After the Lord revealed Himself to Abram as the Almighty God, He told him that his name would no longer be called Abram, which means “exalted father,” but “Abraham,” which means “father of a multitude” (Gen 17:5). The Lord renewed His promise to him to multiply his seed, to give him the land that He had promised him, and to be a God to him and to his descendants.
In terms of the difference of the spelling of the name, the letter “h” was inserted to change “Abram” to “Abraham.” It has been suggested that the letter “h” represents “Yahweh,” or “Jehovah.” The same is true of “Joshua,” whom Moses later called “Jehoshua” (Num 13:16).
As those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus, our names have been changed as well. We are now called children of God (1Jn 3:1). Once we were strangers, without Christ, without God, and without hope in this world (Eph 2:12). Now we are fellow-citizens of the household of God and are called saints (Eph 2:19; Rom 1:7). Those who name the name of Christ are called by His name (2Ti 2:19).
Faith in the Lord Jesus has not only given you a new name but has also brought you into all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ (Eph 1:3). You are blessed with faithful Abraham (Gal 3:9). A new name awaits you in heaven.
The Lord Jesus promised, “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it” (Rev 2:17).1 “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name” (3:12).
God fulfilled His promise to give Abraham a son and eventually Isaac was born (Gen 21:1). Abraham never doubted that promise. Paul tells us, “He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform” (Rom 4:20-21).
As believers, we too can attest to the faithfulness of God and trace His loving hand in all our circumstances up to the present moment. Joshua reminded the people of Israel, “Ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof” (Jos 23:14).
We can, then, with confidence trust Him to keep us until we see Him as He is and we are in His presence. Paul wrote, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Php 1:6).
But in Genesis chapter 22, Abraham faced the greatest test of faith that he would ever have to experience. The Lord said to him, “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of” (v2).
All of God’s promises to him were wrapped up in his only son, yet Abraham did not hesitate to do what God asked him to do. The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews tells us that Abraham offered Isaac upon the altar in faith, believing that God was able to raise him from the dead (Heb 11:17-19).
There are many wonderful pictures that can be drawn from Abraham’s offering of his only son. Paul tells us in the book of Romans that God spared not His own Son but offered Him up for us all (Rom 8:32).
Isaac bound on the altar would remind us of how we were bound by the cords of sin. When Isaac asked, “Where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham replied, “My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering.” The Lord Jesus was the Lamb of God’s providing for you and me. He took our place and bore our sins and died in our stead.
But when Abraham said to Isaac, “My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering,” he had no knowledge of the ram caught in the thicket. Abraham took the ram and offered it for a sacrifice instead of his son and called the place “Jehovah-Jireh,” meaning “The Lord will provide.” Even then, Abraham was looking ahead to the Lamb of God who would bear away the sins of the world (Joh 1:29).
Because Abraham trusted the Lord without question or doubt, and did not withhold his only son, the Lord said to him, “In blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore” (Gen 22:17).
It has been suggested that the seed which was to be as the “sand that is upon the sea shore” refers to the natural descendants of Abraham. The seed which was to be “as the stars of heaven” refers to his spiritual descendants, all those who believed God and placed their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus and His sin-atoning sacrifice.
How wonderful it will be to be among the redeemed, who in a day soon to come will sing a new song to the only One who is worthy of our praise: “Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation” (Rev 5:9).
1 Bible quotations in this article are from the KJV.
