Though Abraham had been used to hearing God speak and following Him in faith, though he had built altars to seek God and to worship God by faith for the promises that were yet to be fulfilled in his life, nothing could have prepared him for God’s ask in Genesis 22. For there, God told him to take this Son of Promise, his only son with Sarah and sacrifice him on an altar as a burnt offering. A burnt offering was a sacrifice for atonement for sin. Can you imagine the anguish Abraham must have felt? Our children are our hearts. They are the only love we don’t choose. It is just instant when they are born. The thought of having to slay one of them in order to obey God is beyond anything I could imagine myself doing.
And yet, Abraham set out to obey. He woke Isaac up and told him to get ready to make a trip with him to offer a burnt sacrifice, probably something they had done before together. Abraham cut enough wood for the burnt offering. He started walking with Isaac on a three-day journey. I can’t even fathom what they must have talked about. How did Abraham keep his voice steady? How did he keep from crying? How did he mask his emotion? Was it strangely quiet on that trip? Three days is a long time to anticipate having to rip your heart out of your chest, to think about having to kill your child.
Isaac knew enough to know that something wasn’t right. He started asking questions. Verse 7: 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Good question, right? Isaac knew a burnt offering required a blood sacrifice, and from his perspective they didn’t have one.
Abraham’s next words revealed his deep and unshakeable faith. 8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” How did Abraham KNOW God would provide a lamb? Abraham had been called to provide his son as the sacrifice. How did he really know God would do something that would somehow spare his son?
He knew it because he had already settled some things at the previous altars in his life. He had already bowed to the will of God at previous altars. He had already claimed God’s promises at an altar. God had promised Abraham that He would extend his covenant with Abraham to his son, Isaac. At previous altars Abraham had learned to trust the promises of God. He had already been in the “Valley of Decision” at a previous altar and had chosen God’s way instead of the way of the world. He knew all about brand new starts at altars, and He knew that somehow God would do something that would redeem what He had asked of Abraham. But now, Abraham was going to learn about another concept of altar-building and altar-worship. It was the concept of sacrifice.
Verse 9ff: When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. God asked for the thing Abraham loved most on earth. This is probably one of the most moving stories in all of Scripture because you can feel the intense emotion as the story unfolds.
10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied.12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
I’ll bet Abraham started dancing and screaming and praising God!
What I want to say to you this: I think every other altar prepared Abraham for this incredibly difficult altar to build. Because he had surrendered his will at the altar, because he had trusted God at an altar in the “Valley of Decision,” because he had separated himself from the world at an altar of worship, he was ready to lay it all down if God asked Him to. And in that moment, God knew, and Abraham knew that God didn’t just have his attention, or some of his affection, but God had Abraham’s heart. And Abraham had been willing to lay his entire heart on that altar in a sacrifice to God. WOW!
13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”
And here is the big “aha,” friends. The altar of sacrifice was also the altar of provision. They became one in the same. Isn’t that awesome? The altar of sacrifice became the altar of provision as God provided what Abraham needed in order to fully obey God.
As we lay our entire lives on the altar of sacrifice, God gives us what we need to serve Him with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength.
Do you know what it takes to build an altar? Broken things. Broken, jagged rocks, broken jagged lives, broken jagged people. These are what we bring to build an altar. The altar is truly a “Just as I Am” kind of place. I want to challenge you to let today be an altar-building day in your life. Whether you need to bow to the will of God, or separate yourself from the world, whether you need to exercise faith or claim the promises of God, whether you need to make a tough decision or rededicate your life or whether you need to sacrifice something you have loved more than you have loved God, He is here waiting to receive your worship and will provide more than you could ask or imagine in return.
