22:1,2
We now come to probably the most famous incident in Abraham’s life, the sacrifice of Isaac. There are two key messages from the incident. One involves the parallels with and foreshadowing of the cross. The other is the role and reaction of Abraham. I will be quite blunt and say that on the latter matter a lot of tosh is spoken and written. Most messages focus on how terrible this must have been for Abraham. Now, it must indeed have been a terrible thing, and in verse 2 God lays it on thick. “Take your son Isaac, whom you love ...” However, if we actually look at the text we see that Abraham does not waver in the matter. Contrary to past performance, he obeys quickly and with faith. So by focusing on how terrible it was for Abraham I believe we miss a key point, namely the transformation of Abraham that has occurred over the past twenty five years or so.
Moriah was the site of Solomon’s temple, and was possibly where Jesus was crucified. The chapter begins with it saying “God tested Abraham”. Was God seeing what Abraham was really like? I think it is more accurate to say that God was demonstrating to Abraham and the world what He had achieved in Abraham.
No comments:
Post a Comment