The Sacrifice of Isaac (Gen 22)

Introduction

If you have your Bible, please turn it to Genesis 22.

We’re about to jump into a passage that’s often very familiar to most Christians, but it’s also a passage that most Christians don’t quite understand. Because of its familiarity, let me encourage you to not allow your familiarity with the account to color your understanding of the passage—the goal is always to understand what the text actually says, that’s our goal for today.

In the passage that we’re in, we’re told of a scenario that seems somewhat bizarre; and yet, it is what Scripture says, and thus, there must be profit in it for us. In fact, I think for most of us, as we read the passage, we might read it and think—what in the world is going on!? But again, all Scripture is breathed out by God—there’s a purpose for this passage.

Let’s read it and we’ll start breaking things down:

Genesis 22 ESV

1 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 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.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” 6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. 7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together. 9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.” 15 And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, 18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” 19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham lived at Beersheba. 20 Now after these things it was told to Abraham, “Behold, Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor: 21 Uz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram, 22 Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” 23 (Bethuel fathered Rebekah.) These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. 24 Moreover, his concubine, whose name was Reumah, bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

As we study this passage together, we’re going to break it into two parts: (1) The Testing of Abraham’s Faith (1-19) and (2) The Report from Nahor’s Family (20-24). The first part is really our focal point for this morning and it includes what I’ve said is an unusual, even somewhat crazy-looking situation that we’re going to spend the bulk of our time with. The second part of the text then continues the historical narrative. Now, to be abundantly clear—I want to help you see the meaning of the text in two ways—(1) from this text itself, this is a reminder of two things: (a) that God does test the faith of His people on occasion and (b) that if God makes a promise, He will keep that promise. (2) from the overall context of Scripture, you can’t help but to see this passage as a picture of Jesus and I want to help you understand that towards the end.

The application then is two-fold—(1) obedience to God supersedes our heart, our own desires, our own wants, so obey Him; and (2) God always keeps His Word, so trust Him.

Prayer for Illumination

The Testing of Abraham’s Faith (1-19)

Our text starts in v. 1 by telling us of when these events occurred—”after these things God tested Abraham.”

The things mentioned in v. 1 deals with everything that occurred with Abimelech in ch. 21—remember, we dealt with the creation of a covenant or treaty between Abimelech and Abraham last week.

I explained that the treaty itself seems like such a mundane things—and yet, through it, God foreshadows the fulfillment of the land promise that He made with Abraham.

And tied into our modern world—things that seem mundane to us (going to work, changing diapers, going to high school, or whatever else in life) are often the means through which we grow. AND God works through these seemingly mundane things to keep His promises to us.

Now, I will state that I don’t believe that Abimelech and Abraham actually knew how God was working through their treaty—and often in life today, we don’t recognize how much God is working through seemingly mundane things.

So, last week we dealt with these seemingly mundane things and this week we suddenly switch to something that isn’t mundane whatsoever.

God speaks to Abraham and he tells Abraham to do something seemingly counterintuitive in v. 2, “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.”

You see how that is a counterintuitive statement, right? It’s counterintuitive for a number of reasons:

Regardless of how you frame this, it is a murderous situation—in which Abraham is told to murder his own son.

Now, even if you’re new to Christianity, you already know that murder is condemned by God in the Ten Commandments and elsewhere—however, you might also know that the Ten Commandments haven’t been given, yet.

You might also know that God cannot tempt people to sin (according to James) and that God cannot do anything evil.

And then, if you’re following along closely with our progress through Genesis, you’ll also note that Isaac is the son that God had promised Abraham in the first place.

And it causes us to question why God would ask Abraham to do something like this—and the answer is really in v. 1, to test Abraham.

But Abraham doesn’t know that that’s what’s happening and truthfully, Isaac doesn’t know that that’s what’s happening.

So, the resulting events from God telling Abraham to do this reveals some truths about Abraham and Isaac that we’ll get back to a little bit later.

The rest of vv. 3-8 then show us the preparation for the event.

Abraham and Isaac start to the place that God had told them to go:

It’s clearly a long journey as the Bible says in v. 4 that “on the third day” Abraham saw the place that they were going and the Bible in v. 3 definitely states that they brought the wood with them, which implies that Isaac and the two other men with them are traveling knowing what the intended purpose—to go and offer a burnt offering.

And yet, Abraham hasn’t told the others that the intended offering is Isaac; and I don’t think he means that in a malicious way—which might sound odd to you, but let me explain.

In v. 7 after everything is prepared for the burnt offering, Isaac does ask about the burnt offering—Isaac says, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”

Which, i think is a fair question—Isaac is old enough to know what it means to do a burnt offering; and thus, when they make their way up this mountain and there is no lamb to give to the Lord in the form of a burnt offering, he questions it.

Abraham’s response is curious, in v. 8, we read “Abraham said, ‘God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering.’”

So, God is testing Abraham, but Abraham doesn’t know that. All he knows is that God has told him to offer up his son as the burnt offering.

But what v. 8 shows us is Abraham trusting in the Lord anyways to provide for the burnt offering—what we don’t see is what exactly Abraham thought God would do to provide for the offering.

I personally don’t believe that Abraham thought that God would do what He actually does—I actually think that what Abraham assumed was based on the covenant itself.

Or, in other words, Abraham assumed that if God promised Isaac, that whatever happens here would reflect that promise—thus, if God is telling Him to sacrifice His son, then God must have a plan to do something unexpected.

Abraham does indeed trust that God would provide and so he goes forth with the plan to sacrifice Isaac hoping for God to do something—anything.

The time comes in which they need to make the offering and in vv. 9-14, we see the event itself—that “when they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.”

Let’s pause briefly—note two details:

Note, first that Abraham doesn’t hesitate—he’s willing to do this simply because God had commanded him to do this—He genuinely trusts God. This has given some the impression that Abraham assumes that if God wants him to do this, God must have a plan to resurrect Issac after.

Second, note that Isaac allows this to happen—if you just think about it. Abraham isn’t young, he’s rather old. Isaac by this point is old enough that as they were climbing the mountain, v. 6 says that Isaac carried the wood for the fire.

And just to clarify, the wood needed for a fire significant enough for a burnt offering wasn’t just a bundle—he carried a lot of wood up the mountain.

Isaac is young, but he’s not too young, which means that the moment that he noticed that there wasn’t a sacrifice, he could’ve run; and yet, he doesn’t.

He also trusts God to provide.

The text continues with Abraham tying Isaac up and laying him on the altar and in v. 10, the Bible says that Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven “And the angel of the LORD tells him to stop.”

Remember that throughout the Old Testament, that phrase angel of the LORD often refers to God Himself—a preincarnate Jesus stops Abraham. We can validate that by what the angel says in vv. 16-17 when the angel again speaks to Abraham and says “By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD . . . I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring.”

God stops Abraham, but it isn’t until Abraham’s proved his faith by offering up his only son to be sacrificed to the Lord and we know that he surely would’ve done it because it takes the angel of the Lord calling out to him and explaining the situation.

And it is only after Abraham shows his willingness to obey God even if it meant sacrificing his own son that he then sees the ram caught in a thicket by his horns, which was then utilized as the sacrifice.

When everything is all said and done, what Abraham said to Isaac was completely correct—Abraham told Isaac that God would provide a sacrifice and God certainly provided a sacrifice.

vv. 15-19 then ends this section with a reiteration of the covenant that God has with Abraham. That God has sworn a covenant to Abraham by or through Himself and these are the details of that covenant. There are three parts:

First, that God will bless Abraham and multiply his offspring—this part is nothing new.

God had already made this part of the covenant to Abraham prior to this point.

The reiteration of this part of the promise just provides reaffirmation.

Second, that Abraham’s offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies—this also isn’t new, but the wording might be a little unfamiliar.

The idea of Abraham’s offspring possessing the gate of his enemies really just means that they will receive the Promised Land from the enemies of Abraham.

Or, in other words, this is a reiteration of the land promise of God’s covenant with Abraham.

Again, it provides reaffirmation.

And third, that through his offspring all the nations of the earth will be blessed—now, this part is new. It hasn’t been mentioned before.

And God doesn’t really explain how all the nations of the world would be blessed, but He does say that this part of the covenant, which is new, is because Abraham had obeyed His voice.

Again, in this text, he doesn’t explain how all nations will be blessed, but with hindsight, we know how all nations were blessed by Abraham’s descendants, but before we talk about that, let’s look at vv. 20-24.

The Report from Nahor’s Family (20-24)

Genesis 22:20–24 ESV

20 Now after these things it was told to Abraham, “Behold, Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor: 21 Uz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram, 22 Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” 23 (Bethuel fathered Rebekah.) These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. 24 Moreover, his concubine, whose name was Reumah, bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

In the last few verses we read about the expansion of Nahor’s family—Nahor is Abraham’s brother.

What we don’t quite know from this passage is the significance of it.

The significance of these last few verses is two-fold: (1) it continues the narrative by progressing time and (2) it actually shows us where Isaac and eventually Jacob will later get their wives.

It is essentially a way for the author of Genesis to move the historical record forward while still giving us some details that we otherwise wouldn’t have had.

This Passage in Light of All Scripture

Now, before we talk about application, we do need to talk about one other aspect of this passage—and it deals with how exactly it ties into the rest of Scripture. It is a very unusual situation that has it’s own application, but I think I would be a fool not to point out the parallels of the text with Jesus Himself. Think about how much this account in Genesis 22 parallels with Jesus in the New Testament.

Abraham is in a sense like God, the Father—who has one son that he loves dearly.

Isaac is in a sense like Jesus, the Son—who had the capability of doing something different, but chooses instead to obey his father.

The whole very nature of a sacrifice like this foreshadows the sacrifice that Jesus makes on our behalf in the New Testament with two exceptions:

First, burnt offerings weren’t the same as what will later be called sin offerings—sin offerings were sacrificed for the purpose of atoning for the sins of the person who committed the sin. Burnt offerings were more for giving thanks or simple worship and praise—they were often high valued offerings and with that in mind, you can tell what God was testing Abraham with—do you love your son Isaac more than you love Me, your God?

Second, Jesus actually does sacrifice Himself as the only proper and right sacrifice to atone for sin. Whereas Isaac isn’t actually sacrificed, Jesus definitely is—and that’s an important distinction to keep in mind.

Now, in the remaining few minutes, let’s discuss some application.

Application

It is clear in a passage like this that this is a descriptive and not a prescriptive text—meaning, God does not intend for you to read this passage and think, “God is testing me, I need to go sacrifice my children.” And let me suggest that though it is clear that God does test His children, you ought not just assume that everything in life is a test from God—the reality is that often the difficulties we face in life are brought upon by ourselves (e.g., if you steal and go to jail, that isn’t a test from God, but rather the consequences of your own sin—and while God will still providentially work in those situations, going to jail wasn’t a test, it was a consequence for your sin). So, how ought we to understand a text like Genesis 22? It’s easier than what it seems, you just have to determine the universal principle that underlies the text. And in this case, the underlying principle is simple: (1) Obedience to God supersedes our heart, our own desires, our own wants, so obey Him; and (2) God always keeps His Word, so trust Him. Let’s talk about those two ideas:

Obedience to God Supersedes our Heart, so obey Him—Abraham could’ve very easily decided not to obey God in this situation. He could very well have said that though he knows he ought to obey, it is his son; and yet, he doesn’t. He chooses to obey God despite the potential of losing the son that he loves so much. Abraham chooses to obey God rather than follow his own heart.

We live in a world, a culture, a society that thinks that the key to finding happiness and success in life is to follow your own heart—what you desire.

Part of this belief that you ought to follow your heart stems from organizations like Disney, but part of this also stems from Christians who simply don’t know what they’re talking about.

We’ve all heard people say that you ought to do what makes you happy or to focus on your own heart, but the issue is that that ideology is actually contrary to Scripture, which teaches the heart is deceitfully wicked and that our hearts are warped by the effects of sin.

So, if we do what makes us happy or focus on our own heart, we often find ourselves diving into sin rather than seeking Jesus Christ.

If the heart is deceitfully wicked, which is what the Bible teaches, then we have to look outside our own heart to determine what’s right and wrong—or, in other words, we need to look towards something or someone who isn’t deceived by wickedness, who can’t be deceived by wickedness and then obey Him.

The reality is that if we decide to obey our hearts, we will find ourselves on uneven ground—we will stumble and we will fall and we will trip up because our hearts are moved every which way often on whims.

We can’t trust ourselves to always make the right decision because our hearts often lie to us and deceive us

But God never lies, He never changes, He is always right—and thus, what we see in a passage like Genesis 22 is that when it comes between what we want, what we desire, what our heart says and what God has said, it is always right to obey Him.

Of course, that takes some adjusting and a concerted effort because we’re so used to always doing what our own heart desires that we don’t even think twice about doing it; and yet, it is always better to do what God has said than to do what we desire.

Now, you might ask, “what are some examples of how we will obey our own desires rather than obey Jesus” and so, let me give you just a few examples and you can think of the rest:

When we deal with someone that we don’t like—our heart’s desire is often to be mean and sarcastic towards them, but Jesus has already told us to love our enemies and be kind to them—are you going to obey your own desire or are you going to obey Jesus?

Sometimes young people, but not even just young people, will find themselves in romantic relationships in which they’ll want to obey their own desires than obey God. I don’t really need to go into details, but Scripture is clear that any sexual relationship outside the bounds of biblical marriage is sinful; and yet, many people, even Christians will obey their own desire rather than obey what Jesus has already said.

You can then apply that mindset elsewhere—we know that we’re called to steward God’s resources well (meaning financially, materially, or whatever else); and yet, many of us have the desire to get the next best thing, to upgrade our cars, to buy more than what we really need even though God does tell us to steward our resources well.

And so on and so forth.

It is always better to obey God than to follow our own desire and passion—so obey Him even when your heart tells you to do something else.

God always keeps His Word, so trust Him—you’ve heard me say this over and over and over again—particularly through this series in Genesis because it is a reoccurring theme in Genesis. In Genesis 22, we see yet again, that God does indeed keep His Word. Isaac is the promised child that God had promised Abraham; and thus, even though he tells Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, anyone who really understood the promise of God would recognize that God would indeed keep His Word.

The reality is that often in life, we find ourselves questioning whether God is worth trusting—now, most of us won’t say that with our words, but we act like that and we live like that.

For instance, we’ll say that we believe that God has all things under His own control, but then at the moment of slight inconvenience, we’ll bend over backwards to try and gain control for ourselves.

Or, and you guys know I don’t really like talking politics at church, but I will say this one thing—every election season, Christians in the US act as if they completely forget that God existed before the United States and that He will continue to exist after the United States and again, that God is in control.

Or, when we suffer in life, we tend to forget that God utilizes our suffering to sanctify us—so, we’ll think, “man, life is rather difficult right now and I hate it” and we don’t bother to ask, “what could God possibly be teaching me through this situation” and then we fall into despair.

Now, it’s not wrong to ask questions when we deal with these sorts of things in life. In fact, I’d argue, that it’s better to ask questions and seek answers than to let doubt, confusion, and lack of trust build.

But, let me be abundantly clear on the truth that God always does keep His Word. We see it time and time again throughout Scripture from Genesis through the historical books into the wisdom literature, the prophets, and then into the New Testament.

Despite how typically horrible mankind is throughout the history of the Bible, God always keeps the promises that He makes to them.

Despite how little the people of God throughout Scripture actually do follow Him consistently and faithfully, He’s still faithful to them.

And tied into our modern world—despite how unworthy we usually are and despite how we constantly stumble and fall into sin, we can find rest and comfort in the truth that God will always keep His promises to us even when we do stumble and fall.

That truth really ought to give us a significant amount of hope—God will always stay faithful to you if you are His so trust Him.

Now, you might ask, what does it look like to actually trust Him? Look at Abraham.

Trusting God means to be willing to do whatever God says even if it means doing something that goes against what your own heart’s desire is.

Trusting God means being faithful even when things seem a bit confusing or even (as I mentioned last week) even in the things that seem mundane or little or pointless.

Trusting God means looking towards Jesus and continuing to walk towards Him in the Spirit—even when you can’t quite see or understand what’s going on.

Abraham in Genesis 22 is a great example of what it means to trust and obey and that’s precisely what we, as God’s people are called to do.

Pastoral Prayer