Brave, Faithful, and True: Children of the Bible

Brave, Faithful, and True: Children of the Bible

Copyright © 2023 Ancient Faith Publishing

Illustrations copyright © 2023 Gabriel Chaplin

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the Publisher.

New Testament quotations are from the New King James Version of the Bible, © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc., and are used by permission.

A Division of Ancient Faith Ministries

1050 Broadway, Suite 14 Chesterton, IN 46304

store.ancientfaith.com

ISBn 978-1-955890-47-2

Library of Congress Control Number 2023936026

Throughout the history of Israel and the Church, God has worked with people to carry out His will. Sometimes He does this in miraculous ways, such as Moses leading Israel through the Red Sea, or Mary giving virgin birth to Jesus. Sometimes He uses ordinary events to bring about His purposes. And sometimes God grants a person an extra-special blessing simply to show His power and His love.

Usually the people the Lord chooses to work with are grownups. But once in a while, He needs the simplicity and innocence of a child. In this book, we’ll see how God worked in the lives of famous children, like Isaac and David, as well as children who are not even named, such as the boy whose lunch fed five thousand or the girl whom Jesus raised from the dead.

One story included here does not actually come from the Bible. We’ll hear about Mary the Mother of God as a little girl, but that story comes from an ancient document not included in the Bible, called the Protoevangelium of James. We all know, though, that Mary would grow up to be just about the most important human being who ever lived, and the story of how this happens is told particularly in the first few chapters of the Gospel of Luke.

A few of the stories in this book are told in some detail in the Bible—the stories of Samuel and David, for example. But others are told more briefly, and we don’t get to hear what happened from the perspective of the child involved. I’ve chosen to tell these stories from each child’s point of view, adding in details to make the child’s experience come alive for you.

At the beginning of each story, you’ll find a reference to where you can find the passage in the Bible that it’s based on. I hope you’ll read these Bible sections first, so you’ll know exactly what the Scripture says and what I’ve added or interpreted. Remember, only the words written in the Bible are the inspired word of God—the rest is just my writer’s imagination. Everything written here could have happened that way—we just don’t know for sure that it did.

I hope these stories of children blessed by God will inspire and encourage you to love and serve Him. As you’ll see in these pages, being young is no obstacle to working with God to carry out His plan.

genesis 22:1–19

ISAAC THE TRUSTING

Isaac was sitting on his sleeping mat in the family tent, tying his sandals, when his father came in. He was surprised to see him so early. Isaac hurried to stand and bow. “Good morning, Father. Are you coming with me to tend the sheep today?”

“Not today, my son. We’re going on a journey.” Abraham was smiling, but Isaac saw trouble in his father’s eyes.

“Where are we going, Father? Are we moving camp again?”

pages only. Purchase the full book at http://store.ancientfaith.com/brave-faithful-and-true-children-of-the-bible/

“No, my son. This will be just you and me—a short trip into the mountains. To Moriah. The Lord has commanded me to make a sacrifice there.”

Isaac was tempted to ask what was wrong with sacrificing near home as they usually did, but he knew he must never question the will of God. God spoke to Abraham as He did to no one else. Isaac himself had been a miraculous gift to Abraham and his wife, Sarah, when they were far too old to have children. And God had promised to give Abraham and Isaac descendants as uncountable as the stars in the sky. So if his father said they had to go, that meant they had to go.

Abraham said they would be gone about a week, so Isaac tied a few things in a cloth to take with him. His father and the servants would carry the important things, like food and firewood for the sacrifice. Isaac packed only a heavy cloak to sleep in and his slingshot, in case he had time for target practice along the way.

Two servants loaded the firewood and other necessities onto the donkey, and the four of them set off. At first they walked through Abraham’s own fields, then through the green hills where his flocks of sheep and goats were grazing. The goats were fun to watch, especially the little ones as they leapt about, bounding on all four legs at once. The sheep were calmer; watching them gave Isaac a peaceful feeling, as if all was right with the world.

They walked all day, resting when they needed to, then made camp for the night. They ate dried meat and flatbread for supper so they wouldn’t have to cook. The next morning they set off again, but now they were beyond the grazing lands. The terrain got rougher and steeper, and they had to clamber over rocks instead of walking on soft grass. Isaac started to sweat and pant a little. He glanced over at his father, concerned that this hiking must be hard for him since he was so old. But Abraham plodded steadily onward.

Isaac began to wonder how long they would be traveling. But when he asked his father, Abraham said only, “Patience, my son. We will reach the place in the Lord’s time.”

Abraham was silent and thoughtful, almost brooding, through the whole journey, so Isaac tried not to ask too many questions. But every once in a while he would slip his hand into his father’s and Abraham would give it a squeeze, turning to smile at him. So Isaac knew that whatever was troubling his father, it wasn’t his fault.

When they made camp on the second night, they spread their cloaks on hard boulders instead of soft grass. Isaac tossed and turned, his head full of fearful dreams, with a sense of danger he couldn’t explain. When his father shook him awake at dawn, he was still tired but glad to be free of those dreams.

They breakfasted on hard bread moistened with a little water, broke camp, and went on their way. Around midmorning, they came to the base of a tall hill. Abraham stood for a long moment gazing up the hill, shading his eyes with his hand. Then he nodded, and Isaac got the feeling he had just been listening to God.

“Stay here with the donkey,” he told the two servants. “Isaac and I will make our sacrifice and return to you.” He took the firewood off the donkey and tied it onto Isaac’s back. It was heavy, but Isaac was glad to have something to do.

Abraham took a knife in its leather sheath from the donkey’s saddlebag and tucked it into his belt. He picked up the small pot full of smoldering coals they’d brought along to light the fire. Then the two of them set off up the hill.

Questions had been building up inside Isaac, and now he couldn’t hold them back any longer. Something important was missing from all these preparations.

“Father,” he said, panting as he climbed with his heavy load, “we have the wood and the fire and the knife. But where is the sheep for

our offering? We didn’t bring one, and I don’t think we’re going to find one here.” The hill they were climbing was full of rocks and thorns, not good grazing land for sheep.

But Abraham answered with quiet confidence. “My son, God will provide the sheep for the offering.”

Not long after that, they came to a flat spot on the hill full of loose stones. Off to one side was a bunch of thorny bushes. Here Abraham stopped and nodded again. “We will build our altar here.”

He untied the firewood from Isaac’s back and laid it on the ground. Then the two of them got to work collecting stones and piling them up to make an altar.

When the stack reached Isaac’s waist, his father said, “That will do.” They took the wood and laid it on top of the stones. Then Abraham turned to Isaac and gazed into his eyes. A long, deep gaze such as Isaac had never experienced from his father before. He couldn’t tear his own eyes away.

Isaac couldn’t fathom what he saw in his father’s eyes. Deep love, and even deeper sorrow. And something else—something that made Isaac’s blood run cold.

“My son,” his father said, pulling him close. “My dearly beloved son. What I am about to do is the will of God. I don’t know why He would send me a son in my old age only to take him away again. But this is what He has commanded me to do.”

Isaac’s heart began to beat furiously. What could his father mean? The will of God must always come first, even when it seemed strange or difficult. But his father’s words sounded so ominous. What could God have commanded? Isaac didn’t dare to think. He only knew there was no point in trying to resist.

Abraham took the rope they had used to carry the wood. He cut two lengths from it. With one he tied Isaac’s hands together. Then with the other he tied his ankles.

Now Isaac understood. This was how a sheep was tied for sacrifice. The altar. The wood. The fire. But no sheep. Isaac himself was to be the offering.

As the rough rope rubbed against his ankles, everyone he cared about on earth flashed before his mind’s eye. The orphan lamb he was raising by hand. The servants’ children he played with every day. And most of all his mother’s loving face as she used to stroke his hair and sing him to sleep when he was little. He would never see any of those beloved ones again.

He tried not to cry, though his heart melted inside him. He knew how difficult this must be for his father, and he didn’t want to make it even harder. But the tears leaked out anyway.

His father picked him up, as gently as if he might break, and laid him on top of the firewood. He pulled the knife from his belt. Isaac shut his eyes tight. Please let it be over quickly, he prayed. Lord, have mercy on my soul.

But the pain he expected never came. Instead he heard a rumbling like thunder, filling the air all around. As if he were answering someone, Abraham cried out, “Here I am!” Was that thunder the voice of God? Could God be about to take back His command?

Hardly daring to hope, Isaac cracked one eye open. His father stood with his arms raised to heaven. Tears of joy and relief poured down his face. Abraham bowed to the ground for a moment. Then he rose and tore the ropes from Isaac’s wrists and ankles. “Get up, my son! The Lord has provided us a ram!”

Isaac followed his father’s gaze toward the thorny bushes. There he saw a huge, perfect ram, trapped by its horns. Isaac shook off the ropes, as if shaking off this whole terrible dream, and sprang down from the altar. He felt the breath in his lungs and the blood pumping through his muscles.

He helped his father free the ram, tie its feet, and lift it onto the

altar. The altar where Isaac himself had lain only moments before. His father said the prayers, slit the ram’s throat, and poured the smoldering coals they’d brought onto the wood to start the fire.

Suddenly exhausted, the two of them sat on a boulder to watch as the fire consumed the sheep, right down to its bones. The rock was hard underneath Isaac, the fire made him sweat, and the stench of burning flesh and wool filled his nostrils and made his eyes sting. But Isaac reveled in every minute of it. He was so very glad to be alive.

At long last the fire licked every bit of flesh from the ram’s bones. The rumbling like thunder came again, and Abraham sprang to his feet, his face intent as if he was listening to someone. Isaac stood too, though he couldn’t hear the words. Then his father bowed to the dust, mumbling words of prayer, and Isaac bowed with him. He still didn’t know what was being said, but he could tell it was something important from the look of awe on his father’s face.

When they finally sat down, Isaac asked, “Did God speak to you again?”

His father nodded, his eyes filling. “Yes, my son. Because I was faithful—because I was ready to sacrifice you, my only son, at His command—the Lord has confirmed His promise to bless me and give me many descendants. He was testing me—and I passed the test.”

Abraham drew his son close. “And He was also testing you. You have proved yourself worthy to carry this promise as well.”

Isaac swallowed. He was glad he had pleased God, but . . . “You were ready to kill me, Father.”

His father shook his head. “I think deep down I always knew that God would not let it come to that. He hates human sacrifice. God had already promised to bless the earth through you. I knew as long as I was faithful, He wouldn’t go back on His word.”

Abraham turned Isaac’s face to his and looked hard into his eyes. “But know this, my son: if God had really asked me to sacrifice you, I would have done it. It would have broken my heart, but I would have done it. I love you above life itself, Isaac—but I love God even more.”

They poured dirt over the altar to be sure the fire was completely out. Abraham sheathed the knife and handed it to Isaac to carry in his belt as he tripped down the mountain in the fading light. The knife felt like a promise that nothing like this would ever happen again. But Isaac knew that if God did decide to test him again someday, he would be ready.

Isaac did indeed grow up to be the father of the whole nation of Israel through his son Jacob. He is remembered in the Church as one of the forefathers of Christ, two Sundays before Nativity. His story is read in church on Friday of the fifth week of Lent.

Isaac is considered to be an extremely important “type” or foreshadowing of Christ: he offered himself willingly to be sacrificed, just as Christ offered Himself willingly on the Cross. And Abraham received Isaac back alive from the sacrifice, just as God the Father received Christ alive after His Resurrection.

Christ is also present in this story in a different way. When Abraham hears God’s voice at the site of the sacrifice, the Bible says “the Angel of the Lord” is speaking to

him. The Church teaches us that the Angel of the Lord is God the Son, or Christ before He was born as a man.

Just imagine if Isaac had not submitted to the sacrifice but had given in to his natural human fear and run away from his father instead. Abraham was old. He would not have been able to catch his young son and bring him back. Where would Isaac have gone? How would he have survived? They were in the wilderness, where he would have had no one to turn to for help. And he would have missed his chance to fulfill his destiny as both an ancestor and a type of the Savior of the world.

In your lifetime, God may ask you to give up things you love. He may ask you to do things you don’t want to do or are afraid to do. You may be tempted to refuse and run away. You may think something horrible could happen or you might not have the strength to bear it. But think about what you could be missing out on if you don’t do what God asks of you. God always has a plan for our lives, as the Prophet Jeremiah says: “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jer. 29:11, RSV).

God always has our best interest at heart. We may have struggles and suffering along the way, but that’s also for our good, because it helps us grow spiritually into the people He intends us to be. Everything God plans works for our salvation in the end. But we must cooperate with the plan! If we are faithful, God will give us the strength to do whatever He asks us to do for His glory.