Fatherhood - A Lesson from Abraham

Genesis 22: 4 – 13 (NIV): On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you." Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?" "Yes, my son?" Abraham replied. "The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together. When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son." Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.

First we must understand that God will never, ever again ask a father to sacrifice one of his children for any reason, and notice that God did not allow Abraham to slay his son. But Abraham was in a unique situation to demonstrate true devotion and God's love for us. This story is full of symbolism. God did allow his one and only son to die. God did sacrifice his promised child. And God did raise his child from the dead, the very thing Abraham reasoned God would do (see Hebrews 11:19).

God was testing Abraham to make sure that he, God, had first place in his life – even above the promised child for whom he had waited for years.

The best gift a father can give his children is to show that he loves God first and foremost. The best gift I can give my own children is to show them that I love God more than I love them. That's what God was demanding in this story. And God demands obedience from us, too, even if it doesn't make sense at the time. God's ways are higher than ours, and we must trust him at all times to please him.

This story also introduced the concept of the substitute sacrifice. God provided a ram so that Abraham could sacrifice it instead of his son. A lamb was slain for another's salvation. But there is more: This happened on a hill outside Jerusalem, a three-day's journey, innocent blood was shed, an obedient son is central to the story, the son carried his own wood, and the son's birth was promised years before-hand. God has provided a substitute sacrifice for all of us, but make no mistake, he requires total devotion, obedience and faith.