Heb 11:17-19 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.

I watched a movie quite some time ago (probably 20 years or more) that was portraying events that took place in the Old Testament. One of the things that stuck in my mind the most was their portrayal of Abraham when God commanded him to sacrifice his son, Isaac. They had Abraham wandering around lamenting for what seemed like hours, maybe even days, looking upward and crying out things like, “Why God, Why?” Even though I didn’t know better at the time it still seemed rather odd. I came to learn later how utterly false such a portrayal was and how very little people (like myself) understand faith.

We hear the word “faith” uttered on various TV shows, movies, and religious channels all the time and they all seem to have a common understanding of the word. The world uses the word “faith” as if it is merely a synonym for confidence that a desired outcome will take place. The religious usage is not that much different. The only difference is that God is in the equation somewhere. In other words, if you want something or want something to take place, if you are confident enough that it will, it will. That is faith, right? Such is most people’s understanding of the word, but biblical faith is far from that understanding and is surprisingly far simpler than that.

Hebrews chapter 11 teaches us a great deal about faith. Example after example is given that we might better understand it. One of the most compelling of these examples is the one of Abraham and Isaac. It tells us that when Abraham was instructed to go sacrifice his son that Abraham took into account what God had said prior to that. God had said that the promises that He had made to Abraham concerning his descendants would be applied to the offspring of Isaac. Abraham then reasoned in his mind that God would have to raise Isaac from the dead should he sacrifice him because Isaac had no offspring as of yet and God does not lie. That is precisely why as they prepared to go up the mountain to sacrifice Isaac Abraham told his servant that he AND his son would be back! That is what biblical faith is! It is rooted and anchored in what God has said every single time!

Though the Bible is chock-full of examples testifying to this truth I want to share only one more. The centurion that had the sick servant explains very well what I am speaking of. He sent word to Jesus to ask him to heal his servant. When Jesus wanted to come to his home the centurion told him all you need to do is say it and it will be so. Allow me to paraphrase what he said, “As a man under authority and having men under my authority I know how this works. I SAY for my men to do something and it gets done.” You see he understood that all Jesus need do is SAY his servant would be healed and it would happen. Jesus didn’t marvel often but at this he marveled, that not one of His own people understood as well as this centurion what faith is and how it works.

This is why it is so, so very important to know God’s word. You MUST know what God said in order to possess faith, life-saving, God-empowering faith! Without such you cannot please God. You cannot even know Him.