Have you ever had to pass a difficult test? I’m not referring to a test in school or at the university, but one of your character, a difficult test to see how strong your character is. Did God ever call upon you to do something that you would rather not have done, and if so, did you obey? In our Scripture for today we read of someone who had to face just such a challenge, obey God and give up the most precious thing in life for him, or disobey God, and keep what he loved the most. Did he pass this test?
Abraham is one of the major characters in the Bible, as he was the physical father or ancestor of the Jewish people, and is the spiritual father of all believers. As we read of his life in the Book of Genesis, we see how he and his wife were elderly, and had no children. God made a covenant with Abraham, promising him a son through his wife, and that his descendants would be more than the stars of the sky, or sand on the earth. Within the appointed time, his wife Sarah gave birth to a son, Isaac.
Our Scripture opens several years later. God spoke to Abraham, and told him to take his son Isaac and offer him as a sacrifice to Him (vs 1-2). To do so would mean killing his beloved son, the son of the promise, thus ending the covenant that God made with him. Would Abraham do this?
As we read this, we wonder why God would ask such a thing of His faithful servant Abraham, especially something that was so wrong, something that God condemned in His Law, later given by Moses (Leviticus 20:1-5). Pagan nations practiced human sacrifice, but Yahweh condemned it. What God was asking Abraham was not a temptation to do something sinful. God was examining Abraham’s heart (James 1:13). He didn’t test Abraham just to watch him fall. God wanted to deepen his capacity to obey Him, and to develop his character. Just as fire refines ore to extract precious metals, God refines us through difficult circumstances.
Abraham obeyed God without any reluctance. He could have told God no, no way was he going to harm his beloved son Isaac. Instead, he immediately left and headed with Isaac to Mt. Moriah, which was where the city of Jerusalem would later be, and where the Jews claim was where Solomon built the Temple. Obeying God is sometimes a struggle, because it may mean giving up something we truly want.
Abraham traveled this three day journey with his son without wavering or questioning the purposes of God. His faith in God remained strong, as when he instructed his servants, he told them that they both would return (vs. 5). In Hebrews 11:17-19 we read that Abraham was so certain of the permanence of God’s promise, that he knew that if Isaac were killed, God would either raise him from the dead or He would provide a substitute, which He did.
As Abraham and Isaac prepared to climb Mt. Moriah, Isaac asked his father where the lamb was for the sacrifice. This must have torn at Abraham’s heart, but in faith he answered that God would provide (vs. 7-8). John the Baptist answered that question when he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29). Isaac was not a little child at this time, but probably at least a teenager or young man, and he could have easily overpowered his elderly father. However, he trusted both God and his father.
Abraham piled the wood, then bound Isaac, laid him on the altar, and pulled out the knife to offer him as a sacrifice to Yahweh. Just at that moment, God called out to him, stopping him from harming his son (vs. 9-12). Abraham did not have to kill Isaac to prove himself to God, but he had to fully intend to do so, and that he did. Abraham passed the test He demonstrated the type of faith that God responds to with justification. God did not want Isaac to die, but He wanted Abraham to sacrifice Isaac in his heart, so it was clear that he loved God more than anything, even His promises and his son. When we give to God what He asks, He returns to us far more than we could dream.
As Abraham looked up, he saw a ram caught in a thicket, and took that animal, and offered him instead (vs. 13). This is substitutionary atonement, with the ram offered on the altar as a substitute for Isaac, and Jesus, offered on the cross, as a substitute for us. God stopped Abraham from sacrificing Isaac, but He did not spare His own Son!
For the salvation of humanity a blood sacrifice was demanded. However the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away our sins (Hebrews 10:4). It would have to be the sacrifice of One who is perfect. As we know, there is no one of us who are sinless, only the sinless Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. God provided the substitute sacrifice for Abraham and Isaac, and He also provided the substitute sacrifice for us and our sins, the Lord Jesus. The Lord will always provide. He may make us wait, just as He did for Abraham, providing only at the last moment, but He will always provide exactly what we need, when we need it.
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