Genesis 22:1-5 "And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you."
Detractors from the authenticity of the Bible will often point to Genesis 22:1 and James 1:13 as proof that the Bible contradicts itself. Genesis 22:1 tells us that God did tempt (test) Abraham, and James 1:13 plainly says that God does not tempt any man. This just serves to point out the danger in cherry-picking verses or phrases within a verse. In Genesis, God was testing Abraham’s faith and understanding of His promise. James was declaring that God could not be tempted with evil, and neither did He tempt any man WITH EVIL.
There was no evil intent in God’s temptation of Abraham. Rather, God was using this test to prove to Abraham that His promise was unchangeable no matter how dire the circumstances might prove to be. God called Abraham, and Abraham answered that call. Then God set the stage for one of the scripture’s great foreshadowings of the price that would be paid to ransom us from sin.
Abraham was told to take his son Isaac, whom he LOVED and offer him for a burnt offering. We often talk about the depth of God’s love for us that He would send His only begotten Son to die. God sent His son, whom He loved and who had been obedient to the Father in all things, to die for us. We cannot begin to talk about the depth of God’s love for us without the realization that God loved the Son that He sent to die in our place.
Once again, Abraham was called upon to go to a place that He would be shown (told of) by God. Only this time, it was to sacrifice the son that God had promised to him in his old age. He was being instructed to take the life of the one in whom God had promised Abraham that all nations of the earth would be blessed. I can only imagine the distress that Abraham must have been feeling.
In spite of that, Abraham did not delay in doing what God had called on him to do. He rose up early in the morning and saddled his ass. He made all due preparations, including cutting wood for the altar. He took Isaac and two of his servants and set out on a journey that would culminate in three days. It must have seemed a long and solitary journey to Abraham.
On the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place God had told him of. This place would later be the place where Solomon built the temple of the LORD. Abraham understood that he and Isaac were going to worship God. They were going to go to this place and bow down to the will of God. Here we again see Abraham’s unshakeable faith in the promise of God. Abraham was certain that he was going up into that mountain to make Isaac a burnt offering, and he was just as certain that both he and Isaac would return from making that offering.
Our worship still requires that we bow ourselves before the LORD. This is not about our physical posture, but about our spiritual understanding of His majesty and that He deserves our worship. Worship is still about sacrifice: we are to present our bodies a living sacrifice. We must sacrifice the desires of our Adam nature and trust God to keep His word. I hope we will seek to worship Him with our lives EVERY day!