Sacrifice

The Greatest Story of All

2.21.21 [Genesis 22:1-18] River of Life (1st Sunday in Lent)

Everyone loves a good story. A good story has a way of making you think or even making you cry. A good story connects with its reader and makes you care about the characters and their challenges. A good story is a pleasure to read. Everyone loves a good story.

But there is something almost transcendent about a great story. The kind of story that engages the reader’s mind and affects the reader’s heart. A great story moves you. A great story pulls you in. A great story doesn’t just make you care about the characters and their challenges, a great story makes you feel like you are those characters and their challenges are your challenges. A great story isn’t just a pleasure to read, it’s almost impossible to put down.

And even once you have finished a great story, you’re still not really finished. A great story leaves you pondering it all the more and hoping there is more. A good story has a happily-ever-after, nicely-tied-red-ribbon-bow kind of ending. But a great story offers more than just an ending. A great story provides some resolution but not always a complete conclusion. A great story leaves you wanting more. A great story leaves you with more than a few questions. A great story leaves you hoping for a sequel.

What we have here in Genesis 22 is a great story. It’s a great story. Not in the sense that it is made up—this is a real historical event—but few historical events captivate our minds and capture our hearts like the story of Abraham and Isaac. As unimaginable as this must have been—for both of them—we feel like we could imagine what it might have been like. This great story moves us. It pulls us in. And it leaves us asking questions—a lot of what and why and how questions—all the way through the end. The story begins with God’s call and command. (Gen. 22:1-2) Abraham…take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.

Immediately, we question things. Why is God telling Abraham to sacrifice Isaac? Why didn’t Abraham ask God any more questions?

While we’re still asking a dizzying number of questions, Abraham gets busy. No dawdling. No dragging his feet. No hiding under the covers thinking that conversation had just been a bad dream.

(Gen. 22:3) Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He even cut the wood himself to sacrifice his son! Then he took (Gen. 22:3) 2 servants and his son, his only son, his beloved son, Isaac, with him on a three day journey (Gen. 22:3) to the place God told him about, the region of Moriah. Again, we likely have questions. What did Abraham tell Sarah? Why does Abraham seem so calm about all this? But the whole gripping, great story is somewhat short on dialogue. It’s like the opposite of any episode of Gilmore Girls. I’m not saying they journeyed in silence, but the Scriptures are silent about what was said for the first two days. On the third day, the silence is broken though. (Gen. 22:4-5) Abraham commanded 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.”

Again, our minds are flooded with questions. What was he planning on telling the servants when he came back? Why did he say we will come back to you when he knew what he was going to do to Isaac?

But while we’re still unloading all our questions, Abraham is loading the wood for the sacrifice upon the shoulder of his son, his only son, his beloved son, Isaac. With the fire in one hand and a knife in the other, they journeyed up the mountain, together. Isaac was perfectly in step with his father Abraham, but had a burning question. Eventually, he mustered up the courage to ask. (Gen 22:7) Father...where is the lamb for the burnt offering? We can’t help but wonder what was going through Isaac’s mind. This wasn’t the first time they had offered a sacrifice in his lifetime. It may have been the first time that they traveled out of their way to a remote place for it. But the components for a sacrifice are pretty simple. Altar, animal, fire, fuel, and knife. To leave any of those behind was strange. But to forget the most important element must have been baffling to Abraham’s beloved son.

Of course, Abraham had not forgotten about the sacrificial checklist. (Gen. 22:8) Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And again, we’re left with questions. Why would Abraham say that when he knew God commanded him to sacrifice Isaac? How could that answer have satisfied Isaac? Whatever questions still lingered in Isaac’s mind did not leave him lingering behind. (Gen. 22:8) And the two of them went on together. Again we are told the only beloved son walked in step with his father to that place to offer that sacrifice.

(Gen. 22:9-10) 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. Here, our many questions hit their most fevered pitch. How could Abraham go through with this? Even physically speaking, how does a 120+ year old man bind up his son and place him on an altar? How can a father, who loves his son, his only son, his beloved son, bind him up like an animal? And why doesn’t Isaac say anything? How can he just allow this to happen?

This story is so heart-wrenching, it could make even the most stoic of men weep. It could make the most calm & composed individuals curse aloud. It could make the most steadfast of believers ball up their fists and begin to shake it at the Maker of heaven of earth.

Or at least it would. If we didn’t already know how this great story ends. We might weep, or curse, or shake our clenched fists at God if this great story had not already been spoiled for us. Because we know an angelic voice intervenes. (Gen. 22:11-12) Abraham! Abraham! Do not lay a hand on the boy! Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God. And we know that when Abraham lifted his eyes, he saw what the Lord had provided on that mountain—(Gen. 22:13) a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. That is the kind of happy ending that we crave. If it weren’t for that ram stuck in the thicket, most of us would feel like we were stuck in the thick of a deep, dark theological dilemma, wondering: How could God do that to Abraham? Why does God test Abraham like that? What does it prove? What’s the point?

That is a question we have all asked more than a few times before. Or some version of that question. Usually, it’s not about this man or this great story. Usually, it’s about us. There have been times when we have found ourselves stuck in the thick of deep, dark dilemmas and wondered: How can God do this to me? Why does he test me like this? What is he trying to prove? What’s the point? I thought he loved me! I thought he was wise! I thought he was powerful!

There have been moments when we have demanded answers from God under far less distressing circumstances. There have been points in our lives when God has taken something far less from us and we have found his terms to be disagreeable and we’ve given him an earful. There have been instances where we know what God is demanding of us—the path of righteousness he is directing us on—and we have to be dragged kicking and screaming, if we go at all. If it were up to us, in those moments, we would refuse him flatly. We would point to all the reason why we think his demand is unreasonable, intolerable, or just plain impossible. And we do this without carefully considering his Word and his works—his amazing accomplishments and his powerful promises.

Despite our defiance, the Lord has provided for us, lovingly, patiently, and according to his wise and perfect plan. At times, with the blessing of hindsight, we can see that now. God has taken good things, beloved things, and wonderful people from our hands and we have wept. We have wondered and asked many questions many times. Perhaps, in a heated moment, we muttered curses or felt our fists clenching up. But God has seen us through to the other side of those places, those dark days and painful experiences. Now we know better. Because we have seen how the Lord provided for us despite everything. He has given us daily bread in days when we didn’t know how we’d make ends meet. He has taken away employment for a season only to provide a new direction and a better perspective—blessings we were too busy to receive before. He has whisked away loved ones in the blink of an eye and then wiped those tears from our eyes with the promises of heaven’s eternal bliss. There have been plenty of times when God has done something unimaginable for us, his beloved children.

But there have also been times when he has taken something or someone we love and we still cannot see why or what he has in mind. There are great stories in our lives that still feel unresolved.

If you’ve struggled with these kinds of thoughts, these kinds of questions, these kinds of doubts, this is a great story for you. Don’t you see that Abraham never really gets a good reason why God put him through this ordeal? I know it says: (Gen. 22:12) Now I know that you fear God, but the God who searches heart and mind did not need this test to come to that conclusion. I know that this great story concludes with a blessing being conferred upon Abraham but none of that blessing is substantively different than what God had already told Abraham in Gen 12, 15, and 17. It’s not like this test earned him greater blessings. So why did this have to happen?

We have a blessing that surpasses Abraham’s. God called Abraham to sacrifice his son, but that sacrifice didn’t happen, because God stepped in. So why go through this exercise? Why test Abraham at all?

This sacrifice had to happen so that we could begin to comprehend what it meant for God to stand in our place. Because the ram in the thicket isn’t the only spoiler of sorts for us. It’s almost impossible for Christians not to connect this story with Christ. And we should. It’s not wrong. It’s not cheating. It’s the reason we have the Scriptures—so that we might see our need for the Lamb of God and the Lamb that God provided in his Son, his only Son, his beloved Son, Jesus. Just like Isaac, Jesus was the long awaited and promised Son. Just like Isaac, Jesus was birthed by a mother who considered conception “impossible”. Just like Isaac, Jesus carried the wood he would be slain upon. Just like Isaac, Jesus walked in step with his Father’s plan all the way. Just like Isaac, Jesus respectfully addressed his Father just before they reached the place of the sacrifice. Not where is the lamb? but if there is any other way, take this cup from me. Just like Isaac, Jesus did not put up a fight with his hands or his words. Just like Isaac, Jesus went to the place God directed him. In fact, based on what we learn later in Scriptures, this place would later be known as Jerusalem—the very city that clamored for Christ’s crucifixion. But unlike Isaac, there was no sacrificial stay for Jesus. Though he cried out to his God in heaven, no one in heaven or on earth intervened as he hung and died on the cross. No one stepped in for Jesus, because Jesus had already stepped in for Isaac.

What do I mean? Look carefully at the story again. What stops Abraham? Rather, who stops him from sacrificing his son, his only son, his beloved son? It is none other than God’s own Son, his only Son, his beloved Son, our Savior Jesus Christ.

Isn’t it an angel that cries out to Abraham from heaven? It is, but listen to him! An angel is a messenger, but not always a created being. Listen to this messenger. (Gen 22:12) Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only Son. And when the angel of the Lord speaks a second time, he does something no holy angel could do. He swears by himself. (Gen 22:16-18) “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this…I will surely bless you…because you have obeyed me.” This is no created being. This is the second person of the Trinity. This is the pre-incarnate Christ. The voice that interceded for Isaac would one day sacrifice himself for all Isaac’s sins.

This same sinless Savior intercedes on our behalf. He has stood in our place. He has lived the spotless life we could not even begin to imagine. He has died the death our most unthinkable sins have earned. He has done this willingly. The Lord himself provided the Lamb. Himself.

That is why this is such a great story. A great story doesn’t always answer all your questions. A great story makes you hope for a sequel. The Lamb of God on Golgotha is the perfect sequel to the great story of Abraham and Isaac on Mount Moriah. Because there we see God’s love, God’s faithfulness put to the test. And he has proven to us that he should be feared, he ought to be loved, and he can be trusted, Because Christ stepped in for Isaac, we now know that God loves us, because he has not withheld his son, his only Son, his beloved Son, Jesus.

But one question still lingers: How could Abraham have said we will come back to you? Again, we are blessed to have a fuller Word from God than Abraham had. Heb. 11:17-19 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced 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 even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death. Abraham had never seen a dead person be raised back to life, so how could he conceive of something so unimaginable? God didn’t say Abraham, sacrifice your son, your only son, your beloved son, Isaac, and I’ll raise him back to life. But Abraham embraced God’s promises. The Lord had always kept his Word. In Ur. In Egypt. And everywhere in Canaan. That same God had promised he would give Abraham and Sarah a son in their old age. And he had done that. But God had also made another promise that through this son, his only son, his beloved son Isaac, God would make Abraham’s name great, his descendants numerous, and bless all nations on earth. For three days and three nights, Abraham chewed on this conundrum. It is only once they reach the place that we hear Abraham’s confidence. He reasoned God was holy and righteous, loving and powerful. One thing he was not, was a liar. So if God demanded this, the only solution was a miraculous raising back to life. Abraham wouldn’t return to his servants until he saw that Resurrection of his Son. But he didn’t have to.

Through the eyes of faith, he had come to believe that God was capable of doing just that. Through the witness of Scripture we have seen the Lord’s power and his love, too. He who has not spared his only Son, but given us life and light in his name, will not let us stand condemned. Nothing can separate us from God’s love.