All or Nothing
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Scripture: cf. Golgotha (; ; ; ) (no ram for God) Jesus was the ram caught in the thicket for our sin
Scripture: cf. Golgotha (; ; ; ) (no ram for God) Jesus was the ram caught in the thicket for our sin
Read and discuss the story of Abraham and Issac on a hill called Moriah
Oral tradition says Abraham was about 137 years old and Isaac was 37 years old at this point.
1 Some time later, God tested Abraham’s faith. “Abraham!” God called. “Yes,” he replied. “Here I am.”
2 “Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”
3 The next morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son, Isaac. Then he chopped wood for a fire for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had told him about.
4 On the third day of their journey, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.
5 “Stay here with the donkey,” Abraham told the servants. “The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back.”
6 So Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac’s shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them walked on together,
7 Isaac turned to Abraham and said, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “We have the fire and the wood,” the boy said, “but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?”
8 “God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham answered. And they both walked on together.
9 When they arrived at the place where God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood.
10 And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice.
11 At that moment the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Yes,” Abraham replied. “Here I am!”
12 “Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.”
13 Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son.
Ge 22:1-13
Compare to what happened on the hill called Golgotha
Compare to the event of Golgotha
This is Palm Sunday when we remember Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem which we talked about last week.
I often wondered what went through His mind on this day:
-The crowd rejoicing and singing His praises only to be yelling to crucify Him in a few days.
-The disciples kept telling Him they would fight with Him to the end but He knew soon they would scatter and the biggest talker of them all (Peter) would deny even knowing Jesus three times!
-Knowing the beatings and ultimate crucifixion soon to follow
He had to remember the story of Abraham and Isaac. I believe He probably thought about it a lot in the garden when He was praying. Why else would He hope there was another way to satisfy God’s righteousness? If God the Father can save Abraham’s son, surely He would save His own and have a plan B, right?
A hill called Golgotha
Isaac was not forsaken by Abraham; Jesus was forsaken by God
Abraham was kept from driving the knife into Isaac while God the Father allowed the nails to pierce His only Son’s hands and feet. And a spear to pierce His Son’s side so the blood and water would run down the cross onto the ground.
Why the need for blood and death? In the OT it was over and over again but in the NT is once and for all. The payment for sin happened only once with Jesus’ death on the cross. It’s not enough to say I’m sorry (that’s what the Hebrews did in the OT as they regularly made sacrifices for their sins) but it is a once-and-for-all turn-around from living one way to living God’s way.
It’s more about saying I’m sorry.
1 The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship.
2 If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared.
3 But instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year.
4 For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5 That is why, when Christ came into the world, he said to God, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings. But you have given me a body to offer.
6 You were not pleased with burnt offerings or other offerings for sin.
7 Then I said, ‘Look, I have come to do your will, O God— as is written about me in the Scriptures.’ ”
8 First, Christ said, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings or burnt offerings or other offerings for sin, nor were you pleased with them” (though they are required by the law of Moses).
9 Then he said, “Look, I have come to do your will.” He cancels the first covenant in order to put the second into effect.
10 For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.
11 Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins.
12 But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand.
13 There he waits until his enemies are humbled and made a footstool under his feet.
This is a remembrance of what Christ has done! It is all we need!
This is a remembrance of what Christ has done! It is all we need!
Just as God provided a ram for Abraham in place of his son Isaac, God provided His Only Son Jesus in place of us so our sins may be paid for and we can be redeemed!
We are in the story of Abraham and Isaac too!
Abraham = God the Father
Isaac = Us
Ram = Jesus Christ
Picture what it was like back at the hill called Moriah. Abraham and Isaac are walking down the hill. Isaac not weighed down by the wood anymore. More free to run and skip. Abraham smiling and laughing with his son.
The same is for us as we carry a burden that weighs us down so much called sin. The bad mistakes that we have made; living against how God wants us to live.
God the Father and me (Abraham and Isaac) on way back down the mountain we have a lighter load! Because of Jesus’ sacrifice done in our place, we have a lighter load because we have been freed from sin and can enjoy a relationship with God the Father again!
Communion is not killing Jesus again and again every time we participate in it. The sacrifice has been paid once and for all! We are remembering what Christ did for us on the cross.
Communion
23 For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread
24 and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
25 In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.”
26 For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again.