This Sunday’s Old Testament lesson begins with the words “God tested Abraham”. And what a severe test it was! I am wholly repulsed whenever I read this section of Genesis to hear of a God that would require his servant to sacrifice the life of his own child. But this scripture is so tough to swallow that I end up reading it more than once, and I’m always drawn to Abraham’s assurance when Isaac asks about the sacrificial animal - “God himself will provide the lamb”.
Did Abraham know what would happen? Did he at least suspect? Do I have that kind of obedience to God? Will I do as I am told by God… no matter what?
The journey from the dusty desert rock that Isaac was bound upon to the site of the cross at Golgotha is less than 40 miles, but over 1,600 years separated the two events. In Abraham’s anguish at the loss of his child, perhaps we can understand our God a little better. In Abraham’s obedience to God we can certainly understand our savior much better. As Christians let us never forget that when the time really came for a son to be sacrificed, it was the God’s own Son and the sacrifice was for us.
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