This is the last time Isaac is mentioned in the text prior to chapter 22, where God then tells Abraham to sacrifice him on Mount Moriah. How do we then see Abraham respond to God's command? Do we see hesitancy on Abraham's part, as we saw Lot lingering in Sodom prior to its destruction? If we were not privy to the entire story from our perspective, we might not be surprised to see Abraham delay the journey to Moriah, or even intercede on behalf of Isaac, much like he did when he asked God to spare Sodom if ten righteous men could be found there; however, we see no trace of hesitancy or reluctance on Abraham's part in carrying out God's command.
He rose early. He cut wood for the burnt offering. He built the altar. He bound Isaac. He took the knife to slaughter his son.
Genesis 22 does not tell us what was going on in Abraham's mind during this time, but in Hebrews 11, we see that it was by faith that he offered up Isaac:
By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.
(Hebrews 11:17-19 ESV)
Abraham did not rely primarily on the promise, but on the God of the promise. He did not focus on his current circumstances in a manner that caused him to be rapt with doubt about the outcome. Only because Abraham understood Who it was that was asking him to sacrifice the son through whom the promise was to be fulfilled, did he unflinchingly set out to do so.
As Christians, we have been promised eternal life through our union with Christ. What things come our way that might make us shift our focus from the God of the promises to the "promises in jeopardy"? Illness? Job loss? Death? Consider what Paul states in Romans 8 regarding the God of the promise, our circumstances, and the assurance of our relationship with him through Christ:
He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Romans 8:32-39 ESV)
God has provided a sacrifice in our place. We who deserve wrath and fury have received mercy and grace. And by faith in Christ, we can know that God will never leave us or forsake us, and we can do whatever we have been called to do, not focusing on the present circumstances, but upon Christ and his finished work.
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