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We can turn with me in your Bibles 
to the book of Genesis, Genesis chapter 22, for our meditation 
tonight before the Lord's Supper, Genesis chapter 22. In the history 
of interpretation, this has been referred to as the binding of 
Isaac. I'll read verses 1 to 19, we'll 
pray, and then we'll look at this particular instance in Holy 
Scripture. So Genesis 22 beginning in verse 
1. Now it came to pass after these things that God tested 
Abraham and he 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 of 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 mountain of the Lord it shall 
be provided. Then 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 seed, 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." Amen. Well, let us pray. Our gracious 
God and Father, we thank you for what we find in this passage 
of scripture. Abraham told to take his son, 
his only son, and offer him up as a sacrifice. Certainly we 
see the connection between God the Father and God the Son, the 
only begotten Son of the Father, the one beloved by the Father, 
was ultimately delivered up for us men and for our salvation. 
We thank you, we pray that you would guide us now in our thoughts 
concerning this passage of scripture, and may it draw from us worship 
and praise and adoration to such a great and glorious God that 
has provided the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the 
world. Again, forgive us for all of our sin and unrighteousness 
and guide us by the presence and power of your Holy Spirit. 
And we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, obviously a sober 
passage of scripture, a very serious situation going on with 
reference to Abraham. So I want to look first at the 
presentation of the test. The author tells us this is a 
test for two reasons. One, to indicate that God does 
not demand child sacrifice, but as well, two, to show us something 
of the faithfulness and fidelity of 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 by God in verses 11 to 19. So let's look first at 
verse 1. Notice it says, now it came to 
pass after these things. We ought not to miss the connection 
here between this chapter and chapter 21. Abraham has already 
undergone grief in terms of his family. Remember that he cried 
out for a seed, one that would be the inheritor of his family. 
his promises and he wanted it to be Ishmael and God said no 
it's not going to be Ishmael rather it's going to be Isaac 
but nevertheless he loved Ishmael he had that son by the bondwoman 
Hagar well in chapter 21 he is sent away he is banished he is 
gone he is removed from the presence of Abraham and again a very difficult 
situation for a man when you look at chapters 21 and chapter 
chapters 21 and 22 I don't want to get too psychological with 
it, but Abraham was a real man with real flesh and real blood 
and real affections and a real love for the seed that came from 
him. So he loved these sons. Already 
in chapter 21 he has to part with Ishmael and here in chapter 
22 he is told that he is going to part with Isaac. So that's 
the connection. Notice as well, it says in verse 
1, now it came to pass after these things that God tested 
Abraham. James tells us that God doesn't 
test people. Well, the Bible uses that word 
test or temptation in two particular ways. One is a solicitation to 
do evil, and that's what James is referring to. In the other 
instance, it's a test somewhat like we see in a passage like 
this. Now, you would say it's evil to kill your son, but again, 
we are being forewarned that that is not the intention in 
this particular chapter. The author alerts the reader 
to the fact that this is, in fact, a test. But Abraham doesn't 
know this. As far as Abraham is concerned, 
he is trusting God, he is walking by faith, and he is doing what 
he is called to do. One commentator, a Jewish commentator, 
actually 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. Again, we're 
told in verse 1, we're alerted that this is in fact a test, 
but Abraham does not know this information. Notice as well the 
location. It says in verse two, then he 
said, take now your son, your only son. When God speaks concerning 
Isaac to Abraham, that's how he refers to him. Your son, your 
only son, the one whom you love. Again, reminiscent in light of 
the new covenant of the only begotten son of the father, the 
beloved by God, even Jesus Christ our Lord. So notice, go to the 
land of Moriah. Now, Moriah would be the place 
where David would build an altar, the threshing floor of Arana, 
in order to atone so that God's wrath would not be spent on Israel. That's 2 Samuel 2, 15 to 25. I actually don't think it's 2, 
I think it's probably 24. I just have a misprint in my notes. 
But as well, it's the future site of the temple in Jerusalem. So Moriah is a very significant 
place in terms of biblical geography. Moriah is the place of sacrifice. Moriah is the place where God's 
wrath is atoned for. And that's the place where he 
is told to take this young man, Isaiah. So notice then, with 
reference to the test, the specific object involved, the willingness 
of Abraham. Go back for just a moment at 
the end of verse one. So God tested Abraham and said 
to him, Abraham, and he said, here I am. Then he said, take 
now your son, your only son, 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. So the willingness 
of Abraham is seen there, here I am, but the severity of the 
demand, Take now your son and offer him there as a burnt offering 
on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you." For those 
of us who've been going through the Wednesday night Bible study, 
we're on a bit of a hiatus right now, but we'll notice that, or 
we remember that in Leviticus chapter 1, we find what the burnt 
offering is. That is a whole offering. That 
is when the offered, the victim, is wholly and absolutely consumed. And so Abraham, knowing this, 
understood the ramifications and the implications of this 
particular request by God Most High. Notice what he does not 
do. He doesn't resist God, he doesn't 
reject God, he doesn't say no to God, but he makes preparations 
to obey God and to walk in faithfulness before Him. So the burnt offering 
is a very serious situation. In fact, listen to John Gill. 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. I want to make these observations 
along the way, again, not to psychoanalyze Abraham, not to 
put him on our couch and to see what makes him tick, but rather 
as an exemplar of faith. Faith is faith even in the midst 
of hardship. Faith is faith even in the midst 
of adversity. Faith is faith even in the midst 
of affliction. We can't say, well, I'm going 
through this, I'm going through that, I'm going through this, 
so I'm just not going to go to church. I'm just not going to 
read my Bible. I'm just not going to pray. I'm not going to go 
to the Lord's Supper, because after all, I'm suffering. I'm 
afflicted. I'm having hardship. Brethren, 
we need to remember that many people before us and many people 
at our present time go through distress and difficulty and affliction 
the likes that we don't even know. And yet they maintain fidelity. Look at the history of the Christian 
Church. Look at the subject of martyrdom. Look at what the people 
of God have undertook on behalf of their commitment to the Lord 
Most High. They didn't whine, they didn't grumble, they didn't 
complain. Rather, they steadfastly set their face like a flint to 
follow after Jesus wherever he bid them go. And I think this 
is a very helpful lesson for us as we observe Abraham. In 
the midst of the furnace of affliction, he nevertheless walks in faith 
before his God. So again, back to Gil. 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. But 
it's in a different light when you contemplate it from that 
particular vantage point. This isn't an empty sort of formalistic 
religious exercise. This is a whole soul commitment 
to the true and living God. It makes us attending worship, 
attending church, look like a walk in the park. And yet so many 
times we can't be bothered. We've got other things to do. 
We've got other commitments. We've got other issues. We've 
got other problems. Learn from the father of the 
faithful to obey God no matter the circumstances, to obey God 
no matter the difficulties, to obey God no matter what may come 
our particular way. Abraham is a faithful man. Abraham walks by faith and not 
by sight and that's evidence here in the binding of Isaac. 
So notice secondly the obedience of Abraham in verses 3 to 10. 
We'll note first the preparation. This must have been a difficult 
task for this patriarch in terms of preparing for this activity. 
You know how that is. You've got a difficult thing 
you've got to do. You get the butterflies in your 
stomach. You get that response physically 
to the very difficult thing that you are facing. You're filled 
with anxiety and hardship and woe, and you possibly worry about 
everything that's going to come your way. I don't know the psychology 
of Abraham, but if he's like any other man, any other father, 
any other parent, he certainly has that distress all around 
him at this crunch time. So notice with reference to his 
preparation, verse 3, so Abraham rose early in the morning and 
saddled his donkey. Same pattern that we saw in 21, 
14. Notice when he banishes Ishmael. So Abraham rose early in the 
morning and took a bread and 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. Then she departed and wandered 
in the wilderness of Beersheba. He does the same thing here in 
verse 3 of chapter 22. So Abraham rose early in the 
morning, 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. It's intriguing. He does the 
most difficult task last. Usually we get everything prepared 
and then load the car and then off we go. He loaded the car 
and then did the last and most difficult task. Notice he rose 
early in the morning, saddled his donkey, took two of his young 
men with him and Isaac his son, and then he split the wood for 
the burnt offering. That's the most difficult part 
of this transaction. That wood for the burnt offering 
is going to be that wood that consumes his son, his only son, 
the son whom he loves. So he puts that off as it were, 
and I think that indicates something about times of distress. We oftentimes don't think in 
our right minds. I'm not suggesting he's out of 
his mind, but if you think about the book of Lamentations, I just 
want to kind of illustrate this. I think this is something about 
the human condition. The Book of Lamentations is a genius literary 
piece. The five chapters are all alliteration. So basically, each verse starts 
with a Hebrew letter. And it goes from A to the end 
of the Hebrew alphabet. So there's four chapters that 
are 22 verses for the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The fifth 
chapter, I may be a chapter off. I didn't look at this beforehand. 
But the fifth chapter is 66 verses. So you've got A, A, A, B, B, 
B, B, B, C, C, C, that sort of a thing. Actually, G, G, G, if 
we're going to the Hebrew alphabet. And then the last chapter, there's 
none of that. Not at all. Why? Because distress does that 
to us. We like to have everything in 
order. We like to have everything in its place. But when the crunch 
time comes, we kind of lose our minds a little bit. Again, I'm 
not suggesting this with reference to Abraham, but the pattern is 
interesting. He gets everything ready except for that wood. He 
waits till the very end because I think that wood represents 
the gravity of the situation. Now notice the particular journey 
that they take. The end of verse three. It says, 
Anna rose 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 
up. This wasn't an hour-long journey. They didn't jump in 
the jetta, turn on the air conditioning, drive up to, you know, the backside 
of Shem, and then, you know, hike their way up there for an 
hour later. This was a three-day journey. 
This is three days to contemplate the burnt offering, to contemplate 
your only son, the son whom you love, and the fact that you need 
to present him now as a burnt offering unto God. Listen to 
Calvin. 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, that in preparing 
himself to sacrifice his son, he may still more severely torture 
all his own senses. In other words, this three-day 
journey is no walk in the park. This isn't just a vacation. This 
isn't a holiday. This wasn't recreation time. This was hardship in the mind 
of this patriarch who, nevertheless, walks by faith. Again, brethren, 
the thought that, wow, this is a difficult task. I just don't 
think I can do it. Well, God gives grace and enables 
us to do it. We need to be faithful. We need 
to be obedient. We need to be compliant. And 
we need to understand that, ultimately, all things are under His sovereign 
control. And we will see that Abraham acknowledges that. Abraham 
understands that. Abraham knows that. He walks 
and he talks and he moves as a man who has tried and proven 
that his God is in fact faithful. Notice the instruction given 
to his servants. Verse 4, 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 the isolation of Abraham, he can't take the servants on 
this one. This is between him and Isaac and God. He must go 
it alone. As well, notice the psychological 
distancing. I've said I'm not going to psychoanalyze 
him, and I'm psychoanalyzing him. But notice how he refers 
here in verse 5 to the lad. Not my son, the son that I love, 
my only son, but it's the lad here. It's a bit of that distancing 
in terms of the situation at hand. But then notice his expression 
of faith at the end of verse 5. He says, and we will come 
back to you. He doesn't say, I will come back 
to you. He says, we will come back to you. What does he mean 
there? He means exactly what he says. Whatever's going to 
happen on Mount Moriah, understanding the specific demand placed upon 
him by Yahweh in terms of a whole burnt offering, he understands 
and recognizes by faith that he and the lad will return. Well, 
the Apostle, and I take it as Paul, in the book of Hebrews, 
comments in the Hall of Faith, in chapter 11, verses 17 and 
19, he says, By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up 
Isaac. And he who had received the promises offered up his only 
begotten son. See, Paul uses that language 
there of only begotten son to link Isaac and Jesus, to see 
the typology, to see the prefigurement, to see the foreshadowing. That's 
going to be the bulk of the application tonight, is the typology involved 
in chapter 22 of the book of Genesis. So he 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. 
Now notice what he goes on to say, concluding that God was 
able to raise him up even from the dead, from which he also 
received him in a figurative sense. So as Abraham journeys 
to Moriah with his son, his only son, his son that he loves, and 
he understands the demands of the command and the demand of 
God in terms of a whole burnt offering, he understands that 
if he does drive that knife into his son's heart, God's able to 
raise him up. You talk about faith, and you 
talk about walking by faith. He understood that. If at Moriah, 
I carry out this task, and there's probably no if at all involved 
in it, because Abraham does precisely what God commands. He knows that 
if he kills him, he knows that God will raise him up. Why? Because 
God has promised that in Isaac, all the nations of the earth 
will be blessed. That promise to Abraham, that promise to Isaac, 
that promise to Jacob, that is ultimately terminated on the 
Lord Jesus Christ. He is the son of promise. He 
is the seed of Abraham. And so Abraham understands the 
blessing of the world, the blessing of the nations, the blessing 
of all families of the earth rests upon that seed. And so 
if he is called upon to terminate that seed, then God will raise 
that seed from the dead. And so he says to the servants, 
we will return. Now notice, in terms of the obedience 
of Abraham in verses 6 to 10, we have the actual act of sacrifice. Note again the preparation. Verse 
6, 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. Now, commentators 
speculate on how old Isaac was at this particular time. I think 
Matthew Poole and James Usher suggest that he was 25. Late 
teens to early 20s, he was certainly understanding of the fact that 
there was no sacrifice or no animal victim for the sacrifice, 
as he asks in just a moment. But he had to be somewhat strong. 
You don't load up a two-year-old with wood to carry it up Mount 
Moriah so that you can lay him down on that wood. So he's obviously 
conscious. He's a young adult. He understands 
what's happening. in terms of this particular act. One commentator with reference 
to the wood laid upon Isaac, Gordon Wenham says, 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 the sacrifice itself. And of course, he has the fire 
and the knife. And he understands the implications 
of fire, knife, and wood. He understands what it is he 
has to do. Again, just as we think about 
the various difficulties that we undergo, pretty positive none 
of us have ever had to gone through this. Pretty positive none of 
us will ever have to go through something like this. Whatever 
God has in store for us, it is probably not going to be this 
severe of a test, this severe of a distressing situation, this 
severe of a hardship. And when it comes to this severe 
of a test and a hardship, the man that God calls is the man 
that God furnishes with the grace to persevere in the midst of 
it. I always marvel about that in 
times of, you know, martyrdom. You see these saints that suffer 
for the cause of Jesus Christ. You see these saints that go 
willingly to the cross. or to the steak, or to the fire, 
whatever it is that the godless have for them. And you wonder, 
would I have the ability to do that? I mean, I don't know. I'm 
going to go home tonight, eat a peanut butter jelly sandwich, 
and go to bed. I don't know if on the way home 
somebody captured me and took me somewhere and threatened me 
with certain death. I don't know if I'd wander into 
those flames with the kind of gusto and relish that the brothers 
of old have. We need to trust God for the 
grace necessary in a particular day. When we have a demand or 
a need, rather, for that kind of grace, we can trust our good 
God to give that kind of grace. He is wise. He is infinitely 
knowledgeable. He has us under His control. And if He calls upon us to suffer 
in a great distress, we can trust Him to provide what we need to 
go through that distress in a manner that is glorifying to Him and 
that brings us to the end. of ourselves. So we see this 
in Abraham. Now here comes the question of 
Isaac, verse 7. So 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? So the end of the silence is 
with my father. Again, probably a difficult thing 
when you know what's in store, when you know what's at stake, 
and you know what is going to happen. Listen to Calvin again. 
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. Yet 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. This is faith, brethren. This is faith. What is faith? 
Well, obviously, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And when we 
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, there will be repentance. There 
will be that evidence that we, by God's grace, have died to 
sin, died to ourselves. We're alive now in Christ Jesus. 
But there's that daily maturation of faith. How do we get that 
kind of faith? Well, I'm not exactly sure with 
reference to that kind of faith, because I don't think I have 
that kind of faith. But I think the way to pursue 
it is through the use of the means that God has ordained. 
We don't get that kind of faith by neglecting our Bibles. We 
don't get that kind of faith by neglecting prayer. We don't 
get that kind of faith by neglecting the corporate means of grace. 
We get that kind of faith by maintaining communion with God. 
We get that kind of faith by asking the Lord to increase our 
faith. Remember that instance in Luke's 
gospel when Peter comes to Jesus and he says, Lord, how many times 
should I forgive my brother in a given day? Seven times? Peter 
probably thought he was magnanimous in that. Seven times? I mean, 
how many of us, you know, seven times in a day? Well, I mean, 
we're mostly all parents, so we know what that's like, but 
seven times in a day? What does Jesus say to him? No, 
Peter. Not seven times, seven times 
70. And the point there is not count 
it. The point is not there, well, you know, once you get to seven 
times 70, that seven times 71, probably not good math, you cut 
them off and you stop that. No, that's not the point. The 
point is be large hearted, be like God, be gracious and generous 
and be forgiving. Do you know what the apostles 
say after Jesus says that? They say, Lord, increase our 
faith. Isn't that an amazing thing? 
In order to function appropriately toward one another, we need an 
increase in faith. In order to function appropriately 
before our God when it comes to tests or hardships or afflictions 
or difficulties, so that we don't lose our ever-loving mind, we 
need an increase in faith. Abraham doesn't just come to 
this place. Abraham has grown in the grace 
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Abraham 
has proved and tried and proven as God that he is, in fact, faithful. And so he asks the question and 
then Abraham gives him a theology lesson. Notice specifically in 
verse eight, Abraham said, My son, God will provide for himself 
the lamb for a burnt offering. So the two of them went together. 
God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering. 
You know what Abraham's doing here? He's preaching Christ to 
Isaac. Not some nebulous, vague, ambiguous 
thought of Christ, but from our study in the Gospel of John, 
the Lord Jesus says, Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw 
it and he was glad. You know, one of the pieces of 
evidence or one of the promises that furthered Abraham's faith 
was this very instance. He already had a robust faith 
in the coming of the Savior. Here, this only increases it 
by the way of typology. The fact that Isaac himself functions 
as what Jesus will function as, the Lamb of God who takes away 
the sin of the world. Wenham, again, says to Isaac, 
it must have sounded like evasion when he says, God will provide 
for himself the Lamb for a burnt offering. He says, but he said 
nothing and went up on the mountain. Which I think speaks very favorably 
of Isaac. Whatever Abraham was doing in 
terms of his home life, he was doing it well. And I think that 
is, you know, what we see in Genesis chapter 18 with reference 
to Abraham. If you look back at Genesis chapter 
18, specifically at verse 16, Then the men rose from there 
and looked toward Sodom. This is the announcement of the 
destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. And Abraham went with them to 
send them on the way. And the Lord said, shall I hide 
from Abraham what I am doing? Since Abraham shall surely become 
a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth 
shall be blessed in him. For I have known him, in order that 
he may command his children and his household after him, that 
they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, 
that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has spoken to him. So 
we see the fruition of that in the life of Isaac, a young adult 
man, understanding the implications at this point of what's going 
to happen, or having a pretty good idea of what's going to 
happen. I mean, it was somewhat vague 
in the sense of a direct answer. The Lord will provide for himself 
the lamb for a burnt offering. Isaac was certainly smart enough 
to realize that didn't really answer the question But I'm gonna 
march onward with my father anyway because my father has taught 
me to trust in Yahweh My father has trust taught me to trust 
in the living God and I'm gonna follow my father up to Moriah 
and I'm gonna undergo whatever he says Now that brings us then 
to the actual act in verses 9 and 10 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. Again, you get no sort 
of indication that Isaac fought him, that Isaac resisted him, 
that Isaac said, wait a minute, dad, that's not what we talked 
about here. He goes along with it. He complies 
with it. He's a willing victim as it were. So this occurs and then Abraham 
stretches out his hand and takes the knife to slay his son. So 
they prepare the altar. Isaac is bound and placed upon 
the altar, and then he stretches out his hand with the knife. 
And that brings us ultimately to the approval by God in verses 
11 to 19. Notice the command by God. Don't 
do it. Don't do it. This has been a 
test. Verse 11. But 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. So there's an urgency involved. 
The angel of the Lord doesn't want Abraham to lay the knife 
into Isaac. That was not the intention. The 
intention was to test him. Do not lay your hand on the ladder, 
do anything to him. And then that reason, for now 
I know that you fear God. You need to understand that is 
written in the language, in the manner of men. God doesn't acquire 
knowledge the way we do. God does not learn discursively. God doesn't sit down at the table 
and look at 2 plus 2 and then, oh, that inevitably leads to 
4. This is written in the manner of men. It's capitulation to 
us in our low degree. It is, as it were, an accommodation 
by God to encourage Abraham with the reality that he has successfully 
passed the test. The Lord doesn't come to know. This is written in the manner 
of men. The actual technical language 
is that it's a an improper predication concerning God. Calvin says this, 
truly by condescending to the manner of men, God here says 
that what he has proved by experiment is now made known to himself. 
And he speaks thus with us, not according to his own infinite 
wisdom, but according to our infirmity. The language is written 
to accommodate God to us so that we get it, so that we understand 
it, so that we appropriate it, and so does Abraham. So when 
it says, now I know, God doesn't move from a state of not knowing 
to a state of knowing. That is impossible with reference 
to God. God knows all things. God is 
over all things. God is omniscient. So this is 
for us. Now notice in terms of the provision 
by God. So Abraham's theology lesson 
with reference to Isaac gets now a token, gets now a type, 
gets now some prefigurement pointing forward to the Messiah who is 
to come. And that's precisely what you 
see there in verses 13 and 14. So 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. Note this next phrase, 
instead of his son. It is a substitute. It stands 
in the place of. It takes the place of. It is 
substitutionary atonement. It is substitutionary curse bearing. So this ram takes the place of 
Isaac. And then notice, Abraham calls 
that place, the Lord will provide, Jehovah-Jireh. As it is said 
to this day, in the Mount of the Lord, it shall be provided. So the Lord God gives him this 
token for the benefit of himself, for the benefit of Isaac, and 
for the benefit of all Israel that would read concerning Lassiah. 
When we ask the question in John chapter 8, how did Abraham see 
Jesus' day? He saw it in that ram caught 
in the thicket. He saw it as fulfilling his theology 
lesson in verse 8 that the Lord would in fact provide. He saw 
it with the eyes of faith and he understood that and that carried 
him further and further. Again, brethren, I don't want 
to keep beating us over the head, but Abraham didn't have Genesis 
to Revelation. He had Genesis, you know, 1 to 
21 up to this point. He didn't have the great body 
of data that we now have. And yet his faith in many ways 
outshines us tremendously, outshines the church tremendously. Why 
is that? Again, I believe it's because 
he communed with God. He believed the promises of God. 
He understood they were yea and amen in the person and work of 
our Lord Jesus Christ. And then finally, we see the 
confirmation of his promise to Abraham that he had made previous 
to this. Notice 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, 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 or his enemies, God's 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 that's interesting language 
there, again in verse 15, by myself I have sworn. Paul picks 
that up in Hebrews chapter six. He speaks of God swearing an 
oath. We need to understand that the 
oath that God swears is not for God, it's for us. See, when we 
stand in a courtroom and we raise our right hand and we say, I 
swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but 
the truth, so help me God, it is an attestation of our fidelity. to the courtroom. It is to provide 
for us the seriousness of the testimony we're supposed to give. 
When God takes an oath or swears by himself, he is truth itself. This is how David addresses him. 
He is the Lord God of truth. Jesus describes himself or uses 
that I am in John 14, 6. I am the way, the truth, and 
the life. Titus 1.1 tells us that God cannot lie. We ask the 
question, can God do all things? Yeah, he can do all his holy 
will, but there are what John Murray calls divine cannots. 
He cannot deny himself. He cannot lie. He cannot engage 
in wickedness. So when he swears this oath, 
it's for the benefit of Abraham. It's kind of like Genesis chapter 
15, and these two passages are utilized by James in James chapter 
2. Not to teach justification by 
words. Abraham is justified in Genesis 
15-6 when he believes God and it's accounted unto him for righteousness. That faith in God, that faith 
in the Lord Jesus, is demonstrated here in Genesis 22 by his works 
of obedience. That's how James handles it in 
James chapter 2. And in Genesis 15, after Abraham 
believes God and it's accounted to him for righteousness, Abraham 
asks God about the nature of the covenant promise. He says, 
how am I supposed to know that you're going to bring this about 
and that I will have a great multitude of descendants? So 
God confirms it by way of covenant. He tells Abraham to take animals, 
cut them in half, put them on either side, and then the parties 
of the covenant walk between them. The idea is, the significance 
of this is to demonstrate that if one or both parties are unfaithful 
in terms of the covenant, may whatever happened to these animals 
happen to them. So what is that? God condescends 
to answer Abraham's question via covenant in Genesis 15. God 
condescends here to reiterate the promise by this oath of confirmation. Philip Hughes comments on the 
Hebrews passage. He says that God should bind 
himself by an oath is a reflection, not on the divine credibility, 
but on the perversion of the human situation. God's oath indeed, 
though in itself redundant since his word is absolute truth, is 
a condescension to human frailty. So again, that oath is for the 
benefit of Abraham. God doesn't need a reminder of 
the solemnity and the seriousness of the covenant promises that 
he has entered into. No, God gives that for him. And 
then the confirmation of those promises, the multiplication 
of his descendants, the victory over his enemies, and the blessing 
of all the nations of the earth in Abraham's seed. So in conclusion, 
the Lord calls upon Abraham to engage in a very difficult task. 
In a very difficult task, Abraham bears up by the grace of God 
in terms of walking by faith, and God blesses by way of confirming 
to him the promises that he had given. So I want to suggest that 
we ought to observe the faith of Abraham, faithful perseverance 
in the midst of hardship. Faithful perseverance in the 
midst of trial. It's easy to be a fair-weather fan, right? 
I'm not a hockey fan, but I suppose it's easy to root for the Canucks 
when they're doing well. It's not easy to root for the Canucks 
when they're not doing well. You call that a fair-weather 
fan, the person that no longer wants the Canucks, but they go 
after the, you know, the one that's really winning. Well, 
brethren, it's easy to be a fair weather Christian. I mean, you 
know, as I said, we go home tonight, we probably aren't going to get 
abducted. You know, Boko Haram isn't going to run out of the, 
you know, from the slough, the hope slough and capture us and 
take us to some dungeon and poke out our eyes or pull out our 
fingernails. I mean, all in all, we got it 
pretty good, right? I mean, there's some increasing, 
some things that look like there's some things perhaps on the horizon. 
There's some things to be, a bit concerned about in terms of government 
oppression and that sort of thing, but for the most part right now, 
none of us have been, you know, having to, you know, evade, you 
know, machine gun mounts on the way to church tonight. So it's very easy on the one 
hand to serve God when everything's going well. We need to serve 
God when everything's not going well. We need to serve God in 
the midst of the valley of the shadow of death. We need to resolve 
with David the psalmist, I will not fear for thou art with me. 
Even in the valley, the shadow of death, God is with us. And 
his rod and his staff, they comfort us. We ought to learn from Father 
Abraham perseverance in the midst of difficult trials. the presence 
of trials, afflictions, and suffering, even in the life of faith. I 
mean, Abraham is the father of the faithful. Abraham is a man 
that was favored truly by God most high. And he had problems. Do you think we're going to get 
off the hook? Do you think that, you know, with Jesus being a 
man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, you've read 2 Corinthians 
chapter 11 and Paul's rehearsal of all he went through in terms 
of suffering for Jesus Christ. You think that the history of 
Christian martyrdom suggests that nothing will ever happen 
to us? Things may possibly happen to 
us, and the idea is that we don't abandon our faith. The idea is 
that we don't say, well, I can't believe horrible things are happening 
to a child of the king, and turn our backs on the king. We need 
to press on. We need to put our shoulders 
to the plow, and we need to go forward in faith in our blessed 
God. and then the consequent good 
works when there is genuine faith again you might meditate on this 
later James chapter 2 this is James's point when he talks about 
faith without works is dead he is suggesting or rather telling 
us that true saving faith while it is alone it is the alone instrument 
of saving grace it nevertheless is not alone but it's accompanied 
by all other saving graces and that's what James takes up now 
in terms of the typology Typology is a person, place, or event 
that foreshadows or prefigures something in the New Covenant. 
Could be a man. Adam was a type of Jesus. Paul 
says that in Romans 5.14. The temple, that's a place. It 
what? Stood what? So that we can go 
back to it? No, it stood to point us to Jesus. And now that Jesus has come, 
we know that blessed dwelling of God with sinners through Jesus 
Christ our Lord. So you've got places, you've 
got events. The Passover certainly foreshadowed, 
signified, typified what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5-7, that 
Jesus Christ is our Passover. But in this particular passage, 
it's riddled with types. First of all, the event itself, 
it points forward to the Exodus. Israel would go on a three-day 
journey to worship God on a mountain, just like Abraham is supposed 
to do. You start seeing connections 
in the Old Testament, with the Old Testament. It's really glorious, 
because you'll then realize something I've tried to remind us often 
when we study the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They're 
not just writing biography. They're doing theology. The historical 
narratives in the Old Testament are theology. We are supposed 
to understand them that way. We're supposed to see them that 
way. So as well, the event pointed 
to the Levitical sacrificial system. I mean, just a few, you 
know, pages that way in our Bibles, we get a whole bunch of lambs, 
we get a whole bunch of rams, we get a whole bunch of animals, 
and they're all for sacrifice to the living God so that Israel 
can learn that the way of approach to a holy God is through a bloody 
knife and a smoking altar. As well, the event pointed to 
Calvary. Now in terms of the patriarch 
Abraham, Abraham and God the Father parted with their only 
sons, the sons they love. Their only begotten sons, they 
parted with them. So Abraham is typologically functioning 
here like God the Father. Abraham and God the Father parted 
with their only sons to benefit the nations of the earth. This 
wasn't a selfish act on the part of Abraham. This wasn't a selfish 
act on the part of God the Father. It was for the benefit of the 
nations, the benefit of the world. There was a difference, however. 
Abraham was kept from parting with Isaac. The Father carried 
it out. And Paul speaks of it in Romans 
8.32 this way. He 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? Paul's argument there 
is simple. If he's done the greatest, he's 
going to do the lesser. If he's delivered up his son 
for you, he's going to give you grace on Thursday morning to 
deal with whatever situation you have. If he's done the greater, 
he's going to undertake on the lesser, and we have that blessed 
promise. As well, the only begotten son, 
Isaac. Isaac, like Christ, was the only 
son, the only begotten son, the son the fathers loved. You have 
to see Isaac as a Christ type in this passage. Isaac, like 
Christ, bore the wood for the sacrifice. Abraham didn't carry 
it. Abraham laid it upon his son, 
his only begotten son, so he could carry it up to Moriah. 
Isn't that what happens with Jesus? He carries his cross. 
They fetch Simon the Cyrene. They have him help a bit, but 
it's Jesus who bears the cross onto that mount. And Isaac, unlike 
Christ, benefited from substitutionary atonement. Christ provided substitutionary 
atonement by actually going through with the act. And then the last 
type is the ram. The ram. non-image-bearing animal 
that was there for a time and gone was a type of the Savior. The faith of Abraham that God 
would provide for himself the lamb, verse 8, the provision 
by God of the ram caught in the thicket, verse 13. Now, I know 
we're inclined to think, well, that was pretty lucky. I mean, 
there it is right there. Who would have thought? I mean, 
maybe it was a pretty common occurrence that rams got caught 
in thickets on Mount Moriah. I don't know. I've never been 
there. But I don't think it was luck. I don't think we're to 
stand back and say, wow, what a stroke of benefit for Abraham 
in this difficult instance. And then the substitutionary 
nature of the ram. That language is amazing. And 
offered up, offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his 
son. Isn't that the nature of the 
gospel? He made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that 
we might become the righteousness of God in him. Or the son of 
man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his 
life a ransom for many. It was instead of. Christ went 
as a substitute to that cross to bear the wrath of God for 
us. The work of Jesus Christ as the 
only begotten and beloved Son of God the Father became flesh 
in order to carry out his mission to be the Lamb of God who takes 
away the sin of the world. So that ram caught in the thicket 
was in fact a type of our blessed Savior. And John the Baptist 
appeals to that in John 1 29 when he points to Jesus and underscores 
that blessed mission. He's not here simply to start 
a new religion. He's not here simply to function as an example, 
but rather he is here to function as the Lamb of God who takes 
away the sin of the world. And in that, the people of God 
greatly rejoice. Well, let us pray. Our Father 
in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for this passage 
of scripture that certainly furthered Abraham's faith, certainly furthered 
Israel's faith, and explains much for us on this side, in 
the New Covenant, when Jesus says things like, Abraham rejoiced 
to see my day. He saw it and was glad. If Abraham 
saw it through these types, and we see it in the full shining 
of the New Covenant and the blessedness of the cross and the resurrection, 
May we be be glad as well. And may we express gratitude 
and praise and thanksgiving for what you have done in terms of 
saving us from our sins. We know that it necessitated 
the life, death and resurrection of your only begotten son, your 
beloved son. And we rejoice that you've included 
us in this plan. We ask that you would continue 
to encourage and strengthen our hearts as we participate in the 
supper tonight. May we do this in remembrance 
of him who gave himself for us. and we pray through Christ Jesus 
our Lord. Amen. Well, you can turn in your 
Bibles to Matthew chapter