Let’s start with a show of hands. How many of you know the story about Abraham’s offering of his son, Isaac? That sacrifice on the top of Mount Moriah is one of the great mountain peaks of the Bible. It strums so many strings and plays such wonderful music. There are the base notes of Biblical doctrine underlaying the lyrical harmonies of raw human emotion. Assuming that you are familiar with the story, I won’t address it now, but I will come back to it later.
Tonight I’d like to share some general thoughts about worshiping God by way of altars and sacrifice. No, there are no altars in Christianity today, even though both Catholics and Baptists sometimes use the term. I have heard Baptist evangelists coax people to come to the “altar,” pointing to the steps up to the pulpit. At other times I’ve heard preachers speak of the table with the elements of the Lord’s Supper as the “altar.” Perhaps in a metaphorical sense terms like this might be used, but I will leave that to others. The only altar to which God gives any respect is the cross – the altar upon which the Lamb of God died.
And yet – as sinners blessed with God’s free forgiveness of sin – our lives should be altars, constantly filled with burning “Thank Offerings.” Paul summarized the subject, telling the Romans – “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” Our Heavenly Father deserve our constant VERBAL praise for salvation and His never-ending kindness. And of that kindness – real and physical – we need to DISPLAY our thanksgiving by offering up as much of our lives as we can – to Him and to Him through others. Our SERVICE should be a “Thank offering” to God. It is certainly reasonable under all the grace we have received. “How can I do less than give Him my best and life for Him completely, after all He’s done for me.”
One of the principles of sacrifice is that God looks below, behind and beyond the gift itself.
It is not so much about what we give to the Lord, but how it is given. God examines the motive of the offerer; He looks particularly to see if there is sin behind it. And God checks to see if it is the best of the flock. He is not interested in the left overs. David said to Araunah – “Neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing.”
In the days prior to Goliath’s visit to Israel, King Saul was gaining popularity through military victories. Soon after his inauguration, Jehovah ordered him to destroy the idol-worshiping Amalekites. The order mentioned some specifics – spare nothing and no one, not even an ox, sheep, camel or ass. So, “Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest so Shur, that is over against Egypt.” But rather than executing the enemy king Agag, he shamefully displayed him like a living trophy. Saul also spared the enemy livestock, later telling Samuel that the best were saved “to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.” Do you remember Samuel’s reply? “Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.”
Leviticus 2:13 tells us that God likes SALT on His meat just as much as I do. “Every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt.” Later the Lord Jesus clarified this in Mark 9 – “Every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Salt is good: BUT if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another” – particularly with God. The Lord is not interested in finely crushed stone that only looks like salt. He wants the real thing or the offering is void and vain. And Jesus tells us to have salt in ourselves; that is – be right before God and men. Otherwise your gifts to the Lord will not be acceptable to Him.
Here are a couple of lengthy scriptures – which I’ll read without comment – before returning to the sacrifice of Isaac. Amos 5:21 – God says, “I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves. Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name is The God of hosts.” Suffice it to say that God was not pleased with the offerings, sacrifices, church services, and even the hymn-singing of the Jews, because of their sins. Unholy worship is not worship at all. Israel had become saltless salt. Their sacrifices were offered in vain because they lacked the proper spiritual preparation and condition.
And one other scripture from Isaiah chapter 1 – Prior to saying, “Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord,” God said, “Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah” – speaking about Israel and Judah. “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands (to pray), I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment…”
Now let’s return to the offering of Isaac.
At the command of the Lord, Abraham took his teenage son to Moriah with the intention of sacrificing him as a burnt offering to the Lord. Together they brought fire and wood. They left their servants behind and climbed the hill alone. Isaac willingly laid down and exposed his neck as his father reached for the knife. And then just before his throat was cut, the Lord stepped in to supply a substitute. For all intents and purposes Abraham obeyed God and gave up his son as a gift to the Lord.
Despite our repulsion, there was nothing wrong with Abraham’s offering of his son. It was at God’s command and at the place of His direction. Someone might fault Abraham for not telling Sarah, but someone else might counter by saying it was personal and private. We are told that Abraham was fully trusting God throughout the event, even though He didn’t know exactly how things would play out. And there was Isaac’s willingness to become God’s lamb. Then it climaxed in the supply of another lamb – a ram of God’s choosing and supply. The sacrifice of Isaac is a great illustration, filled with all kinds of lessons even for believers today.
But the title of tonight’s devotion doesn’t refer to Isaac. Tonight’s title is: “The Sacrifice of ISHMAEL.”
Abraham was starting to age, and he didn’t have an heir to inherit the promises God had given to him. In Genesis 15, he looked at chief servant, the steward of his house, someone he may have respected and even loved, asking God if he was to become his heir, but the Lord told him, “no.” The next verse says, “And he believed in the Lord, and he counted it to him for righteousness.” Abraham was a righteous man, but soon after He committed a grievous sin. Sadly, Christians do sin from time to time. It is a horrible, shameful fact. I say that not to excuse the sin, but to cause us all to remember and to be gracious toward each other.
Since Sarah was getting old, Abraham took a second wife, and through Hagar a son entered the family. Some people may disagree with me, but no has yet convinced me that this was not a sin. Sure maybe such multilevel marriages were common and accepted in that day. But that was not the way God originally designed marriage to be. That was not the kind of marriage which the Lord Jesus espoused in His day – and in ours. Nevertheless, Abraham didn’t see it as evil. A son was born, and Abraham dearly loved his first born son, Ishmael.
In Genesis 17, when Abraham had nearly reached his centennial birthday, and Sarah was ninety, Jehovah visited the family and told them to prepare a nursery because Sarah was going to give birth. “And Abraham said unto God, O that ISHMAEL might live before thee.” The Lord replied that Ishmael wasn’t condemned or doomed, but that there were higher, divine plans. As for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.”
Then in Genesis 21 Isaac was born, completely changing the dynamics of Abraham’s home. The two wives, Sarah and Hagar, were at odds, but since Hagar was basically a servant, she lost every battle. And eventually, Sarah “said unto Abraham, cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.” “And the thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight because of his son” – Ishmael. With a broken heart Abraham sought the face of God, and the Lord spoke to him, telling him to let Hagar and Ishmael go. God said, I have promised to bless Ishmael, and he will become the father of a great nation, but you must let him go. “And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.”
I can picture that old man, with tears running down his face, embracing his first born son, knowing that he might never see him again. The next time we read Ishmael’s name it is in Genesis 25: “These are the days of the years of Abraham’s life which he lived, an hundred threescore and fifteen years. Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people. And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre; The field which Abraham purchased of the sons of Heth: there was Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife.”
Now lets return to Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac, which, by the way, could very well have taken place where Solomon later built Israel’s temple. The sacrifice of Isaac was beautiful and perfect in every way. It can be used to preach the gospel of Christ – the ram caught in the thicket took the young man’s place. But there is another application. As an illustration – if not with actual Biblical declaration – the sacrifice of Isaac was preceded and made possible by the sacrifice of Ishmael.
Before we can properly offer up our Isaacs, we must be willing to offer our Ishmaels. In His Sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus reiterated one aspect of the proper pattern for sacrifices. Matthew 5:23 – “If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.” The offerings we present to the Lord are not a sweet savor to God when not sprinkled with godly salt. It is not enough to grab the first lamb we can catch – because that lamb is probably somewhat crippled. The Lord is not going to accept our gift when it is corrupted with animosity between brethren, let alone animosity between ourselves and God.
As long as we cling to our agenda and not the Lord’s, our sacrifices are not going to reach a good conclusion. As long as we refuse to repent of our old sins, even as Christians, we are not going to be blessed by God. If we insist on wearing our filthy, sin-sodden shoes, we cannot properly approach the altar of the Lord. Over and over throughout our lives we are turning from the straight and narrow way to paths of our choosing. And even though the Lord may bless our bad choice, making our Ishmael a prosperous and powerful nation, our first born son – our premature son – will eventually becoming a hindrance to God’s perfect plan. Abraham had to sacrifice Ishmael in as painful a way as he did Isaac.
I’ll conclude with one more thought – which perhaps I shouldn’t think, but there is a Biblical application. If Abraham was still coddling his eldest son – the son of his sin… Would the sacrifice of Isaac have concluded as gloriously as it did? It is not for me to say one way or the other. But if Abraham had not been obedient in regard to his first son, the Lord may not have blessed his second child.
Do you have an Ishmael to which you are clinging? Do you have sins you need to confess and forsake? Before we can successfully offer up Isaac we must be willing to sacrifice Ishmael.