Sacrificing Isaac

This Sunday, the teaching was on the sacrifice of Isaac in Genesis 22.

In certain circles, Genesis 22:1-18 is one of the more controversial passages in scripture.  Atheistic sites will quote from it to prove that God is an evil god who demands child sacrifice.  Of course, when they do quote from it, or other passages, to prove this point they completely neglect context.  The passage begins with the announcement that God was "testing" Abraham, rather than giving him an order He wanted Abraham to carry out to completion.  The story bears this out, as in verses 11-13 God sends an angel to stop Abraham at the critical moment.  Then, of course, there's the larger context of the Bible itself, particularly the Old Testament, which denounces the practice of child sacrifice as utterly detestable to God.

So, while the story of the (almost) sacrifice of Isaac is not proof that God demands child sacrifice (He doesn't), it is proof of several other, more relevant things.

First, it's proof that God can test us.  He speaks to us in various ways.  To Abraham, He used an angel and some other unspecified means.  I see, in the Bible, no reason to believe that He cannot do the same in our time.  When He does, He may test us as well.  Not always will everything God says to us be intended as His last word and ultimate plan for our lives.  The story of Abraham gives us some idea of how far afield God's tests can be.  Just one chapter before this, God had promised Abraham that he would have descendants through Isaac.  That was God's ultimate plan for Abraham's life, as the end of the story in chapter 22 confirms.  There is an obvious contradiction between telling a man his descendants, through a particular son, will be innumerable and greatly blessed, and telling that man he must kill that son before he can sire any offspring.  Furthermore, we today know (even if Abraham didn't) that God hates child sacrifice with a passion.  But God was able to give Abraham the sacrifice of Isaac as a test, despite how far it deviated from His expressed plan for Abraham's life and His overall moral will.

Second, it is proof of how we should react to a test from God.  Abraham is universally praised for his actions here, not only in the Old Testament, but also in the New.  He is the foremost example in the Bible of what faith should look like when tested by God.  And what is his reaction?  Though God's command to sacrifice Isaac in verse 2 is so very contrary to God's earlier promises about Isaac, and to His overall moral outrage over child sacrifice, Abraham did not consider these apparent contradictions to nullify what God had said to him.  He did not consider these (legitimate) objections reason enough to disobey.  When God commanded him to sacrifice Isaac, he obeyed, even to the point of binding Isaac atop a pile of wood on the altar and raising the knife to slaughter his son (verses 9-10).  It's important to note, though, that while he obeyed God's commands even in the case of the test that seemed contrary to His promises, He did not let go of the promises.  Hebrews gives us a glimpse into his internal thoughts in it's description of these events, telling us that Abraham obeyed, still expecting God to fulfill His promises through Isaac, because "he considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead."  Thus Abraham followed God, even when God seemed contradictory, knowing that God would lead Him well and fulfill His every promise through that leading, even if it literally took a miracle to make God's direction and His promises match.

Third, it is proof that we can trust God in and through anything.  Abraham trusted God to lead Him well and to fulfill His promises even if they seemed contradictory to God's leading.  The story shows that his trust was not misplaced.  God did not allow Abraham to complete the sacrifice, but sent an angel to stop him, announcing that it had been a test.  Not only did this allow God to keep His promises of descendants through Isaac, but it also proves that God is trustworthy even when He tests.  We do not have to be constantly on our guard against guidance from God which might be meant as a test.  God does not expect us to determine ahead of time whether He's testing us or not.  If He did, Abraham would have been chided for obeying God during the test rather than correctly deducing that it was a test.  As it was, Abraham apparently had no idea that God was testing him until God announced it at the end of the test (otherwise Hebrews would have concluded, "for Abraham considered that it was all really a test from God and that God did not actually want him to go through with it")--and that was perfectly fine by God.  The reason why we don't have to bear the pressure of figuring out when God is testing us and when He isn't is because (as in the case of Abraham) God Himself will let us know it's a test, when He wants us to stop.  He did not have any trouble getting that angel to Abraham in time to stop him from killing his son.  He was even able to arrange for a ram to get stuck nearby at just the right time and place that it would be available and visible the moment Abraham was called off.  For bonus points, He arranged the whole thing as a double analogy of Christ (both with Abraham acting as the Father, sacrificing the life of the Son, and with the ram being a second, additional picture of Christ).  If God can so seamlessly choreograph the announcement and conclusion of the test of Abraham, He is surely capable of letting us know when something's a test and when it isn't.  We can trust Him to do so in our own lives.

Finally, it is proof that Abraham loved God more than the son or the promises God gave him.  In this respect, it's not much different from the test Job faced, except that in Job's case God actually allowed Job's children to be killed, his health to be destroyed, and his possessions to be taken away.  Abraham did not actually lose his son that day, but in following God's voice, he risked it.  By accepting that risk, he proved that, in his own mind, his love for God and relationship to God was worth more to him than his own son.  Isaac was, as the passage rightly says in verse 2, a beloved son to Abraham...but Abraham loved God more.  May the same be said of us, in all things.  Like Abraham, we may never have to actually give them up.  We may never even be asked.  But may we always be willing, because we love Him more.