The Sacrifice

“We have the wood and the fire,” said the boy, “but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?”

The boy Isaac innocently asked his father Abraham.  The old man woke him up earlier than their usual schedule.  He wasn’t sure if his dad ever slept since he saw him praying earnestly the night before.  He even heard him crying bitterly as he prayed.

That morning, Abraham asked his son Isaac to go with him as he worship the Lord and offer his sacrifices in the mountains.  The boy just couldn’t understand why his father was soft spoken and would seldom speak that day.  His old man was always jolly especially whenever he would go to the mountains to worship.  It’s just very different this day.

Abraham was arranging the firewood when it all came back to him.  He loved Sarah so much.  He was still a young man when he met her.  He fell in love with her and as soon as time was ripe for them, he married her.  It was after the wedding that the Lord called Abraham and asked him to leave his land and settle in the place where the Lord would lead him. After a few years they both discovered that Sarah’s womb was not fruitful.  When the Lord visited him before the destruction of the nearby towns, Sodom and Gomorrah, he promised Abraham that a son will be born to him after a year – something that was strange to him.  He was already old by that time and the truth is Sarah was barren.  But God’s words came to pass….
“Come here son.  Lie down and I shall bind you”, he held his tears back, preventing them to be visible to Isaac.  He was the fulfillment of a long – standing dream, the answer to his prayers, and God’s very gift to him.  But since the giver is now asking him for his son Isaac to be offered, he is more than willing to obey yet he would be a hypocrite if he would not show grief for the would – be loss of his only son.

He laid the boy down the pile of rocks topped with dry woods.  He tied Isaac’s hands and after a deep and long breath, he pulled the knife from his waist and lifted it high.  He looked at the boy’s innocent yet fearful eyes as he prepared to strike him and offer him as a sacrifice for the God he had always obeyed and trusted.

“Abraham, stop!  I have seen your obedience and I have proven your love for me”, he heard that holy voice and gave a sigh of relief.

As this story that was told from one generation to another in Israel, went on, a story of the same nature took place, some 3,000 years after Abraham.  A father gave up his son as a sacrifice, as a ransom for the lives of many.  You and I are the beneficiaries of that sacrifice.  That time, no one stopped the consummation of the sacrifice of the father through the son Jesus Christ.  That is the reason why up to this moment, we are enjoying life.  Are you now willing to give him your life as well?