The Bible Storyline – Lesson 19 – November 1, 2026 – Abraham’s BIG Test – Gen 22.1-12

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The Bible Storyline  •  Lesson 18

Abraham’s BIG Test

Genesis 22  •  November 1, 2026  •  Shining Light Baptist Church

Important Questions Do you love God? How would you defend your answer?

Most Important Question Does your love for God fulfill His law?

 

What is the standard of love for God that His law demands?

Deuteronomy 6:5   5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

 

The Setting

• The book of Deuteronomy records the sermon Moses delivered to the nation of Israel, just before his death and prior to them going in to take possession of the land of Canaan.
• He is addressing them after the forty years of wandering in the wilderness.
• This is the second time the adults in this group have been to the border of Canaan and prepared to go in.
• The first time, they were children (under the age of 20 years old). God had brought them out of Egypt by miracles of plagues; opened the Red Sea so they could cross on dry land and escape the armies of Pharaoh.
• They had received the law of God at the hand of Moses. But when it came time for them to enter the land, they sent twelve spies into the land to search it out.
• The spies returned testifying that the land was as fruitful and amazing as God had said. BUT ten of them said there was a problem—because the people were giants and they would kill us if we try to take their land.
• Two spies—Joshua and Caleb— tried to get the people to believe God and take the land. But the people listened to the 10 spies over Joshua and Caleb. They unanimously decided to give up and return to Egypt instead.
• As a result God condemned them to spend 40 years wandering through the wilderness while He systematically killed every person 20 years old and older for not obeying Him. The only people who lived through those forty years that were above 20 years old when it happened were those who believed God.
• Now they are back again and it is their turn to obey or disobey God.
• Moses now instructs them to enter the land and obey God. One of the commands is to LOVE the LORD God with all their heart, soul, and might.
• This would show up in the form of Obedience to God’s law. In other words, if they love God above all other things they will obey God in ALL

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A Repeated Command

This was not the only time in Deuteronomy where Moses commanded them to love God with all their heart and prove it by obedience to His law.

Deuteronomy 10:12   12 And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,

Again in Deut 11:13

Deuteronomy 11:13   13 And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,

Moses promised God will make this kind of love possible

Deuteronomy 30:6   6 And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.

Joshua repeated this command to Israel

Joshua 22:5   5 But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the LORD charged you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.

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Jesus Ranked This Command as #1

Matthew 22:35–38   35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,

36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38 This is the first and great commandment.

In verse 35, a “lawyer” means an expert in the Law of Moses.

Jesus Demands We Love Him Above Our Family

Matthew 10:37–38   37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.

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With these passages in view, return to the questions from the beginning of this lesson.

Important Questions Do you love God? How would you defend your answer?

Most Important Question Does your love for God fulfill His law?

 

Father Abraham

In our previous sermon, we proved from the Bible that Saving Faith is a faith that imitates the faith of Abraham.

He is our father in the faith, only if we share the same faith he practiced.

Up to this point, we have learned that Abraham practiced a faith that walked away from his former religion, his country, his family, and followed God into a land where he was an immigrant.

Abraham stayed in that land and continued to follow God even when the reward for obedience had not yet come.

The Son & the Sacrifice

By the time you arrive at Genesis 22, Abraham had received the promise of a son. He is now the father of Isaac.

What is Isaac’s age?

The Bible does not tell us how old Isaac was, but scholars working through biblical chronology combined with Jewish tradition, suggest Isaac was possibly between 20–37 years old.

He was old enough to carry the wood for the sacrifice up the mountain.

The Test – Gen 22:1-12

Genesis 22:1–12   1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.

2 And he said, 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.

3 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.

4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.

5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.

6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.

7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?

8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

9 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.

10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.

12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

God tested Abraham

But what about Abraham was God testing?

Obedience?

Faith?

Love?

 

Love — Obedience and faith can exist apart from love. But where there is genuine love for God, faith and obedience will be present.

• You can obey what God says to some degree without loving God, or even believing in God.
• You can exercise faith that God exists but fail to love and obey Him.
• BUT – Biblical love for God does not exist apart from faith and obedience.

Abraham is going to prove his love to God by prioritizing God over Isaac the son he loved.

God intentionally referred to Isaac as the son whom Abraham loved. Then God instructed Abraham to go offer the son he loved as a sacrifice to God.

There is no clearer way to say, “Abraham, do you love me with all your heart, soul, and might? Do you love me more than you love Isaac?”

Love is always demonstrated through action not words. Abraham proved his love for God was greater than his love for Isaac because he chose to trust and obey God even if it meant losing Isaac.

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Side Note

Abraham came from a pagan country, and his family were pagans. He was living in a pagan land surrounded by people practicing worship and allegiance to false gods.

Many of the false religions of his time practiced human sacrifice. God called Abraham out away from his gods and he followed. But this test would show if Abraham was willing to love God above the son he loved.

Abraham Passed The Test

God said in vs 12 that Abraham has proven that he loves God with all his heart, soul, and might because he did not refuse to offer Isaac.

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Abraham our Example

In the previous sermon we measured our faith with Abraham’s faith. This week we measure our love for God against Abraham’s love for God.

Abraham loved God with all his heart, soul and might. It was proven when he obeyed God’s command, even if that meant losing Isaac.

Do you love God this way?

What decisions in your life prove this?

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Deuteronomy 10:12   12 And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,

Matthew 22:37–38   37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38 This is the first and great commandment.