In Genesis 22, we read the account where God instructs Abraham to offer his son Issac as a sacrifice to Himself. This is perhaps one of the most puzzling instructions God has given a man. In fact, many atheists look to this very command as evidence that the God of the Bible is a contrivance of man’s mind. They wonder how a God who is perfect could violate His own commands by asking Abraham to commit such a despicable act.
Here is the command we read in Genesis 22:
“After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
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 22:1-2 ESV).
If you take the Bible at face value, the fact that God demanded a human sacrifice to Himself is unambiguous and does not represent a metaphor for sacrifice. God instructed Abraham to slay his son on an altar as a human sacrifice to Himself. We know this by watching Abraham’s actions as he was ready to carry out God’s instructions:
“Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.” (Genesis 22:10 ESV).
God’s instructions, as well as His intentions, were crystal clear. The question becomes, why did God ask Abraham to do an abominable act? Yes, it was an abomination. God calls human sacrifice as much.
“You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the LORD hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.” (Deuteronomy 12:31 ESV).
And
“and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind--” (Jeremiah 19:5 ESV).
And
“And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your whorings so small a matter” (Ezekiel 16:20 ESV).
It is clear God called human sacrifices an abomination. In fact, Jeremiah said of God that nothing like this ever entered His mind to ask men to do for Him. And yet, this seems to be exactly what God asked Abraham to do. He was to kill Isaac on an altar as a sacrifice to Himself. How do we reconcile what we know of God’s character with the command He gave to Abraham?
The answer, I believe, lies in something we may not often think about, and if I am right, it has huge implications for our relationship with God. First, let me be very clear. I do not believe God would ever expect man to do an abominable act. It is not in His character. God never intended to let Abraham commit this act. But if God didn’t want a human sacrifice, why did He ask Abraham to be willing to do it? What follows is my belief in what was going on between God and Abraham.
One thing God may be doing is foretelling what He would be willing to do for the people He loves. He would offer His Son on the cross, not as a sacrifice to Himself, but as an atonement for our sins. And this sacrifice would be done willingly by the Son. Without the Father’s willing sacrifice and the Son’s willingness to be sacrificed, there would be no atonement for our sins. God giving His only begotten Son was not something done without the Son’s one hundred percent willingness and willfulness to lay down His life for us.
“For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.
No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.” (John 10:17-18 ESV).
But why Abraham? Why ask this man to commit what He would later refer to as an abomination? Continuing with the premise that God would never let Abraham carry out an abomination, I think we can start to understand what is happening when we read what the Hebrews writer says:
“By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son,
of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”
He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.” (Hebrews 11:17-19 ESV).
Abraham obeyed when God called Abraham out of his father’s land to a land He would show him. Joshua tells us that Abraham and his family worshipped idols before God's call. Yet, out of this, Abraham listened to a God with no name, a God who no one knew, and a God who made grand promises that Abraham wanted to believe. He promised Abraham vast lands, to make him a great nation, and to bless all people through his seed.
God showed him the land pretty quickly. But to make a great nation come from Abraham was something that He took His time to deliver. In fact, God did not give Abraham an heir for twenty-five years. Enough time had passed to ensure that he and Sarah could not have a child any other way except for God’s involvement. But in those twenty-five years, Abraham and Sarah did everything they could to help God carry out His promises to them.
“But Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”
And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” (Genesis 15:2-3 ESV).
At first, Abraham thought that maybe one of his servants would be his heir. He hadn’t given up on God and thought God could use his help to carry out His promise. Remember, Abraham did not know God when God called him out of his home. He was learning who God was by listening to His words and observing His actions. Abraham was already all in for God and was willing to do whatever needed to be done to preserve their relationship.
But God told him that Eliezer would not be his heir.
“And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” (Genesis 15:4 ESV).
Did Abraham believe God? Yes, and God counted it to him as righteousness. Yet, as time passed, he and his wife concocted another way to help God fulfill His promises. Sarah’s biological clock was ticking, and every bit of human nature told them that if they didn’t have a son soon, it would be too late for God to help them. Abraham had yet come to understand that nothing was impossible for God. This is exactly what the angel would tell him when it was time for the 90-year-old Sarah to give birth to Issac.
But the time did come. Twenty-five years later, the now ninety-year-old Sarah and one-hundred-year-old Abraham had the son of promise, Isaac. What an amazing promise fulfilled. Certainly, nothing is impossible for God! Isaac would be the one in whom God would fulfill His promises.
But then, God instructed Abraham to take his son, his only son, the son he loved, Isaac, to the mountain and offer him as a sacrifice. What did Abraham do? He followed God’s instructions. Why? Because over the last twenty-five years, he learned something about this God with no name. He learned that He could do anything. Nothing indeed was impossible for Him, and He was a God who did not lie.
So, Abraham packed up Isaac and took the three-day journey for one reason. To slay his son on the altar. But because he learned His God was all-powerful and always kept his promises, He knew in his heart that God would still fulfill His promises through Isaac. This time, he stopped trying to help God out, and he simply believed. This was when his faith in God became full. He was ready to obey even though he had no clue how God would accomplish His promises. The Hebrews writer says, “He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead.” The writer then throws in an interesting line… “from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.”
You see, in Abraham’s mind, Isaac was as good as dead. He was ready to do all that his God had commanded from him because it was a foregone conclusion that God would raise his son from the dead. Why? Because God had promised him that Isaac would be the son of promise. Offering Isaac was simply a formality before his son would begin the fulfillment of making his descendants as numerous as the sands of the sea and the stars of the sky.
He learned that God did not lie. God could be trusted, even when things looked lost. God was faithful. He learned that following God was never the wrong decision. He learned that sometimes, you had to stop trying to figure out how things would work out and just believe they would.
This is the faith of Abraham I desperately want. I want to believe God when everything I see says not to believe. I want to know that God’s promises are true, though they have not come to pass yet. I want to know that nothing is impossible for my God and rest in that blessed assurance.
And I think this is the faith He wants each of us to have. We step where He tells us to step because He keeps His promises to us.
“And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6 ESV).
I am in Genesis in my daily Bible reading. Here is an interesting addendum to my Tuesdays With Tony post yesterday that I came across in my reading.
When Abraham's father was 70 years old, he was still having children. That is only five years younger than Abraham was when God originally promised him Isaac.
“When Terah had lived 70 years, he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.” (Genesis 11:26 ESV).
Perhaps God's promise of an heir didn't sound so strange to Abraham when God first made the promise. But twenty-five years later, they laughed when God repeated the promise.
It was now impossible for the aged couple to have children. This is exactly the perfect time for God to deliver on His promises.
The lesson for us? Never despair when we see the impossible. Our God does impossible well.
“The LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?'
Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” (Genesis 18:13-14 ESV).
Social Media can be wonderful, but it can also be spawned by the devil himself.
Have you ever read a post, immediately got triggered, and planned out a million responses in your head that would unleash your fury,
Only to realize that Jesus wants you to pray for that person, not excoriate them with your “wisdom?”
It's a very humbling experience, which is why it's best to take a walk before responding when triggered, and when you get back, pray for the poster before commenting.
Wisdom is not always seen in what we say, but more often, what we do not say.
Do you remember when Abraham bargained for the lives of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah? He whittled the number down to ten righteous people that God would spare the cities over.
“Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” (Genesis 18:32 ESV).
But Abraham soon saw fire rain down from heaven as God destroyed those wicked cities. What do you suppose went through Abraham's mind as the smoke rose over the horizon?
If he was like many people, he would have blamed God for not keeping His promise. But as someone who believed God and knew God did not lie, Abraham most certainly thought to himself, “Really, not even ten were found in all those cities?”
Before we quickly lay blame at God's feet, let us be careful to always keep God's character in mind as we guard our tongues. Even though we do not understand why God does or doesn't act, let us be quick to give our God the benefit of the doubt.
If anyone deserves our benefit, it most certainly is our God.
In Genesis 24, Abraham sent his servant to the city of Nahor to find a wife for his son Isaac. As the man stopped by the well outside the city, he prayed to the God of Abraham to give him success in his mission.
Before the prayer was finished, the very sign he prayed for happened before his eyes. I have heard many sermons about God's providence, the power of prayer, and trust in the Lord from this very story. But here is something else to learn from this wonderful story.
When he was alone with no one's eyes upon him, Abraham's servant chose to pray to the God of Heaven. Why did he do this?
Abraham had spent his years living as the servant of God. Everyone in his household heard him pray to God, watched him make choices in faith to follow God, and saw God bless Abraham and protect him from all enemies.
So when this man was away from Abraham and needed success to do all he swore to his master, he chose to appeal to the God he had watched give Abraham all his master had.
We must never underestimate the influence we have on the people in our household. If we live faithfully, pray often, read the Bible daily, and trust God when things are rough, it will have an influence on those in our household as well.
Life is just too short to chase after sin. Even if we catch what sin promises, we'll have an awful long time to think about our pursuits.
I have a friend who is a preacher. Years ago, we worked with inmates in an intimidating state prison. Some inmates were truly looking for spiritual guidance while others feigned interest to get stuff from you.
My preacher friend made friends with a particular inmate. He bought him a Bible and, though I cannot remember the details after decades, I remember he gave them either other gifts or money.
It later became obvious that this inmate was playing my preacher friend to get whatever he could out of him. My friend became disillusioned and said he was done helping prisoners.
I get where this sentiment comes from and believe that prudence is called for in situations like these, but as Christians, we need to always remember that when we do good for others, we will sometimes be taken advantage of.
God knows the heart and rewards the deeds. Unless we never learn how to mitigate obvious dangers, we need to get comfortable with the fact that sometimes people will not always be honest when they report their needs to us.
Rather than stop loving our neighbors because of a bad apple, let's learn from unfortunate situations and glory that God knows our heart and rewards its good intent. In my daily Bible reading, I see a similar situation with Joseph.
In Genesis 40, two prisoners had a dream, and Joseph could help them. But the last time he dealt with dreams, it landed him in a pit and then in slavery. He could have said, “Nope, I am out of the dream business for good!” But he didn't. Joseph interpreted both men's dreams and refused to sugarcoat the meaning.
The lesson for us is that we may sometimes suffer for doing good. When we do, let us rejoice and continue to do good to help others. If someone takes our shirt, let's give them our coat also. This is the unique character of citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven.
I am in the book of Exodus in my daily Bible reading. God sent Moses to Pharaoh to let His people go. Moses had to go before Pharaoh ten times before he saw success.
How many times are we willing to do what God wants us to do before we give up? Sometimes, it's hard to do good and see nothing come from it, only to get up the next day to do good again.
But that's exactly what God wants from us, and this takes faith.
“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9 ESV).