Abraham and Isaac: The Sacrifice
Abraham and Isaac: The Sacrifice
God wants us to be faithful even when we don’t understand.
Backstory on Abraham and Issac
To have a better understanding of the topic at hand, it would be helpful to go back in time and explain some of Abraham’s backstory.
When we are first introduced to Abraham, his name is actually Abram. Abram means “exalted father” while Abraham means “father of many nations”. This is a big shift. God took away Abram’s individual status and instead shifted the focus to Abraham’s collective blessing. In Abraham’s beginning he is told by God to leave the land of Ur to pursue God’s “promised land”. This was not the only promise given to Abraham. God also promised him that his descendants would be as numerous as the grains of sand on the sea shore or as numerous as the stars in the heavens. Think about this for a moment. Abraham at the time of the promise was married but had no son (no children for that matter) and was getting to be an older man. I bet he had a hard time fathoming that he would be the “Father” of such a great nation but God can and does do the impossible. The other promises given from God to Abraham was that his name would be great, kings would come from his line, and everyone on earth would be blessed through him. These are some huge promises but God can and always will deliver on his promises no matter how big or small!
When God promised Abraham that he was going to have a son, he and his wife Sarah were very old. Old enough in fact that when Sarah overheard God promise them a son she actually laughed to herself. Do you blame her? To humans this feat would seem impossible. It was so outrageous that Abraham and Sarah sinned by trying to help God fulfil his promise. They “helped” by deciding that Abraham would sleep with her servant Hagar because she was younger. This act opened a can of worms because this offspring named Ishmael is the father of the Islamic people who have been a thorn in the side of the Gods people ever since. When Abraham and Sarah ended up having the son of “promise” they were about 100 and 90 which would seem impossible. They named him Isaac, which means laughter, because of Sarah laughing when she heard the news. All of the promises that God had made would be realized through this son of promise, Isaac. No pressure Isaac!
This story is a great example, that God gives us grace and mercy even when we have doubts. When we try to help God in our own strength and make mistakes we still will have consequences to deal with that might stay with us for a long time.
God will test our faith
(Genesis 22:1-3)
Now to the account that we will be talking about. In the text it says that God tested Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his son. Remember all those promises that God had made? Abraham’s descendants will be as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore, kings will come from his lineage, and he would be the father of a great nation? Well those things can only be possible if he had at least one son. Now we hear God telling Abraham, “Remember that one son that is going to fulfil all the promises that I have made to you? Go and sacrifice that one son to me.” What?! I'm sure that Abraham had many thoughts running through his mind but according to the text Abraham did not question God out loud. How could this be? Abraham had already been through many hard trials and God had proved trustworthy time and time again. Even if he did not understand, he knew that God’s character was perfect and He would take care of him.
Hebrews 11:17-19 suggests that Abraham thought that if he actually went through with the sacrifice, God would be faithful and raise Isaac from the dead or maybe he did just trust that God would provide, in the way that he did? Whatever Abraham thought, it was clear that he had absolute trust that God would keep his promises.
I would hope that I would have the same type of faith if I was asked to do something like that, but I am not sure what I would have chosen to do? Remember when Abraham tried to “help” God out by saying that his wife was his sister when they entered into Egypt and he thought he would be killed on account of Sara being so pretty? I think things like this had been getting Abraham ready to act in faith in this instance.
Isaac as a “Christ Type”
(Genesis 22:4-8)
On the third day of the Journey in our text, Abraham and Isaac set out alone. I want to point out that this account is a picture of what Jesus would eventually do for us. Isaac is called a “type of Christ”, which basically is saying the events in his life are foreshadowing what would eventually happen to Jesus Christ. Here are some similarities: Isaac was carrying the wood that he was to be sacrificed on, he was also completely obedient to his father in their mission, he did ask some clarifying questions about what they would sacrifice but never thought twice about following his dads directives, and maybe the biggest similarity is he would be given up by his own father.
It is not known what age Isaac was but there are some thoughts that he was not as young as he has been portrayed in pop culture. Maybe he was even 33 like Jesus was when he was crucified (Just a thought. No evidence on this front.) My point in mentioning this is that, regardless of his age, Isaac was smart enough to know that something weird was going on and I suspect he even knew at some point that he might be the sacrifice. In the same way that Abraham was trusting in God's plan, Isaac was also trusting in his fathers plan as well. If Abraham can trust God enough to go through with something so grave, I would hope that we might have the faith to trust God with our lives as well.
Not withholding anything
(Genesis 22:9-14)
Like I mentioned before, I am not sure what Abraham thought God would do to remedy what he was asked to do? Maybe he thought God would resurrect Isaac or maybe he really did expect God to provide the replacement in the way that he did? Regardless of what he thought, the text tells us that he “reached out his hand to take the knife”! He really was going to go through with it. He was willing to give up one of the things in his life that meant the most to him because God held a higher place in his heart.
God asks the same thing of us. He may never ask you to go out and sacrifice your child (lets hope not!) but he does command that we hold him above everything else. If he wants us to give up our job, give it. If he asks us to give up our comforts, give them. Even if he asks you to put him above your own flesh and blood, do it. Hear me when I am saying that it is ok to have good things in your life that God has blessed you with. Those are blessings and great gifts from God but he still requires first place in our hearts even over our most prized possessions and loved people. If we have the same willing heart that Abraham did, we will not be disappointed!
Godly confirmation
(Genesis 22:15-19)
While studying this account and looking back at Abraham's backstory I found myself wondering why God seemed to make an unconditional promise into a transactional one. What I mean is that God promised Abraham lots of things earlier in Genesis but now we see God saying that because he was willing to sacrifice his one and only son he was going to follow through with those promises. This was confusing to me because God typically only makes transactional or un-transactional promises but he doesn’t change his mind part way through. What I forget about God is that he is outside of our “timeline”. He can make a conditional promise, but he also knows whether or not we will meet the condition or not before the world was even created. We work in the construct of time… Our God doesn’t. He is not constrained even by time!
Finally I want to talk about how God fulfilled his promise to bless everyone in the world through Abraham. Jesus was born through Abraham's lineage and he is the only way to true life. So through Abraham everyone is blessed in the biggest and best way possible. I for one am so thankful to even have the opportunity at a relationship with the God who made me and loves me more than anybody ever has or even can. My joy is found in him!
God wants us to be faithful even when we don’t understand.
Backstory on Abraham and Issac
To have a better understanding of the topic at hand, it would be helpful to go back in time and explain some of Abraham’s backstory.
When we are first introduced to Abraham, his name is actually Abram. Abram means “exalted father” while Abraham means “father of many nations”. This is a big shift. God took away Abram’s individual status and instead shifted the focus to Abraham’s collective blessing. In Abraham’s beginning he is told by God to leave the land of Ur to pursue God’s “promised land”. This was not the only promise given to Abraham. God also promised him that his descendants would be as numerous as the grains of sand on the sea shore or as numerous as the stars in the heavens. Think about this for a moment. Abraham at the time of the promise was married but had no son (no children for that matter) and was getting to be an older man. I bet he had a hard time fathoming that he would be the “Father” of such a great nation but God can and does do the impossible. The other promises given from God to Abraham was that his name would be great, kings would come from his line, and everyone on earth would be blessed through him. These are some huge promises but God can and always will deliver on his promises no matter how big or small!
When God promised Abraham that he was going to have a son, he and his wife Sarah were very old. Old enough in fact that when Sarah overheard God promise them a son she actually laughed to herself. Do you blame her? To humans this feat would seem impossible. It was so outrageous that Abraham and Sarah sinned by trying to help God fulfil his promise. They “helped” by deciding that Abraham would sleep with her servant Hagar because she was younger. This act opened a can of worms because this offspring named Ishmael is the father of the Islamic people who have been a thorn in the side of the Gods people ever since. When Abraham and Sarah ended up having the son of “promise” they were about 100 and 90 which would seem impossible. They named him Isaac, which means laughter, because of Sarah laughing when she heard the news. All of the promises that God had made would be realized through this son of promise, Isaac. No pressure Isaac!
This story is a great example, that God gives us grace and mercy even when we have doubts. When we try to help God in our own strength and make mistakes we still will have consequences to deal with that might stay with us for a long time.
God will test our faith
(Genesis 22:1-3)
Now to the account that we will be talking about. In the text it says that God tested Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his son. Remember all those promises that God had made? Abraham’s descendants will be as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore, kings will come from his lineage, and he would be the father of a great nation? Well those things can only be possible if he had at least one son. Now we hear God telling Abraham, “Remember that one son that is going to fulfil all the promises that I have made to you? Go and sacrifice that one son to me.” What?! I'm sure that Abraham had many thoughts running through his mind but according to the text Abraham did not question God out loud. How could this be? Abraham had already been through many hard trials and God had proved trustworthy time and time again. Even if he did not understand, he knew that God’s character was perfect and He would take care of him.
Hebrews 11:17-19 suggests that Abraham thought that if he actually went through with the sacrifice, God would be faithful and raise Isaac from the dead or maybe he did just trust that God would provide, in the way that he did? Whatever Abraham thought, it was clear that he had absolute trust that God would keep his promises.
I would hope that I would have the same type of faith if I was asked to do something like that, but I am not sure what I would have chosen to do? Remember when Abraham tried to “help” God out by saying that his wife was his sister when they entered into Egypt and he thought he would be killed on account of Sara being so pretty? I think things like this had been getting Abraham ready to act in faith in this instance.
Isaac as a “Christ Type”
(Genesis 22:4-8)
On the third day of the Journey in our text, Abraham and Isaac set out alone. I want to point out that this account is a picture of what Jesus would eventually do for us. Isaac is called a “type of Christ”, which basically is saying the events in his life are foreshadowing what would eventually happen to Jesus Christ. Here are some similarities: Isaac was carrying the wood that he was to be sacrificed on, he was also completely obedient to his father in their mission, he did ask some clarifying questions about what they would sacrifice but never thought twice about following his dads directives, and maybe the biggest similarity is he would be given up by his own father.
It is not known what age Isaac was but there are some thoughts that he was not as young as he has been portrayed in pop culture. Maybe he was even 33 like Jesus was when he was crucified (Just a thought. No evidence on this front.) My point in mentioning this is that, regardless of his age, Isaac was smart enough to know that something weird was going on and I suspect he even knew at some point that he might be the sacrifice. In the same way that Abraham was trusting in God's plan, Isaac was also trusting in his fathers plan as well. If Abraham can trust God enough to go through with something so grave, I would hope that we might have the faith to trust God with our lives as well.
Not withholding anything
(Genesis 22:9-14)
Like I mentioned before, I am not sure what Abraham thought God would do to remedy what he was asked to do? Maybe he thought God would resurrect Isaac or maybe he really did expect God to provide the replacement in the way that he did? Regardless of what he thought, the text tells us that he “reached out his hand to take the knife”! He really was going to go through with it. He was willing to give up one of the things in his life that meant the most to him because God held a higher place in his heart.
God asks the same thing of us. He may never ask you to go out and sacrifice your child (lets hope not!) but he does command that we hold him above everything else. If he wants us to give up our job, give it. If he asks us to give up our comforts, give them. Even if he asks you to put him above your own flesh and blood, do it. Hear me when I am saying that it is ok to have good things in your life that God has blessed you with. Those are blessings and great gifts from God but he still requires first place in our hearts even over our most prized possessions and loved people. If we have the same willing heart that Abraham did, we will not be disappointed!
Godly confirmation
(Genesis 22:15-19)
While studying this account and looking back at Abraham's backstory I found myself wondering why God seemed to make an unconditional promise into a transactional one. What I mean is that God promised Abraham lots of things earlier in Genesis but now we see God saying that because he was willing to sacrifice his one and only son he was going to follow through with those promises. This was confusing to me because God typically only makes transactional or un-transactional promises but he doesn’t change his mind part way through. What I forget about God is that he is outside of our “timeline”. He can make a conditional promise, but he also knows whether or not we will meet the condition or not before the world was even created. We work in the construct of time… Our God doesn’t. He is not constrained even by time!
Finally I want to talk about how God fulfilled his promise to bless everyone in the world through Abraham. Jesus was born through Abraham's lineage and he is the only way to true life. So through Abraham everyone is blessed in the biggest and best way possible. I for one am so thankful to even have the opportunity at a relationship with the God who made me and loves me more than anybody ever has or even can. My joy is found in him!
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