Hebrews 11:19 Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure
After I read Hebrews 11, I told my wife, “It’s no wonder there are so many good sermons from Hebrews 11. It is so good!” The whole book is good, but Hebrews 11 is low-hanging fruit. There is a lot of theology in Hebrews, but when you get to Hebrews 11, there is a lot of preaching, Old Testament Scripture put into practice.
Speaking of Abraham’s faith, Hebrews 11:17 says, “By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son.” This is a reference to when God told Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. God never intended for Abraham to do that. Abraham did not do that. God sacrificed His Son for Abraham, not the other way around, but God tested Abraham. He didn’t want Isaac; He wanted Abraham. It was obvious that Abraham was given over to God and was trusting in God.
Verse 18 says, “Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called.” God had made a promise about Isaac, so God seemed out of character, but God showed Himself to be true and worthy of our trust. God is faithful, so I should live in faith. Verse 19 says, “Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.” Faith is simply accounting for God in your life. How much of your life can you account for apart from God? If I am a person of faith and have put my faith and trust in the Lord Jesus, then I should be accounting for God in each and every area of my life. In other words, I just need to do the math. I need to account for God in my life when I am tested and tried. Verse 17 talks about such a test, a moral dilemma.
Abraham couldn’t see all that God was doing, but God knew everything that Abraham didn’t know. Sometimes we think that faith is blind. That is not true. If faith is in God, then nothing is more certain. Nothing is more blind than sight. No one today would say, “I know it’s true. I saw it on the internet.” You wouldn’t do that. Faith is living beyond what I can see to what God knows. How much can I see? Almost nothing. I can’t see a mile down the road or twenty-four hours down the timeline, but God doesn’t just see to perceive and know. God just absolutely knows. So, faith is simply living in light of what God knows, not merely what I see. It is accounting for God when you are tried and tested.
Faith is accounting for God when you are not able. Verse 19 says, “Accounting that God was able.” Now, God understands what I don’t. “Through faith we understand,” says Hebrews 11:3. The Bible says that without faith it is impossible to please God. So, Abraham wasn’t able to figure all this out, and even if he were able to figure out all that God was doing, he was unable to bring Isaac back from the dead if he had actually plunged the dagger into the chest of Isaac.
He did not do that. Abraham accounted. He realized God was able to raise Isaac up from the dead. Did God raise Isaac from the dead? No, because Isaac didn’t die, but Abraham knew God could raise him from the dead. God had a different way of doing what needed to be done, but faith is accounting for God when you are tested, when you are not able.
Faith is accounting for God when you have no prospects. If Abraham had sacrificed Isaac, then what would he have done? Isaac was the fulfillment of God’s very promise. God appeared to be endangering His own promises. He did not. He that gave the promise made good on the promise. What about when you are forced to make a decision and compelled to do what’s right when you don’t know how it is going to pan out? You don’t know what your prospects are. Every promise God has made God will see to.
I don’t know the future. I don’t know how you are being tested. I don’t know what your prospects are. The one who knows all that is God. So, faith is simply accounting for God in your life. God is worthy of our trust. Faith in God leads to our understanding and pleasing God, and it leads to our accomplishing God’s purpose in our lives today.