Genesis 22:1-24 NKJV
Today’s reading shows the climactic triumph of Abraham’s faith over all of the weaknesses and the self-reliance he had displayed in the past. What father could readily obey such a command from God, to offer up his own son as a burnt offering? But Abraham didn’t refuse or argue or try to bargain for his son’s life. He “rose early in the morning” to set out immediately with his beloved son to carry out God’s dreadful command. What could he have been thinking?
We don’t have to wonder. The Holy Spirit gives us some valuable insight into Abraham’s thinking. “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” (Heb. 11:17-19). In other words, God had promised that Abraham would have descendants through Isaac. Abraham didn’t yet have any descendants through Isaac. Therefore, even if Isaac died, the Lord must raise him from the dead in order to keep His promise. Abraham must have struggled mightily to raise that knife over his son, but he was ready to take his son’s life, because God had commanded it, and because he was convinced that this same God would somehow bring his son back to life.
This teaches us how genuine faith works. It doesn’t just hope beyond hope that something will happen, because someone wants it to happen. Genuine faith takes a word and promise of God and is thoroughly convinced that God will keep His word, no matter what, even if it requires a miracle, even if it requires raising someone from the dead.
Of course, all this points to the sacrifice God the Father actually made for us in giving His only-begotten Son into death for our sins. The LORD provided the Savior and the sacrifice we sinners needed in order to be adopted as His children. And if He didn’t spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also provide us with everything else we need? Let us pray: O LORD, You have proven Your faithfulness time and again. We trust in You to provide for us, even as You have so graciously provided us with a Savior from sin. Amen.