We have made a bit of a chronological jump in our reading in Genesis. When we last saw Isaac he was a newborn. It is now some fourteen years later. Abraham, a very old man now, receives another directive from God. This time he is to believe that the child of promise God has given him, Isaac, is to be sacrificed as a burnt offering. He is to be an offering to God, given by the hand of his father. Abraham is to take this child for whom he waited and waited, the child of promise, and give him over to God in a way that runs counter to everything he understands about righteousness. Human sacrifice wasn't anywhere in Abraham's playbook. In fact, there are lots of things in this episode which weren't in Abraham's playbook. Isaac is the child of promise through whom Abraham will have countless offspring. This was God's promise. Now God is saying he should kill Isaac, which ends that hope. Earlier Abraham was as good as dead. Now he would be again. God values life. Abraham values life. If Abraham kills Isaac at God's command what does this say about their commitment to life? If God intends to raise up another child of promise, how long is he going to keep Abraham waiting this time? He's hardly a young man anymore, and his wife is now over a hundred years old.
What is Abraham's action? We know he takes his son, his only son, to offer him a sacrifice to God. He realizes that the same Lord who gives promises and fulfills those promises can and will govern everything rightly. Though he doesn't understand what is happening he is willing to accept God's plan.
At the right moment, just when it was a critical situation, God provided a ram for the burnt offering. He provided the ram in the thicket to replace Isaac. And he provided Jesus Christ, his son, his only son, as the perfect sacrifice for sin. In this, all the nations of the earth are blessed.
Hebrews 11:19 sheds some light on what Abraham was thinking.
ReplyDeleteExcellent observation and I did think of going there. Let's make a nice quote (ESV) "He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back." I'd suggest that wasn't really in Abraham's playbook either. He knows the supernatural God is able to do all things, even raise someone from the dead. He has seen God figuratively raise Sarah and himself from the dead by giving them Isaac in their old age. The bottom line is that God does such incredible, mind-boggling things we all, like Abraham, can look to his provision and realize he is indeed going to do his good and gracious will in redeeming the world to himself.
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