A Different Story

As I point my feet to step away from Jephthah, the thought of such a sacrifice still haunts me just a bit. Well, a lot. I’ve been thinking about Jephthah’s humble, courageous and obedient daughter. I’ve been thinking about what Mrs. Jephthah said when he got home that night. I’ve even been thinking about all the times I commit to something that is all wrongheaded but because I said I was going to do it I drive on relentlessly no matter who gets hurt.

But it keeps coming back to the sacrifice. And as Nancy observed, in this story we can see the reflection of another staggering sacrifice. I was reminded of two soul rending offerings — one that was, and one that almost was — and how they intertwined. I’ve looked at them before, and have cleaned up and blended a couple of posts on Abraham’s almost-sacrifice and the Father’s ultimate sacrifice from last August. (Understanding how we got to here might take reading the last few posts, starting with Honorable Mentions, Jephthah & His Merry Men, and A Deal is a Deal.)

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“Some time later, God tested Abraham.”

With these words, the writer of Genesis begins Chapter 22. “Some time later” comes after God fulfilled a lifetime of promise to Abraham and Sarah, giving to an aged and childless couple the son who would launch the legacy of descendants as numerous as the specks of sand on the beach.

This Isaac was the key to a great nation.

He was the very first bright light in a sky full of stars too numerous to count.

And at the time, he was the only bright light.

Yet, God came to Abraham with intent to test. (Abraham knew nothing of a test. He knew only of his God asking for his obedience.)

God asked Abraham to extinguish his one bright light.

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Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” (Genesis 22:2)

Without question and without delay, Abraham obeyed. He and his bright light packed their supplies and went to make an offering to the Lord on the mountain.

They walked along, Abraham telling stories of old, of God’s faithfulness, of His promise. He told crazy stories of what not to do when he grew up, like telling foreign kings that your wife is really your sister. He told of meeting angels face to face.

Soon enough, Isaac asked the question. The question Abraham didn’t want to answer. “Where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

Father, where is the lamb?

This question, the same that Abraham was silently pleading back to God.

Where is the lamb?

You won’t see it there in the text, but Abraham gasped a little for air. His jaw went tight. His eyelids made a poor dam for the river rushing against them. He steadied himself and tightened his grip on the knife he carried at his side. He willed his feet forward. His mouth dry with the sand of the desert and his soul, he rasped out the only answer he had to give.

God Himself will provide the lamb.

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God Himself will provide the lamb.

God asked Abraham to give Isaac back, to relinquish the whole of his dream. He asked him to reach into the sky and pull down the only star he could see. But as He spoke to His servant, He gazed past Abraham and Isaac to see the Lamb.

Listen to His request: Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love.

God had a Son. An only Son. A Son Whom He loved.

Though it would be many, many years later, He would place His only Son, Whom He loved, on the altar too.

He would provide a Lamb.

It would be the most painful and most significant sacrifice the world has yet known.

I don’t believe for a second that God wasn’t thinking about that.

He knew Abraham’s grief because He already knew the grief of the sacrifice He’d yet fully to make. God knew. And so when He tested Abraham, He chose His words with great care.

Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love and sacrifice him as a burnt offering.

When He commended Abraham for his obedience, He used the same words.

Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from Me your son, your only son.

He didn’t have to say all that. He could have just said your son. He could have just called him Isaac. It would have been clear enough. But God knew. He understood, in ways we just can’t get.

He called Isaac his son, his only son, his son whom he loved. He knew what He was saying.

God had a Son, an only Son, a Son whom He loved.

And as Abraham did not withhold Isaac, the Father did not withhold His Son.

He provided the Lamb.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

Because Abraham did not withhold his son, God knew that Abraham feared Him.

Because God did not withhold His Son, we know that He loves us.

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New material up at Breviloquence.com.