“Seek Yahweh while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to Yahweh, and He will have compassion on him. Turn to our Elohim, for He will abundantly pardon.”
Isaiah 55: 6-7
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Faith that Isn’t Tested Can’t be Trusted
Mark Twain was a man of uncommon common sense. His books have been revered since he wrote them, because they portray characters who are doing and saying things that real people in the real world actually do and say. Twain’s legacy remains intact even though large numbers of featherweight intellectuals are using today’s political correctness as a weapon to rewrite of history and destroy the reputations of the historical heavyweights who shaped our society.
In his short story The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg, Twain exposed the hypocrisy of holier-than-thou types of his day who couldn’t see past the ends of their noses. This is the story’s opening paragraph:
It was many years ago. Hadleyburg was the most honest and upright town in all the region round about. It had kept that reputation unsmirched during three generations, and was prouder of it than of any other of its possessions. It was so proud of it, and so anxious to insure its perpetuation, that it began to teach the principles of honest dealing to its babies in the cradle, and made the like teachings the staple of their culture thenceforward through all the years devoted to their education. Also, throughout the formative years temptations were kept out of the way of the young people, so that their honesty could have every chance to harden and solidify, and become a part of their very bone. The neighbouring towns were jealous of this honourable supremacy, and affected to sneer at Hadleyburg’s pride in it and call it vanity; but all the same they were obliged to acknowledge that Hadleyburg was in reality an incorruptible town; and if pressed they would also acknowledge that the mere fact that a young man hailed from Hadleyburg was all the recommendation he needed when he went forth from his natal town to seek for responsible employment.
I won’t divulge the story’s plot, but the central characters, Edward and Mary Richards, are two of Hadleyburg’s leading citizens. They are highly-respected but very poor. One day, their honesty is put to the test, and they failed.
Below is an excerpt from a lengthy exchange between Edward and Mary. He is lamenting the fact that his honesty is “artificial”:
“Oh, I know it, I know it—it’s been one everlasting training and training and training in honesty—honesty shielded, from the very cradle, against every possible temptation, and so it’s artificial honesty, and weak as water when temptation comes, as we have seen this night. God knows I never had shade nor shadow of a doubt of my petrified and indestructible honesty until now—and now, under the very first big and real temptation, I—Edward, it is my belief that this town’s honesty is as rotten as mine is; as rotten as yours. It is a mean town, a hard, stingy town, and hasn’t a virtue in the world but this honesty it is so celebrated for and so conceited about; and so help me, I do believe that if ever the day comes that its honesty falls under great temptation, its grand reputation will go to ruin like a house of cards. There, now, I’ve made confession, and I feel better; I am a humbug, and I’ve been one all my life, without knowing it. Let no man call me honest again—I will not have it.”
Any virtue that isn’t tested is artificial, and it will remain artificial until it’s tested. For example, it’s easy for someone to say, “I don’t care about money,” until the day comes when he is forced to choose between having lots of money and adhering to his principles. That’s when people learn what they really believe.
Edward and Mary Richards and the other leading citizens of Hadleyburg failed the test. Abraham did not.
Biblical Roots of Testing Faith: A Chronology
Faithfulness is the bedrock principle of Yahweh’s plan of salvation. It is a faith in Yahweh that is willing to go where Yahweh says go and to do what Yahweh says do. In The Trilogy, I call it “the faith of Abraham”.
Yahweh equated Abraham’s faith with righteousness:
“Then he [Abraham] believed in [had faith in] Yahweh; and He [Yahweh] reckoned it to him [Abraham] as righteousness.” (Genesis 15: 6)
In Genesis 15, Yahweh made a covenant with Abraham and his descendants through Isaac and Jacob/Israel. It is the covenant that all of us depend on for our salvation. Yahweh extended the covenant to anyone who has the faith of Abraham. The beneficiaries of the covenant are Jews and Gentiles.
In Genesis 15: 6, Yahweh declared that Abraham was righteous because of his faith, but Yahweh put Abraham’s faith to the test. Of course, Yahweh knew that Abraham would pass the test, but Abraham had to actually pass it.
Think of testing as a rite of passage. It’s easy to say, “I have faith.” It’s not always easy put your faith to work. Sometimes putting your faith to work seems almost impossible, but with Yahweh, all things are possible.
Genesis 15
In Genesis 15, Yahweh said that Abraham would have a child through whom the covenant would pass to future generations:
2 But Abram said, “O Adonai Yahweh, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so, a servant in my household will be my heir.” 4 Then behold, the Word of Yahweh [Yahweh] came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.” (Genesis 15: 2-4)
Genesis 16
In Genesis 16, Abraham’s wife, Sarah, gave her maid, Hagar, to Abraham as a wife/concubine so that Hagar can have a child for her:
1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife had borne him no children, and she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, “Now behold, Yahweh has prevented me from bearing children. Please go in to my maid; perhaps I will obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3 After Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife. 4 He went in to Hagar, and she conceived…. (Genesis 16: 1-4)
Abraham had a son through Hagar. His name was Ishmael.
Genesis 17
In Genesis 17, Yahweh told Abraham that Ishmael would not be the heir through whom the covenant would pass to future generations. Yahweh also told Abraham that Sarah would have a son whose name would be Isaac. Isaac was Abraham’s son through whom the covenant would pass to future generations:
15 Then Elohim said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16 I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” 17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to a man one hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” 18 And Abraham said to Elohim, “Oh that Ishmael might live before You!” 19 But Elohim said, “No! Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. 20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. 21 But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.” 22 When He finished talking with him, Elohim went up from Abraham. (Genesis 17: 15-22)
Genesis 18
In Genesis 18, Yahweh told Abraham that Isaac would be born in a year:
9 Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he [Abraham] said, “There, in the tent.” 10 He [Yahweh] said, “I will surely return to you at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.” (Genesis 18: 9-10)
Genesis 21
In Genesis 21, Isaac is born:
1 Then Yahweh took note of Sarah as He had said, and Yahweh did for Sarah as He had promised. 2 So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which Elohim had spoken to him. 3 Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. (Genesis 21: 1-3)
Genesis 22: Yahweh Tests Abraham’s Faith
In Genesis 22, Yahweh put Abraham to the test. He told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac:
1 Now it came about after these things, that Elohim tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.” (Genesis 22: 1-2)
Abraham obeyed Yahweh without hesitation:
3 So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which Elohim had told him. (Genesis 22: 3-5)
Abraham fully intended to kill Isaac just like Yahweh told him, but look at the instructions Abraham gave to the 2 men he took with him on the journey:
4 On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance. 5 Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.” (Genesis 22: 4-5)
At the last possible moment, Yahweh stopped Abraham from killing Isaac:
9 Then they [Abraham and Isaac] came to the place of which Elohim had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the Angel of Yahweh [Yahweh] called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He [Yahweh] said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear Elohim, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” (Genesis 22: 9-12)
Abraham knew that Yahweh had told him that the covenant would pass through Isaac to future generations. Isaac had not had children when Yahweh told Abraham to kill him, so Abraham must have known that Yahweh would stop him or that he would resurrect Isaac after Abraham killed him. I know that because in Genesis 22: 5, Abraham told the 2 men traveling with them that he and Isaac would return.
Abraham didn’t know exactly what Yahweh had in mind, but he was faithful. By that I mean Abraham was willing to do whatever Yahweh told him to do even if he didn’t understand all of the whys and wherefores. Abraham had faith with legs. That’s why I call it “the faith of Abraham”.
That’s the same kind of faith that Yahweh expects from all of His children. It is not a spineless, passive faith. It’s an active, obedient faith.
That day, Yahweh gave Abraham a ram to sacrifice. It was a substitute for his son, Isaac:
13 Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. 14 Abraham called the name of that place Yahweh Will Provide [Yahweh Yireh], as it is said to this day, “In the mount of Yahweh it will be provided.” (Genesis 22: 13-14)
Yahweh’s test of Abraham’s faith was also a foretelling of the future:
15 Then the Angel of Yahweh [Yahweh] called to Abraham a second time from heaven, 16 and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares Yahweh, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” 19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Be’er Sheva; and Abraham lived at Be’er Sheva. (Genesis 22: 15-19)
Abraham didn’t spare his son, Isaac, his only son. Yahweh said that he would bless Abraham and his descendants because Abraham “obeyed My voice”.
Faith and obedience are inextricably linked. They can’t be separated:
But someone may well say, “You have faith, and I have works [obedience].” Show me your faith without the works [obedience], and I will show you my faith by my works [obedience]. (James 2: 18)
Yahweh alluded to the sacrifice He would make when He spared not His Son, His only Son. About 2,000 years later, Yahweh’s Son, the Messiah, would become the Atoning Sacrifice for the sins of humankind:
“In the mount of Yahweh [Mount Moriah] it [the Atoning Sacrifice] will be provided.” (Genesis 22: 14)
Everybody’s faith will be tested. You can count on it. Yahweh will make sure that it happens, because faith that isn’t tested can’t be trusted. He will separate the wheat from the chaff. Yahweh’s children have “the faith of Abraham”. They will pass the test. Others won’t.
Below is a picture that I took from the Goldman Prominade in Jerusalem. When I took the picture, I was standing in the vicinity of the spot where Abraham stood when he caught his first glimpse of Mount Moriah. The red circle in the picture indicates the place where Yahweh told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. More than 1,000 years later, King Solomon built Yahweh’s Temple on that site. See “Yahweh’s Temple was not on the Temple Mount (Part 1)“.
Yahweh’s word comes alive for me when I’m in Israel. That’s especially true when I’m in Jerusalem. One day, I will live there. I can hardly wait. Yahweh is in complete control of the timing. In the meantime, my job is to be faithful where I am.
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“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”
John 17: 22-24
