When God Speaks Nonsense

Early this morning I experienced the story of Abraham’s near sacrifice of his son, Isaac, in a fresh way.  Now I’ve read this account many times over the course of my life, and I’ve heard countless sermons preached from this passage, but something in the text drew my special attention today.

For years I’ve carried the image of Isaac carrying the wood for the fire in his arms, but the language of the text suggests otherwise:  “And [Abraham] laid [the wood] on Isaac” (Genesis 22:6).  The imagery here is more akin to a bundle of wood that Isaac carried on his back.  Realizing this, I could not help but think of our Lord’s passion in which he was forced to carry the wooden beam that was laid on him (John 19:17).  Thus the account of Isaac’s “near-death” experience in which his life is saved—at the last minute—by a sacrificial lamb foreshadows Jesus’ “full-death” experience in which our lives, like Isaac’s, are saved by The Sacrificial Lamb.

The interaction between Abraham and Isaac in this account bears remarkable parallels to the relationship between the Divine Father and Son.  Just as Isaac displays faith in and obedience to his father, even to the point of death, so also Jesus displays faith in and obedience to His Father and goes willingly to the cross.  This understanding may help us answer the to the knottiest question raised by this passage:  “Why would God command Abraham to kill his son?  Surely this is nonsense!

To be sure the Bible consistently condemns human sacrifice (see, for example, Leviticus 20).  So this command is totally at odds with God’s character.  How then should we understand what is going on in this passage?

I suggest that we should consider carefully the “testimony” aspect of our calling as finite representatives of the infinite God.  God intends our lives to be reflections of His nature, character, and will.  Only insofar as we are conformed to this image do we glorify God.

So how does this help us understand this Biblical passage?  Abraham’s life bears witness to a close relationship with God; clearly he and God were on speaking terms.  Abraham knew the voice of God, but he also knew the character of God.  Abraham surely knew this command was out of character with God, but he trusted that even though he could not cognitively process this command as a moral act, God had spoken it, and God could still be trusted.  In other words, he didn’t know what God was up to, but he knew whatever he was up to would be upright and righteous.  That’s what the writers to the Hebrews (I think Paul and Luke collaborated) point out:  “And [Abraham] reasoned that God could even raise him from the dead” (Hebrews 11:19).

This incident was clearly a test of Abraham’s loyalty to God.  But we need not assume any uncertainty on God’s part.  The test was not so that God could “discover” the extent of Abraham’s loyalty; God’s vision of the interior of a person makes him a perfect judge of character.  The test may not even have been for Abraham’s sake, as if Abraham himself was uncertain as to his loyalty to God.  What is certain is that the test serves a stellar example of trust and obedience for every soul that witnesses it.

This episode from the life of Abraham brings glory and honor to God, not only because of what it shows us about Abraham (trusting obedience to God) and Isaac (trusting obedience to his father), but also because of what it shows us about God.  God prevented the killing.  From Isaac’s perspective, God intervened and saved his life.  And this is precisely what God, through the death of His Son, does for all of us: He intervenes and saves our lives.