A few months back, my heart felt drawn to a study of the topic of faith, and, as I read through scriptures on that topic, I found myself struck by a particular passage in Hebrews chapter 11, in a way I hadn't been before. In verses 17-19 we read (my italics are added for emphasis):

By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received promises offered up his only begotten son. Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead from whence also he received him in a figure.

I had read this passage many times before, but was struck this time with a particular aspect of it that for some reason had never previously entered my mind. Many times, when we talk about Abraham, we talk about his faith in offering up Isaac. We observe how steady Abraham was in his faith to trust God, even though seemingly, he did not have a full understanding of why God was asking him to do this. But Paul is asking us in this passage to notice something else about Abraham. Paul gives us further insight into what was in Abraham's heart as he walked up that lonely mountain trail with his son's probing questions about the lack of a sacrificial animal, and his own vague assurances that the Lord would provide.

 

Paul begins in verse 17 pointing out that it was by faith (the theme of the entire chapter) that Abraham offered his only begotten son. He then describes Abraham as "he that received promises". It was important to Paul that his readers understand that Abraham was a man who had received promises of the Lord, and that at least one of those promises pertained to his son Isaac, whom he was asked to sacrifice. In verse 18, Paul repeats the promise of the Lord to Abraham that "in Isaac shall thy seed be called." In Genesis 17 we learn a little bit more about this promise. Not only did the Lord make a covenant with Abraham concerning the generations that would follow but also with Isaac himself. In Genesis 17:19 we read:

So here we have in Abraham's life two seemingly conflicting statements from the Lord. One telling him that God had made an everlasting covenant with his son and his son's posterity after him, and another telling him that the Lord required Isaac as a sacrifice, cutting Isaac's life short while he was yet a boy. How did this prophet of God and patriarch of Israel reconcile these two seemingly conflicting directives? By faith. While it is clear from the Biblical narrative that Abraham's hand was stayed by a timely angel who declared unto him "now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not witheld thy son, thine only son,from me" (Genesis 22:12), it is also clear that Abraham's faith and determination to obey the Lord would have carried him through the act, had the angel not appeared. But why was his faith so strong?

 

In verse 19 of Hebrews 11, Paul describes Abraham as "Accounting (or as the greek renders it: 'Considering') that God was able to raise him (i.e. Isaac) up, even from the dead".  This was the part that stood out for me in bold letters as I read this passage. Abraham was obedient and a man of integrity, but the main factor that Paul wants us to notice about Abraham in this moment of trial is that Abraham had full and complete trust in the constancy of the character of God. He knew and trusted without a shadow of a doubt that God is a God of His word and that He always fulfills His promises. He knew that even if God required Isaac at his hand, God would restore Isaac to life so that He could fulfill the covenant He had made with Abraham and his only begotten son (and his son's sons after him).

 

At this Easter season, our hearts are often tenderly drawn to ponder upon the significance of a greater, supernal act of willing sacrifice that transpired in the Middle East over two millenia ago. We think reverently of the evening in which the Savior met with his disciples and instituted the symbols of the bread and wine in remembrance of the body and blood he would give for us. We ponder with awe and gratitude upon the events that transpired in a small garden, where Jehovah, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who had condescended to dwell with man in the flesh, knelt in fervent prayer and bled at every pore as he suffered in agony for our sins. We see Him in our minds eye before the thronging masses, and political leaders, beaten and scorned for our sake and bearing it patiently as a lamb. Our hearts ache for Him as we imagine Him stumbling along that long path to Calvary with the weight of a thick and heavy cross beam accross his back. We envision him crucified and looking down upon his mother and the disciple whom he loved exclaiming in mercy and love,  "Woman, behold thy son!" and to the disciple "Behold thy mother!" And then the final cry as he came to his last moments, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit...It is finished!", and He gave up the ghost.

 

Then we read with joy how on the third day, Mary came to the tomb, and found it empty. She was met there by the Lord and heard Him say her name. "Touch me not," he counseled, "for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go unto my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God." (John 20:17). He appeared to His disciples next;and showed them the wounds in His hands and feet and in His side (See John, Chapter 20). Doubting Thomas, not having been present at this first appearance, was led upon seeing him to proclaim:"My Lord and My God." The disciples received the Gift of the Holy Ghost from Him and they went on as special witnesses of His divinity to bear testimony to the world that He truly was the Christ, the Son of the Living God. He had conquered death and sin forever, and to all those, "as many as will believe" in His name has he promised that they "may become the sons of God, even one in me as I am one in the Father, as the Father is one in me, that we may be one."(D+C 35:2)

 

This is the Jesus whom we worship. He who "created the heavens and the earth and all things that in them are", who was "with the Father from the beginning"  (3 Nephi 9:15). He who, under the direction of the Father, came to earth to be an offering for the sins of mankind, that "whosovever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life"(John 3:16).

 

The Father so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son and the Son so loved the world that he was willing to be "wounded for our transgressions...bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." (Isaiah 53:5)

 

I had the opportunity during the past two weeks to receive a greater witness of the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ and the power of His Atonement and Resurrection to conquer spiritual and physical death. I saw a family hurting from a difficult and unexpected loss of one of their precious members. I saw the hope and light of understanding that the knowledge and assurance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ gave them. I witnessed the perspective that this gave to each member of the family; that though they knew their family member would be gone for a season, they also had certain knowledge that they would see him again. And because he was faithful to his covenants in this life, they knew that there would be a joyful reuinion someday as an Eternal family in the Kingdom of their Father.  As I watched the beautiful, simple faith with which this family faced their trial together, it caused me to rejoice within myself as the Spirit bore witness to me that the words of Paul were indeed true when he wrote,"To live is Christ and to die is gain." (Phillipians 1:21)