24 Days to Reflect on God's Heart for RedemptionSample

Abraham: Redeemed through obedience and faith

The story of Abraham’s willingness to offer his son Isaac to God illustrates both the transactional and spiritual nature of redemption. It also illustrates for us the kind of faith an agent of redemption needs to find our place in redemptive history.

Imagine praying and waiting for a child, as Abraham and Sarah did, only to be told by God to “take your son, your only son, whom you love” and sacrifice him as a burnt offering. The burnt offering is a necessary transaction for atonement; the subject of the sacrifice, Isaac, is a test of Abraham’s faith and obedience. How many times has God called you to step out in faith toward an unknown place? Yet Abraham demonstrates the necessary ingredients we must also have if we are to be agents of redemption - trust and obey.

Three days into the journey, Abraham sees the place where God has brought him. He finishes the last part of the journey with only Isaac, placing the burden of carrying the wood on his son. Think about the irony of the sacrifice, shouldering the burden of his own impending death. As they make their way up the mountain, Isaac asked his father, “Where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

In a show of true faith, Abraham answers, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” Yahweh Jireh. God provides. Those two words define redemption. Just as Abraham “reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son,” an angel shouted to him, “Do not lay a hand on the boy.”

In the thicket nearby, God provided a ram, stuck in the brambles.

Abraham’s willingness to follow God in obedience and faith to an unknown place to sacrifice his only son foreshadows God’s own willingness to provide our redemption through the ultimate sacrifice of his only son. Both are real, tangible transactions with spiritual implications.

Reflection question:

• From Abraham’s life, what do you observe about the relationship between obedience and redemption? How does this story move you to engage in redemptive living?