GOD had said to Abraham take your only son, the son you love to the place I will show you and sacrifice him there. Genesis 22
Sacrificing is hard. Laying it down. Placing the knife to the throat of our desires is a hard, hard thing. Sometimes I do it better than others; perhaps you do too. Perhaps the deciding factor is how much do we love what we are sacrificing, and for Whom and to Whom are we offering the sacrifice.
3 So Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son. He split wood for the burnt offering, and got up and went to the place about which God had told him. source
That’s what obedience looks like. The hardest thing Abraham had ever done in all his over 100 years, he did!
This passage, Genesis 22, is rich with allegory. May I share with you a few of those I see?
A Father – Abraham picturing GOD
A Son – Issac picturing JESUS
Wood – Issac carried the wood; JESUS carried the Cross.
Fire – picturing judgment (our judgment fell on JESUS) and Who controls that fire? The Father.
Knife – the shedding of blood (without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin)
Three days – And on the third day JESUS arose from death
There is more but I did say a few, didn’t I?
One more and I appreciate it so much: Substitution. On that fateful day in the life of Abraham and Issac, a SUBSTITUTION was made. A ram for Issac.
And for you and me a substitution was made: JESUS!
Romans 6:23 Tree of Life Version (TLV) 23 For sin’s payment is death, but God’s gracious gift is eternal life in Messiah Yeshua our Lord.
Isaiah 53:6 New King James Version (NKJV) 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Ephesians 2:8 Complete Jewish Bible (CJB) 8 For you have been delivered by grace through trusting, and even this is not your accomplishment but God’s gift.
Have you trusted JESUS? Have you trusted this Substitution is enough to save you?
HOLY SPIRIT, I ask that the heart of every soul who comes to this page who has not trusted JESUS will know Your Voice and will say Yes today.
Revelation 3:20 New International Version (NIV) 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.
In response, Abraham said: Here I am.
In response to our need for a Savior, JESUS said and still says to us: Here I am!
And we say?
