Please note that when Abraham's son asked his father where is the sacrifice,
Abraham answered that god will gave it to us "keep this in mind"
Yes my friend.... I do keep this in mind everyday as a follower of the Messiah, I believe God not only provided the Lamb for Abraham that day but provided the "Lamb" (who was Jesus) for all of mankind and for eternity.
We agree that a sacrifice is something which we own and which belong to us,then we gave it up for a purpose,and in most cases it is offered to
help someone such as in your previous example in giving your only last dollar to help someone else.
Yes..I do agree but When the People of Biblical times made sacrifices, It was God who commanded them to make sacrifices and in return he would help, bless or forgive them. And like I mentioned before it wasn't the act of killing which God cared about, It was the obedience of the people and the fact that they were willing to "give up" something of value here on earth in order to be cleansed of their sins, show faith and submission to worship God.
Now lets go back to the beginning of life on earth "Adam,Eve and their sons"
What did they own ?
everything on earth were for them,but are they really the owners ?
of course not because the real owner is god the creator who offered such graces for them and then for us.
So we can understand that the real one who sacrificed was god by creating such souls (goats,sheeps..etc) for us to be pleased.
I understand what you mean by God being the creator of everything and It's like you said God gave us (humans) everything but he also declared...
(Adam)"You listened to your wife and ate fruit from that tree. And so, the ground will be under a curse because of what you did. As long as you live, you will have to struggle to grow enough food.18 Your food will be plants, but the ground will produce thorns and thistles.19 You will have to sweat to earn a living".---
Genesis 3
What does this mean?..This means that from that point on, we (humans) are vulnerable and rely on the food that the earth produces including the animals which God put here and although God does provide us with blessings he can also take them away. Therefor we must work hard for what we get. You reap what you sow.
God on the other hand doesn't rely on anything that the earth produces. The sacrifices he commanded people to make don't sustain him so it isn't God who is sacrificing because earthly possessions don't matter to him. However earthly possessions do matter to us (humans) "cause we need them (food, clothing, etc..) to survive.
However the sacrifice God did make was when he humbled himself out of mercy, took on a human form, endured insults, persecution, and finally a painful death. Why? because he loved us and wanted us to live physically and spiritually without being bound to making animal sacrifices. The only "sacrifice" we are obligated to make now is the sacrifice of refraining from earthly desires and sin.
Again remember Abraham saying to his son "god will send the sacrifice"
Should'nt we read what is between the lines.
We should read between the lines and underneath the lines as well to know the true meaning of this very significant line.
Now back to what we understand from Abraham story as i didn't find other thoughts other than a test.
We should first to understand that Abraham and his son had submitted and surrendered to god's will and they were submitters. read the following verses please
Chronicles 30:8
Do not be stiff-necked, as your ancestors were; submit to the Lord. Come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever. Serve the Lord your God, so that his fierce anger will turn away from you.
The King and Prophet Hezekiah of Judah at the time made this statement because...
6 "Some of our ancestors were unfaithful and disobeyed the Lord our God. Not only did they turn their backs on the Lord, but they also completely ignored his temple. 7 They locked the doors, then let the lamps go out and stopped burning incense and offering sacrifices to him. 8 The Lord became terribly angry at the people of Judah and Jerusalem, and everyone was shocked and horrified at what he did to punish them. Not only were 9 our ancestors killed in battle, but our own children and wives were taken captive."---
2 Chronicles 29
Job 22:21
“Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you.
James 4:7
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
So first lesson is submission to god's will
Second lesson is that god is merciful, just imagine if he will asked us to sacrifice one of his creations (soul) which is one of our sons as kind of submission to his will,so we should understand that god is merciful and what he is asking us to do is good things otherwise if he is an awful one he may asked us to do awful things such as the image of killing one of our own sons as kind of submission to him as shown in Abraham story.
Yes.. I agree but the way we submit to God is by obeying him and his commands. Before, the command was to offer an animal sacrifice. Now, the command is to believe in God's sacrifice and to "sacrifice" our own earthly desires.
John 1:29
[
The Lamb of God ] The next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him and said: Here is the
Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
Hebrews 13:15-16 15 Our sacrifice is to keep offering praise to God in the name of Jesus. 16 But don’t forget to help others and to share your possessions with them. This too is like offering a sacrifice that pleases God.
when we obey, it is an act of faith and submission then God forgives us of our transgressions. God having mercy on us is different from him forgiving us of our sins (as I mentioned twice before).
Mercy--Compassionate treatment, especially of those under one's power; clemency.
Forgive--To absolve from payment of (a debt, for example).
On Judgement Day, many people will pay for their sins.
