¹⁹ He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.

What was Abraham thinking? He obviously was sure that God had commanded him to offer up his son Isaac. Whether or not human sacrifice was the norm in his day, whether the idea is offensive to our present day sensibilities, the notion of terminating the only known possibility for God’s promise to be fulfilled must have taxed this man’s faith to the max. For most, the stretch would go beyond the breaking point.

His belief in God’s desire and ability to fulfill the promise of a multitude of descendants through Sarah’s offspring was so profound, that even were he to put Isaac to death, it was easier for him to embrace something completely incomprehensible (namely that God could raise Isaac from the dead), than to think that God would not come good on His promise. In other words, it would was more probably the Lord could raise Isaac from the dead than that He would break His promise to Abraham! This kind of thing (resurrection) was completely unknown in Abraham’s day; there was nothing from his experience to even suggest it was a possibility. He did not have the vantage point of our post-Easter perspective. But such was Abraham’s faith that if God would instruct him to kill his son, God would be able to raise him from the dead, if that is what it took to keep His promise!

In Abraham’s experience here, there were two seemingly contradictory statements from God. The first was a promise that He would give Abraham a multitude of descendants through Sarah, beginning with Isaac. The second statement, which seemed completely at odds with the first, was that Abraham was to kill his son (and that before Isaac himself had any offspring – that is, terminating the line of descent and thus putting an end to any possibility of God’s being able to fulfill the promise).

Indeed, sometimes God does seem to contradict Himself in our lives as well. However, as is always the case, His ways and thoughts are far above ours. Abraham’s inner resolution of the conflict was to imagine a most outlandish notion of resurrection! He was way ahead of his time, to be sure! But God’s solution was that once Abraham demonstrated his faith by getting to the very point of slaying his son, God would intervene and put a stop to it. It was a test of his faith, and God never had the intention of allowing Abraham to go through with it. This, then, became a picture or as theologians would call it, “a type” of the resurrection of Christ.

Lord, I believe Your word above all my finitely small logic and perceptions.