Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. 7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here am I, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together. What is god doing here? He is giving us historical foreshadows. Moses clearly knows that this text anticipates something greater, therefore he adds his editorial comment:
14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
He gives more pictures – in the Exodus, God brings his people out of slavery only after the deaths of the firstborn Egyptians.
In Numbers He tells his people that their firstborn belongs to him, and they must sacrifice an animal to redeem their firstborn’s life.
Here at the very beginning of redemption, God steps in and says – Okay, I will heal my creation. I will recreate this world for these humans. I won’t simply destroy them and create another race, I love these and I will heal them. I will re-create this world and remove death, conflict and pain from it, and I will dry their eyes from all tears. But do you realize how much this is going to cost?
Humans as a race and individually have chosen to live independently from me, and in doing that they chose to live apart from life. They did not know it, but they chose death. And now for them to be freed from death, death must be satisfied.
Abraham, I will redeem the entire earth, but it will cost My Firstborn and Only Son. Do you have any idea what that feels like? I want you to know.
Your son will walk toward the mountain for three days. My son will walk toward the cross for three years of public ministry. Your son will carry the wood for the sacrifice, and my son will carry his own cross. You will carry the knife and fire, and I will pour out my wrath on my son. I will pierce him with the sword of a soldier, and I will consume him with the fire of my anger at sin. Your son will surely ask “Why are you doing this?” My son will cry out, My God why have you forsaken me?
No one will stay my hand, I will deliver the final blow.
Once you see it this way, your whole attitude toward God changes. Until you see the weight of the cross, you think that you are pretty good, and God is frankly lucky to have you on His side. But once you feel how much your redemption cost God, once you feel how much he has given for you. Then you too realize – there is nothing he cannot ask of you. For there is nothing he has withheld from you.
Older commentators claimed God was healing Abraham from loving his son too much. I doubt that. But I do think God was testing Abraham to see if he loved God too little. The legend is that after Abraham tied up Isaac, his son asked – is there nothing he cannot ask from you. Abraham replied, no son nothing. What would you refuse to give? What is too much? Your functional god is what you refuse to live without. What is your idol?
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