by Neema Joshua | 25 April 2020 08:46 pm04
Let’s Learn from the Bible
The account of Abraham’s willingness to offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering is one of the most challenging and heroic acts recorded in Scripture. It was such a profound test that it required extraordinary faith to even consider obeying God in such a way.
Imagine yourself in Abraham’s position: you are told to offer your firstborn son as a burnt sacrifice. At that time, a burnt offering involved taking an animal—often a goat or lamb—slaughtering it, cutting it into pieces, placing it on an altar made of stones and wood, and then lighting a fire until it was completely consumed. The aroma of the burnt offering filled the air.
Now, imagine your son is the one to be offered. You hold him, he asks what you are about to do, tears well up in his eyes, and yet you proceed to cut him and place him on the altar, burning him completely. What would your state of mind be? Surely, this would be unbearable for any parent.
But for Abraham, this was somehow manageable. How could that be? The secret lies in his faith, which is revealed in the book of Hebrews:
“By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son; it was he to whom it was said, ‘In Isaac shall your offspring be named,’ concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from which he received him in a figurative sense.”
— Hebrews 11:17-19 (ESV)
Notice verse 19: the key is that Abraham considered that God could raise Isaac from the dead, even after he was sacrificed. Abraham trusted that the same God who gave him a miraculous child in his old age could restore Isaac if necessary.
It was this faith—the belief in God’s power to reverse the impossible—that made Abraham able to obey without hesitation. He counted obedience to God as more important than his own emotions or natural instincts.
This principle applies to us as well. Faith enables us to offer our best to God, even when it seems costly. We can surrender what is precious, trusting that God can restore, multiply, or transform it for His glory.
Similarly, when we follow Christ and take up our crosses, we are symbolically offering our lives as a sacrifice to God. We live in self-denial and may even experience loss, trusting that God has the power to renew and restore:
“Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?’”
— Matthew 16:24-26 (ESV)
Faith in God’s power and promises allows us to offer Him our lives, resources, and even the things we hold most dear without fear. Just as Abraham trusted God’s power to restore Isaac, we can trust God to honor and bless our sacrifices, turning them into eternal reward.
May the Lord bless you as you reflect on this truth and walk in faith.
Source URL: https://wingulamashahidi.org/en/2020/04/25/what-made-abraham-willing-to-offer-his-son-as-a-sacrifice/
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