Home Recent Previous Series Phil's background Creation and science Miscellaneous Links Contact Phil

Abraham, Part 22 - Obedience

Genesis 22v4-14

11th February 2011

Last week we read:

Genesis 22v1-3
Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. Then God said, "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 about."
Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.

We saw that God has the right to demand anything of us. He is the creator and the judge of all the earth. We don't have the right to refuse Him. Abraham knew this, and so he obeyed.

Early the next morning Abraham got up, made the necessary preparations, and then set out for the place God had told him about. It's good to obey quickly, before we have time to talk ourselves out of it.

Genesis 22v4-5
On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you."

After three days, they got to Moriah. This is probably the area in which Jerusalem is situated (see 2 Chronicles 3v1). Abraham and Isaac went on alone to the mountain of sacrifice.

Genesis 22v6-8
Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together,
Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?" "Yes, my son?" Abraham replied. "The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"
8 Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together.

We don't know how old Isaac was, but he was old enough to carry the wood, and so probably at least a teenager. Does the picture of Isaac carrying the wood for his own sacrifice remind you of Jesus Christ, carrying His cross to the place of crucifixion, also in Jerusalem?

How Abraham's heart must have broken when his dear son asked him "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"! Abraham's answer was (at least) ambiguous, but shows that - even in this terrible moment - he was trusting God. As Hebrews 11v17-19a tells us:

By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead.

What faith!

Genesis 22v9-10
When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

There is no doubt that Abraham was prepared to obey God even to the point of sacrificing his son. More remarkably yet, Isaac was willing to be bound and sacrificed. Remember, he was at least in his teens, and his father was over a hundred years old, and they were alone together. Isaac could have overpowered Abraham and run away. Again, this brings to mind the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the sinless One who laid down His life for us, in obedience to His Father.

Genesis 22v11-14
But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!"
"Here I am," he replied.
"Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."
Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided."

At the last minute, God intervened to allow Abraham not to sacrifice Isaac after all. So often, the cost of our obedience can seem very great, but God knows the end from the beginning. A we saw from the beginning, this was a test for Abraham. God didn't want Isaac's blood, he wanted Abraham's heart. Abraham passed the test, and God provided a ram as a substitute sacrifice.

This provision of a ram again reminds us of Jesus Christ, the lamb of God, who was sacrificed in our place, so that our sins might be forgiven.

Abraham had to be willing to sacrifice his son. God actually did sacrifice His.