From Fear to Triumph: Faith through Contradictions

From Fear to Triumph: Faith through Contradictions

Genesis 22:1-14 T Lent 5

INI

In the sugar-coated veneer of modern Christianity, we struggle to imagine a God who would challenge us in the way He challenged Abraham. It’s hard to capture the emotional toil that Abraham must’ve felt when going up to Moriah. It would’ve been difficult to hear God’s unthinkable duty for Abraham, when He told him, “Take your Son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah.  Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will point out to you.” (Genesis 22:2-3)

         Surely that was difficult to hear. Abraham and Sarah had not been able to bear children, to their great heartache. Yet, God had promised to Abraham that he and Sarah would bear a son, even in their old age! And they did! It was miraculous! It was everything they wanted! Not only was Isaac the son that Abraham and Sarah always wanted, God PROMISED them that through Isaac, Abraham’s descendants would be as numerous as the stars. He would be the patriarch of a great nation.

         But NOW, it seemed God contradicted His promise. God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his beloved son, Isaac. But how could this be? It was a contradiction! How could God promise Abraham a great number of descendants, yet kill his only son through whom the promise would come?

         Abraham found himself at a crossroads – do I trust God’s promise, or do I walk in obedience to His command? Normal human reason rebels at this very notion, saying – “Either God’s promise was a lie, or this command to sacrifice Isaac isn’t from God, but from the devil.” This is what human reason does. It strives to comprehend God and His ways before it’s ready to obey.

         But that’s why the Scriptures proclaim the truth that Abraham was justified by faith. Because faith doesn’t sit there and reason out the complexities of God. Faith doesn’t bargain with God for clarity before it obeys. Faith clings to God’s promises, even when the present circumstances make them seem impossible.

         Jesus constantly told the disciples that He was going to die and rise from the dead. They knew Him to be the Promised Messiah – the One who’d free God’s people. But how could Jesus free them if He was dead? They struggled with the seeming contradiction, just as Abraham did.

         Yet, Abraham responded faithfully to God. If there were ever a story where a saint of God exhibited perfect faith, obedience, and love towards God – it’s here. There’s no hesitation or trepidation from Abraham. After hearing this command of God, Abraham got up the next morning, saddled his donkey, took his two servants, some wood, and his beloved son, Isaac. And they started the three-day journey.

         Could you imagine what Abraham was thinking or feeling? The Holy Spirit chose not to reveal Abraham’s emotions, but that’s not to say that Abraham wasn’t conflicted. Abraham could’ve easily NOT gone to Moriah, the place God had chosen. Yet, Abraham’s path never wavered. He remained steadfast, following God’s Word without deviation.

         Thus, Abraham teaches us worship in its truest form – he feared God more than he feared the loss of his son. He didn’t fear God because God was scary to him. He feared God because He feared what life would be without God. Because God is good. All His ways and commands are – even the ones that WE can’t reason out. Abraham had complete and utter faith in the goodness of God’s promise to him. That’s why He didn’t fear Isaac’s death, and followed the command. But he did fear God himself.

Through this fear of the Lord, wisdom begins to grow as his reverence became his worship. Luther himself says, “Reverence and fear constitute the true and God-pleasing worship.” Jesus Himself said as much to the disciples s– “do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Matthew 10:28).”

Abraham’s faith reasoned that to love God was to live in obedience to His commands, and trust that God will work out good for him. Isn’t that the kind of worship Christ Himself calls us to? When we cite the commandment of loving God and loving neighbor, what does loving God consist of?

Luther’s explanations of the commandments give us the pattern: fear, love, and trust God above ALL things. That’s our posture toward all God’s commands. If we fear, love, and trust in God, then we’d obey His commands, just like Abraham did – even if obedience leads towards death. Jesus Himself said, “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself in him (John 14:21).”

While it’s true that Abraham gets most of the credit in the Holy Scriptures, we must consider the obedience of Isaac. Most people assume that Isaac was a young boy. But, Luther believes him to be around 20 – and others around 30. Point is, Isaac is an adult – physically, and spiritually. Isaac exhibited complete trust in what his father, Abraham, was doing. He could’ve fought Abraham as soon as he was tied to the wood for the burnt offering and saw Abraham raise his knife! He could’ve easily overpowered him! Remember, Abraham was old. Yet Isaac obeyed without any waver of trust.

This story is just so beautiful. There’s so much imagery and foreshadowing happening here in the text. It’s unfortunate how the Jewish people see this text – they ONLY see it as an act of obedience. But Christians see this as a foreshadowing of the crucifixion of Jesus. God revealed all the way back in the first book of the Bible, that the crucifixion of His Son Jesus wasn’t an accident. It was His plan all along.

Isaac foreshadows Jesus. Isaac willingly submitted to the will of his father, even if it meant death – just as Christ obeyed His heavenly Father. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus wrestled with the Father’s will. He asked for the suffering of the cross to removed, if there’d be another way to save God’s people. But there wasn’t. This was the only way. Thus, Jesus prayed, “Nevertheless, not my will be done, but yours.” And like Isaac, Christ bore the wood that he’d be sacrificed on.

But Isaac also foreshadows us. He was bound to the wood, but the angel intervened. The Lord provided a ram, whose horns were caught in a thicket. It was sacrificed in Isaac’s place.

Likewise, due to our sins, we deserve death. Yet, the Lord didn’t provide a ram in our place, but a Lamb. His horns weren’t caught in a thicket, but His head did wear a crown of thorns. The Lamb of God was the substitute to die in our place.

This story is a window into the center of the Bible’s story: the death and resurrection of Jesus. We live because He died. We received His innocence and holiness because the holy and innocent One bore the guilt of all. We receive the Passover Lamb’s body and cleansing blood because of what He endured on our behalf.

What’s our response to such a great act of God towards us? Not a burnt offering – but love. Jesus taught – “[to love God and love your neighbor] is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” We love because He first loved us. And in that love, we seek to live a life of obedience, fear, and reverence – just like Abraham.

So, let us imitate Abraham in the truest form of worship, and also in his complete confidence in God. For Abraham was the first saint to overcome the fear the death and believe in God’s power of resurrection. He knew that even if he sacrificed Isaac, the Lord would resurrect him from the dead so that God would remain true to his promises. Even if Isaac had been consumed by the whole burnt offering, Abraham knew that God would raise him from the ashes to establish a great nation, making good on His promise. The Holy Spirit revealed this confidence through the author of Hebrews – “Abraham considered that God was able even to raise Isaac from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back (Hebrews 11:19).”

Luther said, “the victory of Abraham, Isaac, and all saints is faith. He who has faith overcomes the fear of death and triumphs eternally.” The power of faith is that death is turned into life. Just as Abraham and Isaac endured the terror of death, feeling the weight of separation from the father, so did Christ – yet in an even greater way.

When Jesus hung on the cross, He cried – “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me (Matthew 27:46)?” This was in reality the truest sense of death – the agony of being forsaken by the heavenly Father before breathing His last breath. He felt eternal death and separation. But what happened? God didn’t abandon His Son to the grave. For on the third day, Christ rose victorious over sin, death, and the devil.

Thus, the resurrection that Abraham believed in was not just about Isaac – it was about Christ. He saw the day of Christ, and was glad. He no longer feared death, because He knew God was victorious over it. And God graciously shares that victory with all His children, including you and me.

Therefore, let us, like Abraham, walk in faith, fearing, loving, and trusting God above all things. For in Christ, we have been delivered from death to life. And His promises, no matter how impossible they seem, will always be fulfilled.

INI

Pastor Joshua Ralston