Lay It All On the Altar
I know of few passages more difficult than Genesis 22:1-19, where Abraham is called to offer his son, his only son, his long awaited son on the altar before God. One thing that I have found, though, is that if we keep returning to those difficult passages the Lord unpacks the richest truths by the illumination and power of the Holy Spirit when we, in faith, trust that the hard stuff is still true.
I posted a blog a while ago titled “My Children Whom I Love...” and we did some preliminary unpacking of what Hannah went through when she gave her long awaited son, Samuel, back to the Lord. At THREE. Guys, I just can't even. But God. God can enable us and equip us when we step out in faith. Hannah's story is oh so similar to that of our well known father of the faith, Abraham. He was the first. They weren't even called Hebrews yet. Israelites weren't a thing and God hadn't spoken His many many promises into existence quite yet. Abraham hung onto one promise so far; that God would make him the father of many nations (Gensis 17:5). Pretty awesome promise for a 100 year old dude with no kids! We are going to power through the story of God making good on His promise and giving Abe and wifey a son as they turned the century on the clock. The story I want to get to is in Genesis 22 where God calls Abe to give Isaac up. Not just give him up, but sacrifice him with his own two hands, to travel, journey, to spend time en route to enact his own son's destruction, if you will.
In verse 2, God says, “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.”
To us in modern times, we have, seemingly, no context for this sort of an act, but in those times, pagan cultures were rampant and human sacrifice was likely atrociously common. Could it be that Abe wasn't terribly surprised by this expectation since he had seen it occur all around him? But it never came to that, did it? And God knew. God knew that Isaac would never even get a scratch. I wonder if it wasn't God's way of saying, “look at this act of human sacrifice to appease angry gods... you will NOT be like these people. You will not perform these acts. You will be a people different from the rest of the world.” Basically, “guys, this is NOT how we roll.”
Next, I think we need to look at God's abhorrence of idols, His hatred for them. “But there are no idols in this chapter,” you might say. Oh, but look closer my dear friend. Abraham had waited 100 years for a son. This is not just a man who had a heart to be a daddy, which is an entirely legit longing. This was a man whose family lineage, name, reputation were all at stake in a time where that was all a person's existence hinged on. AND on top of that, I am sure he was crazy protective and in love with this long awaited son of the promise. When God called him to obedience, he put everything on the table, literally. He didn't even hold back his own son. Time for a probing, uncomfortable question, Momma: do we put our love of our kids before our love and obedience to God? Will I stay up late reading stories, wrapping gifts so that Christmas is “magical”? Will I wake early to pack lunches, write love notes and get to the all day little league tournament or ballet recital?... but then do I miss my undisturbed devotion time unto the Lord? Ugh. I know this one is so uncomfortable. To what (whom) do I cling to most tightly? My children or God? Honestly, I feel like a “good mommy” when I say that I would do anything for my kids, even die. But would I do the same for God? Would I let go of it all? Count it all as loss for Christ (Phil 3:8-10)? I may not be bowing down to my children literally, but if they come between me and the Throne of Grace then, in effect, I am displacing my worship to God by devotion to my children and that is the same thing. Worship is giving priority time and attention to anything or anyone in our lives. Who or what is center stage for you?
Now, imagine this all from Isaac's perspective. You are bound and laying on an altar, about to be slain by your own father to appease a god that you may not fully know yet. It doesn't mention a struggle or fight...we can only guess and imagine what was going on in Isaac's head. I mean, he was old enough to take a long journey and carry a stack of wood up a mountain, so he had to be old enough to ponder this act and right and wrong and life and death and... for sure see his life flash before his eyes. Did he arrive at acceptance in those moments upon the cold stone. “This is my fate” kind of thing? He must have been in the middle of his thoughts when the voice boomed, “Abraham! Abraham!” and Dad was like, “Here I am!,” welcoming delay, I am sure. Verse 12-14, “He said, 'Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I 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.'”
In. His. Place. Isaac must have breathed the biggest sigh of relief of his life. In his place a ram would be given. A propitiation; something, someone else to satisfy this God that they were just getting to know. And isn't this the gospel? That I was upon my death, facing my total destruction and instead God provided a Lamb. Not just a lamb to tide Him over for a bit, inevitably requiring more for an insatiable god, but THE Lamb, the Perfect Lamb that would fully satisfy the debt to our perfect and holy God. He has such high, such perfect standards for holiness. He knew we couldn't provide such a sacrifice, so in His mercy and grace He did the providing.
God provided Himself the Lamb, His Son, His only begotten Son, Whom He loved (John 3:16). He provided. He took our place and, might I point out, He never asks us to sacrifice in a way that He was not first willing to. And where was Abraham when God provided? He was on the mountain, having taken the journey, walked out steps of faith, prepared and submitted and humbly bowed in worship. When God provided Abraham was literally in the act of obedience and worship. Are you waiting for God to provide? Have you walked out steps of obedience, moved forward on your journey of faith? Are you actively in worship? Or are you just rubbing the lamp, shaking the 8-Ball or waiting for the fairy dust to be sprinkled? Makes me think of this old rhyme: “stay under the spout where the blessings come out.” Be in the place of blessing and provision. Where is that? It is in submissive worship of our good God Who is worthy.
Lastly, God spoke to Abraham in response to his obedience, “now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” This is how we love God, by not withholding anything from Him, not even our kids, our marriage, our home, our relationships, our health, anything. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Then in 1 John 3:16, it says, “by this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” He did it first and we are to “love one another; as I have loved you,” Christ says in John 13:34.
Abraham was blessed as the father of God's chosen people. “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” (Genesis 22:18)
Because you have obeyed My voice.
I leave you with these thoughts: have you obeyed His voice, not withholding anything from Him? Remember, we can confidently give over our dearest possessions because we can trust that God is good, God is love and He loves our kids and husbands even more than we do, which is just wild.
But oh, Lord, strengthen my faith that I might obey.