God's Big Picture: Genesis 22
Notes
Transcript
God has made it clear that our redemption cannot happen by our obedience alone, God is the only one who can redeem us.
God has made it clear that our redemption cannot happen by our obedience alone, God is the only one who can redeem us.
God Commands
Abraham Obeys
God Provides
God Redeems
When I was a kid I liked to suck on my right thumb. It’s the main reason I needed braces so bad as a kid… But when I would be at church and my mom or dad would be holding me there was this one lady who would come up and say that she was going to steal my thumb. I loved my thumb, it was my source of comfort, the only way I could fall asleep at night was by sucking on my right thumb. So, as a child I began to learn that when this lady would come up to me she would try to steal my thumb, so I decided to try and fool her. The next time she came up to me to try and steal my thumb I hid my right thumb behind my back and stuck out my left thumb so she could take that one! I wasn’t willing to give up my thumb for anything.
Let’s see what Abraham does when God tells him to give up his son though.
God Commands Gen. 22:1-2
God Commands Gen. 22:1-2
God tells Abraham to take Isaac and sacrifice him
God knows how much Isaac means to Abraham. this is why the language slows down to enforce Abraham’s love for his son, “Take you son, your only son Isaac, whom you love,”
God tells Abraham to take Isaac to the land of Moriah, which is where Jerusalem ended up being built, which is very important for later...
Abraham Obeys Gen. 22:3-10, Heb. 11:17-19
Abraham Obeys Gen. 22:3-10, Heb. 11:17-19
Abraham takes Isaac to Moriah to sacrifice him
Abraham doesn’t question God. If this were the Abraham we knew from Gen 12 or Gen 16 then we would expect him to worm his way around this, but he doesn’t his faith in God is unwavering. He knows that God has promised to make his descendants outnumber that stars and to bless the entire world through him, and that all of it would happen through Isaac.
Abraham obeys because he has faith in God
Hebrews 11:17-19 takes it as far as saying that Abraham was sure that God would even resurrect Isaac after being sacrificed
God Provides Gen. 22:11-14, Rom 8:32
God Provides Gen. 22:11-14, Rom 8:32
God tells Abraham to stop
The hero of this story however is not Abraham. The point of this lesson is not to then ask ourselves what are we willing to give up. I should not read this text and say that I should be faithful enough to give up my thumb.
The hero of this text is God and God alone
God tells Abraham to stop because it was never part of God’s plan to have Abraham truly sacrifice his son.
God gives Abraham a ram to sacrifice instead
God provides a ram for Abraham to sacrifice in place of his son.
Rams were used a substitutionary sacrifices for atonement in Lev. 16:3
It should strike us that Isaac was taken off of the altar of death in place of a ram who ended up being the symbol of substitution.
It should also strike us that all this took place on Mt. Moriah, where the temple ended up being built, the place where substitutionary sacrifices were made.
It should also strike us that this is also the area where Jesus was crucified providing the substitutionary sacrifice on our behalf.
God has provided the ultimate sacrifice in Jesus
Abraham calls this place, “The LORD will provide” and he has! Rom. 8:32 shows us that God has ultimately provided our redemption.
God Redeems Gen. 22:15-24, Gal. 3:13
God Redeems Gen. 22:15-24, Gal. 3:13
God is committed to bring redemption through Abraham’s family
Gen. 22:15-19 point to God keeping his promise that he is still going to bless the nations through Abraham and that his descendants will outnumber the stars.
God is moving forwards with his redemption plan through Isaac
Gen. 22:20-24 point to God orchestrating history so that Isaac will have a wife, so that their lineage may continue.
God is the only one who can redeem sinners
All this points to God being the only one who can bring about redemption. Why? Because he became a curse on our behalf, Gal. 3:13. This is the gospel. This is the central idea of Gen. 22. This is the only thing that can save, not your obedience, not your family’s faith, nothing other than faith alone in Christ alone can save you. As we sing the story of the gospel tonight I pray that you, by God’s grace, believe in the gospel tonight.