Test of Faith
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perfect obedience can be accepted, and to open more fully before them
the plan of salvation.
Heavenly beings were witnesses of the scene as the faith of Abra-
ham and the submission of Isaac were tested. The trial was far more
severe than that which had been brought upon Adam. Compliance
with the prohibition laid upon our first parents involved no suffering,
but the command to Abraham demanded the most agonizing sacrifice.
All heaven beheld with wonder and admiration Abraham’s unfaltering
obedience. All heaven applauded his fidelity. Satan’s accusations
were shown to be false. God declared to His servant, “Now I know
that thou fearest God [notwithstanding Satan’s charges], seeing thou
hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from Me.” God’s covenant,
confirmed to Abraham by an oath before the intelligences of other
worlds, testified that obedience will be rewarded.
It had been difficult even for the angels to grasp the mystery of
redemption—to comprehend that the Commander of heaven, the Son
of God, must die for guilty man. When the command was given to
Abraham to offer up his son, the interest of all heavenly beings was
enlisted. With intense earnestness they watched each step in the fulfill-
ment of this command. When to Isaac’s question, “Where is the lamb
for a burnt offering?” Abraham made answer, “God will provide Him-
self a lamb;” and when the father’s hand was stayed as he was about to
slay his son, and the ram which God had provided was offered in the
place of Isaac—then light was shed upon the mystery of redemption,
and even the angels understood more clearly the wonderful provision
that God had made for man’s salvation.
1 Peter 1:12
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