Sacrificing our «Isaaks
Series: Welcome home | Bible text: Genesis 22:1–18
For decades Abraham waited for the promised son and when he finally came, he was to sacrifice him on a mountain. Isaac’s sacrifice taught Abraham to love God more than his son. It is also our problem that fulfilled dreams like to elevate themselves to idols. That is why we must always put them on the altar. Only those things can safely remain part of our lives that really no longer hold an idol function.…
Exactly twenty years ago, I was writing the final thesis of my theological education. I could hardly wait to finally emulate my high ideals in a congregation. I wanted to be successful! Many of my dreams came true in the form of the dynamic and fast-growing youth movement JMS. Success made me happy, I felt loved and valuable. One day someone had a prophetic impression. It was about the story from 1 Kings 3:1ff of the two women who each had a child. One woman pulled her child so close to her at night that she smothered it. I quickly realised that God was speaking to me through this image. JMS was my child and took too high a priority in my life. I defined myself by the happiness, success and power that JMS brought me and increased my self-worth with it.
Most people live for their dreams, everything is for the pursuit of happiness. We toil inexhaustibly and are prepared to sacrifice much in order to achieve our goals. But no one would think that reaching the big goal is the worst thing that can happen to us. Why does it so often have negative consequences when a dream comes true? Paul knows the phenomenon. He writes to the Roman church: «Therefore God gave them over to their desires» (Romans 1:24 GN), explaining that this is one of the worst things that can happen to a person. The problem is that the fulfilled dream likes to become an idol. The most desired things are the most dangerous. In the next sentence, Paul summarises the history of humanity: «They exchanged the true God for a tissue of lies, they honoured and worshipped the creatures instead of the Creator.»(Romans 1:25 GN). Every human being needs something to live for, something that fills his thoughts, motivates him and gives him hope. Those who expect happiness from self-created beings will be disappointed. Only the Creator can truly fill us.
Welcome home! Those who have made themselves completely at home with God have Christ as the centre of their life and everything else must be subordinated to it.
Fulfilment of great wishes
A very important person in the Bible is Abraham. Like many people of his time, he longed to have a son who would carry on his name and inherit his property. For Abraham, this longing grew into the greatest desire in the course of many childless years. Finally, when he had already given up all hope, his wife had the long-awaited son. With that, all his dreams had come true. But then God asked him to let him go again.
On his life’s journey, he experienced two great challenges: God gave him a great promise. If he would faithfully obey God, all the nations of the earth could be blessed through him and his descendants. In order for this promise to be fulfilled, God asked him to leave behind everything familiar – his friends and relatives and everything that had hitherto guaranteed him security, prosperity and peace. He was faced with the challenge of giving up everything he had hoped for up to that point and everything that had seemed desirable to him up to that point, out of obedience to God.
And Abraham took this step: «He set off … and left his homeland without knowing where he would end up» (Hebrews 11:8 GN). But God had not only taken away his previous goals, he also gave him a new hope. All the nations of the earth were to be blessed through his descendants (Genesis 12:3). Consequently, he could assume that he would have children, although Sarah – his wife – had been barren until then. Humanly speaking, it was not possible for the two of them to have children. But God had promised Abraham a son.
After decades of waiting, when Abraham was over a hundred and Sarah over ninety (Genesis 17:17 and 21:5), the promised son was born. They named him Isaac. The decades of childlessness had increased the desire for a child immeasurably. Never had anyone wanted a child more than Abraham. He had given up everything and is only waiting for his son. When he was finally born, Abraham was able to triumph. It had been right to trust God after all. At last he had an heir. The wait had been worth it.
Climb the mountain
But now it had to be seen whether Abraham had been more concerned with the son or more concerned with God during the wait. Had he only used God as a means to an end? To whom did Abraham’s heart really belong? Had Abraham learned to trust exclusively in God and to love God for his own sake instead of only seeking God’s blessings? No, that is exactly what Abraham still had to learn. Instead of a happy peaceful life, the next challenge follows: «Take your only son Isaac, whom you love so much, and go with him to the land of Moriah. There I will show you a mountain on which you shall offer Isaac as a burnt offering for me.»(Genesis 22:2).
This was the most difficult test imaginable for Abraham. Isaac was his everything. God knew that, as his choice of words reveals. He did not simply say: «Take Isaac and go with him.…», but God spoke of the only son, whom Abraham so loved. Abraham’s love for his son had taken the form of adoration, of worship. In the past, God’s speaking had been most important to Abraham. But now the concern for his son’s well-being and the longing for his love and affection had come first. His priorities had shifted. It is not wrong for a father to love his son, but the beloved son must not become an idol. Those who love their child more than God will crush the child and suffocate the relationship. Abraham did not love Isaac too much, but he loved God too little, measured by the love for Isaac.
When my priorities shifted and I was about to crush JMS, I also had to climb a mountain and sacrifice my «Isaac». This climb was really challenging and gave me sleepless nights. Together with the leaders of the member churches, we listened to God for his opinion on the future of JMS. I waited in vain for a goat to sacrifice as a substitute. I had to let go and obey God’s sayings that JMS should not continue in its present form. This experience was important for my growth. Nevertheless, I am always in danger of crushing «my» children.
Refined gold
Abraham trusted God. To his servants he said: «The boy and I will go a little further. We will worship God up there and then come back to you.» (5). When the unsuspecting Isaac inquired about the lamb for the sacrifice, he got the answer: «God will provide a lamb, my son» (8). How this was to happen, he did not know. But he was absolutely sure that he was serving a holy and gracious God. That is why he was able to put one foot in front of the other and climb this mountain. Once at the top, Abraham built an altar, piled up the logs, placed the bound Isaac on the log and reached for the knife. «At that moment the angel of the Lord called him from heaven: «Abraham! Abraham!» «Yes,» he answered. «I am listening.» «Let it be,» said the angel. «Do not harm the child. For now I know that you have reverence for God. You would even have sacrificed your only son at my command.» » (11–12).
Isaac’s sacrifice was to teach Abraham to love God more than his son. At the end of the story, the angel of the Lord says: «Now I have realised that you fear God!»(Genesis 22:12 Elb). Fearing God in biblical parlance has nothing to do with fear, but rather describes a comprehensive surrender to God. It is about a loving and joyful awe and wonder in the face of God’s greatness. Abraham proved that he loved God more than anything else in the world – that is fear of God. As long as Abraham had not been forced to choose between God and his son, it probably had not occurred to him that his love for his father had gradually become idolatry. From this point of view, God’s action with Abraham was a gracious act, even if it appeared as very cruel from the outside. Abraham became a man of significance.
By climbing the mountain, Abraham’s faith was purified. Job also had to go through immense difficulties for a long time without getting a satisfactory answer from God. Like Abraham, he had to trust without understanding. Only at the very end could Job exclaim: «For he knows the way that is with me. If he tested me, how gold I would come forth» (Job 23:10 Elb). The purification of Abraham was just as great an advantage for Isaac. Only after his experience on the mountain was Abraham able to love his son in the right way. Only those things can safely remain part of our lives that really no longer have an idol function. Only when we are ready to go on living without these things or persons, when we say with all our heart: «God, I can live without that as long as I have only you», only then have we overthrown the idol from his throne.
It can be similar with our career, for example. Only when we get into a situation where we have to decide whether to be honest, even if this brings professional disadvantages, does it become clear what our priority is. If we would rather lie than harm our professional advancement, then work has become an idol in our hearts. For many, health has become «Isaac». For our benefit, God can then allow an illness that challenges us to put God first again.
We have to sacrifice the «Isaaks» in our lives. We have to let them go in order not to be enslaved by them. The Bible is full of stories of men like Joseph, David and Moses, who time and again appeared as if God had abandoned them, when in fact he was in the process of freeing them from their idols. We will not always be able to understand why the heavenly Father allows some difficulties in our lives, but we can trust Him in the difficult times.
Ultimately, we can only understand the scope of this divine command if we look at the cultural circumstances of the time. Again and again in the Bible we find the statement that the sin of the people of Israel robs the firstborn of their life. At that time, the firstborn was to be equated with the whole family. Through Moses, God had informed the people of Israel that the life of all the firstborn belonged to him as long as they were not redeemed (Ex 34:20). With this he said in a vivid way for the thinking of that time that every family is in God’s debt – also the family of Abraham. Isaac must pay with his life for the sin of the whole clan. But God is also merciful. Through Isaac he wants to bless all the nations of the earth. How can God be holy and just at the same time and still fulfil his gracious promise and offer salvation to all people? The substitute he-goat was a provisional answer. Many years later, in this very mountain country, another firstborn was sacrificed. At that time, no voice sounded from heaven offering a substitute. The Son of God, Jesus Christ, is the true substitute for Abraham’s son. «God did not even spare his own Son, but gave him for us all. And if God gave us Christ, will he not also give us everything else with him?»(Romans 8:32).
We have to sacrifice our idols, our «Isaacs» in our lives, let them go so as not to be enslaved by them. To do this, we need the deep knowledge that God loves us, values us and delights in us. When we sense the magnitude of this sacrificial death, it will become possible for us to trust this God more than anything else on earth. Welcome home!
Possible questions for the small groups
Reading the Bible text: Genesis 22:1–18
- Why did God command Abraham to sacrifice his only son? Why could this also be an expression of God’s grace?
- Have you also had to «climb the mountain» to sacrifice an «Isaac»? What was this Isaac with you?
- What keeps pushing into the centre of your life (work, health, certain people) that you hope will bring you happiness, success or power?
- Why is it so important that God is the undisputed centre of your life? What does this mean for the other areas of your life?
- How do you personally feel about the following statement: «God, I can live without that as long as I have only you!»
