Sacrifice of Isaac

Sermon by Mark Johnson of Steiger Minneapolis

Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am."
He said, "Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you."
So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance.
Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you."
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 the two of them walked on together.
Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, "My father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." And he said, "Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"
Abraham said, "God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." So the two of them walked on together.
Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am."
He said, "Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for I now know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me."
Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son.
Abraham called the name of that place The LORD Will Provide, as it is said to this day, "In the mount of the LORD it will be provided."
Then the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven,
and said, "By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies.

Genesis 22:1-18
 

                 We’ve been following Abraham for a while now.  Things haven’t always been pretty.  It’s been a rough journey.  But at this point, it seems like life is starting to look good.  The promised child has arrived, his house and his relationships are in order… things are looking good.  And then this happens. God tells him to kill his son.  Now, none of this story would make sense if we didn’t have the introduction telling us that it is a test.  But Abraham, Isaac, and Sarah don’t have that information ahead of time.  So for them it would have been horribly confusing, because it doesn’t seem to match with God’s character as we have seen it up until now.  The only clue we have to Abraham’s thinking are his few words to Isaac: “God will provide.”  It seems like he hangs onto that as the story moves in slow motion.  It’s all he knows at this point.  But it must still have been torture. 

                I will admit that this is a confusing story, but I think that even if we can’t explain everything, there are some things we can definitely learn.

                The first thing is that we can’t really avoid is that God tests his people.  Reading this story, it’s hard to deny that sometimes the hard times we are going through aren’t just random, but are actually God-designed tests.  There are times when God says he wants something, and we don’t understand it, and it cuts to our core.  So the question is, Why?  Why does he do this?  Is it because he doesn’t know how things will turn out?  Some people think so.  But I don’t agree with that, since elsewhere in the Bible, and even in the chapters of Genesis we have already looked at, he knows people’s hearts.  My opinion is that tests call out what is on the inside of people.

                When God call us to things, often he will test us, to draw out what is in us so that we - and others - can see it.  When God gives us dreams, he will test them.  Sometimes a dream needs to die, and sometimes we just need to give up control so that God can use it the way he desires.  Sometimes a gift God has given us becomes an idol and needs to be surrendered.  And letting those things go hurts. It feels dark. 

                If God is good, what we go through will be the best for us.  That is certain.  But this testing is also dangerous, because some people bail out when it gets hard.  Sometimes what comes out of us isn’t so good.  So you need to know that God will test your dreams.  You need to be prepared.  Nobody gets out of here without a test.

                The second thing I think we can definitely learn from this passage is that God provides.  You may have heard the song, “Jehovah Jireh, my provider, Jehovah Jireh cares for me….”  This is the passage that name of God comes from… because God provided a sacrifice.  He provided what Abraham needed to worship him.  He’s not just Jehovah Jireh about finances.  He’s the provider of what we need to worship him.  You know the hopes and dreams I was saying we need to be willing to let go of?  If they are from God, he will give us what we need in order to do what he has called us to do.  We can be sure of that.  He is a provider.  And ultimately, of course, he provided Jesus Christ, and a way for us to come to him.  God provides.

                I also think this passage clearly teaches that worship is about giving.  Abraham was going to this place to worship.  And he was going to give up his son as his act of worship.  The truth is that we live in a consumer culture.  And even if we don’t like the “consumer mentality,” it’s hard for us to get away from. We use all sorts of things to fill a need, which is all about consuming.  And sadly, I think, we have moved that mentality into the church.  We judge a worship service by “what we get out of it.”  We judge God by how he makes us feel.  But worship and life are about giving.  Yes, we need to “taste and see that the Lord is good,” but we also need to give.  It’s about giving glory to him.  Yes, he’ll take care of what we need, but it’s about giving.  I think that when churches and ministries start because we need something for ourselves, it’s not right, because there is selfishness at its core.  To worship God, we need to give.

                The last thing that I think we have to acknowledge from this passage is that following God is about obedience.  Ultimately, that’s what it’s all about.  God looks at us and asks, “If I say this, will you do it?”  Jesus said, “If you love me, obey my commandments” (John 14:15).  And following God ultimately isn’t about what I become, how fulfilled I am, or anything like that.  It’s about a relationship with God, which is shown in obedience.  The Bible gives a lot of pictures to describe our relationship with God - parent-child, friends, lovers, and many others - and they are helpful but all eventually fall short, because they are all relationships we have with another person.  But here, we are talking about a relationship with God.  He knows what is right.  He knows what is best.  He’s not fallible like a human.  Abraham knew this, so he decided to obey.  His relationship with God was how it was supposed to be.  And because of his obedience, more avenues of blessing were opened up for him and for the world.

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