What would you do if God asked you to perform a human sacrifice? I’m pretty sure I’d feel good about saying no, quoting, “If they speak not according to this word…” I’d reason murder is against God’s law, so this can’t be God talking. I’d seek out wisdom in numbers and enjoy hearing sensible people say it couldn’t be God’s voice.
And yet God asked this of Abraham. As I read the text, I see a very quiet Abraham. He doesn’t tell anyone what’s happening. He’s just begins taking obedient steps. I imagine him praying the whole way (3 days and 2 nights likely) for God to stop him if he’s misunderstood. What a journey. Every step leading you closer to your worst nightmare. The God you love authoring it. Was He ever who you thought He was?
The pace of storytelling slows when they arrive on the mountaintop, describing each action. He places the wood, ties the young man, and reaches for the knife. I’m sure his hand was shaking. I’m sure his heart was quaking, unsure he could finish the task. And God stops him.
What would it take for me or you to go all the way out on a limb like Abraham did, in faith?
I think it would take knowing that killing is not God’s way—hasn’t been since Cain was punished. Abraham knew about the fall and how all the bad began when people walked away from God and His garden with its one rule. He knew God was the source of all goodness, including his son Isaac and the love Abraham between them. None of this existed without God, so if God was actually bad, all was already lost.
Abraham went all in. He didn’t understand, but he obeyed and the test that was meant for him, became a test of God. Oh how Abraham must have hoped God was bluffing. The only way to see God’s true character was to obey him and watch what He would do. And salvation happened, a ram provided to take Isaac’s place, proving God good. And more goodness was to come. Centuries later, God would do what He wouldn’t ask of a human and by His sacrifice of the Son He loved, we are saved.
