Page 143 - Evidence of Things Unseen

led me to count the cost of making such a sacrifice, or whether it was the voice of the enemy
seeking to torment me. I wondered whether I was right to subject my wife to such a test, for
the Scriptures say nothing of Abraham speaking anything to Sarah about what God had
commanded him to do. He did not even tell his servants who traveled with him what his
intent was, and Isaac also did not know until the last moment. Tony had done well to come
to a place where she was willing to have all her possessions cast out by the road if it should
be God’s will, and this was a tremendous thing. It is understandable that she should be
greatly disturbed at the thought of being separated from her children.
I do not know whether I erred in my handling of this matter, but I know that my heart
was focused upon obeying God and not shrinking back even when faced with the greatest
sorrow I could imagine. I also know that God taught me some things about His own heart
toward His Son by allowing me to walk through this experience. What a great and terrible
love the Father has for His creation, that He would be willing to freely give His Son up for
us. I can see that the Father, far from being a dispassionate force, was moved beyond
measure in His own heart as He observed His Son’s willingness to drink from the cup of
suffering set before Him. I also learned of the depths of compassion that can be elicited
from the heart of a father when he sees a son struggling with great issues while choosing to
not shrink back, but instead asking for strength to continue.
More than any other description, Yahweh is called a Father. He has created man in His
image, and man too has been given the privilege of being a father. As we delight in our
children we learn of the great delight Yahweh has for His Son, and of His yearning to have
many sons and daughters. As we experience pain in our dealings with our children, we can
also know the pain of our heavenly Father toward His children.
I am now able to look at the experience of the Father as His Son was beaten, scourged,
spat upon, mocked, and crucified with just a little more understanding of what it cost Him.
I felt a tremendous ache in my heart toward my son for a brief time as I considered giving
him up, and it was almost beyond bearing. I have never known a sorrow so deep, or a pain
so acute. By experiencing this I feel I have touched in a small measure the pain that was in
the Father’s heart as He turned His Son over to the suffering of the cross that others might
know life. Many people are speaking of being called as intercessors in this hour, but I
wonder if most of them truly know what the high cost of intercession is. Intercession is
more than merely saying a prayer for another person. It is being willing to lay down one’s
own life on behalf of another.
The people at the fellowship in Montezuma do not know of the things we were called
to do in intercession for them. They saw only the outer circumstances of our lives, our
moving twice, our inability to pay our rent, our being evicted, and they have imagined us
to be suffering for our own errors. I have not sought to correct this image in their minds.
It is the good will of God that we should be so misunderstood. His Son was also judged
wrongly by those who viewed His suffering.

Isaiah 53:4
Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him
stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

The church today has almost no understanding of God’s will for them to follow in the
footsteps of His firstborn Son. Being conformed to the image of Christ includes being
conformed to the same life of sacrifice and intercession that He demonstrated. As the