God Had A Plan

"From Abraham's obedience came Jesus' obedience."

GOD ASKED Abraham for a human sacrifice. He asked him to give Him his son, Isaac, the child of promise. From Isaac, God had said he would have descendants innumerable as the stars or the sand. It was the only time God would ever ask for a human sacrifice. It was forbidden before Abraham and forbidden after Abraham. And note, God prevented it. He sent a ram, caught in the thicket, to take Isaac’s place.

God reciprocated it. He sent His Son to take our place. Jesus laid down His life willingly, the only needed and fulfilled human sacrifice. From Abraham’s obedience came Jesus’ obedience. And Abraham was declared in right standing with God because of his belief in who he knew God was. And we are declared in right standing with God because of our belief in God’s goodness to men.

God’s plan was not to make of Israel a nation in a temple secluded from the world, but from the start, He told them the land where He would take them, the place where they would live and love and multiply, was already occupied. People owned it. People lived there.

God’s plan was not to send Israel into captivity to be so comingled with a foreign culture that they’d lose all that He’d given them. No, they’d done that worshiping idols on every hilltop before Babylon had ravaged the land.

God had a plan for Canaan. He had a plan for Babylon.

God’s plan for His church, for His children, was not to box them into fancy buildings, and surround them with insignias that the world’s culture would ignore or make fun of. He said there’d be persecution, but His plan was not for a desperate few to form a cult which would be lost in the history books to man’s ideas and demonic ideologies.

God knows people. And just like He knew Israel would have to conquer Canaan. He had a plan for them to accomplish it. And just like He knew Israel would have to dwell in Babylon. He had a plan for them to live there, to love there, and to return home fully funded. And just like He knew man would sin, and death would take over His world that He created, He had a plan to pay the price required to heal their hearts and restore their minds.

The son Abraham offered in sacrifice believing he’d be raised from the dead became the Son of God willingly offered in sacrifice who knew He would be raised from the dead. The God of promise kept His promise. No other human sacrifice was ever or will ever be required.

Genesis 22:2-13

(1) And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
(2) And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom 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.
(3) And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.
(4) Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.
(5) And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.
(6) And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.
(7) And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
(8) And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.
(9) And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
(10) And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
(11) And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
(12) And he said, 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.
(13) And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.
(14) And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.

Image by Jose Weslley from Pixabay


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com