Sacrificial Love

The Bible is filled with so many teachings. Do you ever find yourself learning something new each time you open and study God’s Word (you  know more than just opening and reading but really focusing on the words and allowing God to speak to your heart)? I am the type of person who seems to always be in a hurry, which most of the time I don’t even know why. Maybe we are so rushed because of the busy culture we live in; everything is always rush, rush, even when we have nowhere to go! In my case I am a full-time student and stay-at-home mom of two twelve year old children, of whom are at school during the day; therefore, many mornings after the children are off to school, I have nowhere to rush to, except of course to God’s Word!

In continuing on my journey through the book of Genesis, I was studying chapters 22 today.

Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”

And he said, “Here I am.”

² Then He said, “Take now 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.”

³ So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. ⁴ Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. ⁵ And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad^[a] and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”

⁶ So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. ⁷ But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!”

And he said, “Here I am, my son.”

Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”

⁸ And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.

⁹ Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. ¹⁰ And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

¹¹ But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”

So he said, “Here I am.”

¹² And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

¹³ Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴ And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide;^[b] as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

¹⁵ Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, ¹⁶ and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— ¹⁷ blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. ¹⁸ In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” ¹⁹ So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.

So many lessons can be learned from this chapter alone such as Abraham’s faith in God’s provision and belief that if his if son was to be sacrificed, God would raise him from the dead, along with Abraham’s immediate obedience (notice how he did not hesitate but rose early to obey?); however, God divinely revealed something to me this morning. Notice throughout the passages that God speaks to Abraham of Isaac as not only his son but his only son. At first glance, many individuals might say, maybe God was referring to Ishmael; however, at this point in Genesis, Hagar and Ishmael are already out of the picture.

In contrast, what God revealed to me is that Abraham’s willingness to obey God through the sacrifice of his own son, his only son, Isaac was a foreshadowing of what was to come.

The Lord had so graciously given the birth of Isaac to Abraham and Sarah in their old age, which is first of all a miraculous birth, seeing that Sarah was 99 when she conceived and only 127 years old when she died. When the Lord asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac on the alter, God was asking for everything!

From a personal perspective, I believe that everything happens for a reason and especially the message here in God’s Word! While God was testing Abraham’s faithfulness to Him, He is not like us, He is different, He is so much Higher than we could ever comprehend in that unlike Abraham, He did not spare His One and Only Son, Jesus (John 3:16). His love and devotion is so deep that He would not even spare His Most Prized Possession, His One and Only Son to rescue us from sin! In God revealing this message to me, I immediately began to cry in thankfulness.

We cannot even begin to understand the depth of our Creator and Sustainer of the universe and the Sacrificial Love that He has for us! Therefore, why would we want to keep this amazing news to ourselves? Shouldn’t He deserve more honor and glory than we currently give Him? Let’s begin by honoring Him today, repenting of our sin, joyfully sharing with others, and giving Him back the HONOR in our lives that He so deserves because He is Worthy.

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain for our transgression…the ultimate Sacrificial Love.