Altering Isaac

Then God said, ‘Take your 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 I will show you.’ - Genesis 22:2

The old man wakes up knowing today is the day he will stab the chest of boy breathing softly on the other side of the room. He will then set his body on fire and watch it burn. It isn’t that he doesn’t love this boy. Quite the opposite. He worshipped him, which is why he had to kill him. Both he and the boy were infected with the ancient curse.

This curse is ancient because the first man and woman encountered it on a tree and tried to capture it with a bite. It is a curse because it provides the exact opposite of what it suggests. It suggests control over others yet steals even control of self. It flashes freedom and self-sufficiency yet creates slavery and debilitating dependency. Though the old man knew some work needed to be done, he had yet to feel the sharp edge of the blade tearing at his heart as he aimed to plunge it into his son’s.

On this day, the old man would soon feel a beast being ripped out of him that he hardly knew was there in the first place. A.W. Tozer calls it “the tough old miser within us [that] will not lie down and die obedient to our command. He must be torn out of our heart like a plant from the soil; he must be extracted in agony and blood like a tooth from the jaw."

I used to think I understood this story. Now that I’ve woken up with a bloody mouth, I know better.

This blog is about what happened.