Part 2 - Genesis 22:1-11 - LORD, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?
There’s plenty of evidence of blatant disregard for human life today. Terrorism and suicide bombers? Capital punishment? Human trafficking. Abortion?
So what is God thinking when He asks Abraham to take his only son, the son he loves, and to sacrifice him as a burnt offering. I know that He stops him at the last second but what is going on here? If He is making a point of some kind then it seems to be a pretty extreme and cruel way to get the message across, and what is the message anyway?
Perhaps God is attempting to show me in a dramatic way that HUMAN SACRIFICE of any kind is wrong? Is that the point He is trying to drive home? If His point is to say that HUMAN LIFE IS VALUABLE, then what about those miners who died recently or the soldiers in Afghanistan? Weren’t they valuable? We prayed for them, some people around the clock. If God is trying to stress the VALUE of human life then it seems to me that asking Abraham to sacrifice Isaac is a kind of gruesome way to drive this point home.
The question is not "Why did God allow those miners to die or those soldiers in Afghanistan to sacrifice their lives?" but perhaps, "Why does He allow us to live, when we have messed His world up so much by our sin?" We are the ones who continue to allow bad things to happen to good people? We don’t seem to appreciate the far-reaching implications of our sin. Romans 6:23 (NLT) says "For the wages of sin is death, ..." Why doesn’t God wipe out the human race and start again? It’s been done before (see Genesis 6:7, Genesis 7).
I can only go back to Ezekiel 18:23 (NLT) where God asks "Do you think that I like to see wicked people die? says the Sovereign Lord. Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live." The Bible says that judgment is real and it will come to everyone. 2 Peter 3:9 (NLT) says "The Lord isn’t really being slow about His promise, as some people think. No, He is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent."
Sacrificing a human life is not the point here, as horrific as it is, and as abhorrent to the Lord as it is. I can think of only two or three other valid reasons why God would ask Abraham to sacrifice his only son whom he loved as a burnt offering, only to stop him at the last second.
Burnt offerings were sacrifices for SIN. It seems that God is showing me that ISAAC WASN’T WORTHY. Even the most precious and loved of sacrifices is NOT ENOUGH to pay for the penalty of our sinfulness.
Romans 5:12 (NLT) says "When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned." God is showing me that there is NO-ONE WORTHY in the whole of the human race to die for sinners, except of course Jesus. Isaac deserves to die because of his own sin and cannot die as an innocent victim for the sin of others. God’s Son was the ONLY ONE. As abhorrent as human sacrifice is to God, the only way to pay for the penalty of sin was through the death of His only Son, the One whom He loved. Hebrews 10:11-12 (NLT) says Jesus offered Himself as a "single SACRIFICE for sins, good for ALL TIME."
Romans 5:15 (NLT) says "... For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful GRACE and His gift of FORGIVENESS to many through this Other Man, Jesus Christ." Romans 6:23 (NLT) "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord."
God bless you as you begin to make some sense of this. Sometimes I need to be shocked to the max before I truly begin to understand what God has accomplished in sending His only Son to die for me.
Pastor Ross
