3-31-19 The Ultimate Sacrifice

Daily Devotion: The Ultimate Sacrifice - By Greg Laurie -
And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. -Genesis 22:10
There was Isaac, lying on the altar. Abraham raised up the knife, prepared to sacrifice his son, when suddenly "the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, 'Abraham, Abraham! . . . Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me'" (Genesis 22:11-12 NKJV).
Notice the Bible doesn't say it was an angel of the Lord. It says it was the Angel of the Lord. Who commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son? God did. Yet this Angel said, "You have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me" (emphasis added).
I don't think this was an angel; I think this was Jesus stepping in and telling Abraham to stop. This is called a Christophany, which is an appearance of Jesus in the Old Testament. We know that Christ preexisted before Bethlehem, because He is part of the Godhead. He has always been, just like the Father and the Holy Spirit.
Periodically He appeared in the Old Testament, and I think this is one of those appearances when He stepped in and told Abraham not to sacrifice his son Isaac. Yet when Jesus went to the cross, there was no last reprieve. He took the knife-the wrath of God. There was no stopping the full impact of God's wrath, which came in full force upon Jesus Christ, who died on the cross in our place. This is because God loves us. God was effectively saying, "I love you so much that I'm willing to sacrifice My own Son on the cross so you can enter into a relationship with Me."
Do you have this relationship with God right now?

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