“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son.”[1] God gave His Son, His one and only Son. Today, through the eyes of Abraham, we are going to get a better idea of what that was like.

Abraham was the descendant of Noah’s son Shem. Abraham and his wife Sarah lived in his father’s house along with his brother Nahor’s family, that is until the LORD told Abraham to leave his country, his people, his father’s house and go to a land that He would show him. The LORD promised Abraham that He would make him into a great nation and that through Abraham’s family all peoples on earth would be blessed. You see, the promised Savior of the world would come from Abraham’s family. But as the years and decades passed and Abraham and Sarah remained childless, they began to be discouraged. By the time he was 100 and she was 90 years old they had all but given up hope. But the LORD was gracious to Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what He had promised. Sarah became pregnant, she gave birth to a son, and they named him Isaac.

Isaac brought so much joy to Abraham and Sarah. (Isaac’s name means laughter.) They loved their son Isaac very much. Which is why it was so difficult for Abraham to hear the LORD say, Abraham, “2 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.” Isaac was Abraham’s son, his one and only son whom he loved. It is nearly impossible for us to hear these words and not think of the heavenly Father’s voice announcing from heaven “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.”[2] Abraham was to take his beloved son Isaac and sacrifice him as a burnt offering. The burnt offering was a total offering in which the entirety of the animal was to be consumed. Here the LORD used the burnt offering as a symbol of unwavering faithfulness and absolute devotion. In time the burnt offering would be offered by the Israelites as a symbolic payment for sins. This sacrifice was to take place on a mountain in the region of Moriah. 1,000 years later king Solomon would build the great Jerusalem temple on a mountain in the region of Moriah. 2,000 years later the Romans would crucify the king of the Jews on a mountain in the region of Moriah.

As a father, what the LORD had just commanded Abraham to do seemed cruel, but as a patriarch of the promise it seemed crazy. The LORD had established His everlasting covenant with Abraham’s son Isaac, meaning the LORD had promised that Isaac was to be the forefather of the Savior of the world. To Abraham it had to seem as if the LORD’s command was in direct conflict with the LORD’s promise. Martin Luther described Abraham’s predicament in these words, “To human reason it must have seemed either that God’s promise would fail, or else this command must be of the devil and not of God.”

Though he could not understand the LORD’s command, “3 early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey” and “set out for the place God had told him about.” A cynic would say the reason for the early morning departure was so that Abraham could avoid having a rather awkward conversation with his wife, but I choose to believe the early morning departure was motivated by Abraham’s faithfulness; faithfulness that showed itself to be not only ready but also resolved. I say that, because it took Abraham and Isaac three days to get to the mountain in the region of Moriah. What a horrible three days that must have been. With every passing day the father brought his son ever closer to the moment of sacrifice. I wonder if Abraham ever thought about turning back. I wonder if Abraham ever questioned the cost and contemplated whether or not the sacrifice was too great. If it were you; if it was your child, what would you do?

As I think about Abraham’s faithfulness, I cannot help but project his predicament upon the heavenly Father. The heavenly Father had more than 3 days to reconsider the path He had placed before His one and only Son. For 33 years the heavenly Father watched as each passing day brought His Son ever closer to the moment of sacrifice and those last three years had to be the worst. The heavenly Father watched as His one and only Son was laughed at and ridiculed by Pharisees and Sadducees alike, the heavenly Father watched as His one and only Son was betrayed and abandoned by His own disciples, the heavenly Father watched as an angry mob cried for the crucifixion of His one and only Son, the heavenly Father watched as His one and only Son was beaten bloody by the Romans. Scripture never tells us that the heavenly Father’s resolve waivered even for a moment, and I find the heavenly Father’s faithfulness to His promise of salvation to be truly remarkable considering the circumstances.

When they arrived at the place of the sacrifice Abraham told his servants, “5 We will worship and then we will come back to you.” “We will come back to you”. Abraham had concluded that since Isaac was to be the forefather of the Savior, then if he were to obey the LORD’s command to sacrifice Isaac then the LORD would just have to raise Isaac back to life again. But I think it is a mistake for us to imagine Abraham’s confidence in his son’s resurrection made the journey up the mountain any easier.

As “6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac” it had to break his heart to see his son carrying the very wood upon which he was to be sacrificed. Again, it is impossible for us to look at Isaac through his father’s eyes and not look through the heavenly Father’s eyes who saw Jesus “carrying His own cross, [as] he went out to the place of the skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha).”[3]

If the sight of his son did not break Abraham’s heart, then the sound of his son’s voice surely must have. “7 Father?”, Isaac asked. “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” The question had to cut Abraham to the core. If up to this point Abraham was trying to keep the image of his sacrificed son out of his mind this question forced that image to the foreground. It forced Abraham to see his son as the heavenly Father saw His Son, it forced him to see his son being “led like a lamb to the slaughter.”[4] “8 God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” That was all that Abraham could manage to say.

“9 When they reached the place God had told him about”, “Abraham… bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood.” This had to be a difficult thing for Abraham to do what with his vision being clouded by tears of sorrow, his hands trembling with the horror of what he was about to do, and his knees weakening under the weight of his agony. Remarkably, we aren’t told that Isaac resisted Abraham. There is no sign of a struggle; no indication that Abraham had to overpower Isaac. Rather, it appears Isaac trusted Abraham, even as it became obvious exactly what was about to happen to him the son trusted his father, and that had to make Abraham feel horrible. In the garden of Gethsemane Jesus prayed, “Abba, Father,” “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”[5] Even when it was obvious exactly what was about to happen to Him Jesus trusted His Father and that too had to feel horrible.

Abraham “10 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”; THE angel of the LORD; Jesus, the one and only Son of the heavenly Father, called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” “Do not do anything to him.” 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.” Instead of his son. A lamb was sacrificed instead of his son.

This is as far as Abraham can take us. Though he knows better than anyone else what it was like for God to give His one and only Son, Abraham’s son was spared; a lamb was sacrificed instead of his son. Abraham’s son, his only son Isaac, whom he loved was spared, but God “did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all.”[6] No heavenly voice prevented nails from being hammered into Jesus’ hands and feet. No substitute was provided for the heavenly Father’s one and only Son. God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son. The heavenly Father gave His one and only Son instead of my sons, the heavenly Father gave His one and only Son instead of your children, He gave His Son instead of you.

Abraham named the mountain in the region of Moriah “14 The LORD Will Provide” and for years it was said “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.” But considering our vantage point in history the mountain in the region of Moriah might better be known to you and to me as the place where The LORD Did Provide.

During the season of Lent we pay special attention to the sacrifice that Jesus made in order to pay for our sins. It is good for us to be reminded that our salvation, though a free gift that is given to you and to me, our salvation came at a cost. First and foremost, it cost Jesus His life, but today we have been reminded that it also cost the heavenly Father His Son, His one and only Son. Don’t ever forget that; don’t ever forget that the one and only Son was given because God so loves you. Amen

[1] John 3:16

[2] Matthew 3:17

[3] John 19:17

[4] Isaiah 53:7

[5] Mark 14:36

[6] Romans 8:31