Just as the knife is hovering above Isaac, the angel calls to Abraham and Isaac is saved in the nick of time!
Preparing the Bride for GOD’s Story
How do we prepare as the Bride of Christ? One aspect is to learn GOD’S STORY. He created us in His image…. Piece by piece, and peace by peace, we learn to walk as He has walked. And we learn His perspective.
Genesis 22:11-19
“But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”
So he said, “Here I am.”
And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
“Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
“Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son—blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.”
Without a second to lose
Imagine you’re Isaac. Your dad has said, ‘Don’t worry the LORD will provide [a sacrifice’]. But now he’s strapped you down onto the altar and in your father’s hand is a knife, and it’s poised above your head.
Then, an angel calls out, “Stop!”.
Wow! Good thing Dad isn’t hard of hearing. Or perhaps, he was waiting, expecting, hoping, TRUSTING he’d be stopped. Or that you’d be raised from the dead.
Imagine you’re Abraham
A couple of decades ago, GOD promised you a son. Then you had a son Ishmael, but GOD says, ‘No, not that one.’ Then at last comes Isaac.
Now you’ve been told to sacrifice him. You don’t tell your wife. You don’t tell your son. But you know you must obey, because you’ve been down a lot of roads with GOD by now, and you just know you have to obey. It doesn’t make any sense… but obey you must, and obey you will.
When you hear your name called, you don’t care that it’s an angel. You don’t care that it’s commanding. You just do what you’re told.
Thank you, he’s asked you to stop your hand!
You have obeyed, and it is good. GOD is pleased. Your son will live. What a relief.
What was going through Abraham’s mind?
‘I just gotta do what I’m told to do!’
And he does.
And he is inordinately blessed for it: His seed will produce as many people as there are stars in heaven. And they will be victorious in the land. And on top of that, through his seed, the entire world will be blessed.
And then he collects his servants, and the entire band moves to Beersheba!
Where’s Beersheba? And what does it symbolise (because with GOD, there is always symbolism)? Well, in part, it is a place of the well (or even two wells), and in that, a place of life!
From GOD’s perspective
Imagine you are the LORD Most High. You have created mankind. Then, you have watched mankind disobey, flaunt itself, destroy itself. You start again and you find Abram, a righteous man, at a time when there are no righteous men. And you put “all your eggs in a basket”.
You watch Abram fumble, mess up. But you keep trusting him because you see what is possible. And now, this is breaking point. And the man does the hardest thing possible: he puts his own son on the altar for sacrifice. And he is willing and he follows and you know you can trust him. Imagine the joy, the remarkable delight, that GOD enjoys in Abraham.
And now us
Imagine the unspeakable joy GOD has when one sinner repents. Imagine the unspeakable delight GOD has in each of His children for whom He sacrificed His own son.
Imagine how pleasing we are to Him. Imagine!