isaac back, Abraham believed in and experienced God as the One who gives life to the dead—the God of resurrection—Heb. 11:17-19; Rom. 4:17; 2 Cor. 1:9.
B
When Isaac was returned in resurrection, he was no longer a natural Isaac but a resurrected Isaac.
C
After Isaac was offered, he was returned to Abraham in resurrection and became a blessing—Gen. 22:16-18.
D
Everything in our life must pass through the supreme test of death to make a way for the God of resurrection—John 11:25; 2 Cor. 1:9.
E
After we offer to God what we have received of Him, He will return it to us in resurrection—Heb. 11:17-19:
１
Every gift, spiritual blessing, work, and success we have received of God must pass through death and eventually be brought back to us in resurrection.
２
If we offer to God what we have received of Him and it passes through death, He will return it to us in resurrection, and it will become a blessing for the fulfillment of His purpose—Gen. 22:16-18.
３
God's blessing always comes in resurrection; if we offer our Isaac to God and have him returned to us in resurrection, we will be under God's blessing.
Ⅵ
By being offered back to God by Abraham, Isaac was multiplied to become the New Jerusalem—vv. 16-18; Rom. 8:29; Rev. 21:2, 7:
A
The New Jerusalem will be the ultimate consummation of Abraham's seed— the sand and the stars—Gen. 22:16-18; Rom. 8:29; Rev. 21:2, 7:
１
In the New Jerusalem those represented by the twelve tribes are the sand, and those represented by the twelve apostles are the stars—vv. 12, 14.
２
The two peoples signified by the sand and the stars will be built together into the New Jerusalem.
B
In Genesis 22 we see a basic principle—that the way to have God's gift multiplied is to offer back to God what He has given to us:
１
One Isaac, offered to God and returned in resurrection, became numberless stars and sand.
２
If we offer our one grain to God and allow Him to put it to death, it will be returned to us in resurrection, and we will see multiplication under God's blessing—John 12:24.