November 26, 2025 – Thanksgiving Eve Texts: Genesis 22:1-14, Hebrews 11:17-19
Dear Friends in Christ,
Could you have done it? Could you have marched your precious child up that mountain and sacrificed him to the Lord? Wrapping their wrists and ankles so they couldn’t move. Could you take that knife in your hands and plunge it into the flesh of your child?
How many of you would turn your back on this sacrifice? Is God being evil, cruel and petty? Is He is asking this of you just to prove you love Him? How many have left the faith over the years because of this biblical story? How can God be so harsh?
Most people don’t know the whole story. This isn’t about child sacrifice. This story is actually about the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ. Maybe this text is a little odd for the holiday, but then again maybe it will make sense. This Thanksgiving . . .
“THE LORD WILL PROVIDE”
The text from Hebrews, “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, ‘Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.’” (v. 17-18).
God had said this to Abraham, “through Isaac shall your offspring be named,” when Isaac was growing up in Genesis 21. The story in our text for tonight is Genesis 22. Isaac had to live long enough to have a son. Had to. Or God would be a liar. And Isaac hadn’t had any kids yet.
Is this a test to see if Abraham loved God more than his son? No. Is this a bloodthirsty God who wants child sacrifice? Of course not. This isn’t a test of Abraham’s obedience or his sacrifice. This is about his faith. This is about the promise God made. Isaac has to have children and to have children he must be alive. He cannot do that if he is dead. Isaac must come down that mountain with Abraham. Abraham was sure that God was faithful to His promises. It didn’t look good, but he had faith that God would act in faithfulness. The Lord will provide.
In Genesis what day does it say they come down from the mountain? When did Abraham figuratively receive his son back from the dead, his day of resurrection? The Bible says, “on the third day.” (v. 4)
Abraham saw the wood, the bonds, the crown of thorns, the Lamb of God, the third-day resurrection. Because the Lamb slain in place of his son meant blessings for all the nations of the earth.
Does all of this change the way you see Abraham and Isaac? Do you understand God differently? Do you think knowing what was happening, would it help someone who struggles with this story? See, that is why we must read the Old Testament in light of the New.
The Lord provided the Lamb. He would be sacrificed for you. Your sins would be laid upon Him and God allowed him to be strapped to a cross and nails pounded into his flesh. He was the obedient Son who fulfilled the Father’s plan of salvation and provided for us the greatest gift this Thanksgiving and every day – the salvation of our soul.
Ok parents, having you ever laid the cross of wood on your children and given them over to death in the certain hope of resurrection? That what Paul says happens in baptism. “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” (Rom. 6:3-4). If you have never thought of baptism that way, let Abraham’s sacrifice help you today. Don’t get distracted by the niceties of the font. It is a place of sacrifice of drowning into the grave with Christ in his crucifixion, so that you, too, and your children can know the power of resurrection. That is what you did for your child and what your parents did for you in baptism. Thanks be to God!
I pray this time meditating on the sacrifice of Isaac impacts your faith so that you can rejoice in your baptism day. You can give thanks for what the Lord has provided to you and to your children. God’s Blessings as you remember how the Lord has provided.
Amen.