Abraham and Isaac

After God had tested Abraham immensely, He blessed Abraham with land, riches, and cattle, he also gave him and his wife their first son, Isaac. After Isaac had grown up a little bit, God hit Abraham with the final.

God told Abraham that he was to go up on the mountain and sacrifice Isaac. Heavy stuff, right? After all those years of being unable to have kids, God now tells him to give up his only son? Talk about a sob story.

Abraham is undoubtedly slightly confused by this request, but he was a man of the Lord, so up the mountain he went. He told his son to come along, and at the top they built an altar.

At this point we see Isaac getting a little confused. He's a smart kid; he notices the stones and the altar and the fire being built. He's surveying the scene like "Hmmm, ya know dad, I think we forgot the lamb to sacrifice". Abraham just looked at his son and gave him a sad little nod, probably, and Isaac understood. What a scary moment of understanding that must have been.

So Abraham ties his son down and is about to take his life, but in comes the angel, like the out of breath detective telling the other cops they've got the wrong guy. The angel tells Abraham that because he was prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice, Isaac is saved and a ram is slaughtered in his place, and Abraham and his family are forever blessed. Again.

And what about Isaac? I mean, as a kid, if your dad ties you up and puts a knife to your throat, you'd be freaking out. But I think I'd freak out more when he untied me and said "Nah I was just playin cmon son lets burn this ram and then go see what mom made for dinner". I think Isaac was first case of PTSD.

Anyway, I think this story is cool because it shows a man being very vulnerable with the Lord. He is prepared to give his everything for Him, and that kind of allegiance is seldom seen today. We are extremely slow to give up one of our possessions.... much less a .. family member? And I'm sure if something like this happened today many of us would have been unable to force ourselves up that mountain. True sacrifice is virtually nonexistent in our society.