"Take now your son ... and offer him ... as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you."
Chambers' title for this devotional is The Supreme Climb. It begins with the verse from Genesis 22:2, "Take now your son..." The day before this climb, God spoke to Abraham and told him to take his only son, Isaac, go to the land of Moriah, and offer Isaac there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which God would later direct him to.
Abraham believed God told him to kill his son.
For years, I believed God told Abraham to kill his son. That is how the passage always read to me — but I never understood the why behind the command. Why tell Abraham to kill Isaac when God told Abraham — through Isaac he would become a great nation? And why tell him to sacrifice Isaac just to stop him from doing it? That was the confusion for me. I decided it was to test Abraham's faith or his love for God. But that is not the why either. Abraham heard God say "offer him," but he interpreted it through the only world he had ever known. God did not say, "offer him and kill him," yet that is what Abraham believed God meant — and for years, that is what I believed too.
The next morning, Abraham rose early, saddled his donkey, took two young men and Isaac his son, split the wood for the offering, and went to the place God had told him to go.
Three days later, as Abraham was looking ahead, he saw the place off in the distance.
Abraham told the young men to stay with the donkey while he and Isaac went ahead to worship. Abraham placed the wood for the offering on Isaac, took up the fire and a knife, and he and Isaac went ahead.
Isaac said to Abraham: Father, I see we have the wood and the fire, but where is the lamb? Abraham told him: God will provide himself a lamb for the burnt offering, and they continued on.
They arrived at the place God spoke of to Abraham. He built an altar, laid the wood, bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. Then Abraham stretched forth his hand and took hold of the knife to slay his son.
The angel of the Lord called unto him: Abraham, Abraham... do not put your hand on the boy, do nothing to him. Now I know that you fear God — because you have not withheld your only son from me.
Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.
As I mentioned earlier, I misunderstood this story when I read it in the Bible. There always seemed to be something about the story missing from my understanding. Chambers points it out for me in his devotional.
In Abraham's time, sacrificing children was normal. Many cultures practiced it. Scripture later records that these practices were an abomination to Yahweh (2 Chronicles 28:3). He never required such acts— not in Abraham’s day and not in any generation.
These acts were demanded by false deities and their man-made doctrines — never by Yahweh. Yet these practices surrounded Abraham. This was what he grew up around, and he had not yet separated those false-god practices from what he believed about Yahweh.
Abraham lived in a world filled with false gods, and our world is no different today. The names have changed, but the idols remain—self, status, power, pleasure, fear, and every belief system that replaces the voice of Yahweh. Fanaticism still exists today. People still follow convictions of their own making. Abraham had to leave the gods of his world behind. This painful ordeal was the only way to separate truth from tradition in Abraham's heart and purify his faith.
In those days, Godly sacrifice was not symbolic. It was real, physical, and costly. Sin required the life of an innocent animal, and blood was shed as a reminder that sin brings death. It was a harsh reality, and it impressed on people the seriousness of sin in a way we rarely consider today.
Even though sacrifice was normal in Abraham’s world, there was a difference: the false gods demanded blood for unholy reasons, without any connection to sin or holiness.
Yahweh required only specific, unblemished animals offered in the way He prescribed as a temporary covering for sin. His sacrifices were holy and ordered, never destructive or chaotic.
Abraham honored Yahweh by listening to what Yahweh told him and trusting in Yahweh's voice as true. Chambers wisely deduced the situation. Abraham was not devoted to his own convictions. If he had been, he would have slain Isaac anyway, misinterpreted the voice of the angel, and said that it was actually the voice of the devil. He would have been Abraham, the fanatic.
And all of this points us forward to Jesus — the final sacrifice. The sacrifices of Abraham’s day were temporary coverings, repeated again and again. But Jesus offered Himself once for all. His blood ended the sacrificial system forever. There is no more shedding of innocent animal blood to atone for our sins. The Lamb of God took the sin of the world upon Himself, willingly, lovingly, completely.
This is why Christians no longer bring sacrifices for sin. It is finished. Paid in full. Accomplished by Christ alone.
In Abraham's day, Christ was a prophecy not yet fulfilled. And Abraham did not grow up knowing Yahweh. His family served other gods, and his early life was shaped by pagan beliefs and practices. That is why Yahweh called him to leave his country, his people, and his father's household — to separate him from everything that had formed his understanding of gods.
There is truly only one God and He first called Abraham at age seventy-five, and even decades later, at over one hundred years old, Abraham was still learning who Yahweh truly was.
Yahweh chose Abraham. He revealed himself to Abraham. He reached out to Abraham, not the other way around. Abraham was 99 years of age when Yahweh promised him he would have a son. Sarah laughed (Genesis 18:12) and Abraham laughed too: (Genesis 17:17). Isaac was born to Sarah, his wife, well past child bearing age. Yahweh told Abraham He would bless him and make him a great nation through his son Isaac. Abraham trusted Yahweh, God, and believed God would keep His promise if Isaac died.
Hebrews 11:19 says Abraham believed that "God was able to raise Isaac from the dead." Abraham was determined to obey God, even when obedience violated everything he had previously believed. He was devoted to God. He was willing to give up his own convictions and traditional beliefs to do what God said. Scripture says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness" (Romans 4:3). (Also see Genesis 15:6)
That was the purpose of it all. Abraham had to walk through a painful ordeal to understand the heart of Yahweh.The preconceived beliefs he carried could not simply be adjusted — they had to be removed. So must we all leave our preconceived beliefs about God behind. We must be willing to let God show us his true nature, regardless of what our upbringing, earlier doctrines, or the world's opinions have pressed on us to believe.
We must examine the convictions we hold. Are they grounded in Scripture? Have we brought them before the Lord? He invites us to take everything to Him in prayer—every concern, every belief, every decision.
As Scripture says, "...in every thing by prayer and supplication... let your requests be made known unto God." (Philippians 4:6 KJV)
Lord,
I want to learn of You from You alone.
Teach me Your ways,
show me Your heart,
direct my path,
steady my footsteps so I do not stumble and fall,
surround me with Your protection,
deliver me from evil,
in all things, Lord, Your will be done.
~ Quil
Scripture references:
“Take now your son… and offer him there.”
Genesis 22:1–2 — God’s command to Abraham.
Hebrews 11:17–19 — Abraham offered Isaac, believing God could raise him.“Abraham rose early… went to the place God told him.”
Genesis 22:3–4 — Abraham’s immediate obedience.
Genesis 22:5 — “We will worship and return.”“God will provide Himself a lamb.”
Genesis 22:7–8 — Abraham’s prophetic answer.
John 1:29 — the Lamb of God who takes away sin.“Do not lay your hand on the boy.”
Genesis 22:11–12 — the angel stops Abraham.
Genesis 22:13 — the ram provided.“Child sacrifice was normal in Abraham’s world.”
2 Kings 16:3 — they made their sons pass through the fire.
Jeremiah 32:35 — they built high places to burn their children.
2 Chronicles 28:3 — child sacrifice condemned.“These acts were required by false deities, not God.”
Deuteronomy 12:31 — the Lord hates such practices.
Psalm 106:37–38 — sacrifices to demons.
Leviticus 18:21 — do not give your children to Molech.“Godly sacrifice was real, physical, and costly.”
Leviticus 1:3–5 — unblemished offerings.
Hebrews 9:22 — without shedding of blood there is no remission.
Exodus 29:38–39 — daily sacrifices.“Jehovah required only specific, unblemished animals… holy and ordered.”
Leviticus 22:20 — no blemished offering.
Deuteronomy 12:5–6 — sacrifices in the place God chooses.
Numbers 28:1–8 — ordered offerings.“God was teaching Abraham that He is not like the false gods.”
Deuteronomy 32:4 — His ways are perfect.
Psalm 86:8 — none like You among the gods.
Isaiah 46:9 — I am God, and there is no other.“Abraham honored God by trusting His voice.”
Genesis 22:18 — because you obeyed My voice.
Romans 4:20–22 — Abraham did not waver in unbelief.
James 2:21–23 — faith made complete by works.“If he had been devoted to his own convictions, he would have slain Isaac anyway.”
Proverbs 14:12 — a way that seems right to a man.
Jeremiah 17:9 — the heart is deceitful.
1 Samuel 15:22 — obedience is better than sacrifice.“Abraham was willing to give up his own beliefs to obey God.”
Hebrews 11:8 — he obeyed and went, not knowing where.
Genesis 12:1 — leave your country and your father’s house.
Philippians 3:7–8 — counting all things loss for Christ.“We must leave preconceived beliefs behind and let God show us His true nature.”
Romans 12:2 — be transformed by renewing your mind.
Psalm 25:4–5 — teach me Your ways.
Jeremiah 33:3 — call to Me and I will show you.“Examine the convictions we hold — are they grounded in Scripture?”
Psalm 139:23–24 — search me, O God.
Acts 17:11 — examine the Scriptures daily.
2 Timothy 3:16 — all Scripture is profitable.“Take everything to Him in prayer.”
Philippians 4:6 — in everything by prayer and supplication.
1 Thessalonians 5:17 — pray without ceasing.
Psalm 62:8 — pour out your heart before Him.“Trust in the Lord with all your heart… He shall direct your paths.”
Proverbs 3:5–6 — trust, lean not, acknowledge Him.
Psalm 37:5 — commit your way to the Lord.
Isaiah 58:11 — the Lord will guide you continually.
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