He Did Not Spare Even His Own Son

He Did Not Spare Even His Own Son

When Abraham heard God calling, he gladly replied, “Yes, . . . here I am” (Genesis 22:1). But that was before he knew what God was about to ask of him. This was the eagerness of one who didn’t know how his faith was about to be tested. “Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you” (Genesis 22:2).

One would think that Abraham would drag his feet, go back with questions, search for some sort of out. But “the next morning Abraham got up early” (Genesis 22:3) and set out on a heartbreaking journey of costly obedience, taking his beloved son up Mount Moriah to be sacrificed. Then, just before Abraham plunged the knife into Isaac as he lay on the altar, the angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven: “Don’t lay a hand on the boy! . . . Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son” (Genesis 22:12).

When we read this story, we can’t help but wonder if God knew what he was doing, if he realized what he was asking. But of course he knew. Abraham’s love for and joy in his son were but a reflection of God’s love for his own Son. The Father said about Jesus, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy” (Matthew 3:17). Jesus was the beloved Son of promise, whom God did not withhold from us. “God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him” (1 John 4:9).

God did what Abraham did not have to do: he made his Son an offering for sin. “God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). When Abraham raised that knife over his son Isaac, God stopped him. But at the Cross God plunged the knife into his Son. Likewise, Jesus, the Son, did what Isaac, the son, did not have to do: he experienced the pain of death at the hands of his Father—the death that we deserve. The object of the Father’s love was not spared, so that we would be eternally spared.

You did not spare your own Son so that you could spare me. You took everything away from your own Son to give everything to me. You were harsh toward your own Son in order to be sweet to me. You poured out your wrath on your own Son at the Cross in order to pour out your grace on me. You sacrificed your own Son so that I would gain everything.