"Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah.

Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."

Genesis 22:2

In bible study there is something called "the rule of first-mention".  Simply put, it means the first time any important word is used in all of scripture, we have a key to understanding that word and a foundation for its fuller development in later parts of the bible.

As we enter into the Season of the Cross (Lent), I am reminded of the first time the word 'love' occurs in our bibles.  It is in the account of God requesting Abraham take his son to a mountain and sacrifice him as a burnt offering.  We know the rest of the story:  Abraham and his son immediately set out on a 3 day journey for the mountain.  Isaac is not a little boy as our Sunday School stories would suggest.  He is at least a teenager who is able to carry all the wood necessary and who willingly let his father bind him.  At the most intense moment, the Angel of the Lord stops Abraham from slaying his son and God Himself provides the substitute sacrifice.

What do we learn about love as it is first mentioned here in Scripture?  The picture here is of a father's love for his son.  His love does not hold on or hold back, but lets go.  It is a love that trusts.

This love is sacrificial.  All consumingly so.  In the burnt offering as opposed to other types of offerings, nothing was held back; all was given to God.

This love is a picture which will find its full development centuries later when another Father offered His Son on the same mountain.  A love that does not hold back but offers sacrificially and all consumingly.  A love that gives all...

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,

that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."

John 3:16