Dead Man Walking

On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar.
(Genesis 22:4 – ESV)

In this scene it starts out hard but gets harder every step of the way as the details are filled in. Abraham had been walking with God, he had been given the promise, and he had received the seed, the one that started the line that would give us the Messiah, though whom the whole world would be blessed. But now he is being asked to destroy the dream, and he had already thrown Ishmael out of the camp.

Imagine that night before; Abraham must have had restless sleep, if any. In the early morning hours, instead of having his servants saddle his ride, or cut the wood, he did the work. When he got up early and got everything together, including Isaac, what did Sarah think? What did Abraham say to her? We do not know.

Imagine the walk, and how hard it was to keep his eyes on God and His will. He could have turned back or taken some other way, no one else would have known, no one else would have thought him to be doing anything wrong. It was a long walk alone with God and the knowledge of what he was about to do, but it still was about the walk with others as well. There was plenty of time to turn back, three days at least, and then it was still far off, the long climb to the certain death of his son, it would seem. Oh the temptations to turn back, or stand still or not to finish it out, and no on else would even have to know! How often this has been us!

From other narratives we know that Abraham did reason with the Father about things he didn’t understand, although he would still submit to them. He made his case, and said, in effect, not my will but thine be done. In Genesis 15:2-3, he raised an objection to God's promise; in 15:8, he raised a doubt; in 17:17 and following, he tries to get God to bless him his own way; and in 18:23-33, he reasoned with God on the basis of God's character.

Above all, fellowship with God was what Abraham treasured. Abraham wasn’t sending the promised seed to its destruction, even if Isaac had to die. No, he wasn’t abandoning the promise; he was fulfilling it, taking it one step at a time. Not in his own strength, but in faith, with the power of God, as a soldier in the Lord’s Army.

God has promised to be with us every step of the way (Psalm 23:4), but we aren’t promised that we will see every step along the way. That is what dying to self, and walking in faith is about. We think that we cannot do it, but the Bible begs to differ. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed (1 Peter 2:24). We can see the far future, and we know the end result will be to our good and God’s glory (Romans 8:28-30), but for now we must be as dead men walking.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©