Abraham's Sacrifice

My mind has been turned towards the story of Abraham and Isaac. In Genesis 12, God commands Abraham to take Isaac-- his only son, born to he and Sarah after years of barrenness-- and to offer him up as a burnt offering to the Lord.

I can't imagine the turmoil, the agony Abraham must have experienced at the thought. The pain of the very idea. The knowledge of his sweet son's absolute innocence, the unjustness of the command. And yet-- he obeyed. He took his son, he took the things required for the offering and saddled his ass and took him to the required place.

When his son asked him so innocently where the lamb was for the offering, can you imagine what must have gone through his mind? "You are the lamb, my son. The innocent lamb to be offered, the lamb without spot or blemish." And he said to him, "My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering."

Isaac must have been confused-- then scared-- but apparently still trusting and loving, for we don't read of a struggle. We see Abraham standing over his small son, tied and laid on the prepared altar. We see him stretching forth his hand, and taking the knife "to slay his son". It must have felt as if his own heart was being torn from his own chest. As if he were committing a great treachery to appease his God.

And yet-- he made that offering. The Lord knew his heart, and showed Abraham his own heart. At the last second, He sent His angel to stay Abraham's hand.

Can you imagine the blessed relief? The gratitude that while he was willing to sacrifice so much, such a sacrifice would not be required? The relief that it was only a test of his faith and dedication-- and that he had passed the test?

The Lord then says to Abraham, "Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him; for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me." And then the Lord did indeed provide Abraham a ram for the sacrifice. The provision was made and Abraham had shown his "broken heart and contrite spirit" to the Lord.

God reiterates the import of what had been shown, "By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy see shall possess the gate of his enemies."

Following the sacrifice and the lesson came the blessings.

But what are we to learn from this? Obviously, the Lord was teaching a lesson about the Ultimate Sacrifice, the sacrifice of His Son, the Lamb of God. But how can we further apply this in our own lives?

Perhaps we have our own Isaac's to offer on the altar. In Alma 22:18, King Lamoni's father prays to the Lord saying, "I will give away all my sins to know thee." Both are sacrifices to know our God-- it is one thing to offer up our sins, something we know is evil, a bad, sick part of ourselves. But to offer up something that is precious to you? Something pure and without fault? Have we done that?

Have we turned over our entire hearts to God? Have we humbled ourselves enough so that we can truly say we are His? Have we put our whole lives into His hands, trusting in Him so implicitly that we will not withhold from our God our "only son"? Such submission, such meekness, such humility... can we honestly say that it is found within ourselves? We cannot look at the story of Abraham clinging to the hope that it will end in the same way. I believe that there are times and circumstances when the sacrifice will be required-- and we are to be prepared for that eventuality. We cannot make this offering with the expectation that it will not be required. It will only be accepted when it is made with our whole hearts, nothing held back. No little corner of our minds or hearts remains ours. Only then can our sacrifice, our offering be true.

I pray that each of us can be so strong as Abraham in our offerings. What is your Isaac?