Abraham's Only Son?

Genesis 22:2     “And He (God) said, ‘Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac who thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.’”

ONLY?  Only?

I sat a moment and thought about that. What about Ishmael? Was he not Abraham’s son? Indeed, he was! Then why did God use the word only? I began to think…

Then it occurred to me. God recognized Issac, but not Ismael. Why? Because Ishmael was a product of Abraham and Sarah’s own “idea”, their own achievements, or you may even say “works”. Isaac was the gift of God, the son of promise, the product of a covenant…a marriage entered into before God.

Isaac, the son of God’s promise, was a child that the couple had longed for, waited for and cherished more. The child was a supernatural gift from God, seeing that they were unable to conceive a child even in their youth. Isaac had been an impossibility…a conception unachieved by the abilities of Abraham and Sarah, but a miracle gift of God. A gift has more “meaning” or emotion attached to it…a sentimentality that our own works or efforts can produce. Part of this emotion was exhibited in the love Abraham showed towards the child.

The efforts by Abraham and Sarah to achieve the promises of God on their own resulted in disaster. Ishmael and his mother became objects of resentment , and discord filled the house of Abraham as long as they remained, and they were driven away. I considered this…had they remained in the house of Abraham, would Abraham have considered bringing Ishmael to the altar? If he had, would God have accepted this sacrifice?

Thinking on this, I will say that I believe that under those circumstances, Abraham may would have (in his humanity), for a moment entertained the thought. However, I believe that Abraham was faithful. He had seen the hand of God in his life, and Abraham feared God.

If he had brought Ishmael to the altar, I believe that God would not have accepted the sacrifice. First of all, Abraham would have been in disobedience, and God does not honor disobedience. Secondly, Abraham would have been bringing forth a product of his and Sarah’s own flawed efforts, not a product of God’s perfect will for their lives. In God’s eyes, he would not have been presenting his best to God, and the sacrifice would have been unacceptable. God’s desire was to see the faithful Abraham’s willingness to give up something God-given, something that he could not replace himself… a true sacrifice.

Unless we can view what we have as God’s…His provision…then is what we give really a sacrifice and acceptable in His eyes? We have to realize that like Abraham and Sarah, all that we do in our own power and will is flawed. If it is something we feel that we have accomplished, it is marred by pride…it is not a perfect gift that is being “given back”, but a gift that we hesitantly bring because “we worked so hard” to achieve it. It may not even have been something that God willed for our lives. God doesn’t need anything “we” have…His desire is for us to acknowledge His Presence and gifts, receive that which is His perfect will for our lives and to be willing to surrender that which is not ours, but His…because it is then a true and perfect sacrifice.

Be blessed in Jesus' Name,
Angie