The ultimate sacrifice
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (Joh 3:16)
Because of love
We may often reflect on what it cost our Lord to provide salvation for us, but have we ever thought about what it cost the Father? The Bible says that God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son… He only had one Son, and he gave him up for us all (Rom 8:32). That was a sacrifice.
We can give because we feel obliged to give, but usually our giving is motivated by love, and we give to those we love. That was how it was with the Father. The Father gave his one and only Son because of love, and he gave him to those he loved—the people of the world.
His only Son
Many events in the Old Testament illustrate New Testament truth, and a picture of God's plan to sacrifice his Son for the sins of the world is found in Gen 22:1–14.
Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, 'Abraham!'
'Here I am,' he replied.
Then God said, 'Take you son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain that I will show you.' (Gen 22:1–2)
God described Isaac as Abraham's only son, whom he loved. Jesus was God's only Son, whom he loved. The voice from the cloud on the mountain when he was transfigured said, 'This is my Son, whom I love (Mar 9:7).'
God telling Abraham to sacrifice his son, not only tested Abraham's obedience and made his faith complete (Jam 2:20–2), but also foreshadowed the sacrifice of his own Son.
Mount Moriah
Abraham was to sacrifice his son on a mountain in the region of Moriah. God's temple was built on Mount Moriah, as was Jerusalem (2Ch 3:1). Jesus was crucified at Golgotha (Joh 19:17–8), which was outside one of the gates of Jerusalem (Heb 13:11–2), so Jesus was crucified on that mountain.
I believe God led Abraham to the exact spot where his own Son would be crucified nineteen hundred years later. At the place where Abraham built his altar, Jesus would be sacrificed for the sins of the world (1Jo 2:1–2). The Hebrew word translated 'Moriah' means to be seen by Yahweh, and it can mean to be seen in an approving sense [1].
And God did see what happened on that mountain, and he did approve of it, because on that mountain he laid the sins of the world on the body of his Son (Isa 53:6)—his only Son, the Son whom he loved—so that his wrath and anger against sin, and his justice—which demands that all sin be punished—would be fully met through him.
God will provide
As he neared the place of his sacrifice, Abraham placed the wood for his offering on Isaac (Gen 22:4,6). Similarly, as Jesus went out to the place of his Father's sacrifice, the wood for his offering (the cross) was placed on him (Joh 19:16–8).
Isaac said, 'Father, the fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?' Abraham answered, 'God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son (Gen 22:7–8).' And God did (Joh 1:29).
Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And from then on it was said, 'On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided (v14).' In God's time, it was.
The angel of the Lord
Abraham built an altar, placed the wood on it, bound his son and laid him on top of the wood. Then he picked up the knife to slay him, but the angel of the Lord called from heaven and stopped him. He looked up and saw a ram in a thicket caught by its horns. He took the ram and sacrificed it instead of his son (Gen 22:9–13).
Who called to Abraham from heaven? It was the angel of the Lord. That phrase in the Old Testament is used to indicate a pre-incarnate manifestation of Jesus—Jesus appearing and/or speaking to people on earth prior to his birth at Bethlehem (eg Jdg 13:1–23).
Jesus prevented Abraham from sacrificing his son. Why? Because human blood cannot take away sins; only his own blood could do that.
And that, to my mind, is the most amazing truth about salvation: that the God whom our sins offend, took the punishment for our sins himself, so that we can go free. 'Amazing love!' wrote Charles Wesley, 'how can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?'
God's Lamb
Who was responsible for our Lord's death? Peter said that Jesus was handed over to the Jews by God's deliberate plan and foreknowledge and they, with the help of wicked men (the Gentiles), put him to death (Act 2:23). They did what God's power and will had decided beforehand should happen (Act 4:27–8).
God is sovereign on earth and could have prevented his Son's death, but he didn't. Jesus said, 'Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me (Joh 18:11)?'. 1Pe 1:18–20 tells us that Jesus, a lamb without blemish or defect, was chosen before the creation of the world to provide redemption for us: his death was planned before the world was created. Think about that.
On Mount Moriah the Father sacrificed his Son, the Lamb of God, for the sins of the world. God had told Abraham to do to his son what he was going to do to his own Son.
Salvation through sacrifice
Sacrificing was a prominent feature of the Old Covenant. Why? Because it was through sacrifice that salvation would come to mankind. Not the sacrifice of an animal, but the sacrifice of God: God sacrificing himself for the sins of the world (Heb 9:26).
Sacrificing involves a cost (1Ch 21:24)—the word means to give up something highly valued for the sake of something of greater value or importance. God understands the meaning of sacrifice, he understands it fully. It cost him to provide salvation for us; it cost him dearly: it cost him the death of the Son he loved.
Can you think of anything more valuable to God than his Son? There is one thing—our salvation. That shows how much the Father loves us.
The Father's pain
Grief is a painful emotion; anyone who has had a loved one die will know that. I felt intense pain when my father died, even though he knew the Lord and I will see him in heaven. Why did I feel pain? Because I loved him.
We are made in God's image (Gen 1:27), and that includes our emotions. If we feel pain when we watch a loved one die, then God felt pain when he watched his loved One die. It wasn't just Jesus who suffered at the cross, but his Father also.
Joh 3:16 says that God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son. The words 'one and only' are there for a reason: they are there to emphasize what it cost the Father to provide salvation for us. He only had one Son, and he gave him up for us all: it was the ultimate sacrifice.
Michael Graham
March 2015
Revised March 2023
[1] Strong, James The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, MacDonald Publishing Company. Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version (Anglicised edition) Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica (formerly International Bible Society). Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Publishers, an Hachette UK company. All rights reserved.