A Radical Test

Abraham and Isaac Climb Mt. Moriah by Gustave Dore

After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I." He said, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you."

This is another potentially violent and disturbing passage of scripture, the Old Testament (OT) is full of them. God asks Abraham to sacrifice his beloved son. Requests like that are the stuff of lunacy - if we heard of such a thing today we’d consider schizophrenia or delusions. Why would God do that? What kind of God would do that? I'm sure Abraham had such questions, but he must of kept them to himself and reasoned it out. Maybe Abraham's reasoning went something like this:

God told me to leave my father's country and I did and it has gone well for me. God has been teaching me not to lie, or to do any other sinful activity, and it has gone well for me. God seems different from - and displeased with the activities associated with the other pagan religions I observe around me. They commit human sacrifice, among other things, and this God who has called me, and brought me this far has never before made such a request. God told me that my barren wife would bear me a son, even in our old age, and it happened. God told me that I would have numerous descendants through that son, so...I must therefore trust God.

It must've been so difficult for Abraham to obey this command, but we see that he does and all the while, he says "The Lord will provide the sacrifice." And God does! He does not require Isaac's life and intervenes at nearly the last moment. It seems fairly clear that the Lord never intended for Issac's life to be taken this way. I once heard a very inspiring teaching that the entire time Abraham and Isaac were walking up one side of Mt. Moriah, God had sent the ram up the other side, allowing it to get caught in the thicket, and thereby being the sacrifice in Issac's stead. God had planed it and provided it all along! God asks for radical faith and obedience. He was simply testing Abraham's faith and obedience AND pointing to the fact that one day, God Himself would fulfill the covenant by providing His Own Son Jesus.

This was today's reading within my yearly reading from the LifeJournal plan at YouVersion.