46. ABRAHAM’S SACRIFICE

(The Faith Forum Series – Batch 3)

After the Ishmael debacle and the miracle of Isaac’s birth, Abraham learned that whatever God said he would do, would come to pass and whatever he told him to do was his duty to obey, even if the command appeared to completely contradict what God said he would do.

This was why Abraham, without questioning, took his son Isaac to Moriah to sacrifice him on an altar, no questions asked. God told him to do so and without hesitation (although it was bound to hurt), he obeyed, carrying the knife in his hand to the place God told him. He did this, although God’s command seemed to make absolutely no sense, in light of the fact that God had told him, even before Isaac was born and after, that in this son (not Ishmael), he was going to establish a covenant with Isaac’s children after him (Genesis:17:7,15-19, 21;21:9-12).

How then could God instruct Abraham to offer his son Isaac up for a burnt offering, the very son that he had given him in his old age? Wasn’t it enough that he had already given up his first son Ishmael and sent him away from him with his mother Hagar? That had hurt but he did it in obedience to God because God told him that it was in Isaac (not Ishmael), that his seed would be called.

Yet now, God was directing him to kill this very son and offer him as a burnt sacrifice upon a mountain to Him.

Abraham did not understand God’s plan or his motive but he understood that it was not his place to understand why God did the things he did or gave the instructions he gave. He understood that, even when he couldn’t quite work it out as a mere human being, it was his place, as God’s servant, to obey.

Abraham knew that even when the instruction seemed hard, painful and illogical, that it was his duty to obey and that he did. He therefore travelled to the place that God wanted him to go with his son and armed with a knife, went to the mountain that God directed him to.

He was convinced of four (4) things:

• ONE – That he was going to obey God although the instruction seemed contrary to the promise and would be painful to execute;

• TWO – That God was all powerful;

• THREE – That God would not dishonour what he had said earlier that he would do through Isaac because he does not lie and therefore;

• FOUR – That God would raise Isaac back up from the dead after he (Abraham) had killed and sacrificed him unto God.

Abraham was convinced that after he had obeyed God and killed and sacrificed Isaac, that he and that very son would be descending that mountain again to return to the young men who were waiting.

How could that be?

Well, having seen how God had raised up his dead body and that of Sarah’s to allow Sarah to conceive and bear a son in their old age, Abraham had experienced first hand, the resurrection power of God. He knew then, that raising his son back from the dead was an easy feat for God to do and so he went up to that mountain with his son and a knife, firmly resolved to obey God and sacrifice his son, no matter how much he knew the actual process would hurt.

Yet, he knew that this pain would be temporary, for he expected that God would raise Isaac back up from the dead and he and his son would return again.

How do I know this? Well, in Genesis 22:5, it reads: “And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.”

In Hebrews 11: 8-11,17-19 it also reads:

• “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

• Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised…

• By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.”

Like Job, Abraham was being tested of God but he did not know it at the time, until afterwards. As he was about to deal the fatal blow, having built the altar, laid the wood in order, tied up his son and placed him on the altar, God intervened through his angel, to stop him from killing Isaac.

God wanted to prove that Abraham loved him and would obey him above all else, even if it meant having to crucify his own son to please God and Abraham passed with flying colours. For, he had learned to trust God even when he could not trace him and that his power had no limit.

Dear Reader, had God put you through such a test, would you have passed it? If he asked you to walk away from something or someone you loved dearly or to give up your high paying job or your money or your house or anything else you hold dear to your heart, for his name sake, would you? Would you do so even where it seemed to make no sense, in light of something God had said earlier that he would do?

God is not looking for people who are good at lip service. He is a spirit and those that worship him must do so in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). He is looking for a people that are prepared to walk the walk, more so than they talk. Are you such a person or is there some idol in your heart, some thing, some person, some position, that you would hold on to, above God?

For Abraham, God was first and foremost and everything else (even his own dearly loved son), came after. What about you?

Genesis 22:10-12 reads:

• “And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad; neither do thou any thing unto him; for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.”

In Matthew 10: 37-38, Jesus said:

• “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.”

It is clear, that as much as Abraham loved his son Isaac, he loved God more than him.

If God is telling you to do one thing and your parents or family another, who will you obey? To preserve the peace with your family, to ensure that no feathers are ruffled and to remain within their favour, will you disregard God’s instructions or will you obey?

If God tells you to give up all the money you have been saving for years in your bank account (like Jesus did the man in the Bible who had great wealth in Matthew 19:16-24), what would be your response? Would you say: “Not so Lord, I cannot do that” or would you do it?

If God tells you: “I know you love that person very much but I want you to give him up” or “I know that that child is the apple of your eye but I intend to take him from you” or “I know that you are comfortable in that job and you’re grateful to be working because jobs are so hard to find in your field and it pays very well, yet I want you to turn your back on that, to leave it, to walk out on that handsome salary, no matter what people will think of you and what they will say and to walk into the uncertain wilderness where I would be waiting”, what would you do?

I have been in that position on more than one occasion and it was not easy. People spoke all manner of evil about me, said I did not want to work, that I was lazy, that I could not keep a job and I was subjected to great ridicule and ostracism. There were times when even my own family disagreed with me, yet, as difficult as it was I did what I knew God wanted me to do, irrespective of the consequences.

I was mindful of Acts 5:29 where it states: “…We ought to obey God rather than men.”

I was mindful of the fact that it was God that created me and redeemed me (not man), it was God that had the right to map out his purposes for my life, not man and it was he that had a blueprint for it, not man. He therefore had the right to instruct me as he saw fit, even if people did not understand or had a different idea in mind for how they wanted me to live and even when I had not a clue what God was doing or why he was calling me to do what he was calling me to do.

And what right do they have to tell me really, how I should live?

I have learned that if you are not careful, you can end up living life the way that people want and expect you to live it and not according to what God wanted or intended. You can end up marrying that person because people expect you to, taking that job and staying in it because people expect you to and making your decisions in life based on what people expect and want you to do and not God.

It would be a tragedy indeed, if, at the end of your life, you look back and think, what a waste because you fulfilled people’s expectations but not the Lord’s. You took the easy, predictable and accepted road but not the road that you were supposed to be on or really wanted to be, based on what God put in your heart and who he created you to be.

Is there something or someone or some position that you love more than God? Is he truly second to none or second to one? What is really on the throne of your heart? What or who is most important to you in this life? Is it Jesus or is it something or someone else?

In Matthew 22:37-38, in recounting the greatest command that God had given to the Israelites in Moses’ day, Jesus said: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.”

Do you love Jesus with all your heart or is there someone or something that you love more?

It is easy to say that you love Jesus more but if a test should come, if God should try you as he did Abraham, would you pass the test or would that thing, person, position or circumstance win?

(Written on 13th October, 2020)