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  FATHER'S - THE GREATEST SACRIFICE
  by G.W. North
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Summary: The Father makes the greatest sacrifice in the Godhead,
demonstrating the principle of eternal love and life.

Topics: "Sacrifice", "The Love of the Father"
Scripture References: Genesis 22:1

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G.W. North emphasizes that while the sacrifice of the Son is monumental,
the Father also makes significant sacrifices, as illustrated in the
story of Abraham and Isaac. The emotional turmoil experienced by Abraham
as he prepared to sacrifice Isaac reflects the profound love and pain of
the Father in the Godhead. Ultimately, the narrative reveals that the
true essence of sacrifice lies in the voluntary nature of God's love,
where the Father is seen as the one who makes the greatest sacrifice by
allowing the Son to be slain. This act symbolizes the necessity of death
and resurrection for eternal life, highlighting the depth of God's love
and the reality of sacrifice within the Trinity.

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CONTENT
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Great though this sacrifice of the Son is, it must not be thought that
among the persons of the Godhead the Son is the only one who makes
sacrifices; the Father makes them also. This ought not to be any
surprise to us for it is brought out most poignantly in the saga of
ABRAHAM and ISAAC on Moriah. In the end of the drama enacted there, it
was not the son who was slain but the ram which was caught by its horns
in a thicket. What thoughts and emotions rent the hearts of father and
son as they undertook the journey to the mount we are not told.
Nevertheless we may well imagine what mental torture wracked the heart
of Abraham who faithfully led his son to the slaughter. He fully
believed he must slay his son and was purposed to do so.

Therefore, before he reached the mount, in heart he faithfully did it,
receiving him back again from the dead as a gift from God.

Undoubtedly the Lord, by this incident, has taught us more of the truth
about that loving self-giving and painless sacrifice in God which is
hinted at by death. In order to have God's eternal life, man must know
death and resurrection, for only resurrection life is eternal life. But
Isaac did not die, Abraham did not slay his son; so also is it in the
Godhead: the Son never dies, the Father does not slay Him. Abraham and
Isaac were stopped short of death -- it only took place in a figure.

So God has demonstrated for all time that with Him all is voluntary and
therefore real; by this sacred enactment the principle of eternal love
and life has been revealed, and it is the Father who is seen to be the
one who makes the greatest sacrifice; it is He who slays the Son.

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Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/gw-north/fathers-the-greatest-sacrifice/
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