Honey From The Rock

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Honey From The Rock
Psalm 81:16

"Sweet Stuff From God's Word"

A daily Bible study with Victor Knowles
Copyright 2007

TRAIL OF ALTARS, Part 8

This entry was posted on 10-21-2009 and is filed under ALTARS.

At last we come to the final altar that Abraham built. The story is told in its entirety in Genesis 22. We also find references to it in the New Testament in Hebrews 11 and Romans 4.

"After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, 'Abraham!'
'Here I am," he answered.
'Take your son, ' He said, 'your only [son] Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.'" (Gen. 22:1,2 CSB).

What a test! A faith that hasn't been tested cannot be trusted. But Abraham passes the test with flying colors. Early the next morning (he did not tarry or seek Sarah's advice) he got up, split the wood (what were his thoughts?), and sets forth with Isaac and two of his young men servants. Three days later (again, what were thoughts those 72 hours?) they arrive at the place of sacrifice. I like what Abraham tells the servants at this point: "Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there to worship; then we'll come back to you" (v. 5). How positive is that? "We'll come back to you!" Worship makes all the difference. Surely you know the rest of the story. Isaac carries the wood up the mountain. (Remember that Christ carried His own cross to Calvary.) Abraham carries the fire and the sacrificial knife. Isaac asks - as you and I would have - "Where is the lamb?" Abraham responds, "God will provide."

Abraham builds the altar - his last one. What were the thoughts that must have been raging in his mind as he lifted one heavy stone upon the other? We won't know until we get to Heaven and ask him. Then he places the wood on the altar. He turns and faces his son, the son of promise, the son whom he loves. He binds him with cords. Isaac is a strong young man (probably around 30 or 33 years of age). He could, perhaps, have overpowered his father. But he does not. He submits. There are no words of protest uttered. I believe that Isaac had faith too, don't you? The story continues. Abraham raises the sacrificial knife, ready to plunge it into the heart of his beloved son, and then the Angel of the LORD intervenes and stops the process. "Now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from Me" (v. 12). Abraham looks up, sees a ram caught in the thicket, and offers him in Isaac's stead. And just as he promised, he and Isaac walk back down the mountain to the servants. Wouldn't you have liked to have heard their conversation? Well, in Heaven you can ask them what it was like that day on Mt. Moriah.

Incidentally, many scholars believe this mountain, or at least this ridge, to be the very place where Jesus, the Lamb of God, was crucified for our sins. Romans 8:32 says, "He did not even spare His own Son, but offered Him up for us all" (CSB). God's love for us was even greater than Abraham's amazing demonstration of faith. Today this historic site is covered by Islam's Dome of the Rock. But Abraham's faith, demonstrated at that altar, and God's love, demonstrated at Calvary, can never be covered!

Hymn: "Far dearer than all that the world can impart was the message that came to my heart; How that Jesus alone for my sins did atone, and Calvary covers it all. Calvary covers it all, my past with its sin and stain; My guilt and despair Jesus took on Him there, and Calvary covers it all" (Mrs. Walter G. Taylor)