The Sacrifice of Isaac - the Third Wednesday in Lent

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[Genesis 22:1-19; Hebrews 11:1-3,17-19]

The Lamb Instead of Me

Was it his great obedience? Is the point of the sacrifice of Isaac in Genesis 22:1-19 that Abraham was so obedient that he would do anything, even kill his own son? And we hope we’re never asked to do anything so severe. And our kids hope so!

As is often the case, we get in the New Testament a clearer and fuller understanding of what we see first in the Old Testament. The New fulfills the Old and gives us the understanding.

In Genesis 22, God did test Abraham and called him to this very strange task. “Abraham!” God said. “Here I am”, said Abraham. “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 will tell you.”

Is God now commanding Abraham to engage in a form of sacrifice which was practiced by the nations surrounding Abraham in that land, but which God strictly forbids? Had God suddenly changed his mind? Or is something far different happening? Something which, in some way, to some degree, Abraham understood?

Abraham rose early the next morning, saddled his donkey, took two of his men with him, and his son Isaac. He cut the wood for the offering. On the third day, they arrive at the mountain God indicated to Abraham.

Abraham takes the fire and the knife, lays the wood on Isaac’s shoulders, and says to his men, “Stay here… I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.”

As they walk up the mountain, Isaac speaks up: “My father!” “Here I am, my son”, says Abraham. Isaac says, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham answers, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.”

Abraham proceeds. As does Isaac. Isaac is bound. Abraham raises the knife. And in the last moment, at just the right time, God provides the substitute. “Abraham, Abraham, don’t lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him,” shouts the angel of the Lord.

And there is a ram. A ram, its head caught in thorns, to be offered in place of Abraham’s son. Just as Abraham had told his son, “God will provide for Himself the lamb.” In this case, a ram.  

Abraham’s obedience to God’s test was not cold or austere. It was the obedience of faith. Abraham loved his son, had waited a long time for him, and believed God’s promises about him. Abraham is not called, in Scripture, the man of obedience but “the man of faith” [Galatians 3:9]

If you remember, Isaac is the son promised to Abraham in his old age. Sarah, Abraham’s wife, was barren. Yet, in their old age, at age ninety for her and one hundred for him, God provided Abraham with a son, an heir – a son about whom God made a promise.

Back in Genesis 15, before Sarah had ever conceived, yet in their old age, God said to Abraham, “Your very own son shall be your heir…” “Look toward heaven, Abraham, and number the stars, if you are able to number them…” “So shall your offspring be.” “And Abraham believed the Lord, and God counted his faith as righteousness.” [Genesis 15:4-6]

“You will have a son from Sarah [see also Gen. 17:17; 21:2]. Through that very son, your descendants, your offspring – your grandkids and great great great grandkids – will become nations, tribes, a great and numerous people.” 

If God’s promise to Abraham about Isaac is true, then Isaac will live. Even though God has given this strange command, somehow, in some way or another, Isaac will live. Even if Isaac dies, Isaac will live. Because God promised descents through Isaac.

Though God had commanded Abraham to offer his son, Abraham nevertheless believed that Isaac would, somehow, be coming down the mountain alive with him that day. He said to his two men, “Stay here; I and the boy will go over there and then come again to you.”

It was based on this faith that Abraham did not withhold his only son [Gen. 22:12,16]. This is not my own interpretation. This is what the New Testament Scripture tells us, as we read: “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, ‘Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.’ He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.” [Hebrews 11:17-19]

And, as Abraham told his son, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for an offering.” And now, in these days, God has provided the Lamb for an offering. The “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” [John 1:29]. Jesus.

In your place – instead of you – instead of your sons or daughters – that we need not die for our sins, God gave His one-and-only Son, whom He loves, to die for sin in our place as the offering that ends all offerings – the sacrifice, in full, which atones for the sins of the world. The Lamb sacrificed instead of me, which saves me, forever, from sin, death, and the devil. God’s Son, the Lamb of God, in our stead on the cross.

Father Abraham offering his son, Isaac, in Genesis points us to the Father of us all offering His beloved Son, Jesus, for our sake. Jesus, the one righteous one, the only spotless lamb, offered Himself for sinners – ending the need for sacrifice as the way to make us right with God. Once-for-all. “It is finished”, He said.

Abraham is “the man of of faith”. Abraham “believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness” [Gen. 15:6; Galatians 3:6; Romans 4:3]. You also are alive to God, and are counted righteous to Him, not by your works, but by faith – “So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.” [Galatians 3:9]

“Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.’” [Romans 4:4-8]

All because the perfect Lamb of God was offered for your sins, shortcomings, and failures instead of you.

What does this mean in life? God will not call you to the task He called Abraham. That was a one-time thing, and it is finished. But you are called to many tasks and callings in life for God and for your neighbor.

That God no longer looks at your daily shortcomings, failures, and sins – because your life is washed in the blood of the Lamb – means that you can always approach what God has given you to do with confidence.

You are not condemned. You are not on the run. God is not against you. Because of the Lamb, God is for you. He is now your dear Father, not your scrutinizing Judge. He is not holding yesterday’s failure over your head. He is there for you.

We might be, in some ways, C- people called to A+ tasks. Serving our neighbor. Serving His people. Serving our children. God forgives the ‘minuses’ and gives the ‘pluses’.

All that is wrong in me, the Lamb has carried to the cross in Himself. Therefore, we can approach the many things God has called us to do with confidence – confidence in Him — that He is willing to give the success in me, even in me, that He desires.

And because of the Lamb, you can now also approach God’s throne with confidence. And His altar with confidence. And pray with confidence. “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” [Hebrews 4:16] – because of the Lamb who went to the cross instead of us. Amen.