by Joshua Rhoades
This past week, I finished reading Genesis. One of the chapters that I was compelled to study further was Genesis 22. The Holy Spirit led me to the phrase in verse 12 which states, “seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me” and verse 16 which states, “and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son.” The Lord knows all yet draws our attention to the fact that He had asked for Abraham to sacrifice “thine only son”. Abraham was known for the blessings of God being upon his home. He was a wealthy man, yet Abraham was asked to travel several days in the wilderness, climb a mountain, then slit his only son’s throat and offer a burnt sacrifice to the Lord. Yet in the asking, we see afterwards the Lord’s acknowledgment. God lets Abraham know aloud, of the fact of the rarity of son’s in Abraham’s old age. Abraham learned valuable lessons in this experience, yet God confirmed to Abraham that “I know I asked the most that I have ever asked, and you sacrificially offered him to me”. Of all the wealth that the Lord had bestowed upon Abraham, yet God asked for Isaac, “thine only son”. There have been a number of times in my life when I’ve asked the Lord questions to circumstances that I did not understand. There have been times when I learned that my wife and I were going to bury our stillborn son on New Year’s Eve. Questions, emotions all over the map, what is the purpose I ask? I take comfort in knowing that God looked down from heaven and saw Abraham, Isaac, and Sarah, and knew that he would be asking Abraham to give what was most rare and precious to their family. I take comfort in knowing that Almighty God also gave His only begotten Son to be sacrificed. It wasn’t a waste, but so that we could be washed “from our sins in his own blood.”
Abraham would gain through Isaac’s life, the future nation of Israel. When we give to God, when we sacrifice to God that which is most precious in our lives, we gain more than we gave.