“God said take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
– Genesis 22:2
I’m a dad, I have three sons. Let me imagine for a minute, I have only one son. Imagine you’re a dad with one son and God says take your son. Your only son, Isaac. It’s like it’s being emphasized here, this is your only son and it mentions his name. You immediately have this face, this precious face in your mind whom you love. Like Genesis 22:2, it’s almost agonizing. Take your son, your only son, Isaac whom you love and go to this place and offer him as a burnt offering. So many questions would come to my mind. I trust your mind too. So many emotions. If we’re not careful we can read through these stories and scripture and just kind of bypass the wrestling, the emotions. And verse three, right after this just says so Abraham rose early in the morning. Saddled his donkey and took of his two young men with him and his son Isaac.
God sent Jesus to be the substitutionary sacrifice for us. God’s only Son was given to atone for our sins. See the love of God for you.
This Verse Tells Us That God Sent Us His Only Son
But between verse two and verse three, I just think of all the emotions, all the wrestling, all the challenges that are there, that I assume are there, that I know would be there for me. I’d trust would be there for most of us. So we read the rest of this story, and we obviously realize that this was a big test of Abraham’s faith, and he did indeed trust God and God provided a substitute to be sacrificed so that his son Isaac would not be sacrificed. So we read that throughout the rest of the story. But we just can’t help when we read this story, you can’t help but to think about John 3:16. The whole story of scripture ties together and a God who took his son, his only son. The only begotten of the father, Jesus whom he loved. Right, the father sent his son to be the substitute sacrifice. For us. For you and for me.
The father took his son, his only son Jesus whom he loved and he offered him as a sacrifice for our sins. Just feel, hopefully in a fresh way, the wonder of God’s love for you, for me.
Genesis 22:2 Praises Jesus For Sacrificing For Our Sins
That God would send his only son Jesus to pay the price for our sins, to endure judgment, due sin when he had no sin to endure. Wrath, death on a cross so that you and I could be called sons and daughters of God. So that we could become children of God in his family. So that we could have eternal life. Oh God we praise you. Jesus we praise you. Father we praise you for taking your son, your only son Jesus, for sending him to be the substitute sacrifice for our sins. Jesus, we praise you. Our older brother, for taking our sin upon yourself, for paying the price we deserve to pay for our sin. For enduring the wrath we deserve to endure for our sin, for saving us from the penalty of sin. For bringing us forgiveness of sin and eternal life with you in your family.
Oh God. Lord Jesus you are our Savior, our King and we love and praise and worship and adore you today. This story never gets old. Thank you, thank you, thank you for the way you love us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
