The Sacrifice Of Abraham

Genesis 22:1-14 KJV And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. [2] And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. [3] And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. [4] Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. [5] And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. [6] And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together. [7] And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? [8] And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. [9] And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. [10] And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. [11] And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. [12] And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. [13] And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. [14] And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.

I. INTRODUCTION

-It has been said that there are three components of every man’s life: a great affection, a great sorrow, and a great trial. Few men ever become what God desires for them to be until they have submitted to all three of these avenues of faith.

-There is not a single man in the Old Testament or New Testament that did not have such an experience with God. It is through our affections, sorrows, and trials that God uses the hammer of purpose on the anvil of destiny. He develops prized instruments for noble purposes in this way.

-There is not a man among us who will be immune from the trials of life! We have to walk through them despite how we may feel or think about them.

II. THE LESSONS FROM THE TEXT

-We are not long into this text until we see several lessons that work themselves out for us.

A. The Challenge of the Call

Genesis 22:1. . . It came to pass. . . after these things. .

-Abraham had experienced a call and then a covenant with God. But after the call and covenant with God there had been a series of things to take place to prepare him for the greatest challenge of his whole life.

-His challenge is to take Isaac, his only son and offer him as a sacrifice. Take your son and offer him. It would have been so much easier for Abraham to have offered a servant but it was not to be, he had to offer a son. Add to that the pressure of Isaac being an only son and the command is suddenly a cutting, killing command.

-The call has its high tides but it also has its low tides. This son Abraham was being commanded to offer was the God’s gift to him. It was his hope of the future and now the call was for him to sacrifice him.

B. The Challenge of Obedience

Genesis 22:3. . . And Abraham rose up early in the morning. . .

-Abraham acted immediately. He did not wait and nor procrastinate the thing that God had called him to do. He refused to linger or post-pone this difficult thing that God had called him to do. He was in the habit of instant obedience.