The Hardest Command
Opening Prayer
Lord God of Truth, You are most gracious, and Your mercies never fail. Evermore I hope in You.
Read GENESIS 22:1–8
ome time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”
3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded 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. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 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.”
6 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, 7 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?”
8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
In this passage, Abraham faced agonizing choices. Step by step, faith and hope triumphed over fear and doubt. Sometimes life’s challenges can push us to the limit.
We are not told Abraham’s or Isaac’s thoughts; there is no laughter, no tears, no questioning God. Perhaps Abraham has learned not to question God and to trust. God had told Abraham on more than one occasion that Isaac would be the root from which many nations would spring. Despite the fact that carrying out this command would nullify that claim, Abraham continues, believing, it seems, that the two paradoxical statements of God would be resolved somehow. His answer to Isaac’s question concerning the missing animal arguably implies the same. It appears that Abraham’s answer does not overly perturb Isaac and that he trusts his father and God, for the text pointedly tells us before and after Isaac’s question that they walked on together, indicating a sense of harmony. It has been well-noted that Abraham gives Isaac the wood to carry, while he carries the dangerous items: the knife and the fire. Perhaps, as a father, he wishes to spare Isaac unnecessary danger, even though as a follower of God, he must take Isaac into it. The writer of Hebrews understood that Abraham expected Isaac to be raised from the dead, which may be why Abraham told his servants that Isaac and he would return to them after they had worshiped (Heb. 11:17–19).
It was not an easy command to follow, nevertheless. “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac” (2). Sometimes it may seem that the more faithful we are, the more we are tested and the more it is that God requires of us. God asked no less of himself, of course: “he gave his only begotten Son” (John 3:16, KJV). While the road to the cross is paved with suffering and sorrow, the faithful life is nevertheless one of abundance and joy and this story does not end in suffering and sorrow.
Apply
“Christians can hardly read this passage without being reminded of the way in which Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God offered himself as a sacrifice to God in place of sinful humanity (see Mark 15:17; John 1:29)” (Alister McGrath). What do you make of this statement and what parallels with today’s Scripture do you see?
Closing prayer
Dear Lord, please help me to be prepared to sacrifice everything to You and walk a road of sorrow, while at the same time knowing that You provide.
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