Daily Devotional
What Jesus Willingly Sacrificed for You

February 24, 2020

Ponder This

In His answer to His critics, the religious leaders of His day, Jesus made this shocking statement, bringing up one of the most dramatic scenes in the Old Testament. Isaac, the long-promised son of Abraham, was stretched out on an altar. His father lifted a gleaming knife into the sky, prepared to plunge it into the heart of his son. But then he heard a voice intervening, “Abraham, Abraham, don’t harm the lad. I have provided a substitute.”

Abraham looked—and there was a ram caught in a thicket. The Hebrew word used here actually means “a thicket of thorns.” His head was caught in the thorns. God said, “Take the ram I have provided, Abraham, and sacrifice him instead.”

That ram caught in a thicket, crowned with thorns, became the sacrifice that day in the place of the one who would have died. No wonder Jesus said, “Abraham saw My day and was glad.” God preached the gospel to Abraham long ago.

Practice This

Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son, Isaac, has always portrayed for us the Father’s willingness to sacrifice His only Son, the Lord Jesus. Thank Him again today for that holy sacrifice. “Jesus paid it all,” so we might have it all—eternal life, eternal joy—through Him.