There are stories in the Bible that make you uncomfortable at the least, and at the most, are almost terrifying. Stories that, if you weren’t already convinced about the loving-kindness of the Lord, could make you wonder who God really is.

We usually don’t focus on such stories at Christmas time, but there is one told in Genesis Chapter 22 you need to hear NOW.

This is the chapter where God commands Abraham — His covenant friend — to take his only son Isaac, and sacrifice him to God.

This command, at first glance, makes absolutely no sense, for several reasons:

1. Isaac was God’s special covenant promise to Abraham, a son God gave him when he was 99 years old!
2. Isaac was to be the firstborn of a nation that would come from Abraham, a nation God predicted would somehow bless the whole world.
3. God hated and condemned the practice of pagan nations sacrificing their children to their so-called gods.
4. It seems to be a totally cruel assignment, totally out of character from a loving God.

Amazingly, Abraham, God’s covenant friend and obedient servant, doesn’t hesitate to obey. He immediately sets out on the three-day journey with Isaac towards the place it will happen. Isaac is shouldering the load of wood that will burn the sacrifice — him.

Frankly, it is unimaginable to us that God would even ask. It is only much later, through the book of Hebrews, that we learn Abraham’s obedience was based on his faith in God’s character. He had faith in God’s unchanging heart, in His motives, in His covenant faithfulness.

On their journey, Isaac asks his father, “Where is the lamb for the sacrifice?” Abraham answers: God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son. Again from Hebrews Chapter 11 we learn that Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead. Therefore, the death of Isaac didn’t mean the end of the story or the negation of everything Abraham believed about God. That this thing God was asking would not be a betrayal of His covenant promise to give Abraham and son who would become a nation.

The story has a good ending, of course. Having bound Isaac on the altar and raising the knife to do the deed, Abraham’s hand is stayed when the angel of the Lord calls out to him from heaven:

“Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son. ” Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.

Genesis 22:9-13

I bring this up because we are in the season of Advent.

As I post this, Christmas is ten days away, when we will celebrate the birth of God’s one and only son. (And this scripture “happened” to be in my Advent calendar for yesterday.

Not seeing the connection yet? This shocking event between God and Abraham is a prophetic picture — a foretelling — of exactly what the Trinity planned to do someday.

God the Father would give His people a son, His only son, born in the most improbable circumstances.

That son, Jesus, would become the sacrifice of atonement for our sins, by the will of His Father. Though the Roman government crucified Jesus at the insistence of the Jewish leaders, Jesus informed Pontius Pilate: “You would have no access to me if my Father had not permitted it.” Jesus knew that behind every snarling face stood His Father’s face, willing that he should die for the sins of mankind.

This time, no angel would save the son from death. There would be no ram in the thicket. A Roman soldier nailed Jesus to his cross, but it might as well have been the Father himself.

Our Christmas happens only because Jesus was born to die for us. He was given to us by the Father as His most precious gift of love.

My Bible class often asks, “Did Isaac know what was happening?” I believe he did. He was an adult or at least old enough to carry a heavy load of wood for a sacrificial fire. The Jewish historian Josephus writes that he was a young man, that he not only willingly went along with the plan, but considered it an honor. Why? Because he loved his father, and because he loved God. Just as our Jesus loved and trusted His Father and the Spirit enough to lay down His life.

Assuming this is true, both Isaac and Jesus died to themselves before a step was taken towards the place of sacrifice. Both full surrendered their lives for love and trust in God and Father. Ultimately, both rose from the place of surrender unto death, to live and fulfill all they were created to be and do.

Each was determined to give the Father the nation He desired, a nation to bear His name and be His highest joy and glory.

Beloved, this is your ancestral story in Christ. You were born into a tribe of righteous-hearted fathers who would give anything to bring you into their family — and did.