God did order Abraham to offer up his beloved son Isaac, and Abraham understood that God meant what he said. He had his knife ready. But then God said, don't do it; this is a test.
God called off the sacrifice of Isaac, because He knew how only Jesus on Calvary could be the really right sacrifice for us all. God already knew, way back then, that Jesus would one day come to this earth to make the one really right sacrifice for us.
Offering up Isaac could have been a great sacrificial gesture, but God does not want us to only make great sacrifices. Working hard, giving a lot of money, and helping needy people can be great gestures, but God wants us to be living sacrifices in His love, all the time. In all the big stuff but also in little things > it is about quality of love, not quantity of sacrifice!!
"And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma." (Ephesians 5:2)
It was not the quantity of the sacrifice and suffering which mattered the most to God, but it was the quality of the sweet-smelling aroma!!!
And Jesus is now growing in us; Jesus in us makes us sweetly pleasing to God our Father, more and more all the time, as we grow in Jesus.
God called off the sacrifice of Isaac, because He knew how only Jesus on Calvary could be the really right sacrifice for us all. God already knew, way back then, that Jesus would one day come to this earth to make the one really right sacrifice for us.
Offering up Isaac could have been a great sacrificial gesture, but God does not want us to only make great sacrifices. Working hard, giving a lot of money, and helping needy people can be great gestures, but God wants us to be living sacrifices in His love, all the time. In all the big stuff but also in little things > it is about quality of love, not quantity of sacrifice!!
"And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma." (Ephesians 5:2)
It was not the quantity of the sacrifice and suffering which mattered the most to God, but it was the quality of the sweet-smelling aroma!!!
And Jesus is now growing in us; Jesus in us makes us sweetly pleasing to God our Father, more and more all the time, as we grow in Jesus.