Fifth Sunday in Lent (2024)
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Gen 22:1-14
Gen 22:1-14
My brothers and sisters in Christ, in our Old Testament Lesson we witness an incredible demand that God places upon Abraham to test his faith, and his love. Which is it that Abraham cares about more, the Word and Will of God, or his own flesh and blood the promised son, Isaac that he had waited decades to see. Why is it that God calls upon Abraham to do this, and how does this point ahead to Christ?
Sacrificing the Promised Son
Isaac was to be Abraham’s heir.
This is a hard thing to ask of any parent. When you consider who Isaac was to Abraham, and his wife sarah. Abraham had been concerned for decades regarding a child. He this child when he was 100 years old, and sarah was 90. Quite a time to have a baby. They had been together for years, and when God finally told them that the child would come, Sarah laughed, and that is why his name is Isaac, which means laughter. Now God says something interesting, take your only son, Isaac.
There was another son, but he was not God’s chosen.
There was a moment of weakness when in desperation, Abraham and Sarah had taken matters into their own hands, and Sarah had given, Hagar to Abraham to bear a child, and that child’s name was Ishmael. This was not the child that God had promised, and their lack of faith was not rewarded, Isaac is the son that God had promised, and that is why he says, your only son Isaac. He is alone in the heir.
Abraham knew God’s promise.
Abraham despite a lapse was a man of faith who believed God’s Word, and trusted His word. The Scriptures later tell us that he even believed that God could raise Isaac from the dead. So even if he slew him, He trusted God’s promise for this was the son that he and his wife had, when they were well past the age of having children.
God Will Provide
Abraham was ready to slay Isaac.
The knife was lifted up in his hand, and was about to plunge down into the chest of Isaac and do as God had commanded. For Abraham trusted God’s Word and loved the Lord more than He even loved his son.
The angel of the LORD stopped him.
Told him that he had passed the test and that all was well, and that the boy would be spared. What Abraham had told his son Isaac was true, the Lord did provide a sacrifice for them on that day on the mountaintop.
The Lord provided a ram.
It was caught in the thicket by its horns, and they took it and sacrificed it to God as a burnt offering, and praised the Lord, that the Lord provides what is needed. All of this was recorded and passed down throughout the ages. The question is why? This is a dark and terrifying moment in the Scriptures and parents who look at this would say what was the purpose of this?
The Purpose of the Scriptures
They were written to show us Jesus.
Jesus tells the pharisees that look into the scriptures for eternal life, and that’s not their purpose. The purpose is to point us to Jesus. He is the focal point of Holy Scripture. The pharisees miss the point entirely if they go looking for forgiveness, if they go looking for eternal life, we are to look for Jesus and to seek Him first. Don’t just look for the gifts, look for the giver.
It’s Jesus that shows up.
In the Old Testament when you see the word Lord in all Caps, that means that it is Jesus who is showing up. So the one who is there on the mountaintop with Abraham is Christ. Who stops him from slaughtering his son. Then Abraham sees the Ram caught in the thicket and Isaac is spared the one through whom the promised offspring and seed of Eve would be born lives.
This was recorded for us.
God desires that His word be known by His people, and that they are able to continue to grow in their knowledge of His good and holy word. St. Paul speaks about this in Corinthians and urges the Corinthians and all Christians to know the Old testament. For there is much we can learn not only about who Jesus is, but also from those that have gone before us.
They serve as examples.
Abraham, and Isaac speak to the faith that we are to have in the Lord’s Providence. They are not meant to be examples of how father’s should deal with their sons. No matter how frustrated a father might get. This was a rather special event in the history of mankind. But it does teach us that the Lord is the one who provides for us.
The Lord Provides for Us
This foreshadows Jesus’ sacrifice.
In the Scriptures, Abraham and Isaac are what is called a Type, it’s something from the Old Testament that looks ahead to what God does in the New Testament. The Old Testament offers to us events, or people that are shadows or pale reflections of what Jesus is going to do. For instance, In the New Testament,
God would offer up His son.
The Ram that the Father provides on Mt. Moriah would be replaced by the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the World. Abraham means Father of many peoples, and this sacrifice that God the Father in heaven would give up His salvation for all people who are children of Abraham by faith in God’s promises.
The wood laid on Isaac foreshadows the cross.
Isaac had to carry up the hill that which would have been used to complete the sacrifice. Jesus bore the Cross out of the city of Jerusalem, bearing it on his back that which would become the instrument of his own death.
Golgotha becomes the mount of the Lord.
It is there that God offers up the sacrifice of Christ, the perfect ram, who has on his head encircled with a crown of thorns. As He is offered up for our sake. There is our Ram
Why Did God Provide?
What is the first commandment?
You shall have no other Gods, well what does this mean? We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things. It appears quite simple, quite easy, how hard could this be? Do you love God more than you love your parents? More than you brothers, or sisters. Your kids? When they go astray and sin, do warn them, or for the sake of peace, do you remain silent? If we have a hard time doing that with family, what about friends? It seems simple, but it’s incredibly difficult.
If this is hard for a christian, what about an unbeliever?
If Christians have trouble when they hear this commandment, who know all the good that God has already done for us and how He loves us, what about the one who hears this demand, and thinks God has done nothing or doesn’t care at all? This is why the whole world stands condemned by the first commandment alone.
God did what we could and would not do.
He gave up His only begotten son for our sake, and laid on him our sins, Jesus not only fulfill the Law for us and submitted himself to the will of the father, but also suffered as though He had broken the Law. Enduring all manner of pain and suffering, and Jesus suffering everything that we deserved, even going into Hell itself for us. Why would God offer up His Son?
God did it because He loves you.
And Jesus Loves you. How much love has the Father shown us, that in spite of our sins, he wanted us to be His children? What love did Christ have for you, that He called you friend, and offered himself up for your salvation. There is no greater love than is found in the heart of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, God provided the sacrifice not only for Abraham and Isaac on that mountaintop, God provided the Sacrifice that was needed for the entire world in order that we might be saved. The Angel of the Lord who cried out for Abraham to stop, centuries later would cry out again, Father into your hands I commit my spirit, as he took your place and gave up his life for you. In Jesus name. Amen.