None of us can fully understand the meaning of sacrifice unless we’ve gone through some sort of traumatic sacrificing ourselves. And some of you truly have. Yet we can’t imagine what Abraham felt when God asked him to give up his only son… even harder to conceive what it was like for God to ask that of Himself as Jesus willingly offered His body on the cross.
There is no other way than through the shedding of blood of a perfect life that we could be rescued from our sins. Abraham’s words from atop Mt. Moriah rang more true than he even comprehended at the time: “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son” (Genesis 22:8).
I keep reminding myself that the Gospel could not have happened any other way. Ever since the moment Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, God’s rescue plan was in place. Throughout the generations in the Bible—through Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David— God’s plan was intact and was pointing to Jesus. The sacrifice He made was the only way we’d be saved once and for all.