Sacrificing Your Son

Some of us know the story of Abraham’s near sacrifice of his son, Isaac. Would you do the same today for God? You might already be doing it, but not for him. As we know it in Genesis, God commanded Abraham to take Isaac off into the mountains and sacrifice him as a show of commitment to God. This involved taking a donkey, two servants, and wood for some distance to where this potentially gruesome and horrific act was to take place. The story ends with Abraham placing Isaac, bound by ropes, on the wood pile. Just as he’s about to plunge the knife into his first-born son, an angel stops him and says that God now knows that Abraham truly fears Him. And because of this, many more sons will be born through Isaac. Let’s examine what might have happened in between Abraham hearing God’s first command and him almost plunging the knife. And I challenge you to examine this from the perspective of a parent. Imagine knowing that, no matter how much you love your child, you feel you have no choice but to do this. Maybe that because of your belief that God can do almost anything-even raise the dead- that there has to be a great reward for this sacrifice. And it should be, because this is no small sacrifice. Could you even visualize that conversation on the way up to the mountaintop with your son? He knows that something is up. All we know is that he was curious as to why there was wood but no lamb. He didn’t know that HE was the lamb. What would your demeanor be like, knowing that even though you trust in God, what he’s asking you to do is probably one of the hardest and most heart-wrenching acts to commit to? How often do you touch that knife? How many times can you visualize plunging it into his heart before you actually do it? What’s your strategy to bind him? Will you have to knock him out with a rock when he isn’t looking? How will you explain this to your family when you get back? And can you live with yourself? Abraham did tell the servants WE will be back. Did he say it to conceal his true intent, or did he believe that Isaac would be raised from the dead? And we don’t see anything else in the bible about Isaac struggling, fighting off his father before being bound and placed on top of the wood. Does that mean Abraham told him what was going to happen and Isaac willingly went along? We don’t know exactly what was said, but we know what happened in the end. We also don’t know about the conversation on the way back. But we know that at some point Isaac must have understood why Abraham placed him for sacrifice. And he saw why it didn’t happen. And they both know after the fact that it was God testing Abraham’s fate. Abraham didn’t initiate the sacrifice. He probably didn’t want to do it. But He knew somehow, some way that God had a reason for it. Fast forward into today’s time and think about what would happen if God called YOU to sacrifice your son. He asks you to take him to Yosemite, on top of the famed Half-dome, and prepare him for sacrifice. Could you do it, just out of sheer faith? I can’t speak for you, but I know I couldn’t. Yet, in some ways, we do sacrifice our children. But not for our Christian God. Maybe we don’t bind them on top of wood piles and light a match, but we burn them with our insults, sacrificing them to the God of Stress. We don’t drag them hours and hours to a place they think they are going to for spiritual blessings, but we force them to church events and other gatherings, sacrificing them to the God of Keeping Up Appearances. And we don’t even make them carry large piles of wood up to the mountain top so they can dig their own graves, but we spend our money and resources on vices rather than food and clothing for the God of Decadence. Think about times where you’ve skipped out on events important to them so that you can do what you think is important. Yes, there will be sacrifices. Thank God that because Jesus died for our sins, we don’t have to offer up lambs and bloody our streets. There may be times where we have to put our children aside to secure their futures. But these should be times and moments, not permanent lifestyles. There are no stories of Isaac holding resentment towards his father for what happened on the mountaintop. In the end, he knew why God commanded him to do it. Will your son understand your sacrifices?