Even from the dead
1And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
2And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
3And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.
4Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.
This is easily one of the more challenging stories in the Bible. God asking Abraham to sacrifice his long-awaited son, the fulfillment of a promise decades in the making. That's not even to mention the Human sacrifice elements a practice that God clearly condemns elsewhere in the Bible. But Abraham at this point in his life and his journey in faith simply does as he is told to do by God.
6And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.
7And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
8And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.
It's incredible to think of the absolute obedience of both father and son in this story, the unquestioning and unwavering faith shown in both of these characters, but what is the point in all of this? Why is God putting these two through this? There is clearly a prophetic aspect to Abraham's confident comment that, God himself would provide a lamb, as he indeed did in the sacrifice of his own son Jesus on the cross so many years later. But is there something more to this? In Hebrews in a chapter often called the "Hall of Faith" we get a bit more insight into the incredible faith that Abraham had in God's promise.
11Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.
12Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.
This reference to Abraham seems, at first, to be a bit harsh or at best calloused, referring to the patriarch as "as good as dead." But consider how much truth there was in this statement, both Sara and Abraham understood the absolute miracle that was Isaac's birth, but they also both had incredible faith in God's promise.
17By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,
18Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called:
19Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.
Note the reference in 17 to the promises, recall that God had "promised" Abraham this son, and not only that He had promised that this son would be the father of a great nation. Abraham then in an absolute act of Faith, was willing to follow through with God's bewildering request, because he saw no outcome where God would not deliver on his earlier "promises" regarding this son given to him even from the dead... figuratively. God has promised us incredible things, we need only have Faith in those promises, no matter what life or even God might throw at us, know he will keep his promises to us.