The account of Abraham’s sacrifice of his son Isaac is one of the most emotive and poignant stories in Scripture. The thought of having to sacrifice your own son must be one of the most awful things any parent has ever had to contemplate.
As we were told in verse 2 of our passage, God had asked Abraham to “take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you”.
This is one of those passages in the Bible that some read with incomprehension. One that generates a whole host of questions in our mind as we read it:
- Why did God ask Abraham to sacrifice his Son?
- Why did God want Abraham to kill a child he had miraculously given him in old age?
Its especially confusing if you remember that God had explicitly promised Abraham that he would have many descendants, and that those descendants would come through Isaac. How could this great promise be fulfilled if Isaac is dead?!
No doubt all of those questions went through Abraham’s mind as he wrestled with what to do. Should he save his son or obey his God? It’s a question that must have given him a sleepless night. It’s a question that would keep the experts on Radio 4’s “Moral Maze” occupied for weeks!
Yet Abraham did decide to embark on a miserable three day journey to Moriah with his son. When they arrived there he then built an altar, put some wood on it, tied up Isaac and lifted his knife to kill him:
- What was it that drove Abraham to make this decision?
- Why did he obey God when his common sense and paternal love both pointed in the opposite direction?
- And lastly, what has this story got to do with us? Is there anything we can take from it today? Questions, questions, questions!
- God’s test…
Firstly then, why did God ask Abraham to sacrifice his son? Well, we’re given the answer in verse 1 of our passage. It was to “test” Abraham. It was a command given not out of malice or anger or any evil motive. It was a test set with the best of intentions.
Although we might grumble and groan about them, tests and exams are a good thing. Driving tests ensure that people are safe to be let loose behind the wheel of a car. Drug tests ensure that medicines are safe to be given to sick people. School tests and academic exams ensure that students have the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in their future careers.
In a similar way God needed to test Abraham. He needed to demonstrate to Abraham and the watching world that Abraham had great faith. He set Abraham this great test to see whether he loved and trusted God more than anything else, even more than his own beloved son. You see, if Abraham was to be the father of a great nation, if God’s whole plan of human salvation rested on Abraham’s trust in his promises, then both God – and Abraham himself – needed to know that his faith was up to the task.
2. Abraham’s obedience…
The great news, of course, is that Abraham passed his test! He did indeed obey God. Against all the odds, Abraham trusted in God’s goodness. Specifically, Abraham trusted God to keep his promise of many descendants through Isaac. He trusted God to preserve Isaac’s life, even if it meant raising him back from the dead. In chapter eleven of the New Testament book of Hebrews we are told that: “Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from the dead” (Heb 11:19).
At the end of the story we see how Abraham did recieve Isaac back from the brink of death. Verse 11 tells us that just as Abraham raised his knife to kill Isaac, a voice from Heaven told him to stop. And we are told that a substitute sacrifice, “a ram caught by its horns” was provided instead of Isaac (v.13). Abraham’s costly obedience was vindicated and his faith was rewarded. He would indeed go on to become the father of a great nation.
3. Christ’s sacrifice…
Before I finish, its worth considering how can we benefit from this story of Abraham and Isaac.
Firstly, this great passage points us towards Christ. When reading the Old Testament its always helpful to think how a passage points us towards Jesus. And there are so many features of this story that direct us towards Jesus – there are so many details in it that resonate with what happened on the first Good Friday:
- For example, like Isaac in this story, Jesus was obedient to his Father.
- Like Isaac, Jesus carried wood uphill to the place where he would die, when he carried his wooden cross up the hill to Calvary.
- The sacrifice of Isaac and the sacrifice of Jesus also took place at the same place. Moriah was where Jerusalem would later be built, the city where Jesus’ passion would take place.
There is of course one big difference between this Genesis story and the story of Jesus. Unlike Isaac, Jesus really did die. No last minute substitute for Jesus was found to take his place on the Cross. There was no lamb or ram provided by God as an alternative sacrifice. And the reason is that Jesus was himself a substitute – he was our substitute. The New Testament is clear that when Jesus died he paid the penalty for our sin in our place. He willingly paid the debt our guilt deserved. Abraham was spared from seeing his son die, but God loves us so much he was willing to see his own Son die for our salvation. I hope we truly appreciate what Jesus’ sacrifice achieved.
As well as pointing us towards Christ, the account of Abraham and Isaac should also strengthen our faith. It’s a story that reassures us God is always good:
- He is always good even when our circumstance are bad and the way ahead looks bleak.
- He is always good even when he seems to be asking us the impossible.
- God is always good when following him involves short-term personal sacrifices of our time or money.
And God’s goodness means he will always keep his great promises to us, however distant or unlikely they may seem. He will keep his promise to forgive us for Jesus’ sake, his promise to be with us always, and his promise to give us life beyond the grave.