The sacrifice on Calvary is the ultimate sacrifice.
The strangest episode in Abraham’s life was his call to sacrifice Isaac: By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,” concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense (Hebrews 11:17–19).
It might shock us that Abraham would even contemplate human sacrifice: but four thousand years’ distance makes it impossible for us to understand a man of his time. Human sacrifice was common, whereas today it is not so common (although it is still practiced). Abraham was the learner and beginner of faith in God. Spiritual lessons percolate very slowly into our human understanding.
God never meant Isaac to be sacrificed, but God tested Abraham on his own cultural level. Such a practice was then an expression of extreme religious devotion. Abraham learned, in fact, that God wanted no offering of human blood.
God’s purpose was to create a new culture in which bloodshed had no place. We are thankful that God taught Abraham a new covenant! And we are grateful that He allows us to walk in the fullness of the covenant today.
Taken from Daily Fire Devotional: 365 Days in God’s Word by Reinhard Bonnke. Copyright © 2015 by Reinhard Bonnke. Use by permission of Whitaker House. www.whitakerhouse.com
|
No comments:
Post a Comment