A MESSENGE FOR ABRAHAM

Angels are often seen as messengers … heralds … celestial couriers sent from God’s Heavenly throne room to a particular human recipient. Such was the case as Abraham worshipped at Mt. Moriah. An angel was dispatched with an important telegram.

God had led the radically obedient Abraham and his son, Isaac, to Mount Moriah… you remember the story. It’s one of my favorites!

After the three-day sojourn, the father-son duo arrived at Mt. Moriah… later called Mt. Calvary. Leaving the servants at the foot of the hill, Abraham and Isaac marched to the top. There, Abraham prepared to worship and sacrifice, just as God had commanded. They built an altar, carefully stacked on the wood, and then prepared the sacrifice.

What did God desire? What was Abe to offer? “Take your son … your only son Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering” (Genesis 22:2).

Unthinkable!

But Abraham obeyed. And… Isaac obeyed. No one knows how old Isaac was at the time. If he was seven, he could have outrun his 107-year-old daddy. If he was seventeen, he could have outwrestled him. He did neither. He laid down his life willingly, just as Jesus did centuries later when His Daddy led him to this same location.

With Isaac stretched out upon the altar, Abraham took out his knife, raised it, prepared to plunge it into his son’s heart. That’s when God’s envoy arrived.

“Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son” (Genesis 22:12). Startled, “Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught in the thicket by its horns” (Genesis 22:13).

This story illustrates God’s plan for a substitutionary sacrifice … The ram was scarified so that Isaac could live, and later, Jesus was offered as the atoning sacrifice so that we could live.

Aren’t you glad that God’s messenger arrived on time? And aren’t you glad that God’s plan includes a substitutionary sacrifice? I am!

“… think on these things” (Philippians 4:8, KJV).