Abraham, the Father of Faith and his True Son
December 19, 2009 Betsy Elam
I had a dream on Saturday, 12/19/09, in the morning before hearing our pastor’s Bible teaching later that night about Abraham offering Isaac. I did not know that our pastor would be speaking on this.
Dream
My husband and I were in an expansive room of a building where the only other Christian besides us was an older man. He seemed to be older than my husband, very noble in bearing, extremely tall and big boned. His hair was not cut in a short modern fashion. He had a long robe on. I was not allowed in the dream to see distinct facial features. The room was dimly lit.
All the people in the huge room were of a false religion. Only the older man and my husband and I were Christians.
Suddenly, the older robed man told my husband that he needed to die, to be beheaded by him (the Christian robed man) with a sword.
The man said to my husband, “It’s the ONLY way they will know you’re a Christian and that your God is the real God.”
At those words, my husband went to the robed man with no hesitation whatsoever for the purpose of dying. He didn’t even look at me or come to me to say good-bye (I was behind him). I saw the older Christian man raise up his sword and bring it down. I did not see graphic details. But I knew my husband had been beheaded which meant I was suddenly a widow. I knew I must accept my widowhood as my husband had accepted his own death since I believed the robed man’s words, “It’s the ONLY way they (the people of the false religion) will know you’re a Christian and that your God is the real God.
I was shocked and greatly saddened at having to let the love of my life go as I love my husband dearly and truly cannot imagine life without him, but I had resolved not to resist God’s plan. I knew it was the only way those people would ever know the true God. I did briefly wonder why the older robed man hadn’t volunteered to be the martyr and why he was doing the killing/sacrificing rather than the people of the false religion killing my husband as a form of persecution. But I accepted God’s will in the matter as had my husband and we submitted to the robed man’s authority. We trusted in God.
End of Dream
Interpretation/ Comments (Scriptures NASB)
It took me a full day after hearing our pastor’s message on Abraham offering up Isaac to realize that the older Christian robed man from my dream was not just a father figure… he was Abraham, our father, the father of faith, the father of all those who believe! (Gal. 3:6-9) When Abraham offered up Isaac, it wasn’t just Isaac that would die. The death would affect everything for Abraham… death to the promise, death to the one he loved. That’s how I felt as a widow; the death was mine, too. Remember, in the Bible story (Genesis 22) which was called a test, that as God saw Abraham’s determination to hold nothing back from Him, He actually gave Isaac back to Abraham. In Hebrews 11:17-19, Abraham’s great faith is revealed in that He believed God could still fulfill His promise by even raising Isaac from the dead if he died. This is literally what happened when God the Father did raise His only begotten Son, Jesus, who had died on the cross as our sacrifice for sin. In Genesis 22, the Lamb caught in the thicket (a type of Jesus’ crown of thorns) was God’s provisional substitute as a foreshadowing of Jesus, the Lamb of God who would take our (Isaac’s) place.
I began to cry when I realized I had seen Abraham and heard the wisdom of God come from his mouth. The robe identified this father figure to actually be Abraham. Our pastor taught on the story of Abraham offering up Isaac just a few hours after I had this dream.
Also, it was a robe of righteousness. Isaiah 61:10 describes righteousness figuratively as a robe that the Lord puts on us. “Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.” (Gal. 3:6, 7) I realized that God was identifying my husband as Abraham’s son, an Isaac, a believer, hence a son of faith. Our pastor had pointed out in the Bible study the parallel of Abraham putting Isaac on the altar and God the Father giving Jesus His Son on the cross and several other parallels between the two stories. One of these was the fact that Jesus gave up His life in the Garden of Gethsemane long before the actual cross (and actually before the foundation of the world). Abraham also had given up Isaac in his heart before journeying up the mountain. This explains why my husband’s death was not brought about by the people of the false religion. We all need to purpose to die to ourselves in our Christian walk, to be walking dead men. I believe my husband’s instant obedience and his not looking back at me, even to say good-bye is figurative of the walk of a true believer. “Another also said, ‘I will follow you, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.’ But Jesus said to him, ‘No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.’” (Luke 9:62). God, through the ‘type’ of Abraham offering up Isaac and then providing a Lamb, and again literally through Jesus, had pioneered the path of faith and salvation for all of us, and it was my husband’s turn to walk the ultimate journey of a true believer, the way of death to self, which is the way of love.
I share this dream because I realize that the dream shows my husband as a type. We all heard this same teaching at Preparing the Way about Abraham offering Isaac and Isaac going willingly, etc. All of us have to walk down the path that Abraham, as father of Isaac and all who believe, journeyed as he was led by God the Father. As the story of Abraham offering Isaac foreshadows God the Father offering His only begotten Son, Jesus, the story continues on to ask each of us, “Will we also take up our cross and follow the path that Jesus pioneered, dying to self-will and doing God’s will with the result of Eternal Life?” I myself have had a fear of those I love dying because I have lost very close family members. My husband has had a fear of totally surrendering to God. I take encouragement from the dream that he and I both faced our greatest fears and overcame them.
I believe the dream shows that it is possible for all of us who are finally seeing the stark truths of the Bible to truly walk the walk with God’s great grace. And I believe the next thing we’ll see is resurrection, blessing and fruitfulness. The test is to believe God and His promises no matter how things appear on the path the Lord has called us to. Jesus calls this taking up our cross and following Him. See Matthew 16:24. As Isaiah 51:1, 2 says, “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were hewn and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain; when he was but one I called him, then I blessed him and multiplied him.”
Note for anyone coming from a culture different than mine: I do not believe that God asks us to literally sacrifice people, including ourselves. The Bible in several places makes this clear. God does ask us to entrust everything He has given to us back to Him. We are to offer ourselves as LIVING sacrifices to God. See Romans 12:1. This dream was a type and a shadow, just as the story of Abraham and Isaac was a foreshadowing of things to come, but nevertheless real.
Chris Tomlin added a new chorus to the age old verses of the hymn, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”. The resulting new song is titled, “The Wonderful Cross”. The first line of his chorus beautifully sums up this dream from the Lord, “Oh the wonderful Cross, oh the wonderful Cross, bids me come and die and find that I may truly live…” One of the verses to the original hymn explains why we have this response for the Lord: “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.” Jesus was the sinless sacrifice who took our place to bear the wages of sin; death on a cross. He died that we might live. We come to Him in repentance over our sin which caused His suffering and are baptized into His death so that we might also die to sin, receive His merciful forgiveness and ultimately share in His resurrection!
December 19, 2009 Betsy Elam
I had a dream on Saturday, 12/19/09, in the morning before hearing our pastor’s Bible teaching later that night about Abraham offering Isaac. I did not know that our pastor would be speaking on this.
Dream
My husband and I were in an expansive room of a building where the only other Christian besides us was an older man. He seemed to be older than my husband, very noble in bearing, extremely tall and big boned. His hair was not cut in a short modern fashion. He had a long robe on. I was not allowed in the dream to see distinct facial features. The room was dimly lit.
All the people in the huge room were of a false religion. Only the older man and my husband and I were Christians.
Suddenly, the older robed man told my husband that he needed to die, to be beheaded by him (the Christian robed man) with a sword.
The man said to my husband, “It’s the ONLY way they will know you’re a Christian and that your God is the real God.”
At those words, my husband went to the robed man with no hesitation whatsoever for the purpose of dying. He didn’t even look at me or come to me to say good-bye (I was behind him). I saw the older Christian man raise up his sword and bring it down. I did not see graphic details. But I knew my husband had been beheaded which meant I was suddenly a widow. I knew I must accept my widowhood as my husband had accepted his own death since I believed the robed man’s words, “It’s the ONLY way they (the people of the false religion) will know you’re a Christian and that your God is the real God.
I was shocked and greatly saddened at having to let the love of my life go as I love my husband dearly and truly cannot imagine life without him, but I had resolved not to resist God’s plan. I knew it was the only way those people would ever know the true God. I did briefly wonder why the older robed man hadn’t volunteered to be the martyr and why he was doing the killing/sacrificing rather than the people of the false religion killing my husband as a form of persecution. But I accepted God’s will in the matter as had my husband and we submitted to the robed man’s authority. We trusted in God.
End of Dream
Interpretation/ Comments (Scriptures NASB)
It took me a full day after hearing our pastor’s message on Abraham offering up Isaac to realize that the older Christian robed man from my dream was not just a father figure… he was Abraham, our father, the father of faith, the father of all those who believe! (Gal. 3:6-9) When Abraham offered up Isaac, it wasn’t just Isaac that would die. The death would affect everything for Abraham… death to the promise, death to the one he loved. That’s how I felt as a widow; the death was mine, too. Remember, in the Bible story (Genesis 22) which was called a test, that as God saw Abraham’s determination to hold nothing back from Him, He actually gave Isaac back to Abraham. In Hebrews 11:17-19, Abraham’s great faith is revealed in that He believed God could still fulfill His promise by even raising Isaac from the dead if he died. This is literally what happened when God the Father did raise His only begotten Son, Jesus, who had died on the cross as our sacrifice for sin. In Genesis 22, the Lamb caught in the thicket (a type of Jesus’ crown of thorns) was God’s provisional substitute as a foreshadowing of Jesus, the Lamb of God who would take our (Isaac’s) place.
I began to cry when I realized I had seen Abraham and heard the wisdom of God come from his mouth. The robe identified this father figure to actually be Abraham. Our pastor taught on the story of Abraham offering up Isaac just a few hours after I had this dream.
Also, it was a robe of righteousness. Isaiah 61:10 describes righteousness figuratively as a robe that the Lord puts on us. “Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.” (Gal. 3:6, 7) I realized that God was identifying my husband as Abraham’s son, an Isaac, a believer, hence a son of faith. Our pastor had pointed out in the Bible study the parallel of Abraham putting Isaac on the altar and God the Father giving Jesus His Son on the cross and several other parallels between the two stories. One of these was the fact that Jesus gave up His life in the Garden of Gethsemane long before the actual cross (and actually before the foundation of the world). Abraham also had given up Isaac in his heart before journeying up the mountain. This explains why my husband’s death was not brought about by the people of the false religion. We all need to purpose to die to ourselves in our Christian walk, to be walking dead men. I believe my husband’s instant obedience and his not looking back at me, even to say good-bye is figurative of the walk of a true believer. “Another also said, ‘I will follow you, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.’ But Jesus said to him, ‘No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.’” (Luke 9:62). God, through the ‘type’ of Abraham offering up Isaac and then providing a Lamb, and again literally through Jesus, had pioneered the path of faith and salvation for all of us, and it was my husband’s turn to walk the ultimate journey of a true believer, the way of death to self, which is the way of love.
I share this dream because I realize that the dream shows my husband as a type. We all heard this same teaching at Preparing the Way about Abraham offering Isaac and Isaac going willingly, etc. All of us have to walk down the path that Abraham, as father of Isaac and all who believe, journeyed as he was led by God the Father. As the story of Abraham offering Isaac foreshadows God the Father offering His only begotten Son, Jesus, the story continues on to ask each of us, “Will we also take up our cross and follow the path that Jesus pioneered, dying to self-will and doing God’s will with the result of Eternal Life?” I myself have had a fear of those I love dying because I have lost very close family members. My husband has had a fear of totally surrendering to God. I take encouragement from the dream that he and I both faced our greatest fears and overcame them.
I believe the dream shows that it is possible for all of us who are finally seeing the stark truths of the Bible to truly walk the walk with God’s great grace. And I believe the next thing we’ll see is resurrection, blessing and fruitfulness. The test is to believe God and His promises no matter how things appear on the path the Lord has called us to. Jesus calls this taking up our cross and following Him. See Matthew 16:24. As Isaiah 51:1, 2 says, “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were hewn and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain; when he was but one I called him, then I blessed him and multiplied him.”
Note for anyone coming from a culture different than mine: I do not believe that God asks us to literally sacrifice people, including ourselves. The Bible in several places makes this clear. God does ask us to entrust everything He has given to us back to Him. We are to offer ourselves as LIVING sacrifices to God. See Romans 12:1. This dream was a type and a shadow, just as the story of Abraham and Isaac was a foreshadowing of things to come, but nevertheless real.
Chris Tomlin added a new chorus to the age old verses of the hymn, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”. The resulting new song is titled, “The Wonderful Cross”. The first line of his chorus beautifully sums up this dream from the Lord, “Oh the wonderful Cross, oh the wonderful Cross, bids me come and die and find that I may truly live…” One of the verses to the original hymn explains why we have this response for the Lord: “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.” Jesus was the sinless sacrifice who took our place to bear the wages of sin; death on a cross. He died that we might live. We come to Him in repentance over our sin which caused His suffering and are baptized into His death so that we might also die to sin, receive His merciful forgiveness and ultimately share in His resurrection!