Abraham, Isaac, and Good Friday

We were listening to the Jesus Storybook Bible in the car on the way home from ice-skating lessons when the story of Abraham and Isaac came on.

I unknowingly tensed up. My heart pounded as Abraham climbed the mountain with his son, anticipating what he must do at the top. My heart pounded still harder as Abraham tied up Isaac and raised his knife. I knew how the story would end, but as a mother, I could not bear it.

I have never really understood the story of Abraham. I know that Abraham showed faith in his willingness to sacrifice his only son, and that the ram in the bush represents Jesus, but I just couldn't comprehend God's request. How could He ask a father to kill his own child?! I would not have been obedient.

We continued our journey home. I continued to listen. And then, a revelation came to me! (This is the kind of 'feast' I wrote about two posts ago.)

When we try to live without God's help, we are unknowingly making daily sacrifices. We are in fact killing what we cherish and hold dear, all the things we love best, may that be our spouse, our children, our talents, or our dreams. It is only through God's saving sacrifice that we are stopped from making the definitive, fatal cut. With God's sacrifice of His only son, all can be restored. All can be healed in our lives. And we no longer have to make those sacrifices.

And the question of 'how could God ask a father to kill his own child'? I understand now that God the Father HIMSELF was the One who HAD to follow through with killing his own son. It was hard for Abraham to take the first steps of obedient. It is so hard that I can't even picture taking those steps myself. But God couldn't allow Abraham to do it, even when He knew that He Himself would have to do it someday. God was the only One who had to feel His heart break as He watched His son die according to His will. 

And so today we celebrate Good Friday. My nine-year-old asked me a few days ago, "Why is it called 'good' when Jesus had to die?" Now I know why it is a good day.

Good Friday is the day that God made the ultimate sacrifice so that we didn't have to make ours; when a Father gave up his most beloved, cherished, precious thing so that he could draw his other beloveds back to Him; when we can feel our hearts pounding and our shoulders tense up because we KNOW that though this is hard, the story gets better.

Three days. Easter is coming. The one who was sacrificed would not stay dead. All will be restored.