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.”
Genesis 22:2
Abraham is the greatest example of faith in the Old Testament. And the greatest example of his life of faith is found in Genesis 22.
Can you imagine what Abraham felt when God told him to sacrifice his son? Can you imagine the heartache, the pain, the anguish?
And yet, in the very next verse we read: “So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac” (22:3a). He doesn’t object, argue, negotiate, filibuster or delay. Abraham obeys. Immediately, Abraham obeys. Abraham obeys because he has learned that God is God and he is not. He has learned that God would take care of him no matter what. Understanding can wait, but obedience cannot.
When Abraham and Isaac arrive at the mountain, can you see Abraham as he slowly, somberly gathers stones for the altar, taking all the time he can, hoping against hope that God will change his mind? After gathering stones, he arranges the wood for the fire. Finally, the moment has arrived. He must tell Isaac what God had commanded.
With broken sobs and tear-brimmed eyes, he tells him. He hugs him as if to never let go. Tears flow freely and unashamedly, for father and son. There’s the final, “I love you, Son,” and “I love you, Father.”
Finally he can delay it no longer. Isaac, too big to be forced, climbs onto the altar. All heaven watches as Abraham grabs the knife and lifts it overhead, fully intending to kill his deeply-loved son. But at the last moment, at the very last moment, God stops him! “He said, ‘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’” (22:12).
Can you see Abraham now? Sobbing openly. Embracing Isaac. Chest heaving with relief and joy and deep gratitude.
Did ever a man show such childlike faith in his God, such fierce loyalty to obey him no matter what, such clear vision that God was God and God could be trusted!
Abraham, over a lifetime, had learned to trust God.
Two thousand years later, perhaps on the very same spot but now named Calvary, another son would be sacrificed. Except this time the son was God’s Son. And this time, the Father would not spare the knife.