God invites Abraham into greater vulnerability and trust by asking him to give up his beloved son, Isaac.
God invites Abraham into greater vulnerability and trust by asking him to give up his beloved son, Isaac.
Advent Day 5, The Offering.
Genesis 22 presents a story that makes us uncomfortable.
God asks Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering.
Abraham never protests, not even when his son asks about the missing lamb.
Abraham instead remains ready and alert to God's presence, and he sees through faithful and faithful vision.
In Genesis 22, God appears and speaks with Abraham.
It says, "After these things, God tested Abraham and said to him, 'Abraham.'
And he said, 'Here I am.'
He said, 'Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.'
So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac.
Try to put yourself in Abraham's position.
His firstborn Eshmal is gone, living in the wilderness of Peron.
Now God asks Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, the son promised to him and Sarah.
What thoughts might have pierced Abraham's mind and his heart?
Who are you missing or hoping to see this advent?
Abraham's response to God nearly mirrors his first interaction with God.
When God first appears, he tells Abraham to go to an unknown land, and Abraham goes, no questions asked.
Now Abraham goes towards another unknown destination, nearly wordless.
He only says, 'Here I am.'
Three small words, but they are mighty.
They indicate Abraham's readiness to hear, receive, and act on God's words.
Have you ever said, 'Here I am,' to God?
What was that experience like?
[MUSIC] Abraham says yes to God, but he has to keep saying it.
One yes isn't sufficient, the test isn't over.
It reaches a new level of difficulty and pain when Isaac turns to him.
And Isaac said to his father Abraham, 'My father,' and he said, 'Here I am, my son, ready to hear and to reply.'
And what does Abraham say when Isaac asks about the lamb?
He says that God will provide three little words, yet again, they are mighty.
They're also odd.
God has asked Abraham to offer his son as a burnt offering.
Abraham tells Isaac that God will provide a lamb.
Is Abraham protecting Isaac from what is to come?
Maybe.
Maybe he is seeing a little father and a little more clearly now that he has followed God for over a decade.
Maybe he sees with faithful division rather than fearful, because earlier he tells his two servant boys.
On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar.
Then Abraham said to his young men, 'Stay here with the donkey.
I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.'
And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac's son.
And he took in his hand the fire and the knife.
So they went both of them together, Genesis 22:4-6.
God will provide.
I and the boy will come again to you.
How much do you think these words cost Abraham?
I and the boy will come again to you.
How can Abraham say this?
What does he know that his son and servant boys do not?
Or is it a kind of knowledge beyond knowing?
A level of trust in God that has been well tested over time?
A way of reminding himself who God is so that he will choose and depend on God rather than himself?
We have the advantage over Abraham.
We know how the story ends.
God provides a ram in the place of Isaac.
Abraham does not know the end, yet he still says, 'Here I am.'
He remains alert and ready to act when God speaks.
How is he so sensitive to the Lord's presence?
How does he remain faithful and hopeful?
[Music] God sees Abraham is ready to do what God will require of himself.
God will send his one and only son to earth and ask him to sacrifice himself for the sake of the world.
What does the Son say?
Here I am.
I have come to do the will of him who sent me.
Jesus, God's Son, is our provision.
He willingly sacrifices himself so that we might be restored to God and set free from sin and death.
At Advent and Christmas, we remember the infant Jesus.
What joyous news!
Jesus is born.
Yet Jesus' birth always holds within it Jesus' death.
God's promise isn't fulfilled with the birth of the Son.
It's fulfilled with Jesus' sacrifice on our behalf.
How ought we to respond to that sacrifice?
Paul says the only fitting response is to offer ourselves to God as living sacrifices.
He says in Romans 12:1, "I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God present your bodies as a living sacrifice, wholly and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Living and sacrifice are at odds with one another.
In what ways does Jesus' life help you understand what it means to be a living sacrifice?
What is God asking you to sacrifice?
In what areas of life do you sense the need to say, 'Here I am, God?'
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, teach us to see with faithful vision like Abraham and like Jesus.
They considered the joy set before them and willingly offered what you asked of them.
Help us to be people who say, 'Here I am.'
Lead us to depend on you, the one who provides.
You provided your Son, and you are the giver of good gifts.
Help us to believe that, no matter what this Advent and Christmas may hold for us.
Amen.