Sacrifice
The Bible has some accounts that make us uneasy. One of them is Genesis 22:1-14. God speaks to Abraham, and states the need for a sacrifice. It’s payment for his sins. He demands his son, his only son. Abraham leads Isaac up a mountain. He ties him up, lays him on the altar, and draws a knife. As the scene plays out, we can’t help but ask “How can a father do such things? What has the boy done to deserve this?” We sympathize with Isaac. We don’t like sacrifice. We don’t want anyone to be sacrificed. We want to live and be let be. What we really want is to deny that sin has consequence. We are all sinners. The wages of sin is death. As difficult as it is to accept, we all deserve death. God had every right to call for Isaacs’s death; he has every right to call for ours to. That’s a very sobering thought…. In his mercy, God spared Isaac’s life. We read about a ram caught in the brush and we sigh in relief. How quickly do we jump to the thought that “At least it’s only a ram that must be sacrificed.” The truth is the ram’s sacrifice, any sacrifice, is not enough to cover Abrahams and Isaacs’s sin. It’s not enough to cover our sins. Nothing you give up could. But what it does is point to another greater sacrifice. Another substitution took place. Our sins paid for by Christ crucified. God provided this substitute on the mountain of Calvary by sending his only, beloved son, Jesus. He was bound to the cross as a final sacrifice for us, to pay for our sins. If we were to ask the same questions:
“How can a father do such things” Because God loves you. Love sacrifices
“What has he done to deserve this?” Jesus did nothing to deserve this punishment
Through the shedding of his blood, all of our sins are forgiven. God raised his Son from the dead, and he will raise you as well. He has taken your death, and given you eternal life.
Hear the words of Romans 6
We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
-God Bless,
Pastor Dan