The cover picture is meant to represent the time in Abraham's life when God 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" (Genesis 22:2). Would Abraham agree to such a disdainful deed which would mean the end of all of his hopes and promises from God, that were now finally realized after many years of waiting for a son in his old age? The astonishing answer is given in the very next verse, "Abraham rose up early in the morning…and went unto the place of which God had told him."

What caused Abraham not only to consent but also to take part in the sacrifice of his dearly-loved son, the one in whom he knew dwelt the fulfillment of God's covenant that He would make of Abraham "a great nation," whose seed shall be "as the dust of the earth" and as the "stars of the heaven"? In one word, the answer is FAITH! Abraham, above all others in the Scriptures, is known as a man of faith. He trusted in God's word even though it meant believing the humanly impossible, naturally unreasonable and miraculously supernatural. To faith, the bare Word of God, who cannot lie nor perjure Himself, is enough.

It all started many years before this supreme test of faith was passed with flying colors by Abraham's perfect obedience of faith. It began when Abraham didn't know God and worshipped idols. God called him to leave his land and family to go into a land he knew not of. Abraham responded by doing as God said. He is the first person we read of in the Bible who "believed in the Lord; and He counted it to [Abraham] for righteousness" (Genesis 15:6).

Though others surely knew the salvation of God before Abraham, this particular phrase that was to designate God's way of salvation for men of all ages, was first to be known of Abraham—"The father of all them that believe" (Romans 4:11). Abraham believed God, not just that there is a God. Abraham believed every word God spoke to him. This is faith. This is how Abraham was saved. Abraham "staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief" (Romans 4:20).

Today salvation still comes by faith in God's Word alone, believing it because God says it. Abraham's son, Isaac, is a beautiful type of God's only Son, Jesus, whom God offered up on Mount Calvary as the sacrifice for your sin and mine. His death and resurrection are the basis for faith that saves. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him" (John 3:36).

We commend to each reader the message of FAITH in this issue that, like Abraham, all will know both saving faith and the ensuing life of faith.