A FATHER'S SACRIFICE !

   Whatever path your life takes there are certain disciplines that are necessary to become successful. Likewise, being a christian requires certain disciplines to be successful. One of the disciplines of being a christian is reading a portion of the Bible, daily. From time to time when reading, something clicks and you are able to see the wonderful symmetry and coherence between the Old and New Testaments. Let me give you an example of what I mean.
     Last week I was reading the Book of Genesis, chapter 22. If you're not familiar with this passage it is the account of Abraham being told by God to sacrifice his first born son to Him. You'll recall that God promised to greatly multiply Abraham's seed through his (Abraham's) son. Abraham waited 25 years and was 100 years old when Isaac, the son of God's promise, was born to him. 
     Some years later, God told Abraham to take Isaac to the region of Moriah and sacrifice Isaac as a burnt offering on one of the mountains God would tell him about.  
    Abraham arose early the next morning, saddled a donkey and took two servants and Isaac with him. Abraham made sure he had brought enough wood for the burnt offering. On the third day of their journey Abraham sees the mountain God told him about off in the distance. Abraham tells his servants to stay while he and Isaac went off to the mountain to worship the Lord and return. 
     Verse 6 of the chapter tells us... 

"Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife." (Genesis 22: 6) 

...While they were walking to the mountain Isaac observed that they had wood, they had fire but they did not have a lamb for the burnt offering. When Isaac asked his father about this, Abraham tells him that  God, Himself, would provide the lamb for the burnt offering.
   When they arrived at the place that God told Abraham about, Abraham builds an altar, places the wood upon the altar, bounds Isaac and places him upon the altar. At the very last second, as Abraham is about to kill Isaac, the Angel of the Lord calls out to Abraham and tells him not to lay a hand on the boy. God commends Abraham and provides a ram, caught in a thicket, for the sacrifice.

     Yesterday we celebrated the christian holiday of Easter, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Gospel accounts tell us that God took His only begotten Son, placed a wooden cross upon his back and brought Him to Mount Calvary to be sacrificed for the sins of the world. Only this time, no one called out to stop the sacrifice. Jesus was crucified on that cross. He died and was buried in a borrowed grave and was raised on the third day.

"God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)

... I was struck by the symmetry of these two accounts. God spared Isaac but He did not spare His own Son. God provided a ram for Abraham to sacrifice. God provided His own Son, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, to be sacrificed.
    How much love would it take for you to sacrifice your only son? I cannot conceive of such a love, and yet, God demonstrated, in real terms, how much He loved us and how far He was prepared to go to redeem us from sin.
    God is so good and He truly desires to adopt you into His family. He strongly desires to have a personal relationship with you. Think about it, the God who created everything wants to have a relationship with you! I sincerely urge you to give serious consideration to accepting His wonderful offer. I promise you that you will be eternally grateful and  glad that you did! 
   Please let me know if I can help! May God bless you!