Let us take a moment to examine the sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham, from Isaac’s perspective. When Abraham first stepped out on the scene of history, God promised to bless the world through his seed (Gen. 12:1). He was 75 years old at the time (12:4).
But year after year after year tends to try a man’s faith and Abraham turned 86 years old and he had not had a son (16:16). So, at the instigation of Sarah, Abraham and Hagar (Sarah’s maid) had a son – Ishmael. But Ishmael was not the son God had in mind.
Years went by and at the age of 99, God appeared to Abraham and told him that at the age of 100, he would be blessed with a son by his wife Sarah (Gen. 17). At the time appointed, God “visited Sarah as he had said, and did unto Sarah as he had spoken. For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age” (Gen. 21:1).
For twenty-five years, Abraham waited and waited, and waited. Twenty-five years. For a man who lived in a culture which valued male heirs highly, we can only imagine the anxiety Abraham perhaps felt at times, waiting for his wife to become pregnant with his son. But the day came. How excited would you think Abraham was when he first heard the news? The child of promise was born! Do you think Isaac grew up with a great relationship with his father, because Abraham had waited so long to have him? Over the years Abraham and Isaac were probably inseparable as father and son.
But then the day came. God told Abraham, “Take now your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and offer him for a burnt offering” (Gen. 22:2). We know Abraham did just as God commanded him. But what about Isaac? Early the next morning, Isaac was awakened by his father. Isaac gathered the wood, and he, along with his father’s two servants, followed Abraham to Mt. Moriah.
It took three days to travel the distance from Beersheba, where they lived, to Moriah. Isaac followed his daddy; perhaps he even hung on his heels and talked with him all the way. But on the third day, Abraham stopped his little group and told the two servants to stay there with the donkey while he and Isaac would go “yonder” and worship.
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But along the way, Isaac asked, “Behold the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” He never suspected a thing. His father was a good man – a man of faith. A man of conviction. A man specially chosen by God, “for he will command his children and his household after him” (Gen. 18:19). Because Abraham was a good father, he never missed an opportunity to teach his son about their Heavenly Father – “God will provide himself a lamb.”
Isaac never suspected a thing – until he began being roped, tied up like a fatted calf by his own father! He was bound by his own dad and laid on the altar where they were supposed to lay a lamb! If that wasn’t enough – Isaac, laying there looking up at his daddy, saw him raise a knife with the intent of killing his promised son! Now, we know what was going through Abraham’s heart and mind (Heb. 11:17-19). But what about Isaac?
Here’s the lesson for us today. Isaac had a godly father. He was probably in his late twenties or early thirties at the time (cf. 17:17; 23:1). He knew his daddy well and knew that he would only revere God through his actions. Because of this knowledge, he had faith. Isaac believed that, whatever Abraham had planned, it was in Isaac’s best interest. So, regardless of how hard it may have been for Isaac to go through with this offering, himself being the sacrifice, he had faith, both in god and in his father. This led him to obey.
How much are you willing to obey your father? “Though he slay me, I will hope in him” (Job 13:15).
–Paul Holland
