Links for today’s readings:
Read: Genesis 22 Listen: (4:01), Read: John 21 Listen: (3:58)
Scripture Focus: Genesis 22.1, 17-18
1 Some time later God tested Abraham…
17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”
Hebrews 11.17-19
17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.
Reflection: Test Results
By John Tillman
A divine demand for child sacrifice wouldn’t have surprised Abraham.
Child sacrifices were common with fertility gods in Canaan. But Abraham went to Moriah expecting God to be different. He expected God to surprise him.
Abraham told Isaac God would provide a lamb. Hebrews tells us Abraham reasoned God could raise Isaac from the dead. Abraham held in one hand the promise that God would bless the world through Isaac. In the other hand, he held a knife and a command to sacrifice Isaac. Abraham did the theological math. He added God’s promises to God’s commands, divided them by God’s nature and came up with resurrection as the solution.
Abraham’s resurrection theory was ahead of his time. David and the psalmists wrote about resurrection. Isaiah and Ezekiel mentioned it. Jonah’s life became a living parable demonstrating it. Resurrection is a theme in the Old Testament, but not during Abraham’s lifetime.
Still, Abraham’s hunch about resurrection was correct. He was just wrong about whose resurrection was needed to fulfill God’s promise. The resurrection of Isaac would have saved one man. The resurrection of Jesus saves all who come to him.
So what is the lesson of Abraham’s test? That we’ll be tested? That we must obey? That we must sacrifice? That we can trust God? Maybe. But we see those lessons in many passages and I am convinced that no story from the Bible has only one lesson. I think there are deeper, more timely lessons.
One lesson is that we cannot fulfill the covenant. Abraham couldn’t. Neither can we. We don’t even have a “lamb” to sacrifice. We cannot give enough, do enough, or bless the world enough.
Remember: The mountain of testing is called, “The Lord will provide,” not “We measured up.”
Also, avoid trusting in fleshly, worldly solutions. Abraham had a history of this. So do we. Technology, politics, media, governments, leaders, manipulation, lying, bullying… Why do we turn to these instead of trusting God?
Remember: Worldly solutions can never provide heavenly blessings.
Are you headed for a mountain of testing? Is your church? Is your nation? Think about what you have been trusting. Think about what you need God to provide and trust he will make a way. What might your test results be?
Our most important test has already been passed by Jesus. Trust in God and expect to be surprised by his solution.
Divine Hours Prayer: The Small Verse
O Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world, have mercy upon me.
O Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world, have mercy upon me.
O Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world, grant me your peace. — Agnus Dei
– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.
Read more: Parting a Curtain or Entering God’s Presence?
Through peace and communion with Jesus, the holy of holies we enter overflows with the invaluable presence, power, and love of God.
Listen to Breaking the Rhyme Scheme
Christ will break this rhyme scheme. The rhythms of oppression will be rewritten. The drumbeat of violence will be silenced. The time signature of terrors will give way to rest.
