I will tell you, here is one very difficult anomaly, and it is only for those who are of great faith. But if Abraham was only living by sight, he could easily come up with arguments as to why he should not do this, because this is the God who clearly said, "You shall not kill." In addition to that, Abraham knew that He was totally opposed to human sacrifice in the worship of any god. And thirdly, here he was ordered to kill as a sacrifice the very one that He Himself had designated and provided by a miracle as the heir of the promises, and given in good faith to Abraham.
God said, "Now I know." You put that together with Hebrews 11 and that tells me that as far as Abraham was concerned, Isaac was as good as dead. No thought can be withheld from God. He read Abraham's mind! Isaac was dead, and that is why He stopped him. Abraham cleared his conscience because he knew God so well, he knew that even though he did not understand, everything that God does is righteous and good, everything that God requires of us is consistent with His character. Everything that God requires of us is consistent with His purpose. He never deviates from His patterns, and therefore Abraham knew that the defect was in his own mind, in his own feelings, not in God's command.
"Your only son." The emphasis in this chapter is on 'only' and 'love,' 'the one you love'. I think that these things are what hit Abraham with a tremendously, emotional impact. He had another son, Ishmael, and he had an extremely faithful servant in Eliezer, but Isaac, like Joseph was to Jacob, was the apple of his eye.
Consider that Abraham, not only loving him as if he was an only son, also knew that Isaac was the result of a long-awaited, direct miracle. Twenty-five years he waited for the fulfillment of the promise given by the very One who was now ordering that son's sacrifice. It is not like he was giving the child up to disease or to an accident and that indeed may be bitter, but it is understandable. Far more understandable than being told by your very Creator to kill your heir. An heir that you love very deeply. This was very difficult to deal with.
He also carried with him the knowledge that both spiritually and physically Isaac was the human key to the fulfilling of the promises of the very One who was now ordering his deliberate execution.
What did the God mean when he said, “I see now that you fear God?” What did God ask Abraham to do?
Abraham was asked to do something by God! The angel saw that Abraham had complied with God’s request and he used the term “fear” to describe Abraham's obedience. Fear equals obedience to God. We show our fear by the way we conduct ourselves in our behavior.
