Beginning in Genesis chapter 22 at verse 1,
Nature and Purpose of the Test
it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, and he said, here I am. Then he said, take now 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, which I shall tell you. So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son. And he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
Then on the third day, Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said to his young men, Stay here with the donkey. The lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you. So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac, his son.
And he took the fire in his hand and a knife, and the two of them went together. But Isaac spoke to Abraham, his father, and said, My father. And he said, Here I am, my son. Then he said, Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
And Abraham said, My son, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering. So the two of them went together. Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order.
And he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. The angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. So he said, here I am.
And he said, do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.
And Abraham called the name of the place the Lord will provide, as it is said to this day, in the mount of the Lord it shall be provided. And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven and said, By myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, blessing I will bless you and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore. And your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seat, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed my voice.
So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham dwelt at Beersheba. Now it came to pass after these things that it was told Abraham, saying, Indeed, Milcah has born children to your brother Nahor. Haz, his firstborn, Buz, his brother, Kemuel, the father of Aram, Kesed, Hadzo, Pildash, Jidlaf, and Bethuel.
And Bethuel begot Rebekah. These eight, Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham's brother. His concubine, whose name was Rumah, also bore Tebah, Gahum, Thahash, and Meachah. Amen.
Well,
Introduction
as we come to this particular chapter, it does seem to be the pinnacle of the trial of Abraham's faith. And I want to look first at the
The Test Presented
presentation of the test in verses 1 and 2. We are told at the outset that it's a test of Abraham. Abraham, however, is not told that. He does not know that he is presently being tested at this particular time.
And I think there's a good effect on this for any subsequent reader. That we are alerted that it's a test would indicate that we're not to engage in child sacrifice. We don't duplicate what happens in this instance because it's a test given by God specifically for Abraham. So we'll look at the presentation of the test in verses 1 and 2.
Secondly, the obedience of Abraham in verses 3 to 10. And then finally, the approval of God in verses 11 and 19. Actually, finally is the
The Family of Nahor
family of Nahor in verses 20 to 24. There is a reason why this is appended here at the end of this particular story. But note first the test in verse 1. It came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, Now, it came to pass after these things.
It's probably a bit of time has transpired. In terms of Isaac's age at this particular juncture, many put him at about 25. Calvin calls him middle age. Whatever the case, according to verse 6, he's able to carry the wood on his own.
I would suspect he's probably late teens, perhaps early 20s, but he is nevertheless a young man, Abraham's son, the one that he loves. But the reference that came to pass after these things does connect us to what already transpired in chapter 21. Remember there in chapter 21, Abraham had the very difficult task of sending Ishmael away. He had to banish his son, Ishmael, at the order of Sarah, God confirming what Sarah said was, in fact, accurate.
And so he's already had to rid himself of this man Ishmael, and now he comes into this very difficult situation. So as we look here, it says, it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham. If you look for just a moment to the book of James, in James 1, we have something concerning God and testing. In James 1 at verse 13, it says, let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God.
For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone. Well, in the Greek language, the word tempt is the same word as test, and most often it's the context which stipulates which one is to be viewed. Now here in verse 13, James says that God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone. The emphasis there is that God doesn't solicit us to commit acts of evil.
God doesn't tempt us the way, say, a peer might tempt us to go in and steal a candy bar. God does not solicit us to do evil. But the tempting or the testing that is in view are those things that God does to demonstrate the faith of his people, and that is precisely what he's doing here in Genesis 22 with reference to Abraham. Remember that scene in Matthew chapter 4, the spirit leads Jesus out into the wilderness.
Now, that is a temptation, of course, from the devil, but it's the spirit who leads Jesus out there. This is testing. That is seen or employed by God for good ends. So the temptation here or the testing here isn't the solicitation to engage in evil, but it's rather to demonstrate the reality and the validity of Abraham's faith.
And with reference to that statement that it's a test, one man says, this information is imparted to the reader, not divulged to Abraham, in order to remove any possible misunderstanding that God requires human sacrifice as such. Therefore, the purely probative nature of the divine request is emphasized. Now the reader knows that the son will not be slaughtered. So it is for us so that we understand what's happening and we also know that God's not calling on subsequent generations to actually engage in child sacrifice.
And then as well, notice the
The Land of Moriah
location that God calls him to. In verse 2 it says, Then he said, Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. Now the land of Moriah is a very interesting place. This is the place where David would ultimately build an altar at the threshing floor of Ornah.
And it would be the future site of the temple that was built by Solomon. So already we see this heritage. We already see this sort of significance of the land of Moriah. And here foreshadowing, obviously, those particular events, we see where they got their start in terms of sacrifice and altars and burnt offerings.
But as we consider the object of the burnt offering here, it is most difficult and most severe. Imagine if you were Abraham and you had to banish your son Ishmael, whom you loved. Remember, Abraham was not thrilled about that particular instruction of Sarah. In chapter 21 at verse 11, the matter was very displeasing in Abraham's sight because of his son.
He loved Ishmael. He didn't want to send him out into the wilderness. Well, here now, God is asking him to take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love. Very descriptive and very similar to the way that the New Testament describes the relationship between our Lord Jesus Christ and His Father.
Jesus is the only son of the Father. He is the one whom the Father loves. And so here God tells Abraham to take this Isaac whom he's waited for so long to actually receive. Remember it was about a 25 year span between the first giving of the promise when Abraham comes out of Haran into the promised land until the time of the birth of Isaac.
So it is a very severe predicament that he finds himself in. He was promised, according to Genesis 17, and then we see his birth in Genesis 21. And then notice what he is supposed to do with them and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. Now, I suspect that we read these sorts of things so many times that we never stop to sort of ponder what's involved in a burnt offering.
If you wonder about a burnt offering, you can turn to the book of Leviticus in chapter 1, verses 1 to 17, where it describes in detail what a burnt offering looks like. Or I'll just read John Gill as he comments on what Abraham is called to do with reference to his son, his only son Isaac, the son whom he loved. He says this was dreadful work He was called to. and must be exceeding trying to him as a man and much more as a parent and a professor of the true religion to commit such an action. For by this order he was to cut the throat of his son, then to rip him up and cut up his quarters, and then to lay every piece in order upon the wood, and then burn all to ashes.
And this he was to do as a religious action with deliberation, seriousness, and devotion. I think it's important that we get that. When we read there, take your son, your only son, the son whom you love, up to the land of Moriah, offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you, that is precisely how Abraham would have understood it. He wouldn't have thought, well, this is just a game, or this is just a bit of tag, or we're going to have a nice family outing.
No, this is an extremely severe test placed upon the patriarch at this particular time. Now notice the
The Obedience of Abraham
obedience of Abraham in verses 3 to 10. Notice preparation in verse 3a. So Abraham rose early in the morning. We saw that. in chapter 21 at verse 14, when it came to the banishment of Ishmael.
So Abraham rose early in the morning. When God gives commands to Abraham, Abraham rises early in the morning to fulfill those commands. If I was going to moralize the chapter, that's certainly a good moral principle. When God commands us, we need to obey him immediately.
But in terms of his distress, go back again to the situation facing Abraham and Ishmael. Notice in verse 14 of chapter 21, Abraham rose early in the morning, took bread and a skin of water, and putting it on her shoulder, he gave it and the boy to Hagar and sent her away. The last thing he parts with is Ishmael. There's this willingness and this longing to hold on to Ishmael for as long as he can.
And I think you see something of the distress of Abraham here in verse 3a. Now,
Literary Art and Abraham's Distress
throughout this particular chapter, it is the height of biblical literary art. It is genius in terms of the composition. Many see this as the pinnacle of biblical storytelling, and this is certainly a very appropriate observation. To see these signs of distress in the heart of Abraham, as you would naturally expect, These biblical men were still men, and the thought of having to part with an Ishmael or an Isaac is certainly a difficulty.
Notice in verse 3a, So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son. And he split the wood for the burnt offering, and rose and went to the place of which God had told him. We typically get everything ready, and then we start the car. He started the car and then got everything ready.
He saddled the donkey and then he goes about and does these other things. Again, it may indicate this distress, this foreboding, this reality that I have to march up to Moriah and bury a knife in my son's throat and ultimately offer him up unto God Most High. So when we look at a chapter like this, we should try to enter in to the various or to the extreme degree of what these persons are facing in this particular instance. Now notice the journey in 3b to 5.
Verse 3b, he rose and went to the place of which God had told him. Again, he's obedient. Then on the third day, Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. The third day.
Think about that. Three days you get to think about what you get to do on Mount Moriah. John Calvin comments here, for God does not require him to put his son immediately to death, but compels him to revolve this execution in his mind during three whole days. But in preparing himself to sacrifice his son, he may still more severely torture all his own senses.
Could you imagine that? A three-day march in the wilderness, realizing that when I get to my location, I am going to offer up my son as a burnt offering. That's what Calvin means. It tortures his senses as he contemplates the gravity and the severity of the activity that he has been called upon by God to engage in.
And then notice the instruction that he gives to the servants in verse 5. Notice what Abraham does there. He calls him the lad. Again, I think that might be a distancing of himself from the particular scenario, the distress of it and the hardship of it.
It's easier to see him in a clinical sense, the lad. He's not my son. Not that that doesn't obtain in the following passage in terms of Isaac's relationship to Abraham and Abraham to his side. But here he says, the lad and I will go yonder and worship.
And then notice that his faith is underscored when he says, and we will come back to you. There's some discussion as to why Abraham says, we will come back to you. Some speculate that it was a bit of a white lie. He knew good and well that he was going to kill his son, but he didn't want to tell the servants that.
Not sort of a way to encourage servants in your household. You know, if you're willing to kill your only son, you know, the son whom you love, you may not treat those servants very well. So some speculate he may have just lied a little bit. He may have believed that the Lord would stay his hand, that he wouldn't actually have to go through with it.
But I actually believe that Hebrews 11, 19 or 17 and 19 gives us more of an emphasis on Abraham's faith and tells us why Abraham is able to say, we will come back to you. In Hebrews 11, 17 we read, By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, In Isaac your seed shall be called, concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense. He understood the power of God. This is an expression of his faith.
He says to them, we will come back to you. Not a white lie, not the thought that God's going to stay in his hand, but the confidence that the God who promised that in Isaac all the nations of the earth would be blessed, that God, if Abraham goes through with the execution, that God can raise him from the dead so that he will be the son of promise. that was ordained by Yahweh Himself. It is an expression of faith with reference to the patriarch. Now,
The Sacrifice and Isaac as Type
note the sacrifice. I would imagine this is where it got most difficult for Abraham. While the three servants are there, there's a buffer, right? Now it's just Abraham and Isaac.
It's just those two marching that last however long to get to the place of execution. So verse 6 says, Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac, his son. If you're starting to thank Jesus just now, you should have been a little while ago, but that's good to be thanking Jesus. Isaac is a type of Jesus.
Isaac is carrying his own wood, just like Jesus does in John's Gospel. Certainly, Simon the Cyrenian helped bear the cross. John's emphasis is that Jesus bore his cross. In fact, Wenham makes the observation here.
The wood on Isaac's back looks forward to the moment when Isaac will be lying on his back on the wood, with his father, knife in hand, ready to slay him. Thus the wording here anticipates the moment of sacrifice itself. So he took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac, his son, And he took the fire in his hand and a knife, and the two of them went together." Again, I can only imagine what that would have been like to go together with the son, knowing what is in the future with reference to that son. Now,
Isaac's Question and Willing Submission
note Isaac's question of verse 7. Isaac spoke to Abraham, his father, and said, My father! How do you think that felt? My father!
No father in their normal day-in day-out marches up to Moriah to execute the Son. John Calvin again says God produces here a new instrument of torture. Now, I want you to realize Calvin's not saying that God is some sadistic meanie up there doing vicious things to Abraham so that God can have, you know, kicks and giggles. That's not what he means.
He's talking about the severity of distress and the hardship involved. Again, we know it's a test, and as readers, hopefully, that have gone through this, we know how it all turns out. But in terms of the actual Isaac saying to Abraham, my father, Calvin says God produces here a new instrument of torture by which he may more and more torment the breast of Abraham, already pierced through with so many wounds. He says, yet the holy man sustains even this attack with invincible courage.
So we ought to pull away from this. Faith keeps him going. You know, I've noticed this with reference to church life, with reference to ministry, with reference to just being a Christian. Perseverance over the long haul is the key, isn't it?
Perseverance over the long haul is absolutely requisite. You see that not everybody does that. Sometimes preachers send their way out of the ministry. Sometimes believers show themselves as never having believed the gospel.
Sometimes churches want to mix it up a bit and bring in donkeys and ponies and whatever to try to produce some more spunk and spirit in the life and the ministry of the church. faithful perseverance to the very end, notwithstanding the assaults of the devil. And certainly when your son says, my father, that would be a difficult task to try and get around. But as Calvin says, the holy man sustains even this attack with invincible courage and is so far from being disturbed in his proposed course that he shows himself to be entirely devoted to God, hearkening to nothing which should either shake his confidence or hinder his obedience. See, that's the resoluteness that you and I need in our Christian lives.
If we miss that or we don't have that, we should go to Genesis 21 and 22 and saturate our brains with the reality that Abraham was asked to do things that you and I have never been nor will ever be asked to do. Things that are absolutely severe and grave and absolutely epic in nature. And yet Abraham set his face like a flint and persevered to Mount Moriah. Certainly we can get up tomorrow and read our Bibles.
Certainly we can show up at church on Sunday. I mean, when you think about what these brethren went through for the cause of God and truth, And then you look around at the church today, and the sorts of things we whine about, it's almost like we're not even in the same ballpark. We're not even on the same team. We're not even playing the same sport.
We haven't even begun when you consider an Abraham, and then you consider some of the reasons why people don't read their Bibles, people don't pray, and people don't attend church. I mean, come on. We need to get real in terms of perseverance and faithfulness to the very end. Now note Isaac's question.
Again, Isaac's not five. Isaac knows what's going on. Isaac is carrying wood. He's either late teens, early 20s, mid 20s.
Again, pool, following probably Josephus and Archbishop Usher. They put him at 25 at this particular time. So he's a bright bulb. He knows what's happening.
We've got the word. We've got the fire. We've got the knife. All language sacrificial in nature.
Isaac sees these things. He's been taught, obviously, about sacrifice. And so he asks this very appropriate question. So he says, my father, and he said, here I am, my son.
He doesn't call him lad, he calls him son. Then he said, look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? Now it's beautiful because in the midst of this severe distress, Abraham never forgets theology. Abraham doesn't lose an opportunity to preach Christ to Isaac.
And that's precisely what he does in verse 8. Notice in verse 8, Abraham said, My son, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering. So the two of them went together. Continues to show us that the two of them are going together.
Isaac asks this question. Abraham answers the question. And he says, God will provide, notice, for himself, the lamb for a burnt offering. Now, again, Wenham makes this observation.
And I think we need to get it. We need to understand what's in view here. Is Isaac conscious of what's happening? Does Isaac at this point realize he's the lamb?
Does Isaac at this point realize there's no, you know, beast on all fours because Isaac is going to be the one that is laying on that wood? Wenham says to Isaac it must have sounded like evasion. Go back to verse 8. My son, God will provide for himself the lamb for burnt offering.
That's true, right? And we know it in the larger biblical context, that's Jesus Christ. But for Isaac, it's kind of an evasive answer. Where is it?
I mean, is he going to pop out, you know, is he going to just appear on the top of Mount Moriah? So it could have sounded ambiguous or evasive to Isaac. So he says, to Isaac, it must have sounded like an evasion. But he said nothing and went on up the mountain.
Isaac did. See, I think that Abraham does tip his head. I think that Isaac does know and that Isaac is expressing faith in his father the way that his father expresses faith in God. He says, the two of them went together.
We are forced to conclude that he was naive and totally trusted his father or that he now realized what was planned. Yet he continued on up the mountain with his father. Either way, this is imperative, he was a perfect, blameless, sacrificial victim. He was appropriate for the burnt offering.
He fit the bill of goods, if you will. Now, the fact that when Abraham goes to bind Isaac, Isaac doesn't fight back would indicate that Isaac was compliant, that Isaac did know what was happening, and that Isaac willingly submits himself to the rule and leadership of his father. Because if he's 20, he's 18, he's 25, wherever he is in that range, He's able to take a hundred-year-old, okay? He's able to stand and rebuff an old man who's trying to tie him down and put him on an altar so that he can cut his throat.
He is a willing victim at this particular point, conscious of the fact that his father is not going to steer him wrong. that his father is obeying God and there is no steering wrong when one obeys God. Notice the actual act in verses 9 and 10. They arrive at the place and he builds the altar. Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order, and he bound Isaac, his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood." Again, I think this indicates that Isaac knows at this point what's happening.
He is a willing victim. Again, typologically, it points us to the Lord Jesus Christ. And then, Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. This wasn't game time, this wasn't practice, this wasn't acting, this wasn't role-playing.
Abraham was going to kill his son because God commanded him to kill his son. That is hardcore faith, brethren. Again, it is not a command in terms of other people subsequent to Abraham are supposed to kill their children. That is not the case.
We know it's a test that's specified from verse 1 so that we'll never get it into our heads that this is actually a requirement from God. You know, people justify some of the most heinous things in the world by saying, well, God told me. I guarantee you God will never tell you to kill your child. God will never tell you to abort them.
God will never tell you to terminate their lives at 12 or 13 or 15. That's just not going to happen. This was a test designed for Abraham. But Abraham passes.
Abraham perseveres. Abraham goes to the very end by raising his hand with the knife and he's going to bury it in the sun of his love. Now notice the
The Approval of God
approval of God in verses 11 to 19. There is a command that's very urgent in verse 11. The angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. Again, that's urgent because he was about to kill his son.
Remember, God never wanted, if I can use that language, for Abraham to kill his son. That was not the purpose of this particular test. So the angel urgently tells him, Abraham, Abraham, and Abraham says, here I am. And then notice the specific command, do not lay your hand on the lab or do anything to him.
In other words, untie him, get him up off that wood, and do not carry out this execution or this burnt offering. God then gives the reason for this. Do not lay your hand on the ladder, do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. Notice how every time it refers to Isaac, it does so in that language that's picked up by New Testament authors to describe the relationship that obtains between our Lord Jesus Christ and the Father.
Now this is interesting when he says, Now I know. That doesn't mean God has received information that he didn't previously have. There is none of that with God. The doctrine of God's omniscience means he knows all things all the time.
He doesn't engage in discursive understanding. He doesn't learn. He doesn't gain wisdom and knowledge. This is spoken in the manner of men.
This is what's called an improper predication. It's speaking to us in language that we can get our minds wrapped around to show us the progress in the narrative. John Calvin explains it this way. Truly, by condescending to the manner of men, God here says what he has proved by experiment is now made known to himself.
And he speaks thus with us, I would say generally, not according to his own infinite wisdom, but according to our infirmity. The reason why he says, now I know. It's not that God didn't know prior, God didn't ordain how all of this was going to turn out. He is expressing to Abraham that Abraham has successfully and faithfully passed the test that was given unto him.
Now
The Provision and Substitution
this is beautiful in terms of the provision in verses 13 and 14. Remember Abraham had said to Isaac, the Lord will provide. He does. Now, ultimately he's pointing to Jesus, but typologically and even types and shadow wise, we see this in verse 13.
Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering. Look at the language here. Instead of his son.
We're always talking about substitutionary atonement in our church. This is substitutionary atonement. He offers up this ram instead of his son. The ram takes the place of the son, just the way the Lord Jesus takes the place of all those whom the Father had given him.
And Abraham is marveling about this, and he names the place Yahweh Yireh. The Lord will provide. as it is said to this day, in the mount of the Lord it shall be provided." So Abraham successfully perseveres, he expresses that faith, and the Lord God stops him from executing his son and giving him up as a burnt offering. The Lord then provides this ram whose horns were caught in the thicket, and he offers this up instead of his son. Now notice what God does.
The Covenant Promise Confirmed
He confirms the promise that he had already made. It says in verse 15, then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven and said, by myself I have sworn. What does Paul tell us in Hebrews 6? God swears by himself because there ain't anything greater.
We swear by God or by Bible or by whatever. We shouldn't swear by anything else. But God swears by his own name. And that's what he says here, by myself I have sworn. says the Lord, because you have done this thing and not and have not withheld your son, your only son, blessing, I will bless you and multiplying.
I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand, which is on the seashore and your descendants shall shall possess the gate of their literally. It's of his enemies in your seat. All the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed my voice. So God confirms the promises, the multiplication of Abraham's descendants.
As well, he steps it up and shows it in a bit of a concrete application. There will be triumph and victory over the enemies of God. Notice in verse 17, and your descendants shall possess the gate of his enemies. Remember when Samson takes those gates from Gaza, and he puts them on his shoulders, and he takes them away?
That's fulfillment of this. The elect of God, the chosen champion of God, going in and possessing the gate of his enemies. Well, it starts here in this promise to Abraham. And then the blessing of all the nations of the earth in and through Abraham's seed.
Verse 18, in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed my voice. Now we'll get to that in just a moment, because papists like to suggest that God sort of changed up. Initially, Abraham's faith was accounted unto him as righteousness. Now it's his obedience, which fits a Roman Catholic scheme, right?
We start by faith, we stay in by obedience. Is that what Moses is suggesting with reference to God's promise or confirmation of the promise here when he says, because you've obeyed, I'm going to do these things. Because you've obeyed, I'm going to issue forth these blessings. That's a question that needs to be dealt with, and our dear brother James helps us to understand that.
But let's finish the chapter. Notice this family of Nahor in verses 20 to 24. We might be inclined to think, why did they put that here? Why did Moses stick that in here?
Well, think about the logic of the text. Abraham, I'm going to multiply your descendants. And it's going to be through who? Isaac, right?
The one that you were about to offer up as a burnt offering. Abraham, stay your hand. Do not execute him. Because you've obeyed, I'm going to multiply your descendants.
Well, if Isaac is going to be instrumental in this multiplication of descendants, Isaac's going to need him a wife. He finds that wife in chapter 24, but that wife is introduced here in the family of Nahor in verse 23. And Bethuel begot Rebekah. This is an absolutely crucial genealogy in the flow of the narrative so that when we get to chapter 24 and Isaac needs a bride, Rebekah is there for her so that he can, in fact, be that seed in whom the blessing of God will come through the Lord's hand.
So that's sort of an overflow or an overview of the chapter. A
Application: Faith and Perseverance
couple of thoughts before we close. First, the faith of Abraham. Now, the faithful perseverance of Abraham is evident. Again, you know, if you ever just feel like you're really challenged in your Christian life, man, it'd be good to read Genesis 22.
We need to be humble, don't we? We need to be knocked down a rung or two. We oftentimes think that, you know, we're the only ones that have these issues. We're the only ones that face these troubles.
We're the only ones that... Well, we see just the opposite. What happened with Lot? His soul was vexed day by day when he saw the lawless deeds of those men in Sodom.
Every single day he struggled with that. You look at the book of Hebrews and you see that great hall of faith in chapter 11. If you look at each of those individuals specified, they didn't live in utopia. They didn't live on the moon where there was only good and happy things.
They didn't live out in meadows where there were unicorns and candy canes. That just wasn't the way it was. They had really hard lives. We think, oh, I've got this problem in my family.
Hey, let me introduce you to Abel. He had a real problem in his family. We live in such a godless world. Let's talk about Noah.
God actually destroyed the entirety of the earth at the time of Noah. You see, every issue that we face, somebody's already faced it, and probably a lot more severe than you or I have. So when we come to the end of our rope or the end of our tether and we think, well, I just don't think I can go on anymore, go to Genesis chapter 22 and leave the lads behind and just saddle up with your son, your only son, the one you really love, and take him up to Mount Moriah to execute him for Jehovah. That's really some persevering faith, I would suggest.
As well, when it comes to the life of faith, we ought to expect not, you know, be shocked by, not, wow, I can't believe it, but we ought to expect trials, afflictions, and suffering in the life of faith. Now, I don't think it's all that, and I've said that on many occasions. God's good. I mean, right now, it's a beautiful night.
You know, we might be thinking, oh, it's too hot. We're never happy. I mean, if it's raining, we're gonna complain about that. If it's too hot, we're gonna complain about that.
There's always something, but we have it pretty good for the most part. But there's always going to be trials, afflictions, and hardships in the Christian life. Why would we think otherwise? Why would we delude ourselves into a Benny Hinn-ish gospel, thinking that it's going to be fairies and unicorns and candy canes?
That's not reality from the lips of the Savior. He said, in this world, you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I've overcome the world. It's not reality when we come to our brothers and sisters in the faith, and we see what they had to endure and go through.
And then in terms of this whole idea of obedience, what does obedience manifest according to James? Obedience manifests the presence of genuine faith in James 2.20. He says, Do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?
Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled, which says, Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. So he believes God in Genesis 15. When he takes Isaac up to Mount Moriah, this is evidence.
These works are consequential. These are the effects and the fruits of the faith that he has in God. So it's not the case that God says, OK, your faith was good enough up until now. Now you're an obedient servant.
Now I'm going to convey these things. No, the obedience of Abraham in going to Moriah with Isaac manifests the validity and the trueness of his saving faith. This is not a Roman Catholic thing. This is a biblical thing reflected well in our confession of faith.
The faith that justifies is alone, but it doesn't remain alone, but it's accompanied by all other saving graces. Vis-a-vis, justification inevitably leads to sanctification. Justification inevitably leads to the producing of good works. And that's what you see in Genesis chapter 22, and that's consistent with James's exposition.
Do you see? That's the whole point in James 2, 14 and following. It's about seeing, it's about recognizing, it's about tangibility with reference to a profession of faith. Paul deals with persons that need a great big dose of justification by faith alone.
Not that he's devoid of works, because in 2 8 to 10, with reference to Ephesians, he speaks of good works in the same way that James does. But James' primary emphasis is with deadbeats. They profess faith in Jesus Christ, but they give no manifesting evidence. They give no demonstration or declaration.
And that's the point. In 2.14, what does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? Literally, it's, can that faith, can that kind of faith save him?
No, because anybody that has faith, it will issue forth in good works. So Abraham is a case study in that whole subject for James. Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? Again, you've got to read James properly.
He is not a papist. He is a Protestant. And the scripture was fulfilled, which says, Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works and not by faith only.
So back to Genesis chapter 22. We
Typological Significance of Genesis 22
ought to conclude by looking at the typological significance of this passage. the typological significance. What types do we see in this particular section? We could probably be here for a while, but we'll just try to confine ourselves. First, the event itself.
You know what the event points to, initially, is the exodus. A three days journey into the wilderness so that Israel can worship their God. That's really pretty obvious in terms of a connection. But with reference to the act of sacrifice, it typifies the Passover, and it ultimately typifies for us what happens at Calvary.
So the event itself is riddled with symbolic significance for later redemptive history. Now in terms of the patriarch himself, Abraham, Abraham and God the Father parted with their sons, their only sons, the sons whom they love. They both do that. Abraham and God the Father parted with their only sons to do what?
To benefit the earth, right? Abraham is motivated by the promise of God that in your seat all the nations of the earth will be blessed. So as far as Abraham is concerned, whatever God tells me, I need to obey it for the benefit of the blessing of the people on earth. Of course, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.
So there is typological significance between Abraham and the father, but there is a fundamental disconnect. See, when Abraham's about to drop the knife into his son, the angel of the Lord stops him. No angel of the Lord stopped Yahweh when it came to bruising the son of Islam. In Isaiah 53, we read, it pleased Him to crush the son.
It pleased Yahweh to crush that servant of the Lord. Romans 8.32, Paul says, "...he who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" Now angels stopped the hand of God when it came time to execute the Savior. And then the only begotten son, Isaac. Isaac, like Christ, was the only son.
Now again, people are going to say, well what about Ishmael? Yes, he was a son. but the son of the bondwoman. We're talking about the son of the woman of promise. We're talking about the covenant of grace.
We're talking about Sarah and her seed. That's why God says, your only son. He's not dissing Ishmael. He's not saying Ishmael is a terrible human.
None of that. The emphasis falls on the reality that Isaac is the one in whom the blessing of God will come. And then as well, Isaac, like Christ, bore the wood for the sacrifice. And then Isaac, sort of unlike Christ, was the recipient of substitutionary atonement, wherein Christ was actually the victim with reference to substitutionary atonement.
So Abraham offers up this ram whose horns were caught in the thicket instead of his son. So Isaac benefits from substitutionary atonement. Christ, however, actually becomes the substitutionary atonement wherein the rest of us can in fact benefit. And then, incidentally, the ram is typical of our Lord Jesus Christ.
That ram, whose horns are caught in the thicket, points us forward to the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. That ram was placed on that altar instead of Isaac. The Lord Christ, the great Lamb of God, was placed on that cross instead of you and I. So if you read Genesis 22 and you don't see Christ, please don't let that happen again.
Christ is through and through, Genesis 22. It is a fantastic chapter preaching Jesus in the Old Testament. Well, let's close in a word of prayer.
Closing Prayer
Father, we thank you for this passage, this section of Holy Scripture. We thank you for the types and the shadows and the things that point us forward in redemptive history. And we thank you for the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. We thank you that you provide and that this one provides that substitutionary atonement, that he went to that cross instead of the elect. how we praise you for these great truths, how we praise you for the great faith expressed by Father Abraham in this passage, and certainly we know that it was because you sustained him, because you granted him grace, because you upheld him by your mercy and by your kindness.
God help us when we reflect upon such things to be encouraged and strengthened in our God, and help us to persevere for the long haul, even in the difficulties, the trials, and the afflictions that come our way. We ask that you would go with us now. We pray that you'd bless us in this week and help us to be faithful servants unto you. And we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.