An OSM sunday school lesson at church yesterday! I feared it would be another general sunday school lesson regarding faith and obedience. Our topic was Abraham and the Abrahamic Covenant.
Abraham and his wife lived their lives without the blessing of children. Abraham successfully had other children through his concubines, but the Lord told him he would have posterity beyond numbers through his wife Sara. In her old age, beyond the age of bearing children, Abraham and Sara were blessed with Isaac.
Later, Abraham was told by the Lord to take Isaac into the mountain to offer a sacrifice. Even though the Lord had promised expanded posterity through Isaac, Abraham was now commanded to sacrifice this son! ALWAYS, the lesson would focus on the faith of Abraham to follow the Lord's command. Comments were always made regarding faith (faith without works is dead), or obedience (always obey a commandment of God.).
I have just been a dork my whole life! Yesterday, our lesson began with Abraham's experience of living among the wickedness of idol worshipers, who made sacrifices for their 'dumb idols'. There were numerous gods which required human sacrifices including men, women, and children. Abraham was identified as a chosen sacrifice and was strapped to the alter. Abraham believed in the true God and when he prayed, an angel of the Lord appeared at his side and released him from the bonds. I did not see in the reading how Abraham's captors responded to this, but the scriptures identify that Abraham was led away from the wickedness after this.
I blurted out, "why did the Lord wait to interfere! I mean throughout the scriptures, the righteous are led away from such wickedness, but the situation for Abraham was allowed to continue until he was placed onto the alter before the Lord interfered." Everything went silent in the room as our instructor paused. He turned to the group and asked for feedback. Feedback began as expected for this lesson (see above) until Sister Broderick reminded us of the scriptural method of symbolism. A need for Abraham to understand the extent of the Lord's coming sacrifice was needed. The instructor turned to me and asked if that answered my question. I stated it was perfect. I stated that this lesson always leads to faith and obedience, but it is really a lot more than that. I even acknowledged that this was the first time I had been exposed to something beyond the general fatih and obedience idea in the lessons from Abraham.
Now I can see the parallel (1) Abraham now knows the horror of facing death as an unwilling sacrifice. When the Lord orders Abraham to sacrifice his son, Abraham experiences the extreme sorrow of allowing a cherished son to be sacrificed without being able to prevent it. Once again, the Lord allows the situation to progress until the sacrifice is about to happen. NOW we can ask who Abraham represents = God the Father. Who does Isaac represent? My immediate reaction was Christ the Son, who sacrificed all for our sake. But Brother Thacker pointed out that Isaac represents each one of us, unknowingly at risk of sacrifice unless the Lord were to provide a plan whereby each of us is rescued from the alter. The Lord has interfered on our part. A sacrificial lamb has been provided, voluntarily, and we are free from the bonds of death!
Very interesting! and our instructor encouraged us to read these stories again with a different mindset, instead of just faith and obedience. I am thrilled! I learned something NEW in Sunday School!
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