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Hebrews 11:17-19
God tested the faith of Abraham, whom He gave the promise of being the father of many peoples (Genesis 17:4-6). It was important for Abraham to be the physical, human example of having complete faith in God for his descendants to reflect on and copy in their lives. It was important that Abraham’s righteousness be credited to him through his faith in God. And it was important for God to test the faith of Abraham in the call of God for Abraham to sacrifice his only begotten son to God; that he would have faith in God to raise his son from the dead in fulfilling the promise God made to him that his many descendants would come through Isaac, whom he was called to sacrifice to God (Genesis 22). God stopped Abraham from sacrificing Isaac, but Abraham had already committed himself to making the sacrifice, so in a figurative sense he did receive Isaac back from the dead (Hebrews 11:19).
This is an example of putting complete faith in God.
God knew that one day He would sacrifice His only begotten Son for the sins of all mankind. He wanted man to be aware of the type of faith (complete) that it would take for such an event in that the focus of our complete faith, being in God, is required for salvation. God spared Abraham’s only begotten son of the promise, but He would not spare His only begotten Son of the promise so that all who will put their complete faith in Him would be saved and reunited with Him through the sacrifice, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.
To believe that God exists is one thing, but to put your complete faith in Him and surrender your hearts desires to Him and seek His desires for your life takes a complete faith as was the example given by Abraham. All doors to your heart must be open to salvation in Christ Jesus…even the closets. God desires to have all of you…and He will cleanse all of you from sin.
Dear LORD,
Abraham had committed to sacrificing his only begotten son to you in faith, and because of his faith in You, You resurrected Isaac from the death bed. Without Jesus, we all lie on our death bed of sin, but through Jesus You resurrect each of us who put our faith in You to a new life of forgiveness. Please help us to see that we cannot hide our sin from You and that confessing completely what lies behind all the doors of our hearts; even the closet doors that we have deep within the house of our hearts, is having complete faith in You to save us from sin and set us free to rejoice in Christ Jesus. In Jesus name I pray, amen.