| Church School Lesson: The Value of Life |
"The Value of Life"
June 15, 2025
Background: Genesis 22:1-19; Print: Genesis 22:1-14;
Key Verse: Genesis 22:14; Devotional: Romans 4:1-15
Genesis 22:1-14 (ESV)
1 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar.
5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.”
6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together.
7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
8 Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.
9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.
11 But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.
14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The LORD will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”
Genesis Chapter 22 (Commentary)
22:1-2 By this point in the narrative, the promised son, Isaac, had become a young man. Abraham’s dream had come true, but into this paradise God suddenly said, Take your son . . . and offer him . . . as a burnt offering (22:2). The author says this was God’s way of testing Abraham (22:1), and what a devastating test it was! In its most basic terms, this test was a choice between God’s blessing and God himself. Would Abraham obey God and respond in faith, even though God’s new command was just as baffling—and even more painful—than any command he had previously been given?
The command is fraught with apparent contradictions. God’s command seemed to contradict God’s promises. How could God command murder? And how could such an action be explained to Sarah?
22:3 How would Abraham respond? The answer is given in that little clause, Abraham got up early in the morning. God told Abraham to give up the one blessing in his life that he treasured most—a legitimate son. Abraham’s response was to obey immediately. He may not have understood how God would provide, but he knew that God would provide. So he avoided the counterfeits of partial obedience and delayed obedience (which are both really disobedience anyway), following God boldly into the unknown.
22:4-6 When Abraham and Isaac reached the mountain, Abraham told his servants, The boy and I will go over there to worship; then we’ll come back to you (22:5). Somehow Abraham believed that he would be coming back down the mountain with Isaac. The book of Hebrews helps us understand what was going on in his head. The writer notes that Abraham “considered God to be able even to raise someone from the dead” (Heb 11:19). Abraham knew God’s promise that Isaac would continue the line of blessing, but he also knew that God had commanded him to sacrifice Isaac. The only conclusion he could draw was that God would bring him back from death.
Abraham’s belief in resurrection seems odd, especially when we realize that there had been no recorded instances of resurrection to this point. But don’t forget: Abraham had already seen God’s resurrection power. Sarah’s womb had been “dead” for twenty-five years; Abraham himself was past the age for bearing children, too. The author of Hebrews says that in terms of reproduction, the couple was “as good as dead” (Heb 11:12). Yet from this death God brought new life. Abraham may not have had a front row seat to a literal resurrection, but he knew that the same resurrecting power that brought Isaac into the world would somehow keep him in it.
22:7-8 The situation began to get awkward when Isaac noticed the lack of an animal (22:7). Abraham responded by reassuring Isaac that God himself would provide the lamb for the burnt offering (22:8). Abraham knew he was in a situation that he couldn’t fix. What he’d been asked to do felt like a contradiction, but instead of unraveling the contradiction himself, he decided to wait on God. Therefore, when God puts you in a contradiction that has no apparent solution, he alone must be trusted to resolve it.
22:9-12 When the moment of truth finally came, Abraham reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son (22:10). Thankfully, the angel of the Lord called out to him before he made the cut (22:11). Then this individual said something strange. Now I know, he said, that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me (22:12).
Many Bible students scratch their heads at this, because it sounds like God legitimately didn’t know how Abraham would act. But God knows everything factual and potential. He hasn’t, however, personally experienced everything he knows. For example, he knows all about sin, but he has never personally experienced committing sin (and never will). God had not yet experienced Abraham’s obedience. He delights in experiencing what he already knows to be the case, just as a wife delights in experiencing the love that her husband proclaims. God wants to feel our commitment. This is why he became a man—so that he could sympathize with our weaknesses.
22:13 At the same time God stopped Abraham from sacrificing Isaac, Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. God’s timing is funny like that. The ram must have been there the entire time, but Abraham didn’t notice it until God wanted to reveal it. The answer to Abraham’s problem was already supplied, but it was only revealed when Abraham took his step of obedience and faith. While Abraham walked up one side of the mountain with his problem, God had arranged it so that up the other side of the mountain was coming his answer. Please note, however, that God didn’t reveal the answer until obedience was complete.
22:14 Abraham fittingly named the place Yahweh-yireh, which means The Lord Will Provide. Abraham believed that God was a provider before, but something about this event made that head knowledge turn into heart knowledge.