The Sacrifice of Isaac - Genesis 22

©June 9th, 2019 by Rev. Rick Goettsche SERIES: Genesis

All of us have had the experience of taking tests. The pressure of tests is always great because they usually have significant consequences riding on them, whether that be a large portion of your grade, a certification, or something else. For some people, the pressure of test-taking is so great that it makes it difficult to perform well. But tests are not a way for teachers to torture their students, nor are they primarily to quantify how much a student knows. Tests, at their core, provide a way of helping reinforce concepts and ensure those concepts stick in the minds of the students.

Just as it is in school, so it is with the Lord and with life. Sometimes God tests us. This is not primarily about God finding out where we are (He already knows!), it is about helping us to grow and move to a deeper level of knowledge and maturity. God tests us in order to perfect us. Our passage this morning looks at one of the most extreme tests anyone ever endured (or would want to). We see Abraham being asked to sacrifice his son to the Lord. This is a fascinating and wonderfully rich story that will challenge us all.

The Journey

We are told at the beginning of the passage that this is a test for Abraham. But even knowing that, it is still difficult to read. When we put ourselves in Abraham’s shoes, our hearts sink and feelings of dread and confusion overcome us. I think that’s exactly how Abraham felt. But look at how Abraham responded to God’s command.

Some time later, God tested Abraham’s faith. “Abraham!” God called.

“Yes,” he replied. “Here I am.” 2“Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.” 3The next morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son, Isaac. Then he chopped wood for a fire for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had told him about. 4On the third day of their journey, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5“Stay here with the donkey,” Abraham told the servants. “The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back.” (Genesis 22:1-5, NLT)

We don’t know how much time passed between Abraham sending away Ishmael and this testing with Isaac. In the previous account, Isaac was a toddler, as they were celebrating him being weaned. Now, Isaac is at least reasonably grown (as he was able to carry the wood for the sacrifice up the mountain). Most people suspect he is a teenager or young adult. So, some significant time has passed here.

God doesn’t mince words with Abraham. He tells him exactly what he needs to do—sacrifice Isaac as a burnt offering. You can imagine how this would have felt like a gut-punch to Abraham, and how he simply wouldn’t have understood this command. Yet, we see Abraham’s faith demonstrated in verse 3, when it says the next morning Abraham got up early and left for the trip to sacrifice his son. Abraham didn’t hesitate. He immediately set to obeying God.

We are told this was a 3-day journey. The Bible doesn’t give us much information about what the journey was like, but I imagine it as being mostly silent as Abraham tried to make sense of what was happening. I can see him reflecting back on the highlights of Isaac’s life: of the day the angels told him he would have a son, the day he and Sarah laughed at God’s grace when Isaac was born, the day he started walking, some of the fun conversations he’d had with his Isaac, the pride he had at watching him grow into a young man. And as he thought these things, I can imagine him being shaken back to the reality of what God had asked him to do. The Bible doesn’t tell us, but I suspect this was a quiet, reflective trip.

The other thing I suspect Abraham was struggling with as he walked was trying to understand God’s promise to him. God had been very clear that Abraham would be the father of many people (that was what the name God gave him meant!), and God was very clear that Isaac was the one through whom that promise would be fulfilled. So Abraham must have been trying to figure out how God could fulfill His promise if he killed Isaac. Abraham had two choices: believe that God was going to go back on His word, or that God had a plan to still fulfill promise even if Abraham did as he was commanded. Abraham knew God kept His promises. He had seen that over and over throughout his life. So Abraham concluded God must have a way to keep His promise, even while asking Abraham to sacrifice his son.

In the book of Hebrews we are told the conclusion Abraham reached.

Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead. (Hebrews 11:19, NLT)

Abraham seems to have concluded that God could raise his son from the dead…even though that had never happened before. Talk about faith! Abraham was so convinced God would keep His promise that he believed God would do something He had never done before. But Abraham knew that the God who created life out of nothing would have no problem bringing life back to someone who had died. Abraham didn’t know exactly how things would work out, but he had no problem believing God had a plan.

If you want further evidence of this, look at what Abraham told the servants in verse 5: “The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back.” (emphasis mine) He told his servants that both he and Isaac would be returning from the mountain. I don’t think Abraham was simply lying to his servants so they would not stop him; I think he honestly believed God would be true to His promise, even if Abraham killed Isaac.

The Sacrifice

As Abraham and Isaac leave the servants, they head up the mountain together, with Isaac seemingly still in the dark about what was going to happen.

6So Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac’s shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them walked on together, 7Isaac turned to Abraham and said, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “We have the fire and the wood,” the boy said, “but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?” 8“God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham answered. And they both walked on together. 9When they arrived at the place where God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. 10And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice. 11At that moment the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Yes,” Abraham replied. “Here I am!” 12“Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.” 13Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son. 14Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the Lord will provide”). To this day, people still use that name as a proverb: “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.” (Genesis 22:6-14, NLT)

There are so many elements to this story that fascinate me. As they are walking, Isaac carries the wood for the sacrifice, while Abraham carried the fire and the knife. Soon, Isaac realizes they are missing something—the sacrificial lamb! He questions his dad on the matter, who simply tells him that God will provide it for them.

I also find the fact that Abraham bound Isaac and put him on the altar amazing. I can only imagine the conversation that preceded this. Clearly Isaac knew what was about to happen. Abraham had to explain it to him. I wonder if he explained that somehow God would raise him from the dead. We aren’t told, but we can surmise that apparently Abraham’s faith had convinced his son, because with 100 years on his dad, Isaac could clearly have outrun or overpowered Abraham…but he didn’t. He allowed himself to be bound and put on the altar to be sacrificed.

It isn’t until the very last moment that God revealed his full plan to Abraham. It wasn’t until Abraham had passed the test and his faith had been stretched that God stopped his hand. Abraham raised his hand to kill his son, the son for whom he had waited 100 years. I imagine his hand shaking, but then steeling himself and making the final decision to carry out the act. It is at that moment that God steps in and stops him. Can you imagine the relief Abraham must have felt? I picture him collapsing onto his son in tears and relief. And as God reveals to Abraham that this was all a test, he notices a ram caught in the thicket nearby. Abraham thought it perfectly appropriate to worship the Lord with a sacrifice, and in doing so he saw his own words to his son fulfilled, that the Lord would provide the sacrifice.

Applications

This passage is so rich and challenging that there are many things we should take away from it. First, God tests us to help us grow, not to harm us. Tests are often painful. They are times we would choose to avoid if we knew about them in advance. But God uses those times of testing to help us grow in our faith. It is when we face a time of testing, cling to God, and find Him faithful that our faith grows greatly. If you are in a time of testing, please do not despair. Cling to God, trusting that He still has a plan, even though you don’t know exactly what it is. If you will cling to Him, then your faith will grow when you see God’s faithfulness revealed on the other side of the trial.

Second, faith is revealed in our actions. It is easy to talk about faith and to say we believe God, but the question is do our lives actually bear that statement out? Abraham’s life did. He believed God enough that he did what he was told, even though it seemed like it would cost him dearly, and even though he didn’t understand. Let me be direct with you here, does your life actually reflect the kind of faith and belief you claim to have? Or does your life show that your “faith” is really just words?

Let me give you some questions…

When you claim that God is your top priority, do you actually make time to speak with Him in prayer, study His word, and attend worship regularly? If God asked you to change your plans (or your vacation) for Him, would you do it? If He asked you to go talk to someone difficult would you resist? If God asked you to wait would you? If other things interfere with your “top priority” then it’s not really as important to you as you claim.

When you face the choice of whether to listen to God in something that’s difficult, do you follow His instructions, or do you listen to the world around you?

Do you respond in kind to people who hurt you, or do you choose to turn the other cheek and let God take care of you?

Do you hold on to bitterness and resentment, or do you choose to forgive as you have been forgiven? Are you willing to forgive those who don’t deserve it (just as you have a received a forgiveness you don’t deserve?)

Are you willing to give generously to the Lord and to others, or do you believe the worldly mentality that money you spend on yourself is a better investment?

Are you willing to be kind to others who aren’t kind to you?

Do you choose to follow God’s commands on what our dating/marriage relationships ought to look like, or do you follow the pattern of the world around you?

It’s easy to talk a good game about our faith, but what we really believe is revealed by how we live.

Third, real faith is a willingness to sacrifice anything for the Lord, because we trust He knows best. Can you imagine what this experience must have been like for Abraham? There was nothing more precious to him than this son for whom he had waited his entire life. But that may have been exactly the reason God demanded such a sacrifice. He was teaching Abraham that his relationship with God was more important than anything else.

Let me ask you, what might be the Isaac in your life? What is there, if God asked you to give it up, that you would struggle with? What things would you be tempted to hold onto instead of giving to God?

Your house

Your career

Your possessions

Your family

Your health

Your comfort

Your desire to fit in with the world

The list could go on and on, but if you take inventory of your own life and ask what you would have the most trouble sacrificing if the Lord asked you to, you have likely uncovered some of the idols in your life.

Fourth, we only get to see God’s faithfulness when we have trusted Him. If Abraham hadn’t gone through with this, if he had chosen to go a different direction, he never would have gotten to see how wonderfully faithful God is and how He provides. Sometimes we don’t get to see God do amazing things in our lives because we don’t give Him the chance to. If we never put ourselves in a position where we have to trust God, we will never actually see His faithfulness in the way we could.

I taught swimming lessons for years and always laughed when kids would tell me they could swim…just not in deep water. You will never become a good swimmer if you stay where you can touch the ground. You’ll never learn to trust the swimming strokes until you have no choice but to do so. As a swim instructor I would take kids into deep water as soon as I knew they could do it. They needed to learn to trust in the strokes they had learned, so I put them in a situation where they had to. God often calls us into deep water—situations we can’t control, where we have no choice but to trust Him. As long as you stay in the shallow end of faith, you’ll never get the chance to see what God can do, because you’ll keep relying on your own strength instead of His.

Finally, our faith impacts others. Where do you think Isaac learned to trust God? He learned it from watching his dad. What do you think the servants thought when Abraham and Isaac came down the mountain and told them about what had happened? When we are faithful, our lives serve as an example to those around us, and they provide a platform for God to demonstrate His faithfulness to the world around us. Continue to trust the Lord in all you do, because you don’t know who it might impact.

Conclusion

This passage is incredibly challenging, because we look at Abraham and aren’t sure we trust God that much. But let me give you one more reason why this story should challenge you to trust God: because this story is a picture of what God himself would do thousands of years later. God himself sacrificed his son, his only son, even though his Son had done nothing wrong. Like Isaac, Jesus showed perfect obedience, willingly submitting to his Father’s plan, even though He could have stopped it if He had chosen to do so. And in doing so, God had indeed provided the perfect sacrifice.

When Abraham stood on that mountain and called it Yahweh-Yireh (or Jehovah Jireh, as it is sometimes pronounced), He was speaking about the future. He didn’t say the Lord did provide, but the Lord will provide. He recognized that God provides for His people. He is the God who does what seems impossible (whether causing a 90-year old woman to get pregnant by her 100-year old husband, raising a person from the dead, or something else) in order to take care of His people. Abraham knew He could trust the Lord, because the Lord will provide.

I don’t know how much Abraham knew when he called this mountain “The Lord Will Provide”, but even in this statement, we get a glimpse of how wonderful God’s plan is. God told Abraham to go to the region of Moriah, a place Abraham seemed to have never been before in order to make this sacrifice. Later, in 2 Chronicles 3:1, we are told the place where Solomon’s temple was built was Mt. Moriah. Many people think that the place where Abraham sacrificed Isaac was the place that would one day be Jerusalem…the place where Jesus was sacrificed for the sins of His people. How fitting that after Abraham’s sacrifice, people began to say, “on the mountain of the Lord, it will be provided!” The story of Abraham and Isaac is really a foreshadowing of what God was going to do many years later.

Here’s my point: we serve a God who loves us, who is in control of all things, and who never makes a mistake. He provides for His people. He knows what is best for us, and has worked out His plan beautifully so that everything (even things that happened thousands of years ago) work together to point to His majesty. Trusting God is hard, it requires us to get out in the deep water and rely on Him alone. But as we look at this account, we should be left to wonder, why would we trust anyone but the Lord! He has proven Himself faithful over and over. When you face tests of faith, whether great or small, remind yourself that God is the God who provides. And if you will trust Him, He will prove it again and again.