Genesis 22, The Grief of a Father

Hearing the words that stunned him. Rendered him speechless. Wondering. Confusion. Numbness. The words that broke his heart.

Had he heard the Lord rightly? The Lord he knew as just and faithful? The Lord who had made for him many great promises, a God who did not lie? ... A burnt offering?

Stunned. His son. His one and only son. But his Lord was good, his Lord was faithful. His Lord is. He would make a way - He had to. ... Wouldn't he?

Grief. Shock. Numbness. Packing the tools. Walking up the mountain. His son, his only son.. But for the Lord, anything. He would restore. He would heal. He had known and heard too many times His holiness and glorious voice. ... Hadn't he?

Obedience. Faith. Belief. Those words faltered and swam around his mind. Not fully taking place - only a blind trusting. A trembling heart full of grief. His son, his only son! Sacrifice. Offering. Death. Lapsed promises. But for the Lord.. Anything.

Father, where is the lamb for the burnt offering?

Oh, how his heart broke! How his lips quivered, his knuckles white against the walking stick he was leaning on. Tears forming like shining pearls at the corners of his eyes. Where is the sacrifice?

No, my son. God Himself will provide the lamb.

And so they walked. Silence.

The place on the mountain reached. The birds flew past in the air, strangely silent. A stagnant wind. The time had come.

... Father, why do you do this? Why, father - Why?

His heart could not shatter more than it already had. His son, the son whom he loved! Turning aside his head for the moment of darkness. Arm raised above his beloved. Glittering, deadly, death.

But

Abraham. Abraham. Stop.

A voice from Heaven. Lifting his tear stained face - hope was glimmering like dawn breaking over the waters. Faithfulness Himself had come. Hope had arrived. Deliverance was here.

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I believe that Abraham truly felt a deep grief when he was told by God to sacrifice his son whom he loved, Isaac, as a burnt offering. I believe that Abraham had questions. Tears, hesitations, a broken heart. But the Bible did not record down what Abraham felt - the Bible recorded down what Abraham did. Abraham chose obedience and actions. Walking up that mountain, I don't think he was singing songs of praise to God. But I do believe Abraham trusted the Lord that had given him favour and blessings throughout his life, believing that He knew what He was doing. In the end, his son was saved and the Lord gave an amazing promise that Abraham's descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the shore.

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How was the grief of God the Father as He watched His one and only Son walking the distance to His death on the cross? The pain of Abraham multiplied - no way out for this but for a real suffering and a real pain. The nails. The cry from His Son's lips - Father, Father, why have you forsaken me? He shut His eyes, turned away His face, a heaving grief, but altogether knowing this was the only way. The only way... And they said darkness covered the earth. And the veil into the Holy of Holies was torn. And - But wait. Listen - an echoing resonance throughout heaven -

"Father forgive them... For they know not what they do."

Finished. It is finished.