The New Name, part 2

Agnus Dei, Francisco de Zurbaran

As soon as we found out that our child was actually a boy, we knew that we wanted the name Isaac for him.  It works on so many levels.

First, Isaac means laughter in Hebrew.  In the story of his conception and birth, Sarah, Abraham's wife, laughs when God tells her that she is going to have a child.  We laughed when we found out that we were expecting this little one, and then we laughed again when we found out that he is a boy and not a girl!

There is a more profound connection for us, though.  One of the most compelling stories in the Old Testament is found in Genesis 22, when God says to Abraham, "'Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.'" (Gen 22:2)

God wanted to test just how much Abraham loved and trusted Him, and the way He chose to do this was to ask Abraham to give up the son he had longed for and waited for for decades.  If Abraham truly loved and trusted his God as he said he did, he would not withhold anything, even Isaac, from God.

As we consider the very real possibility of saying goodbye to our son, this story has greatly resonated with us.  We say we love and trust God, yet we find ourselves wanting to cling to something He may ask us to let go of.  We are continually having to grapple with our hearts to find what we are loving the most; is it God or is it something else: our child, our happiness, our picture-perfect family?

Abraham obeyed God in faith, as we are told later in Hebrews: "By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son;" (Hebrews 11:17)  But, if you are familiar with this story, you know that although Abraham was fully willing to go through with what God had asked, God stopped him before Isaac was harmed.  "He said, 'Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.'" (Genesis 22:12)  Then, in a beautiful picture of what was to come, God provided a ram for Abraham to sacrifice in Isaac's place.

Theologians might consider this the most important part of the story.  In one way, this substitute can be seen as a representation or allegory of Jesus, who died in our place just as that ram died instead of Isaac.  How thankful we are for His sacrifice on our behalf, so that we do not have to bear the punishment for our sins!

In another way, though, God sending this substitute sacrifice stands in stark contrast to Jesus. That ram saved Isaac, Abraham's beloved and only son, from death; but when God sent His beloved and only Son, nothing saved Him from death.  God spared Abraham the pain and grief of actually sacrificing Isaac, as well as sparing Isaac's life.  He did not spare Himself the same pain and grief, nor did He spare His own Son's life.  Jesus actually suffered and died.  There was no voice from heaven saying "Stop!" when He was on the cross.

As amazed and even flabbergasted as we are at Abraham's love for God that drove him to be willing to sacrifice his only son, we have become even more amazed at God's love that drove Him not only to be willing to sacrifice His only Son, but to actually do so.  While we are praying that our Isaac might be saved just like his namesake, we understand that God is asking no more of us than He has asked and given of Himself.  Sometimes I think there is a temptation to think of God as above human emotion, but perhaps He gave us this picture of Abraham and Isaac in Genesis 22 to help us grasp, at some level, just how much His love for us cost Him.  Through Abraham's experience, we can begin to comprehend the pain and grief God must have felt when He chose to offer us salvation through the death of His Son, His only Son, whom He loves.