The Sacrifice

Genesis 22:1-18                      The Sacrifice

6/12/16

Text

After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” ² He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” ³ So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. ⁴ On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. ⁵ Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” ⁶ And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. ⁷ And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” ⁸ Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.

⁹ When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. ¹⁰ Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.

Abraham, what were you thinking? What was going through your mind? What was going through your heart? We parents want to know. We want to know how you could do it? How could you obey such a command? How could you have taken that knife?

We come now to one of the most shocking, most troubling scenes in Scripture. God instructs Abraham to take the life of his son. The very method of writing the story drives the pain into the reader.

The opening verse sets up the tension. We are given notice what Abraham does not yet know – that God is about to test him. When he hears God’s voice, he responds, “Here I am.” He is ready to listen, ready to obey. Is it time to move again to another location? Is there something more to say about the covenant? What do you have to say, my Lord?

“Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering.”

“Your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love.” Fourteen times “son” is used, eight of those times in these verses leading up to very last phrase “to slaughter his son.” It is Abraham’s son whom he is to kill. And as if God could not make the command more horrible to bear, he reminds Abraham, “your only son Isaac.” But there was Ishmael. There was but one son of the covenant, one son of Abraham and Sarah, one son who remained with them. Abraham’s only son Isaac, whose very name of “Laugher” was given to remind Abraham of his joy – he is to be the sacrifice. Oh, and God adds, “whom you love,” as if Abraham needed reminding.

And what is the killing for? Isaac is to be Abraham’s offering of worship to God. This is how Abraham is to worship his Lord. Isaac is to be a burnt offering. It was the most common form of sacrifice in the ancient days. It was the means by which the offerer understood that he was making himself acceptable before God. He offered an animal of some kind – a lamb, a calf, a ram – something which he would kill, lay upon an altar, and then burn, the smoke rising as an aroma to please God. Abraham’s son, his only son Isaac, whom he loved was to be that sacrifice.

³ So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. ⁴ On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. ⁵ Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.”

Once, when God said yet again that Sarah would bear a son, Abraham asked that Ishmael might be the covenant son. When God revealed that he was judging Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham pleaded on their behalf. When Sarah wanted Hagar and Ishmael to be sent away, we are told that Abraham was displeased on “account of his son.” Now that Abraham receives such an awful command, he responds immediately and with no response, at least, no recorded response. While we are at our wits end trying to reconcile the very command with the character of God; feeling in the depths of our hearts for what Abraham must be going through, we are told nothing of what he feels or thinks. All that we see is his obedience.

What did Abraham tell Sarah? Probably what he told the two men who came with them, that he and Isaac were taking a trip to offer worship to God and that they would return. Commentators point to Abraham’s words as an expression of his confidence in God. He knew all along that God would not make him go through with the sacrifice. Perhaps. What else, though, was Abraham to tell anyone: “I am taking Isaac to slay him for a sacrifice”?

The trip took three days. Three long days – much time to think and to pray about what was to take place at the journey’s end. I made reference to The Lord of the Rings last week. What if Frodo knew that at Mount Doom his real mission was to hand the ring to Sam and then push Sam into the fire below? It is enough to drive a man mad.

If that is not enough for Abraham, then how do you think he felt at the question of his son?

⁶ And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. ⁷ And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”

“My father!”

“Here I am, my son.”

“Where is the lamb?”

Surely the son unknowingly plunged a knife into his father’s heart with that question. How could Abraham have continued up the mountain? Was there ever grief like his? But then, we do not know what went on inside of this father. We are not told. All we are given is the answer.

⁸ Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.

Is that a statement of faith? Again, Abraham knew God would intervene? Perhaps. But, again, what was he to say to his son? “You are the lamb”?

For the second time we are told, “They went both of them together.” Father and son, bonded to one another in love.

⁹ When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. ¹⁰ Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.

When does the reality hit Isaac that he is the lamb? Does he start to get anxious as his father builds the altar? As Abraham lays the wood in order? How long did such work take? Or is it only when Abraham turns his son around and begins to bind Isaac’s wrists? Does he need to tie the ankles? Does Isaac quietly yield his body to be tied? Would he not be pleading with his father? We are not told. All that is depicted are the actions of the father and the evident submission of the son. “Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.”

And like the ending of a Hollywood movie, Abraham’s hand is staid at the last moment, and Isaac is saved.

¹¹ But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” ¹² He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him,

Turn the camera on Isaac’s face and catch the relief he displays, unless he is faint from terror. Then back to Abraham listening to God once more as God explains to him the reason for test.

for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”

What do we see in Abraham’s face? We are not told. He sees the ram and understands it to be the offering that the Lord will provide. Thus he names the place “Yahweh Yireh,” or “Jehoveh Jireh,” the Lord will provide.

¹³ And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴ So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

¹⁵ And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven ¹⁶ and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, ¹⁷ I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, ¹⁸ and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”

So Abraham passes the test. God reaffirms the covenant. All is well. Father and son return together down the mountain.

Lessons

All is well, or is it? Is this a feel good movie, or is it one that you keep your children from watching? Think of the implications about God.

What is God doing? He is testing Abraham. We get the concept. All through Scripture God is testing the faith and obedience of his people. Sometimes they pass; many times they fail. The book of Job is the most well-known test. He loses children. But he is not asked to kill them. He is not asked to lift them up as an offering to God.

Yes, God comes through and stops Abraham, but, parents, which of you would simply feel happy at the end? Your minds and hearts have been tortured, and it ends up just being a test for God to see how you really feel about him?

Does God not know our hearts? Did he not know where he stood already with Abraham? And had he not already made the covenant promise of blessing? Last week we learned that God will carry out his promises despite the failings of his people. Now God speaks as though he might have changed his mind if Abraham had failed the most arduous test a parent could go through. What gives?

What gives with Abraham? Why was there no push back? Abraham, you spoke on Ishmael’s behalf. You pleaded for Sodom and Gomorrah. But you quietly, and without any pause that we can see, take the steps to offer your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love on the altar. Could you not at least ask God for an explanation?

What God is asking (no, commanding) makes no sense. It makes no sense in light of his holy and righteous character. It makes no sense in light of his covenant promise. It was to be (to quote God) “through Isaac that [Abraham’s] offspring be named” (Genesis 21:12). Didn’t Abraham have a little bit of trouble with all this?

When God revealed to Abraham his intention to bring judgment against Sodom and Gomorrah because of how grave their sin was, Abraham had the temerity to say, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” Really, Abraham! You question God’s justice in dooming two wicked cities, but have nothing to say when you are called upon to doom your own son, the son you loved, the son that God himself had promised to you?

What is going on? The author of Hebrews ventures to explain.

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, ¹⁸ of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” ¹⁹ He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back (Hebrews 11:17-19).

Evidently Abraham had been considering the matter. Somehow, he figured, the Lord would come through. Stay his hand at the last moment? Perhaps. But Abraham had faith in something even greater – a resurrection of his son, his only son Isaac, whom he loved.

Why would Abraham believe in such an ending? Because he trusted God to keep his promise. God had not merely promised a son; he had promised the son through whom Abraham’s offspring would come and the nations would be blessed.

Where did Abraham get such faith? His faith had faltered before. Abraham had feared the Egyptians; he had feared Abimelech. But all that was before God’s promise of Isaac had come through. God had kept his promise, and Abraham could trust that the same God would not renege on that promise. The Lord will provide.

Faith is at the heart of a relationship with God; trust is at the heart of faith.

Now what about God? Why would he make Abraham go through such a test? I don’t know. All I know is what can be learned from what he does and calls his people to do. Did God know that Abraham feared him and held him above all else? Of course he would have known. Now we know this, too, about Abraham. Now we know the power of faith and the trust that such faith instills.

Abraham had pleaded for Ishmael and the two cities. But then, God had made no promise regarding them. He had made the promise for Isaac. That is the distinction. Regarding Isaac, why would Abraham need to plead on behalf of what God had already promised and delivered? Why should Abraham believe that the ending would be tragic? Abraham had learned, no doubt through his earlier failures, to trust the promises of his God. Surely his faith was strengthened all the more when he held God’s promise in his arms.

What about Isaac? Did he not also show faith? He is a son who showed trust in his father. Surely Isaac could not understand the actions of his father, as Abraham bound him and laid him on the altar. Surely he could not understand his father taking the knife and holding it up to slay him. The only think he could do was trust his father to do what was right, whatever that right might be.

By trust and by love, another son would climb a hill, this time knowing that he would be the lamb sacrificed. Another son knew that the hand of his father would not be staid at the last moment. When he called out to his Father on the cross, there would be no response, no “Here I am, my Son.” He was the Son who understood fully what was happening.

Yet, Jesus trusted his Father because he knew his Father, and he knew the promises of his Father. He knew that he was the Father’s Son, his only Son, whom he loved. He had known such love for eternity. He knew that whatever his Father promised, that promise would be kept. And so, because of the joy set before him – the joy of the resurrection that would take place, the joy of glory that awaited him, the joy of many offspring of faith – because of such joy he endured the cross, despising the shame, and now sits at the right hand of the throne of God.

What of God the Father? For all the shaking of our heads at what he made Abraham go through, perhaps now we understand, just a bit, of what it meant for him to give his Son as the offering to be provided. He asked nothing of Abraham that he himself would not go through.

And for whom did the Father give his Son, his only Son, Jesus Christ, whom he loved? For whom did the Son willingly lie upon the altar? For Sodom and Gomorrah – for us. Great was our sin; grave was our condition. If the Judge of all the earth was to do what was just, what hope could there be for us sinners, for us enemies of God? Our only hope was that justice would fall upon the substitute that the Lord would provide. By such a means, God “might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:26).

If you have yet to place your faith in Jesus Christ as the willing and perfect sacrifice for your sins, will you not do so today? Will you not give up defending yourself, give up your arguments and turn to the Father and the Son? The story of Abraham and Isaac is not a story of the harshness of God; it is the true parable of his – God the Father and God the Son – mercy.