Have you ever had your love tested? The true love test comes when the person closest to you says “If you truly love me, you’ll…” You’ll buy me that 3-carat diamond ring. You’ll give up smoking. You’ll take me to Hawaii. You’ll pick up after yourself. You’ll spend more time with me. Some true love tests are tougher than others. The one we read about today is the toughest I’ve ever heard of or read about. God put Abraham’s love to the ultimate test.
I have to be honest as we begin this morning and say that ever since I can remember, I have found this Bible story perplexing, if not troubling. In fact, as a young boy in Sunday school I remember thinking that this test of love crossed the line. It went a little too far. How could anyone, especially a loving God put a Father through such intense anguish asking him to kill his long awaited son? I always thought that if I were ever put to this test, I would fail. Was God giving Abraham a cruel test?
For me perhaps part of the cruelty comes from my super sensitive nature. I’d never admit this to Jim Kelly, but I don’t like fishin’ mainly because I feel sorry for the poor fish on the hook. I can’t watch PBS specials of lions attacking pray without getting depressed. I try to rescue chipmunks from the neighborhood cat. I even tried to rescue a poor caterpillar this week from a swarm of fire ants that were eating him alive.
So the thought of sacrificing a little lamb, let alone a human being challenges my sensitivities and understanding of all loving God. The other challenge is an intellectual one. How could God go against His own His own law, even though it hadn’t been given yet to Moses or the descendants of Abraham? Late in the Old Testament God makes it perfectly clear that human sacrifice was terribly wrong. This is one of the things that separated Jehovah God from the gods of the surrounding nations. God strictly outlawed human and child sacrifice. So why would he ask Abraham to do it? Was this a cruel test? Why did God go to such an extreme to test the faith of Abraham?
2) Before I try to answer that question let’s reflect on the amazing responses of Abraham and Isaac to this test. As a father I don’t know how Abraham raised a knife toward his son without even questioning God. As a son I don’t know how Isaac cooperated without a complaint or question. Isaac was no small boy. He was a young sturdy man and Abraham was a frail 120 years old. If my dad had taken me in the woods with a knife and rope and asked to tie up my hands, I would have said, “see ya.” But Abraham obeyed God the Father, and Isaac obeyed his father. They went quietly like sheep to the slaughter. No one forced either one of them into it.
Abraham never doubted God. He just took God at His word. And it was no small task to do that. He loved Isaac. This was the boy he had waited for for 25 years. This was the promise that enabled him to leave his homeland during his retirement years and wander around the country sleeping in tents, living out of suitcases. This precious child was the one who was going to carry on the family name, becoming the father of a mighty nation.
This was the culmination of 25 years of sweat, fear, and battles, facing foreign Kings and armies. Yet Abraham went about doing God’s will without hesitation. He took God at His word, even when the circumstances made no sense at all. Abraham passed the test with flying colors. He took the ultimate “trust fall” and completed the “trust walk” with flying colors. Fair or not, Abraham and Isaac both passed the test.
3) And what was the whole point of this test? What was God trying to find out about Abraham? As I said earlier, it was the ultimate test of love, the kind of love the Creator wants from His creation.
One word the Old Testament uses quite frequently to describe the love of God is the word jealous. When He gave the 1st 2 commandments, which we read this morning, have no other gods or make no other images of gods, he explained it as a result of his jealousy. In other words God want to be our “one and only.” If you are married or engaged or seriously dating someone, you know what this kind of love is. Your partner is your “one and only” and you won’t tolerate not being that for them. (not possessive)
Jesus confirmed his desire for the same kind of love when he said “he who loves father or mother, brother or sister more than me, is not worthy of being my follower.” Jesus was jealous of his disciple’s love. He is the only Being or Person who has the right to that kind of devotion, because he was there at Creation. He is God.
God pursued a deep, intimate love relationship with Abraham and He pursues that same kind of relationship with you and me. He wants to be our “all in all.” Maybe you’ve seen that bumper sticker or sign board that says “that love your neighbor thing, I wasn’t kidding. –God”. He also wasn’t kidding when He said “love me with all your heart soul, strength, and mind and have no other person or object before me in your affection.” God’s love for us is jealous. He wanted to see if Abraham’s love for Him was “all or nothing.”
Would God ever give you or I that ultimate test? No. He never would ask us to harm or kill our children. That was a “one time deal” to begin a Holy Nation which would someday produce the Holy One, Jesus Christ. Just like Christ’s death was a “one time deal” that never again has to be repeated. No longer is sacrifice necessary. Not even lambs or birds, or produce need to be burnt on the altar any longer. Jesus offering paid the price for our sins once and for all?
And that is the answer to the critics of this passage. That is the answer to all my questions and concerns about the fairness of this test. First of all, God never intended Abraham to kill Isaac. You still might say that even putting the fear of losing his son was cruel, but that criticism is answered with the cross.
As I struggled with the question of cruelty again this week the first that kept popping up in my head was John 3:16. How can we be sure that God is loving and fair: because he sent his one and only Son to die on the cross so that anyone who believes in his Son will never have to fear death, but only look forward to eternal life. Jesus died and was crucified to save us from death, to give us hope for the future, and make our lives worth living in the present.
God wants to be the only object of our worship. He wants our love for Him to be deeper and stronger than anything else in the world, even our own children. He would never ask us to sacrifice our children to prove our love, but what He does ask is that we present ourselves and everything we own as “living sacrifices.” He doesn’t want dead things anymore, like dead lambs and dead goats. Jesus ended that era of blood sacrifice for all time. He wants us alive to Him and dead to the world.
If God were to run the test of love on you this morning what would the question be for you? “Do you love me more than your house? Do you love me more than your career? Do you love me more than your spouse or your children? Do you love me more than anything this world has to offer, or anything I’ve blessed you with?”
One way to test your faith quickly is by looking at your fears and worries. What are you afraid of losing or not getting? Is it money, investments, loved ones, career? Don’t hold on tightly to anything in this world other than Jesus Christ. Let go of all those things, but never let go of God.
Whenever anxiety or worry comes about losing what’s precious to you, whether it’s a person or a thing, just remember than your only comfort and security in life comes from your love relationship with Jesus. Anything in this world can be taken away from you, but the love of Jesus can never be taken away from you. Cling to his love. Your life, your future, and your happiness depend on it. Prove your love by letting go of every worry and every idol that supersedes your love for God.
God is not cruel. But He knows what many don’t understand, and what we in the church often forget: Life just isn’t worth living without a love relationship with God, a jealous God who keeps all His promises and whose faithfulness is great.
