Of Sons and Sacrifice

Most of you here have long finished school and formal studies but I suspect many of you will still be able to recall that feeling that came around all too often - that is, exam time.

The biggest exam period for many of us would have been the exams at the end of High School, called the HSC (although I suspect some of you might have done the leavers certificate instead).

Now it is always interesting to watch how people approach this period. Their approach usually fall between one of two extremes.

At one extreme is the “I don’t care” approach. There will be no study and no revision. They will just turn up, answer what they can and get what they’ll get. After all, life’s too short to be stuck behind books. Life should be enjoyed.

At the other extreme, you will find people who for the entire last year of their schooling, they will do little else then the study and revise. They will have summaries made up, and summaries of their summaries. All their notes will be carefully organised and categorised. Usually their room will be filled with notes to remember. These people will skip most (if not all) social engagements because there just isn’t enough time.

Most people however are somewhere between those extremes.

Now, I don’t think I would get too much argument if I suggested that there is a strong correlation between where people are on this spectrum and there final results. Those who sacrifice time and relaxation to study, will generally get a better mark compared to the person who makes little effort.

On one level, this should come as no surprise. Certainly we know this on a theoretical level. But yet for some reason, we want quick easy results.

And this is not just for exams. We pick up a guitar or sit down to the piano. We get a few quick lessons and we want to sound like an accomplished musician. But it doesn’t happen.

We say, I want a better job, as if we could wish it into existence, but we don’t want to go through all the hard work that is required to get it, and so it remains just a wish.

A test of faith

When it comes to our Christian walk and being close to God, we find something similar, although I’ll say that with a very important clarification.

You see, when we go on our journey of faith with God, just like the diligent student that cuts out anything that distracts from study, we too need to cut out those things that drive us away from God. The clarification is that this analogy shouldn’t be taken too far as it isn’t hard work that will get us close to God, but rather a reliance on him to the exclusion of all other things.

This morning we are going to conclude our series on Abraham, and what we’ll see is the culmination of an amazing faith journey. One where the promise of God is fulfilled, but also with a big test.

The test that Abraham finds himself with will be a difficult one for us to make sense of and I will spend a little time wrestling with it, but I really want to spend the time looking at the nature of how Abraham is tested.

As we explore this, we will be in a better position to consider our own faith journey.

You see, here is the question which can be difficult to answer. Are we actually walking by faith or not?

We can easily say the right words. But what about when we are put to the test. Is it really faith, or is it some fake impression of it?

Abraham

So let’s dive in and explore what is going on...

But before I look at today’s passage, let me just briefly take you back to where it all started - the promise made to Abraham (or Abram as he was known at that point) in Genesis 12.

The initial component of the promise made to him was that he was to be made into a great nation.

This then started a long and unlikely journey as the promised is able to be fulfilled. Of course, one of the most challenging aspects being that Abraham was 75 years old and didn’t have any children. Which of course makes it very difficult to father a large nation.

Abraham battles with fears and doubts, and in the process, takes his wife’s slave, Hagar as his own wife and has a child called Ishmael. This will provide a layer of complexity that we will look at very shortly.

But then, when Abraham is 100 years old, and his wife Sarah is 90, finally Sarah bears a son who they call Isaac.

This journey that has taken many twists and turns finally seems to be a point where we can see a clear trajectory to the final promise. That’s not to say the promise is complete - certainly at this point there is a lot still to be fulfilled. After all, one promised child is hardly a great nation, but at least we can see how it could potentially move forward.

Abraham’s tests

So Abraham has got this far, admittedly with a number of stumbles along the way. But he’s here.

But it’s not quite over yet. You see this journey of faith involves two aspects of faith. Firstly, God’s faithfulness. Hopefully as we’ve looked at this series this aspect of faith has been well and truly established. God has always been faithful to his promise, even when Abraham wasn’t.

But the other aspect of the faith journey is Abraham’s own faith. Does he have the faith to cling to God’s promise or not. There have been some signs that he does, but when it comes to the crunch, will his faith hold strong or will it be shown wanting?

Test with Ishmael

Well, the biggest part of this test is going to come in chapter 22, however I want to come back to chapter 21, because here we see another aspect of the test, even if we might not normally think of it as such.

Now it is in chapter 21 that we actually read about the birth of Isaac, which given the lead up we’ve had to his birth, you might have thought the author would have made a bigger deal about it, but it all happens in just one verse, namely verse 2, where it states, Sarah fell pregnant, and then had the promised child. There is a little more elaboration in the next few verses, particularly as considers the other aspect of the meaning of the name Isaac. You see, the name, which means laughter, reflected doubt Abraham and Sarah had when they previously laughed at the idea of them having children. But now the laughter is a positive thing as it flows from their joyfulness.

But in verse 8 we move forward to the time when Isaac has now been weaned which probably implies he is about 3 or 4.

We then see the problem that was caused when Abraham had a child with another woman.

You see, in verse 9 it tells us that “Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking”.

Now we loose a bit of the irony in this in the translation, because the word for ‘mocking’ that is used of Ishmael is actually a play on the name Isaac. Remember, the name Isaac means laughter, and so we are seeing Ishmael act in a negative aspect of what Isaac is.

This act disturbed Sarah and so she approaches Abraham to tell him that he needs to get rid of Ishmael.

Now in some ways we lose the significance of what is going on here. You see, we tend not to see Ishmael in a very positive light, except maybe to have a little sympathy for someone caught up in dramas not of his own making.

But it is evident that Abraham loved him very much. Abraham had previously asked God that Ishmael might have the blessing of the promise, and in this passage, we’re told that Sarah’s request to see him gone caused him to be distressed greatly (that’s in verse 11).

But in verse 12, God tells him not to be distressed and to indeed listen to his wife, because the promise is to be with Isaac.

And so what we are seeing is actually a very difficult thing for Abraham, he has to cut off his first born son. Now we are all perhaps very aware of dilemma Abraham faces with his son Isaac and chapter 22, but it is easy to gloss over this task without giving it much thought. Certainly it doesn’t involve killing anyone, but it is clear that this was very distressing.

And of course it makes sense. Abraham lived most of his life childless. He then has a child and has to give it up.

Reframing

To help us make sense of this, it is perhaps worth reframing to see the bigger picture. Hopefully in the process we can see why such a callous thing of rejecting a child is occuring.

What we need to recognise is the importance of the promise and nothing getting in the way of it. You see, Ishmael was a result of Abraham not trusting in God but taking things into his own hands.

Even when it was made clear to him that this is not the child in which the promise lies, Abraham did not want to let go.

While it can almost seem callous of him to cut him off, but in the bigger view, keeping him close was going to cause problems.

What this doesn’t mean

So firstly, let me clarify what this doesn’t mean. This story should not justify cutting people out of our lives because they don’t suit our needs. The events in this account are part of a very specific plan of God’s that will ultimately lead to redemption for all man kind.

What this does mean

But an application that we can take from this is the need to cut things out of our lives that lead us astray from God’s promise.

And if you don’t know God’s promise on your lives, let me tell you because it is quite simple. God promises that you can have a new life in him and that he will be there to comfort and support you.

Unfortunately there are so many things in our lives that distract: money and possessions, careers and ambitions, seeking our own glory, or satisfying our lusts.

We turn to these because we doubt the real promise. Just like Ishmael, these things mock the true promise. And though it is hard, we need to cut it out.

Ishmael still loved

Before I move to the next chapter, it is worth noting that while Abraham had to separate himself from Ishmael, God did still bless Ishmael. Ishmael might not have been the promised child, but he was still to be someone special.

Test with Isaac

We could go on about this, but I want to talk about the second test in chapter 22 as this is perhaps even more difficult for us to get our heads around.

Now it’s important to note that right at the start of verse 1 of the chapter, it states clearly that God is testing Abraham. As we get into some difficulties in interpretation later, it is significant that it does say this.

So, let’s look at what happens.

We’re told that some time has passed, but this is quite vague.

Issac is still described as a boy, but Isaac does enter into a dialogue with his father, so he must at least be of an age to have such a conversation. So I kind of think of him probably around 10 or so, but that is just a guess.

In verse 1 God then summons Abraham.

It is then in verse 2 that we get the command that seems so hard to understand.

God commands him to take his son to the region of Moriah and to there sacrifice him as a burnt offering.

Now there are a few things to note about this verse. Firstly, note the clarification given about his son.

It describes him as his only son - a description I’ll pick up on shortly, but for now, it is an interesting observation given what just happened with Ishmael.

It also describes him as the one whom Abraham loves indicating that even though Abraham had a great love for Ishmael, the same also goes for Isaac.

But then we get to the sacrifice bit which sounds so abhorrent. To perhaps makes matters worse, a burnt offering is an offering that is entirely consumed by the flames as an act of giving something entirely over to God.

Now of course the big dilemma for us is that this verse has God commanding a child sacrifice, something that is not only abhorrent to us, but also expressly condemned in God’s own laws which comes just a few generations after Abraham. And so this begs the question - how can this be?

But as big as that question is, I’m going to hold off just a moment to giving it consideration while I briefly look at what happens. But rest assured, I will come back to this question.

The sacrifice

Well, what we find is that despite the shockingness of the request, Abraham is ready to obey. The next morning, he takes his son and two servants, and they head off towards Moriah which is about 70km away, or about a three day journey.

On the third day, he sees the place designated by God, and tells his servants to stay there. Interestingly, pay attention to what he tells them about what he is going to do - “We will worship and then we will come back to you”.

It’s hard to know exactly what is going on in the mind of Abraham, but he does say that “we” (in the plural) will come back. Whether he suspects a change in the plan or not, it’s hard to tell, although the narrative clearly suggests that he has every intention of carrying it out.

As just Isaac and Abraham move up however, Isaac starts to question where the offering is. Abraham’s answer is simply, God will provide.

But in verse 9, they reach the destination, and Abraham binds Isaac.

Verse 10, we have the heart wrenching moment. The knife is raised. Abraham is just moments from carrying out the order.

But the angel of the Lord intervenes.

The angel of the Lord says: “Do not lay a hand on the boy. Do not do anything to him”.

And then, remember I said in verse 1 it said God was testing Abraham. The angel of the Lord then says: “Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son”.

At that point, Abraham looks up and there in the thicket, a ram was caught by its horn.

God did provide. There was no child sacrifice, rather we see a substitute brought in.

The account ends by a reaffirmation of the promise given back in Genesis 12 when this all started.

Explanation

Now there is a lot going on in this passage, so let’s go back and explore some of it.

As I said before, we have a big question on our hands: how can God command something as abhorrent as a child sacrifice.

Now an easy answer would be to cling to what I highlighted before that it was a test, and in doing so assume that God never intended for the sacrifice to go ahead, rather just wanted to see if Abraham would do it.

The big problem with this interpretation is that it leaves God as acting deceptively.

What this means is that we need to delve a bit deeper. This is one of the beautiful things about scripture. You see, the Bible is full of tricky things to understand, and I suggest that God has deliberately made it this way because as we dig a bit deeper we can unravel some deep truths, and I believe that is exactly what we can do here.

You see, not only is this account a big test for Abraham, it also points us to something bigger. And incidentally, this bigger picture is also the very thing that will make the promise of being a blessing to all nation a reality.

You see, this passage is clearly designed to point us to the sacrifice of Jesus.

Even the multiple references to Isaac being his only son reminds us of the language of Jesus being God’s only son.

Isaac becomes what we refer to as a type of Christ. Except that Isaac isn’t Christ, and so that’s why the sacrifice never goes through.

And then we get a beautiful picture of what we refer to as subsitutionary atonement. That is, that a substitute is given for the one who is to be sacrificed.

In this account, Isaac is substituted for a ram. In the case of Christ, it is us, the ones deserving of death being substituted with Christ.

And so, while it still becomes difficult to fully get our heads around it, God is not trying to be deceptive, but rather setting up a pattern which will only ultimately be able to be fulfilled with Christ. He is the only one who can perfectly be the sacrifice that we need.

Once we consider this account in light of the bigger picture of scripture, we see a great depth, a depth which I’ve only begun to explore now, but one that I would recommend you meditate on because there is a lot to be explored in this.

Being tested

But I want to just briefly come back to this idea of being tested, because it is on this idea that I want to leave you with a challenge.

Abraham lived a long full life with many challenges and struggles, but when he was ultimately tested in his faith, he showed where his trust truly lay.

His faith wasn’t always perfect, but when it counted he was able to put aside the things that were dear to him, so that he could be part of the promise God had for him.

The challenge for us is to really test where our faith is.

Thankfully we can be assured that our test will not be in offering a child sacrifice - this was certainly a specific part of God’s plan, but our test can still be very challenging.

First we need to consider: what is it that is stopping us from clinging to the promise God has for us?

And then the big challenge: how are we going to cut it out?

Can I suggest that this is where fasting can be effective. Fasting can take many forms, one of which is to cut certain things out of your life for a certain period of time. For example, some people might have a dependency on social media, and so fasting from this can teach us to not rely on this.

While fasting might only be temporary, it can help us to form really good habits.

But sometimes certain things need to be cut out entirely. In this case, can I suggest making yourself accountable to someone to help you get rid of it.

Conclusion

Tests are not fun, and while we would generally prefer we didn’t have to go through them at all, the reality is that they are very useful in refining us.

They help us to see what we need to work on.

God has a beautiful plan for us. As we’ve gone through this series on Abraham we’ve seen how he is always faithful to us, but he also wants us to be faithful to him.

Are you prepare to cut out the things in your life that stop you, and truly put your trust in God and God alone?