To fully appreciate Abraham’s account of offing up his son Isaac (Gen 221-18), we need to note that Abraham is a mere man, a husband, and a dad. Also, we have to admit this it’s an unusual account. It doesn’t take much imagination to see how it could be misunderstood. However, as we unpack it together, we learn from Abraham a powerful principle to help us on our faith journey.
This account is one of the most profound demonstrations of a person’s faith in a faithful God. Abraham is called to go to a place, God would later disclose, to offer up his son, Isaac, as a burnt offering (Gen 22:1-2). Some have misunderstood this account as addressing Abraham’s embracing of the pagan practices of the Canaanites. This is not accurate. The scripture is clear that “God tested Abraham.” The thought that God might test a person is beyond some.
Place yourself in Abraham’s shoes (or sandals) for a minute. He is a Dad. This son was a blessing provided to him in his old age (a literal miracle). Think about it. Abraham was asked to measure his faith in relation to his parental love for his son. No one can take such testing lightly. In addition, Abraham’s parental challenge was a deeply spiritual one. God had revealed to Abraham that his promise to him was intertwined with Isaac’s life. Abraham understood that if the promises of God were to be fulfilled, Isaac’s life would have to be preserved. Here is part of Abraham’s dilemma. The promise of God required that Isaac live while the command of God demanded he should die. For many a believer, when they are confronted with who appears to be a self-contradictory God, rather than trusting Him and with growing faith, wait and see God’s plan come to fruition, choose to in the least distance themselves from Him, and worst yet abandon the faith.
We discover that Abraham’s faith was not an example of reckless abandonment or some irrational behavior. He wasn’t uncaring or unloving or callous toward Isaac and what they were heading off to participate in – the sacrificing of his son. Abraham’s faith was steadfast and anchored in the fact that God is faithful and He is true to His promises. The New Testament book of Hebrews writer gives us some insight into Abraham’s thinking. “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, ‘Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.’ He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back” (Heb 11:17-19). Abraham had faith that God would make a way. Abraham pressed on, not always knowing the why, where, or when but always knowing the Who!
Eventually, the Lord leads Abraham and Isaac to Mt. Moriah. Mt. Moriah means “provided by God.” It’s located within a ridge that extends throughout Jerusalem with Mt. Zion to the west and the Mt. of Olives to the east. It was on this mountain that later Solomon would build the temple to the Lord. This was the place where Isaac was symbolically sacrificed. This is the place where sacrifices were made once the temple was built. Ultimately, all of this pointed to the one and only Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was sacrificed on the cross thousands of years after this incident with Abraham and Isaac to pay for our sins. Once Abraham and Isaac arrived at the place God had shown him, he busied himself building the altar and preparing for sacrifice, still not sure what would happen. What he was sure of was that God would be faithful.
Abraham is about to offer up Isaac as a sacrifice. Then God spoke, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me” (Gen 22:12). God intervenes. This is a triumph of divine timing. God did not act a minute too soon, not a minute too late, but just in time. Abraham was taken to the point of no return, not only for God to see but for Abraham to see his faith for himself (not to mention Isaac witnessing all of this from his uncomfortable position). Add to this that God provides a ram for the sacrifice (Gen 22:13), and we have front-row seats to read a marvelous account of the glorious workings of our God.
My Mt. Moriah story and yours might not look like Abraham’s, but when handled in faith can produce the same positive results. The powerful principle we learn from Abraham is that faith in God will stretch us, but the stretching will serve to expand our capacity to know God and discover the great potential of life lived by faith. When God’s people, through faith, place themselves in God’s capable hands, He will deliver exactly what is needed at exactly the right time in exactly the right manner.
We would be amiss if we didn’t see this incident with Abraham and Isaac as foreshadowing the one and only Son of God, Jesus Christ. He willingly submitted Himself without reservation to the Father’s will. In Abraham, we have an astounding picture of the Father “who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all” (Rom 8:32), and in the ram a type of the lamb Who died as a substitute for the sins of the world (Jn 1:29). I have to be honest: I have a daughter and two sons, a granddaughter and grandson (3 children and two grandchildren), and I would not offer one of them up for any person? But God had only one Son, and He offered Him freely for the sins of the world (your sins and mine). He offered up His Son for each of us that did not even heed His action nor desire His grace or love.
Our faith journey begins with the first step, receiving Jesus as Lord and Savior. It continues as we take one step of faith after another, following the Lord even when destinations are unknown, reasons are unclear, but knowing we are firmly in the hands of our God, who is known to us and can be trusted. I don’t know where you are on your faith journey, but whatever the next step is that the Spirit is leading you (whether the first step of receiving Christ or any other), won’t you decide to take it right now? After all, we know that our faith in God will stretch us, and the stretching will serve to expand our capacity to know God and discover the great potential of our lives lived by faith. Soli Deo Gloria (Glory to God Alone)!