The Lenten Story

One of the greatest Lenten accounts does not come from the Gospels but from the Old Testament. It is not something new but something God revealed to us a long time ago. In Genesis 22, some call this the testing of Abraham. I like to think of this as the Sacrifice of the Son of Promise. God tells Abraham to take his son to the land of Moriah (not the mines) and sacrifice him on the mountain.

Abraham saddles the donkey, cuts the wood, grabs the fire, and the knife. Abraham takes his son and two young men with him to the land of Moriah. The trip has taken him about three days. Abraham heard the news that his one and only Son was to be killed. Three days they travel and finally Abraham and boy go on alone.

Abraham places the wood of the sacrifice on his son's shoulders. The Son carries the wood while Abraham holds the fire and the knife. Now the son is starting to recognize something is wrong. The Son pleads to his Father isn't there supposed to be a lamb for the offering. Are you sure this cup can't be passed from me? Abraham responds, "God will provide for himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son."

Abraham goes forward and builds the Altar for the sacrifice. The Altar made he now takes the wood and binds his son to the wood. Abraham probably did not use nails but he still had to hold his son down. Abraham lifts up the knife to pierce his son through. But the Angel of the LORD calls to him, "Abraham, Abraham!" Now we get the Lenten theme, "Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me." God provides the lamb. God sacrifices his Son, His only Son, for us.

Hopefully you could see or hear the connection. Abraham's Son Isaac was the son of promise. God told Abraham he would become a blessing to the nations. His descendants would be more numerous than the sand or the stars. God's Son is the Promised one. He is the Lamb that God has provided and he is the one who carried the wood. He is the one who died on the Altar God prepared so that we would be forgiven all our sins.

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