Sacrifice and Faith
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
I’m taking sort of a side road in our journey through Casket Empty, because I think it says so much about who Abraham is and the faith that he has developed. We’re going to be looking specifically at Genesis 22 this morning.
For the past couple of weeks we’ve been looking at the person of Abraham and we know that he was chosen by God and that God made some huge promises to him about his descendents and yet he continued to wait for a child to be born. We know that he and his wife like so many tried to help God out (demonstrating a lack of faith) and have a son another way other than the one that was promised. And finally, last week we saw that Isaac is born from Abraham and Sarah to whom God had made the promise of a son.
They had waited and waited for this to happen. The promise was made to Abraham when he was 75 (see Ge 12:4) and it would be 25 years later that he would finally have a son fulfilling that promise. In chapter 21 of Genesis we finally hear the words that Isaac is born! After 25 years of expectation, waiting, wanting, wondering - the child is born. It doesn’t take much imagination to think of how much Isaac meant to both Sarah and Abraham.
Then we get to chapter 22.
And this is what we read.
After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
Hmmmm…have you noticed that God is not really specific when he seems to call Abraham off on one of these adventures. “To one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” His original call was in 12:1 where we read:
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.
Very different than what I hear people wanting from God often. Tell me exactly what you want me to do!
After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
God tested Abraham..
Why?
What had Abraham done?
Let’s keep these questions in mind as we read through this chapter this morning.
So God tested Abraham and told him to take his son Isaac and offer him there as a burnt offering. v. 3
So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
Abraham’s faith amazes me. In the retelling of the story the author of Genesis is so matter-of-fact about the whole thing. God said do this, “so Abraham rose early the next morning” and did it. There’s no deliberation, there is no struggle with what it is that God is asking him to do, He just does it. v. 4
On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar.
On the third day -
It requires about two days to travel on foot from Beersheba to Jerusalem, a distance of about 45 miles (72 km) “as the crow flies.” Elsewhere, two days also represents the time set aside to prepare for a special encounter with God on the third day (see Ex. 19:11). Perhaps this sets the pattern for the significant “third day” (cf. Matt. 16:21; 1 Cor. 15:4).
Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (p. 87). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
Some references to this are in Exodus when God has the people consecrate themselves and wash their clothes in preparation for the Lord to come down, or in Matthew when Jesus begins to tell his disciples how he will go to Jerusalem to be killed and on the third day to rise again. The third day is taking on a significance here.
It’s also worth noting where he is going is in the region of Jerusalem. It does not specifically say that the place of the sacrifice took place at or near Jerusalem, v. 14 implies such a connection.
So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
But, we’re getting ahead of ourselves.
As we follow the story, in verses 5-8 Abraham instructs the two young men that he and Isaac will go on to make the sacrifice and return to them. It is unclear whether Abraham believes God will spare his son, or something else. As they go Isaac raise the obvious question of “where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” In v. 8 Abraham answers:
Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.
There is a profound faith in that statement, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering. Ironically, Abraham knew that God had indeed provided his son out of the most impossible of circumstances. Sarah and he were well beyond the age to have children and God had indeed provided them with Isaac.
Then we get to v. 9
When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
The question for me has always been how old his Isaac?
Assuming he is old enough to carry the wood - a significant amount for a burnt offering - he’s probably a pre-teen at least. Did Abraham have to wrestle this kid to the ground to bind him? How would he at his age lift him onto the altar for the sacrifice?
All of this in my mind points to Isaac being in some way cooperative in this event. Which for me demonstrates an incredible amount of faith not only in his father, but in his father’s God as well.
Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
I love the tension here. The angel doesn’t just call out once, but twice! How close was this!?!
v. 12
He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
God does indeed provide, as Abraham lifts up his eyes he sees a ram caught in the thicket, and he offers the ram instead of the his son, and Abraham called the place “The Lord will provide,” as we read in verse 14
So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
On the mount of the Lord is shall be provided. According to 2 Chron 3:1, Solomon built a temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem.
In viewing this entire scenario there are parallels that cannot be overlooked.
So, we’re talking in our Casket Empty series about the Redemptive plan of God throughout the Holy Bible. We see a clear foreshadowing here of Christ. Let’s compare
Only son
Sacrifice your son, your only son
Go to the mount that I will show you
“God will provide for himself…the offering”
This is not coincidence. This is clear.
God tested Abraham? Why?
Let’s remember the context of the culture around Abraham. The problem at the time was not that the people weren’t religious, it was that they worshiped whatever. They created their own gods all the time. And, it was not uncommon in many of those religions for them to sacrifice their first born son to their god.
You can imagine in living in such a climate you might wonder if you’d be willing to go to that extreme. I don’t think it is unreasonable to think that this thought had crossed Abraham’s mind.
After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
God tested Abraham, another way to put it would be to say, “God proved Abraham.”
A good teacher gives a test not to make a student look bad, but to help them understand exactly what they know. God proved to Abraham that yes, indeed he does have such a faith that he would be willing to sacrifice his one and only son.
And it is interesting to note that the conditional phrase”walk before me and be blameless” that I may make my covenant.
When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless,
Now the conditional phrase is removed:
I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
Abraham told Isaac,
Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.
Some have said it this way, “God provides what God requires of us.”
That seems to have been true for Abraham and Isaac, and it is true for us as well in that God provided Christ for us.
The story of God’s plan for redemption lies throughout the Old Testament and this short chapter in Genesis is such a great reminder to us of God’s provision for us of our faith, and of all that is required of us. It is God who is our provider in all things. Amen.