Genesis 22:16
And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:
On Mount Moriah God bound himself by his own name because Abraham had obeyed and had not held back his only promised son. That oath renewed and confirmed the covenant to bless Abraham, to multiply his descendants, to give them victory, and to bless all nations through his seed. Abraham's obedience was immediate and complete, without excuse, murmur, hesitation, or reasoning how the promises in Isaac could stand if Isaac died. The bound son of promise was a picture of the offering of the Son of God, and the ram given in Isaac's place revealed God's provision to die for guilty humanity in the glorious promise of deliverance through the sacrifice of the Son of the Most High. It therefore calls for implicit trust, perfect obedience, and complete surrender, with nothing too precious to give to God when believers are asked to yield their Isaac.
The Oath and Covenant
By myself have I sworn means God swore by himself because Abraham had done this thing and had not withheld his son, his only son Isaac. The oath renewed and confirmed the covenant of blessing to Abraham and his descendants through all generations. That covenant was to bless Abraham, to multiply his descendants, to give them victory over their enemies, and to bless all nations through his seed.
The oath was spoken on Mount Moriah, where Abraham had bound his promised son. That spot was later built upon for Solomon's temple, long consecrated as ground to meet God and renew vows of allegiance to him. Abraham's faithfulness in the test made up for his earlier lack of complete trust in God, which had led him to take Hagar as his wife.
The verse is an example of God making an oath. It therefore supports a Christian's appeal to God in lawful testimony and the proper use of an oath when an important matter must be decided.
Abraham's Tested Obedience
The verse belongs to the account in which God commanded Abraham to offer up his son Isaac as a burnt offering, and Abraham rose to obey that command, waking his son to go with him on the long, painful journey to offer up his only son. Abraham's obedience in his old age was complete and perfect, with age and feebleness allowed as no excuse for disobedience. He obeyed at once without murmur, reproach, excuse, hesitation, or stopping to reason out how the promises belonging to Isaac could be fulfilled if Isaac died. The command was sorely testing because it seemed terrible and uncalled for, to sacrifice the son who was the joy of his life and to whom the promises belonged, in apparent conflict with those promises, yet that apparent conflict was no ground to question God's justice or to hesitate.
He stopped reasoning and obeyed, not making excuses or questioning, and could not have been more severely tested, yet by obeying he came off conqueror. He carried out the test in purpose of heart as fully as if he had taken his son's life with his own hand. His willingness showed that he feared God, believed God, delighted to obey Him, and trusted Him with implicit confidence. That was true faith, which is not mere belief but trust in God producing fruits in obedience, and by it he was saved by faith in Christ just as verily as the sinner today is saved by faith in Christ, his belief imputed to him for righteousness.
Because of this obedience he is called the father of the faithful, and because he bore the trying test he was called the friend of God. Merely claiming to be children of Abraham while not keeping God's law is not true sonship. God desired the test as a lesson for Abraham's present and eternal good, and the same applies to God's people today who will be tested and tried when the Lord puts His purposes in place of their devising even when contrary to human desires and inclinations and the dictates of the flesh.
Christ Foreshadowed and Applied
The bound son of promise on Moriah was an emblem of the offering of the Son of God, and the ram offered in Isaac's place revealed the provision of the Son of God to die for guilty humanity. The covenant renewed in the oath carries the glorious Messianic promise to the human race of deliverance and blessing through the sacrifice of the Son of the Most High. In swearing to confirm that obedience would be rewarded, God confirmed Abraham's tested loyalty before the beings of heaven and other worlds, and the scene opened the plan of salvation more fully to the heavenly beings. Through carrying out the fearful test in heart, Abraham was allowed to know something of the Father's great sacrifice in giving His beloved Son to save guilty humanity.
The verse teaches and requires implicit confidence in God, perfect obedience to His requirements, and complete surrender to the divine will. Nothing possessed is too precious to give to God, and His claim is met with cheerful response and strict observance of every divine requirement. Believers are tested and proved by being called to surrender their Isaac — their love of the world and of riches, their dearest treasure and darling treasures, their love, affection, possessions, talents, and self — regarding God's claims first. God's claims on love, affection, possessions, talents and self are as great as His sacrifice in giving His Son to die for sinful man, and nothing possessed has true value until surrendered to God. Genuine faith like Abraham's is shown by those who truly appreciate the atonement and count it a special honor to share Christ's self-denial, sacrifice and suffering as co-workers in saving souls.
This call lays solemn duty on Christian parents to so educate and mould the minds of their children that they will ever have high respect and exalted reverence for God and for everything sacred and holy and will feel nothing too precious to sacrifice for Him. Isaac is held up as feeling it a privilege and honor to yield his life as an offering if God would accept him, and devoted martyrs likewise held the truth though despised, hunted, persecuted, afflicted and tormented. Against them stand those who profess to believe God yet refuse to obey His voice, who hesitate and cling to earthly things with affections upon the world and the things of the world while having the most to say about how much they have sacrificed to obey the truth. Abraham's readiness to surrender what was most precious contrasts with people who cling to earthly possessions rather than make sacrifices for the poor, God's cause, or the hope of everlasting life. Means devoted to God's cause and work is tenfold more valuable than means kept for selfish pleasure.