The Hand was not Stayed

One of the most touching stories from the Old Testament is the account of Abraham and his son Isaac. The scriptures teach that Abraham was commanded to sacrifice his son Isaac, who came at so great a cost. And to fulfill the commandment from the Lord, the preperations were made. Abraham placed the wood in order, and bound his son upon the altar. Moments before Abraham was to sacrifice his son, the deeply welcomed order came, "Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me." (see Genesis 22:9-10,12) This touching experience is a representation of the sacrifice God the Father would make of His Son, Jesus Christ. Except, there is one difference.
Jesus Christ came into the world to take upon Him our sins, and make salvation possible to the children of God. He knew that this would require a perfect sacrifice, He being the only one capable of doing it. Even as sure as He was of this glorious plan, and of the supreme yielding of His will to His Father's, the difficulty cannot be fathomed by man. When this Son was placed upon the, figuratively speaking, altar, the hand was not stayed. No call came from the heavens to stop the excrutiatingly painful suffering and death. The Most High God of the universe, watched His Son suffer and die. At one point, He even withdrew His Spirit, leading Christ to exclaim, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (see Mark 15:34) The late Neal A. Maxwell once stated, "I praise the Father for all that He experienced as He watched His Firstborn, His Beloved, and His Only Begotten, with whom He was well pleased, suffer all that Jesus suffered." (see full address)
I love my Savior, and will praise His name forever for all that He has done for me. I love the Father, Who sent His Son to die for us. His Atonement came at so great a cost. May we receive the fullness of the blessings and promises of that act I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. Stay classy my friends.
Elder Hill