"Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about." Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you." Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?" "Yes, my son?" Abraham replied. "The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together. When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son." Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided." The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, "I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me." Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba." Genesis 22:1-19
Believers pride themselves on their faithfulness. We speak a lot about it and would like to think we would be obedient to whatever God might ask us to do. But could we sacrifice one of our own children?
In our scripture today, God issues the ultimate test of faithful obedience to Abraham. We have seen Abraham through several chapters now and have seen him display an ability to be very faithful (left everything behind to go where God directed him to go) and we have also seen him display less than adequate faith (laughed when God said he would bear a son with Sarah, twice failed to have the faith that God would protest him as Sarah entered into the company of kings…instead choosing to lie and conceal Sarah’s true relation to him). So it’s a toss up as we ponder how Abraham might respond to God’s calling this time. What will he choose to do? As we will learn, he passes with flying colors.
As Chapter 22 opens, we see God tell Abraham to "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about." We get an indicator about how Abraham will do right off the bat because notice that Abraham doesn’t question or argue with God. He gets up the next morning, saddles his donkey and sets out with "two of his servants and his son Isaac." Once he had "cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about" and arrived there on the third day of travel. He orders his servants to stay with the donkey while he and Isaac go to worship, then he loads Isaac down with the wood while he carries the fire and the knife. I can’t imagine how agonizing an experience this must have been for Abraham. What was rushing through his mind as he walked with the son he was soon going to kill and sacrifice…the son who was carrying the very wood he would be burned with? Abraham could have wavered. He could have decided to change his mind and not do what God has asked. But he didn’t.
He didn’t even after the innocent son Isaac asked him a question…a question that must have had his stomach tie up in knots. Isaac asks, ""The fire and wood are here…but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" Abraham’s answer once again gives us an indicator that he will not waver in his faith, even in what had to be one of the most difficult moments imaginable. He said to Isaac, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And he was right. God did provide and ensured this story had a happy ending.
For just as Abraham had prepared an altar, arranged the wood, bound Isaac and laid him on the altar and the wood pile, and then took the knife to sacrifice Isaac, God changes the plan, entering in and saying, "Do not lay a hand on the boy…Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son." Isaac is spared and the Lord sends a ram to be sacrificed in Isaac’s place. Abraham named the place "The Lord Will Provide."
In this test of Abraham’s faith, he shows awesome submission to God’s will, even though it meant sacrificing his son. We see where Abraham has definitely learned from the times he failed to display the proper level of trust in God. It is revealed in his works.
Question: How do you respond to God when He calls for you to do something? Do you question? Do you ignore? Do you become afraid of what might occur if you are obedient?
In Abraham, we learn that God will test us and will be watching to see how we respond. We see where God blesses faithful, obedient living. We also see where God shows mercy where needed. He could have let Abraham sacrifice Isaac but He didn’t. Instead, he sent a ram. Are you ready to accept what the Lord might send into your life to help you through situations He calls you to? We serve such a loving, merciful, gracious, powerful God. May everything we do be done to His glory, in faithful obedience to His will and way. Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
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