In the Old Testament, Abraham’s faith was tested when God told him to take his son, his only son, the son he loved, and offer him as a sacrifice. And Abraham did. Abraham bound Isaac to the altar and raised his knife to slay him in strict obedience to God’s Word. Just before the gleaming knife plunged down, God leaned out of heaven and urgently commanded, “Abraham! Abraham! . . . Do not lay a hand on the boy,” and Isaac’s life was spared! Abraham looked around; caught in the thicket nearby was a ram. After cutting Isaac loose, Abraham took the ram and offered it on the altar.
As God’s Son, God’s only Son, the Son He loved, hung on the Cross, the knife of God’s fierce wrath against sin was lifted, and there was no one to stay the Father’s hand. Instead, “He . . . did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all.” Jesus was God’s Lamb and our Substitute Who endured the full force of God’s wrath for your sins and mine when He was bound on the altar in our place.
“Love so amazing, so divine, demands my life, my soul , my all!”
