Genesis 22:1-12 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs,
Today’s passage is Genesis 22:1-12. Let’s go!
Genesis 22:1-12 (NIV)
1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied.
2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”
3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.
4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.
5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”
6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together,
7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.
9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
11 But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied.
12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
On verses 1-12: In one of the most shocking and powerful scenes in the Bible, God tells Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac on the altar. This does not appear to be a spur of the moment, spontaneous event. It would take Abraham, Isaac and their servant more than a day to travel to the place where God would tell Abraham to conduct the sacrifice (v4).
Why would God tell Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac after promising that Abraham’s line of descendants would be born through Isaac (see Genesis 21:12)? How could God tell Abraham to sacrifice his only son whom he loves? When I read this passage today, the sense I get is that, though Isaac had no idea, deep down Abraham sensed that somehow God was up to something special and that God would come through in a powerful way.
Does God ask for and approve of human beings sacrificing their children? No, this was a test of Abraham’s faith. In a way you might even say that in Genesis 20 Abraham put God to the test by allowing Sarah to become Abimelech’s concubine. Now God was putting Abraham to the test by seeing if Abraham would follow through with obeying God’s every word. Abraham passed the test. As Hebrews 11:17-19 says,
Hebrews 11:17-19 (NIV)
17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son,
18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”
19 Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.
What can we learn from this? From time to time God will allow us to be in circumstances where our faith will be tested. He may ask us to do something that we don’t want to do or that doesn’t make sense to us. At that point the test is: will we trust and obey God or will we trust in ourselves? Will we place God’s will above our own will? Will we obey God no matter what the cost? It is through testing that our faith grows and gets refined.
Also, I believe Abraham being willing to sacrifice his only son Isaac for God is pointing us forward to the day when God would sacrifice His only Son Jesus for us. Likewise, Isaac’s coming back from the dead figuratively (as Hebrews 11:19 describes) points us forward to the day when Jesus Christ would come back from the dead. When God tells Abraham to sacrifice “your only son, Isaac, whom you love” (v2), God is clearly drawing a parallel with what God Himself would later do in the New Testament: take His own only Son (John 3:16) whom He loves (Matthew 17:5) and sacrifice him. Genesis 22 points us forward figuratively to what God would do for all of us in reality by sacrificing His Son Jesus Christ.
Heavenly Father, thank You that You so loved the world that You gave Your only Son, Jesus Christ, whom You love. May I trust You and place Your will above my own, knowing that You have a greater plan than anything I could imagine. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
