The Journey

When God called Abraham (in Genesis 22:1-2), Abraham responded with Here I am.  The Hebrew meaning of this phrase indicates that Abraham was saying, "I am here and available to You, God."  To Abraham's shock and utter horror, God replied (Amplified):  Take now your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love...  & offer him... as a burnt offering.... 

So... This 113 yr old man rose early in the morning and, heart breaking, tears streaming down his face, started out with Isaac and two servants on a three day, soul-wrenching journey to Mt. Moriah.   When they reached the base of the mountain, Abraham dismissed the servants & laid the wood on Isaac's back.  Looking up, he could see in the distance the place where God had asked him to do the unthinkable - slay his beloved, long-waited-for son, Isaac.

When they reached their destination, Abraham bound his son, and Isaac, though he certainly could have overpowered this ancient man, submitted to his father.  Abraham, blinded by tears, then picked Isaac up and laid him on the altar, believing he was going to have to slay this precious son  and then watch him burn!

Then Abraham stretched forth his hand (can you imagine a terrible pause here?), and took hold of the  slaughtering knife to slay his son (Genesis 22:10, Amplified) .....

But God called out from heaven for Abraham to STOP!  And God provided a ram, caught in the bushes, for a replacement sacrifice.

Hebrews 11:17-19 tells us that Abraham, believing fully in the promise of descendants from Isaac, reasoned that God was able to bring Isaac back to life.  Nevertheless, the situation would have been unbelievably dreadful for both Abraham and Isaac!  But Abraham had come to the point of believing, "You are God.  I am not."  So he walked the pathway that God asked him to walk.

But God was not asking Abraham to do what He Himself had not done.  God the Father walked a like pathway with His Own Beloved Son, but much longer than three days....

·         from before the foundation of the world (1 Peter 1:20, Amplified),

·         to Adam's sin - you will lie in wait and bruise His heal (Genesis 3:15, Amplified),

·         to the manger 4000 years later - He will save His people from their sins (Math I:21, Amplified),

·         to Jesus' arrest and conviction 33 years after that,

·         and then the final journey from the Praetorium to Golgotha -    Pilate gave sentence... they led Him away... And when they came to the place that is called the Skull, there they crucified Him.... And Jesus prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:24-34, Amplified).

No ram was caught in a bush to take the place of the Lamb of God on that cross.  The Father had to watch His Son slowly die in torture, and the sight was so terrible that God shrouded it in darkness... and then turned His face away as He laid on His dying Son the guilt and iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6, Amplified).

All for the love of you and me.

For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He even gave up His only begotten Son... (John 3:16, Amplified.).