Abraham and Issac

The story found in Genesis 22 of Abraham and Isaac’s trip to Mount Moriah has amazed me on so many different levels. The most confusing test from God that Abraham and Isaac could ever imagine. God had promised Sarah and Abraham a son when they were past childbearing age. It actually made Sarah laugh, even though she denied doing so. It didn’t happen fast enough so as we often do, Sarah and Abraham collaborated and came up with their own plan. Even though their plan resulted in a son, it was not the son of promise from God and the devastation of their scheme caused them much heartbreak and to the nation that God designed through this promised one.

However, Isaac, the son of promise did come at the proper time. Years later we find this son with wood on his back and his dad with a knife and a container of fire in his hand walking toward Mount Moriah. Isaac was not a young boy. In fact, many commentaries place Isaac at least in his teens to his early twenties. On the third day of the journey, Abraham and Isaac start to climb the mountain for the sacrifice that God had told Abraham about. Abraham left the servants and donkeys below. The emotions, logic, rational must have been at odds with each other.

Up the mountain the pair climb and then Isaac asks his dad, “where is the sacrifice?” “God will provide,” was Abraham’s response. At the summit, Abraham built an altar with the wood his son had carried. Then, the unthinkable happens; this elderly father with this strong, robust son now binds Isaac and puts him on the altar and raised a knife to sacrifice the promise that God had given him. The next verse, we see that angel of the Lord stopped Abraham from taking the promised son’s life and provided a ram as the suitable sacrifice.

As amazing as Abraham’s obedience was to God, it speaks of Isaac’s faith in his father and the God he serves as well. It was Isaac that allowed himself to be bound, to be put on the altar. It was Isaac who saw the knife that was pointed his way and chose to stay on the altar. It gripped me so, that we live such a life before our children in faith and obedience to God that our children are willing to stay the course as Isaac did.

Pastor Ruth Kaunley