When I was 16 my brother took me to Washington DC for the first time. I came into town hopped up with the adrenaline of being a small town boy in the big city for the first time. We went to the monuments, and I ran up all the stairs as fast as I could, doing my Rocky dance. Then we went to the Vietnam Memorial – I kept running around, yelling out questions about names of men we knew who fought. Then my brother pulled me aside and said – be quiet, this is a special place, anything you say disturbs the experience of the other visitors.
I feel that way when I preach on this text. It is so rich, powerful and moving that I feel like I should just be quiet and let you soak it in.
However, I also realize that throughout history many people have gotten caught up in the horror of this text that they have completely missed the beauty. Soren Kierkagaard said it represented a great evil, and Abraham should have told God no.
So I will try to brush away the darkness from this text, and hopefully allow you to see its beauty more clearly. The best possible way to see the cost of redemption and the depth of love is to consider the sacrifice of the only son.
Read this Text and ask God to speak to you from it.
Gen 22:1 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.” 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 am I, 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 am I.” 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.”
Older
Top
