April-June
Imagine walking through a large hall where paintings of various sizes hang, expressing many different thoughts and feelings. One painting may speak of sadness and another of bliss. But nothing catches your sight like the largest picture in the room. It is suspended from the ceiling in the center, around ten feet in length and eight feet in width. The massive canvas is stained with bright, obnoxious colors of all sorts. The artist’s brush formed an abstract expressionist piece. There is nothing recognizable in the picture, nothing that makes sense.
Our picture of God can be the same way. For years my eyes only caught fleeting glimpses of who God was. These glimpses shaped a somewhat distorted view. The pieces of the puzzle were all over the place, but not in their right place. It wasn’t until the pieces aligned that I began experiencing “the peace of God, which passeth all understanding” (Philippians 4:7), a freedom that correlated with knowing the truth. “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).
David recognized the direct relationship between knowing who God is and the ability to conform to His character, so he prayed, “Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart” (Psalm 119:34). David realized that looking at the full picture would empower him to serve God from love rather than out of fear. This brings us to acknowledge the question, what has God been trying to reveal about Himself to you and me all along?
We are led to the story of Abraham. Just like my own view of God, Abraham’s view of His Creator was somewhat distorted. In the country of Ur of the Chaldees where Abraham was raised, the heathen gods required sacrifices in order to supposedly please them. Often humans were sacrificed as the people acted out their belief in a distorted picture of God. Before Abraham could begin to comprehend the truth about who God really was, a change of scenery had to take place. So, God told him, “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee” (Genesis 12:1). At the beginning of Abraham’s walk with God we still see that he took actions out of fear. He relied heavily on his own works to fulfill God’s promise, “in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 26:4).
Finally, when it became physically impossible for Abraham and Sarah to bear children, God performed the impossible. Isaac, the son of promise, was born. Throughout his life, Abraham was being led to understand the meaning of faith in a God who makes a sacrifice instead of requiring it. God was leading him to the point of perfect trust and reliance upon His word. All along He had been preparing Abraham to face the ultimate test. A test that would shift around the pieces of the false picture he had believed for so long. Now God showed him the gospel—the genuine, full picture!
He asked Abraham to do the unthinkable, “Abraham . . . Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering” (Genesis 22:1, 2). I can’t imagine the thoughts going on in Abraham’s mind. Here was his son whom he loved so dearly—and now he had to sacrifice him. Nevertheless, the patriarch obeyed by faith, believing that God could raise Isaac from the dead. Notice the difference that now Abraham is relying solely on the word of God to fulfill the promise.
Picture the scene! As Abraham prepares to slay his son . . . he slowly binds Isaac to the altar. Each passing second feels like an eternity. Finally, he reaches for the knife. His quivering hand lifts it into the air. Just as he is about to drive the knife down and pierce through Isaac’s chest . . . a voice stops him saying, “Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me” (Genesis 22:11, 12).
Abraham lifts his eyes away from the altar to see a ram provided to take the place of his son. The pieces of the puzzle are drawn together like magnets, the full picture is now in plain view . . . from a God who requires a sacrifice to a God who makes sacrifice. A God who at the depth of His core is love—pure, perfect, selfless, other-centered love!
Now Abraham begins to unbind Isaac from off the altar and instead offers the ram in his place. His heart tastes relief and a minute fraction of the pain and heartbreak God would experience when He would give His only Son to save the world. Isaac walks free . . . representing you and me, while the ram is sacrificed in his place. Abraham believes! He now knows the truth that makes him free. “Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God” (James 2:23).
Now God calls Abraham His friend! The reality is that an all-powerful, all-mighty God wants to call human beings as His friends. The idea of a relational God who at His core desires friendship and communion with the ones He created in His very own image . . . seems too beautiful to be true, but it is true!
Our God is longing to hold the number one place in your heart, to be your best friend. Above all He desires to have a loving relationship with you. He wishes you to know Him. For He says, “this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3).
The gospel is not founded upon what we can do for God, rather what God has done for us, and that . . . is everything. But it’s so hard to understand that it’s not we but God who took the extra step, who made the ultimate sacrifice! It’s time for us to see the full picture, to have our own “Abraham experience,” to simply accept the provision God made for us. Accepting the gift means receiving Jesus. Abraham saw the painting of the gospel that day, at the foot of the altar where his son was to be sacrificed. He then understood that God is a God of relational faithfulness—a Covenant Keeper. He is just, merciful, selfless, humble, trustworthy, and forgiving.
Those are the colors which reflect the full and true beauty of God’s character. Though the world shatters this picture into a thousand shreds, permitting us only to see glimpses sometimes . . . truth will always draw them back together in their place, re-creating the image John paints in three words, “God is love” (1 John 4:16). Have you seen the true picture of God’s character? If you have, are you ready to share it with others?