Faith to sacrifice
By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,” concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense. By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come (Hebrews 11:17-20).
Abraham did not know where he was going when God first tested his faith. But verse 2 of Genesis 22 recalls the occasion when God told Abraham exactly where to go and what to do. Abraham had to go to the land of Moriah and sacrifice Isaac on one of the mountains there. It was the greatest test of Abraham’s remarkable faith.
We are shocked that God would ask Abraham to do such a thing. And what possible purpose did God have, given that Isaac was Abraham’s heir and the embodiment of all the promises God had made to the patriarch?
But Abraham doesn’t question God’s command. Abraham was very good at appealing to God. For example, he pleaded to God to spare Sodom. Abraham prayed for God to accept Ishmael to be his heir before Isaac was born. He wasn’t afraid to ask God to change His decisions. But this time, instead of trying to alter the situation, Abraham immediately responds to God’s command and sets out for the land of Moriah. He had learned to completely trust in His God. He had the faith to sacrifice to God and concluded that God was able to raise up Isaac from the dead, which is what happened in a figurative sense. Isaac’s faith was also remarkable. He never resisted the circumstances he found himself in, but willingly and calmly submitted to them.
In the first book in the Bible, God teaches us, through Abraham’s faith, about the sacrifice He himself would make in the gift of His only Son, Jesus Christ, whom He loved. God foretold, in the faith of Isaac, the time when Jesus, in response to the Father’s will and in love for us, would become the sacrifice for the sin of the world (John 3:16) and that He would rise again (Hebrews 13:20).
The story teaches us several important things about faith:
True faith rests entirely upon God;
God sometimes tests our faith to sacrifice, without requiring us to do so, but to strengthen our faith in Him;
Complete belief in God’s will and purposes and a willingness to live a sacrificial life of service are at the centre of the life of faith.
God’s whole relationship with us is based on a love that sacrifices. That love produces a sacrificial response from our lives: “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased” (Hebrews 13:15-16).
