Well, you can turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Genesis, Genesis chapter 22. Take a few weeks off from our studies in John and Ephesians. This morning and evening, we're gonna look at promises in the Old Testament concerning the coming of the Messiah. And then God willing in two weeks time, we'll look at the incarnation proper.
Next Sunday, I'll be in Surrey and Pastor Kirkpatrick will be preaching here. And then as I said, two weeks from now, we'll look at the incarnation proper. So I wanna read beginning in Genesis chapter 22 at verse one, and we'll read the verse 19.
Scripture Reading: Genesis 22:1–19
Now 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 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 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 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.
Opening Prayer
Our blessed God and Holy Father, we thank you for the Lord's day. We thank you for this privilege that we have to gather in your presence. We come to the Father through the Son and the power of the Holy Spirit, confessing that God is all in all. We acknowledge your handiwork in terms of creation, your sovereign wisdom and power and providence, and we marvel at your grace and mercy revealed to us in redemption.
Even now, God, as we get a glimpse of the coming of the Savior in this passage before us, may you edify and strengthen our hearts and build us up in our most holy faith. May we see the faithfulness of God. May we see the covenant of God. May we see the promises of God are yea and amen.
We know they come to fruition in and through our blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Forgive us now for all sin and all transgression. Cleanse us in that precious blood of the Lamb. Sanctify your people, and God, if any are here this morning that are still dead in their trespasses and sins, we pray that you'd open their eyes and hearts to receive your truth, and cause them to see that Christ is altogether lovely and chief among 10,000, and the one in whom all the nations of the earth are blessed.
And fill us now with your Spirit, and we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Introduction
Well, as I said, we're going to take two passages from the Old Testament today. This passage was a promise of God's provision. That's the main emphasis, verses 8 and 14. Yahweh will provide Abraham had faith to understand that and live in light of that.
And then tonight we'll look at the provision of the promise of God's Son in 2 Samuel 7. But this morning, we want to look at this passage, and you might wonder, how does this sort of reflect or impact or connect with the Incarnation? Hopefully that will be evident as we proceed through the passage. I've referred to this in recent weeks in our studies in John's Gospel.
We're in John chapter 8. and the Jews make two claims or affirmations or assertions in that section. They claim to be Abraham's sons or Abraham's children, and then they claim to be the children of God the Father. Well, in terms of Abraham's sons, they are physically, but not spiritually because they reject Abraham's seed, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so I referred to this to show that, but I wanted to unpack it in more detail this morning And again, to show how it relates to the incarnation of our blessed Lord and savior, Jesus Christ.
So there's three things going on in verses one to 19. Now in history of interpretation, this has been referred to as the binding of Isaac and for obvious reasons.
The Test Presented to Abraham
We'll look first at the presentation of the test in verses one and two. Secondly, the obedience of Abraham in verses three to 10. And then finally, the approval by God in verses 11 to 19. But notice in the first place how verse 1 begins.
Now, it came to pass after these things. What things? Well, chapter 21, at least for one of those things. And chapter 21 is structurally similar to what we find here in chapter 22.
In chapter 21, we see that Abraham has to part with his son Ishmael. Now remember that Abraham had hoped before the birth of Isaac that in Ishmael the promises of God would be realized. Well, back in chapter 17, verses 18 and 19, God said, no, it's not going to be Ishmael. I'm going to give you a son by Sarah.
But in chapter 21, as I said, Abraham asked to part with Ishmael, and he had a great deal of affection for him. In fact, if you look back in chapter 21, specifically at verse 8, I'm sorry, at verse 12, I'm sorry, verse 11. So God tells Abraham, must take the son of Ishmael away because of the bidding of Hagar. And notice in 2111, it says, and the matter was very displeasing in Abraham's sight because of his son.
He loved Ishmael. He didn't want to get rid of him. He didn't want to see him go away. Well, here now in chapter 22, it came to pass after these things.
And I think just by way of an application or observation, we don't always get a break in affliction. We don't always get a time of relaxation from difficulty. It's not the case that a dark providence comes our way, and then we're assured now of a seven-year period of peace and tranquility. Sometimes it's kind of like the waves just keep rolling over us.
Sometimes it's like those afflictions just keep mounting up above us. And yet in the midst of all these things, we see God's faithfulness to see his servant through those waves and to steady them and to settle them and to stabilize them in the midst of it. And I know for my part, you know, you've had a difficult time and you say, oh, can't I just have a break? God never promises in the 31,000 verses that I'm aware of in Holy Scripture that you're gonna get a break.
In fact, in the upper room, our blessed Savior says in John 16, 33, in this world, you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer for I've overcome the world. Notice he doesn't say you'll have some, and then there'll be a respite. You'll have some, and then there'll be a break. You'll have some, and then everything will be hunky-dory.
No, in this world, you will have tribulation. Well, why is that? Because this world is at odds with our God. What we find in Psalm 2 is a reality.
The nations, the peoples plot a vain thing against Yahweh and against His Christ. Is it any shock to us that this world despises the people of God? It shouldn't be a shock. It shouldn't be a surprise.
I mean, it doesn't make it easy. Oh, I love it when people hate me. I love it when people despise me. I love it when people reject me.
Oh, it's just a, you know, I get this sick fascination with that kind of a martyr complex. No, that's a sick, fascinated way to be. We nevertheless, though, understand it's not ultimately us. If we serve the master, they're going to despise the servants.
So when we look at this passage, we need to see it in connection with what comes before it. Now it came to pass after these things. And then notice that God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham. Now it's important for us as we move through this narrative to understand that Abraham didn't get this data.
God doesn't say, Abraham, I'm going to test you. Abraham, I'm going to lay this test down for you, and I want to make sure that you absolutely positively obey me. This is for the reader's benefit. It's probably calculated to serve to remind us that God doesn't demand child sacrifice.
When you serve Yahweh, the living and the true God, you're not going to be asked to part with your actual child. You're not going to be asked to take him up to Mount Moriah, your only son, the son that you love, and lay him on an altar and present him as a burnt offering unto God. This is a reminder for the reader that this is a unique and special situation. But as far as Abraham's concerned, he's not tipped off.
He doesn't know it's a test. What follows in terms of the instructions that come to him are severely distressing. As much as he loved Ishmael and hated to see him part, this is his son, his only son, the son that he loves. Think about that phrase that is utilized over and over again as God speaks to Abraham concerning Isaac.
Kind of reminds one of the relation between the Father and the Son in the New Testament. The Son, the only begotten Son of the Father, the one whom the Father loves. So we see this test presented to Abraham, and we see specifically what he's supposed to do. Notice in verse 2, 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.
The Significance of Moriah
Now, Moriah is significant in biblical history. Moriah is the place where the temple will eventually be built. It is a mount of sacrifice. We see that David bought a place there from a man by the name of Aaronah, and we see in 2 Chronicles chapter 3 it's identified specifically as Moriah.
It would be the locale upon which the temple would be built. And you know what the temple's business was. It was sacrifice. It was blood atonement.
It was to remit the sins of the people so that they could meet with their blessed God. So all of this at this point already is heavy and significant in terms of subsequent revelation. Now notice the specifics in terms of Abraham and his response to this. So verse 2, 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.
We know that he is willing because he says in verse 1 at the end, and he said, here I am, and we see the severity of the demand. Now a burnt offering, when you get to the book of Leviticus, some of those offerings were set up in such a way that not all of the animal was sacrificed. Some of the animal was kept apart from the actual burning ceremony so that the priest and the worshipper himself could participate in that. But not the burnt offering.
The burnt offering was every jot and tittle. The burnt offering was every bit. The burnt offering was a full offering, a complete consumption of the one being offered. So the demand placed upon Abraham by God here is quite severe.
And one man, John Gill, makes this observation, this was dreadful work he was called to and must be exceeding trying to him as a man and much more as a parent. Be tough as a man, but especially and doubly tough as a parent of the one you're commanded to go and offer up as a burnt offering. But he goes on, he says, this 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, now he sounds a bit gory here, but brethren, atonement is gory.
It's not this, you know, polished, pure, perfect, sterile environment. No, the blood and gore of atonement hang thick. He says, for by this 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 he was to do as a religious action with deliberation, seriousness, and devotion.
Again, that shocks our delicate sensitivities, but if you conduct yourself to Calvary, that was a bloody, gory mess. Our blessed Savior hung naked. Our blessed Savior bled. Our blessed Savior had a crown of thorns pushed into his head.
Well, what happens as a result of that? There's blood. There's gore. It's hard to look at.
It's hard to entertain. Typically, the artists portray it as this glowing, perfect, idyllic scene, and that's not what was happening. In the first century, brethren, crucifixion was horrific. It was such that not even a Roman citizen could be crucified unless by edict of the emperor himself.
In other words, it wasn't for the citizenry in the Roman Empire. It was for the rabble. It was for the hoi polloi. It was for everybody outside of it.
It wasn't some sterile glowing event. It was blood and it was gore and it was pain and it was agony. And so, Abraham is asked to do this with reference to his son.
The Obedience of Abraham
Now, let's look secondly at the obedience of Abraham in verses 3 to 10. It's hard not to psychoanalyze along the way. But we're going to do a little bit of that just to try to get into the mindset of Abraham. I mean, just stop for a moment.
Imagine if you woke up this morning and God the Lord says, take your son, your only son, the son that you love, up to Mount Moriah and offer him up as a burnt offering. Offer him up whole. Offer him up to me because I want to see that you actually obey me. Brethren, I can't even imagine that kind of a test.
I can't even imagine that kind of horror. I can't imagine being called upon to do that thing that is unspeakable in terms of my own orientation. But notice what we find in terms of preparation.
Preparation for the Sacrifice
Verses three to five. Verse 3a, 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. Again, similar to chapter 21, notice in verse 14, when he has to get rid of Ishmael.
So Abraham rose early in the morning 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. This isn't something he's singing about. This isn't rejoicing. This was difficult in the mind of the patriarch in terms of parting with his son.
And then notice the order in verse 3. Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey. That would be equivalent to starting the car. We typically load the car and then start the car, don't we?
We load the car and then start the car. We don't start the car and then load the car unless we're distressed, unless we really don't want to do what we're going to do. You know how that happens when perplexity or affliction or trial or difficulty comes? What happens?
Chaos, confusion, distortion. We like peace, we like order, we like cosmos. When stuff is introduced that challenges that, it causes us to get off kilter, it causes us to get off our game, and that's precisely what happens. He rises early in the morning, he saddles his donkey, and then he takes two of his young men with him and Isaac, his son, and then He splits the wood for the burnt offering and he arose and went to the place of which God had said.
And in terms of this obedience notice, of his obedience, notice the journey. It wasn't like, you know, Moriah's 30 minutes away. That wouldn't make it any more easy, I don't think. but a three-day journey you get to meditate upon this? A three-day journey you get to contemplate on this?
A three-day journey you get to rotate the knife in your back as you ponder the reality that I'm taking my son, my only son, the son that I love, up to Mount Moriah to offer him up as a burnt offering? Brethren, that is excruciatingly difficult. When we talk about the faith of Abraham, hopefully our minds go to Genesis chapter 22 to see that in fact this brother had faith. This brother understood the promises of God and this brother meant business in terms of God.
So the obedience of Abraham in this three-day journey, Calvin says, 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. It's a three-day journey with his son, his only son, the son whom he loves, to take him up to Mount Moriah and offer him up as a burnt offering unto Yahweh.
Faith Revealed in the Journey
Now notice the instruction that he gives to the servants, and we see his hand. We see him tip his hand in terms of the faith that he has. Notice verse four, 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." Now, look at the isolation of Abraham. He tells the lads, the attendants, the servants, you stay here. There's no help for Abraham in this task. There's no accompaniment.
This makes me think of the Lord Jesus. When he goes to the cross, what happens with his disciples? Are his disciples right there? More often than not, we're eight foot tall and bulletproof when we're surrounded by our amigos, aren't we?
But when we're all alone, it's a little bit of a different battle, isn't it? When you look back and there's nobody there, that's tough. Well, that's what Jesus faced when he went to Calvary. This is what Abraham faces when he goes to Moriah.
He doesn't take the attendants. He doesn't take the servants. He doesn't take his family sort of members. He doesn't take them with him.
He goes it alone. But then notice as well, the distancing of Abraham from his son. Verse five, Abraham said to his young men, stay here with the donkey, the lad and I will go yonder and worship. Not my son, my only son, the son that I love, but my lad.
Again, that's something that we do. We try to distance ourselves from difficult situations. And this was an excruciatingly difficult one. And so he's distancing himself in a sense from the lad.
Now, the lad here is probably late teens, early 20s. Usher and Matthew Poole and Josephus put him at 25. He's definitely old enough to carry the wood. He's definitely old enough to understand that there's no lamb for the sacrifice.
He's definitely old enough to get the sense of what is happening in due course, but not at this particular point. So we see the isolation, we see the distance, but we see the faith of Abraham. Look at what he says there in verse five, stay here with the donkey, the lad and I will go yonder and worship, but notice, and we will come back to you, not just. He knows the task ahead.
He's got to take his son, the only son, the son of his love, up to Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering. And yet he says, we will come back to you. We will return to you. We together, both Abraham and Isaac.
Well, how does he know that? Well, the apostle tells us in Hebrews 11 how he knew that. He knew it by faith. Hebrews 11, 17 to 19, it says, by faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of who 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 can say that we will return because he understands the power of God. If he offers up Isaac as a burnt offering, God is nevertheless able to resurrect Isaac so that Isaac can accompany Abraham back to the servants. This is faith, brethren, in excruciatingly difficult and hard circumstances to nevertheless see God's goodness in the midst of it, to see God's faithfulness, to see God's kindness, and to see God's covenant that He's not going to renege on the commitment that He has made to bless us and to do us good. Now brethren, that takes faith when there is tribulation, when there is hardship.
I think most Christians are fair weather fans. Fair weather fans means that you root for your team and you're especially happy to do so when they're winning. You know, it's great to be a Canucks fan when they're winning. It's great to be a Christian when you're winning.
It's great to be a Christian when the job is good. It's great to be a Christian when the children are obedient. It's great to be a Christian when the wife is happy. It's great to be a Christian when there's food in the fridge.
It's great to be a Christian when all those things are in your favor. But when there's trouble, when there's hardship, when there's difficulty, what happens with the professing people of God? Where is God? As if the only relation God maintains to us is to keep our refrigerators filled?
To keep our kids happy? Brethren, there's more to God than that periphery. It is the stability of soul of being found in Christ, not having our own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is from God received through faith in Jesus. There is something more important than a filled fridge.
There is something more important than a happy communion with your wife or your husband. Not that those things are bad. I'm not discounting that. But for the people of God, what is most important is God.
What is most important in the language of the hymn writer is that the nearness of God is my good. And Abraham demonstrates that. Abraham has that. Abraham expresses that faith.
So in terms of obedience, we see the preparation.
The Act of Sacrifice
Let's look at the sacrifice in verses 6 to 10. There's preparation here. Look at verse 6. So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son.
That's significant. One man 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 sacrifice itself. So verse six, 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. Again, imagine the horror, imagine the distress, imagine the difficulty involved in this. Do you ever count yourselves blessed that you're not Abraham? Do you ever count yourselves blessed that you live in this new covenant era?
Do you ever count yourself blessed that we live in the days of Messiah, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world? So did Abraham, but it was anticipatory. It was promise, it was looking forward. We live in the age of realization in this new covenant setting.
But for Abraham, he's got the wood, he's got the fire, he's got the knife, and he's got the sacrifice. But here we see that Isaac understands what's happening. Notice in verse 7, Isaac breaks the silence. Again, probably a dagger into the heart of Abraham.
What better words are there on the face of the earth than my father or my mother? What better thing or privilege is there for that kind of an intimate relationship? Again, 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. 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.
Wow, that's the kind of faith you and I ought to be praying for in terms of what do we want from our God? Remember that bit in Solomon's time when God comes to him and says, what is it that you would like, Solomon? And Solomon says, I'd like wisdom. What does God say?
That's a good ask. That's a good ask. You could have asked for wives. You could have asked for property.
You could have asked for more boundary. You could have asked for, rather, extension of your boundary. You could have asked for any number of things, but you asked for wisdom. There's a bit in Luke's gospel where Jesus talks about forgiving somebody who sins against you, seven times 70.
Do you know what the apostles' response to that is? They say, Lord, increase our faith. Why? Because it's hard to forgive them once, let alone seven times seventy.
I need faith. Do you ever pray in the morning for an increase of faith? Do you ever pray for wisdom? Do you ever ask God for the sorts of things that we see fetched out by the prayers in Holy Scripture?
Does our prayer list look like a Christmas list? I'd like a full fridge. I'd like happy children. I'd like a new car.
I'd like a summer house with a boat. I'd like all those sorts of things. Our God's not Santa Claus, brethren. There is something specific in terms of the prayers in Old and New Testaments where they fetch out grace.
They seek out wisdom. They seek out the sorts of things that will help them to serve God in a manner that is consistent with God's Word. We saw those petitions in Ephesians chapter 3 that the Apostle prays with reference to the Ephesians. What does he want for them?
Full fridges? Happy kids? No, he wants them to be strong. He wants them to be strengthened with might by the Spirit in the inner man so that Christ may dwell richly in their hearts through faith.
Oh, okay, yeah, we need strength for sure. But then he goes on to pray for knowledge, education. I want them to understand what is the unsurpassing and the surpassing knowledge of Christ Jesus, our Lord. Do we ever pray that?
God, increase my knowledge. Help me to learn more scripture. Help me to learn more theology. Instead of balking at theology, the church today, and I'm not speaking specifically here, but generally, could do well with praying for an increase in knowledge so that they can appropriate the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.
So that while the pagans assault the fences, while the pagans make inroads into the sanctuary, we'll be able to resist that with the sword of the Holy Spirit. That is requisite for the people of God today. How do we deal with an encroaching government? How do we deal with communism?
How do we deal with the sorts of things that are all around us? By getting our faces in the scriptures, by learning the creeds and confessions of Christianity, and by standing fast and holding fast the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. Our job, that's our task, that's the blessed provision or privilege that God has entrusted to the church. We're to retain, we're to hold fast, the pattern of sound words.
And so with reference to Abraham, he had this faith that enabled him to press on in the midst of hardship. So Isaac says, my father, and he said in verse seven, here I am my son. Then he said, look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? Again, a five-year-old doesn't make that connection.
Isaac's late teens, early 20s. Isaac knows what's happening. The light is starting to dawn on him. We have everything that we need in terms of this sacrifice, but I'm not seeing the actual sacrifice itself.
Now notice Abraham's response, and this goes along with my last little tirade on the church needs to grow in knowledge. So how does Abraham respond here? How would you respond? Would you respond this way?
Well, it's time for a theology lesson, son. A theology lesson? Yeah, that's exactly what we're going to do right now. That's going to be the key that sees us both through this very difficult trial and procedure.
I'm going to teach you something about Yahweh. And when you learn about Yahweh, then that settles the soul. Because if you don't know Yahweh, you don't know God, you don't have that peace that surpasses all understanding, you're like the waves tossed to and fro. You're untethered.
I think about people in our own generation that don't have faith in our Lord Jesus, that don't have a doctrine of Christ at the right hand of the majesty on high, who is presently ruler over the kings of the earth. How do they get out of bed every day? How do they cope? How do they function?
Especially those who actually have some good political views. How do you manage? I mean, if I didn't have a view of the extended Christ at the right hand of the Father, I gotta tell you, it'd be tough to get out of bed. It would be tough to take the blankets down and say, okay, I'm gonna meet another day, go get my coffee, and just basically wander in the abyss.
No, we have a God that settles the soul. We have the God of Psalm 46. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations.
I will be exalted in the earth. That's why you and I get out of bed. That's why we press on, that's why we persevere, and that's why we come to scripture and the creeds and confessions, so that we can learn our theology and we can learn it well. So Isaac has accurately assessed there's no sacrifice here.
So what's Abraham's response? I'm going to teach you a bit of theology, son. Look at verse 8. Abraham said, my son, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering.
God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering. He has faith in God. He has a hope in Messiah. And he has this conviction to catechize his son, even on the way to Moriah, to offer him up as a burnt offering.
Brethren, never weary or tire of teaching your spawn the great truths of God Most High. Oh, but it's so hard. No, it's not. It's the blessed privilege of parenthood, of grandparenthood, to be able to catechize, to be able to disciple, to be able to teach, to be able to tell them of Yahweh's deeds, to tell them of Christ and His mercy, to tell them of the gospel of our blessed Savior, to point them to the truth.
Isn't that one of the privileges of fatherhood or motherhood or grandparenthood? It's to point them to the blessed God who saves to the uttermost all who draw nigh to him through his son. So the patriarch preaches Christ to his son in this setting. My son, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering.
Now notice, so the two of them went together. That brings us to the act in verses 9 and 10. The act, notice in nine, 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. Brethren, it's hard not to cry reading this, right? It's hard not to kind of just break down a little bit and go, man, I can't believe what he went through. Imagine building that altar.
Imagine building that altar, and he's not just his son, the only son, the son of his love, because of that natural sort of bond in terms of father-son, which is obvious. He's the son of promise. He's the son that God promised. No, it's not gonna be Ishmael.
There is going to be a son that comes from Sarah. 90-year-old womb Sarah is going to bear forth a child, and that child is gonna be the one in whom all the nations of the earth are blessed. Well, typologically. We know it's Christ who's the seed. Christ the seed of verse 18 is Christ the provision of verses 8 and 14.
Never forget that in the passage. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were told that in their seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed. Who is their seed? It's Jesus.
Galatians 3.16. So in this particular instance, he has to build the altar to sacrifice his son as a whole burnt offering. Gotta be a tough situation. And then notice, Abraham built an altar, placed the wood in order, and he bound Isaac, his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
What do we learn from Isaac here? We learn that he had faith too. How do we know that? Because he didn't run down the slope of Moriah.
That would be the obvious response, wouldn't it? Oh, I'm the sacrifice? That's the time to peace out. Oh, okay, dad.
I've got a date. I've got something else. Oh, I forgot. Yeah, I've got an appointment.
I have to be back in Beersheba for. No, Isaac goes along with this. What does that indicate? It indicates that Genesis 18 is accurate.
When God isolates Abraham as a patriarch, he says that he will teach his family the fear of God. So this catechetical lesson of verse eight that Yahweh will provide was consistent. It was practical. It was something that Abraham did with his son.
It wasn't that Isaac said, well, what are you getting all theological for now? What are you getting all biblical for? You know, that first time perhaps you've been derelict in your duties and you start to read the Bible to your kids. What are you doing?
How come we're reading the Bible? Why can't we watch PAW Patrol? I just don't understand. What are we doing?
Just keep being faithful and eventually John's gospel will trump PAW Patrol. under the blessing of God. You see, Isaac doesn't respond that way. It's part and parcel of their Deuteronomy 6 life. Whether you rise up, or you lie down, or you walk by the way, what are you doing?
You're doing theology with your kids. You're at the zoo, and you say, look at that giraffe. Isn't that funny what God made? Isn't that a beautiful creation?
You appoint your children to the created order, to the providential order, most especially to the redemptive order. How do you do that? You bring them to church, you schlep them with you every Sunday so they can gather under the gospel call. So Isaac had faith, Isaac understood, Isaac doesn't run down the slope of Moriah to go to his appointment.
And then notice what happens in verse 10. Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. We've kind of put ourselves in Abraham's shoes at this point. Imagine Isaac at this point.
What kind of faith does he have where he doesn't run from his father, where he agrees with what his father said. The lad and I, we will return when we're done worshiping. Isaac was catechized, he was taught, he was trained. He was the patriarch's son and we see it reflected in the text of scripture.
The Approval of God
That brings us thirdly to the approval of God in verses 11 to 19.
The Ram: Substitutionary Provision
Notice there is another command in verses 11 and 12. But the angel of Yahweh 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. There's an urgency, right? Why the urgency? Because he had the knife poised to engage in the burnt sacrifice, to carve him up, to cut him up, to rip him apart, and ultimately set fire to him.
That's what he's there for. That's why the wood, that's why the fire, that's why the knife. So there's this urgency from on high, according to verse 11, the angel of the Lord called 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. Now notice, for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. Two observations here. What does the fear of God look like?
It looks like obedience to God, doesn't it? Oh, I really fear God and I'm gonna live like a devil? That's not the fear of God. The fear of God is absolutely positively doing what God calls us to do.
Now I know that you fear God, why? Because you didn't spare your son, your only son, the son that you loved. You're willing to sacrifice him and put the fire to him and give him to me as a burnt offering. But as well, when God says, now I know, he's speaking to us as men.
God knows all things. God is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. God doesn't arrive at truth. God doesn't get smarter.
God doesn't begin to know more things. I think Calvin gets this right. when he says, 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 Bible comes to us that way.
God does know all things. God doesn't arrive at things. God isn't discursive in terms of his understanding the way that you and I are. We've got to be told.
We've got to be taught. We've got to learn. Two plus two equals four. We grow in our understanding and wisdom.
That's not the case with God. He is, in the language of the psalmist, the Lord God of truth. He doesn't acquire new data. He doesn't pick up new things along the way, but he does communicate to us in our weakness, in our infirmity.
Calvin in his institute says that the Bible itself is kind of like a nurse who lisps to the baby under her charge. If God told us what God is, we couldn't handle it. We're creature. He's creator.
He's infinite. We're finite. And so when scripture uses convention like this, now I know, please don't make the assumption that God learned a new fact today, that God understood something additional, that God became more aware in terms of Abraham. No, that's for us, brethren.
It's to take us by the hand to Moriah and show us what's happening in terms of Abraham's vindication before God as the man of faith and patriarch in whose seed the nations of the earth will be blessed. Now notice, not only the command, but the provision. Remember the theology lesson? Typically we don't always get lessons answered that quick, do we?
We teach our kids something at five, and it might not be till they're 25 that we say, you see, you remember, I told you this when you were five. That's supposing that you still have your mental equipment. But it doesn't always happen that quick, does it? And that makes it a bit more difficult for us and why we need increased faith.
God doesn't answer in our timeframe. Again, search the 31,000 plus verses of Holy Scripture and find where God is beholden to the creature to always answer according to what you want. People do this with prayer. Well, you know, I prayed and nothing happened.
No, God said no. Why is that not a legitimate answer? You know, your kid asks for a cookie and you say, no, the kid shouldn't go whine to his friends. I keep asking for cookies and they won't answer me.
Oh, they answered you, you just didn't like the answer. I think that's a big problem with Christians. I prayed, I tried to pray, I gave it my all and nothing happened. Again, is God a genie in the bottle?
Is God Baal of the Canaanites? See, Baal has more affinity with the God in the church today, at least in some sectors, than Yahweh. Baal was manipulated. Baal was formulaic.
Baal was a pretty simple God. You copulated with temple prostitutes, and then Baal, blessed. That was the way it worked. And if you copulated and it didn't work, then perhaps you'd say, well, I don't think I'm going to go back to Baal anytime soon.
God's not that way, brethren. We don't have a formulaic approach with our blessed God. We don't try prayer and say, well, you know, it just didn't work, so I'm going to give it up. But in this instance, this theology lesson comes to pass rather quickly.
Notice in verses 13 and 14, then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. The Lord will provide. Yahweh Yireh. That's the name of the mount that Abraham gives to it.
He says, so Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering. Don't miss this next clause. Instead of his son. Instead of his son.
What does that suggest? Well, it suggests everything you should think it suggests. Substitutionary atonement. This ram was in the place of his son Isaac.
And as a result, he offers up this burnt offering now to Yahweh. And then verse 14, 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. So substitutionary atonement provided by God in Genesis chapter 22. When we get back to John's gospel, when we get to the bottom part of John 8, it's the bottom part in the layout of my Bible there.
In verse 56, what does Jesus say to those Jews? He says, Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He sought and was glad. And of course they say, well, you're not yet 50 years old.
And have you seen Abraham? Of course they take up, well, that's when he acknowledges his divinity. He says, before Abraham was, I am. And they respond by taking up stones to throw at him because they understood the claim that he was making.
Him being a man made himself equal with God. But Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He sought and was glad. How do we explain that?
Well, I would suggest you explain it with Genesis 3.15, the first promise of the gospel, where the seed is going to crush the serpent. You explain it in Genesis 3 as well, when Adam and Eve sin against God, what does God do in terms of Adam and Eve? God kills an animal and covers them with skin. Blood atonement very early on, Genesis 3.21.
And then Genesis 4, Cain and Abel go to present sacrifice at the end of the days of the week. Why do they do that? because Adam taught them. There was this oral teaching that went along from generation to generation. You don't think Abraham had been catechized in the religion of Yahweh?
You don't think Abraham had heard the proto-gospel in Genesis 3.15? You don't think he had heard of God's atonement for Adam and Eve in Genesis 3.21? Or the pattern or practice of Cain and Abel at the end of the days of the week to bring blood to Yahweh? You don't think he heard that?
I absolutely positively think he heard that. And he also understood by way of typology, with this ram caught in the thicket, that God will provide Messiah. He will provide the seed. He will provide the son of his love, his only begotten son, the son that he loves, to come into this world, sinners to save.
And then the end of the particular narrative reflects on God's promises and God's faithfulness and God's confirmation of what he's doing with Abraham. 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. This is that Hebrew six passage where God, because there's nothing greater than God, swears by himself. Now, brethren, when you and I swear in a court of law, it's to make a declaration about us.
It's for us. This oath that God swears is not for God. God knows that he's absolute truth. God knows that he won't renege.
God knows that he's incapable of breaking promise. Why does he swear by himself? It's to comfort our hearts. It's to flood his servants with joy and peace.
It's to be a blessing calculated for us to rest our heads upon. So he swears by himself, according to verse 16, by myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son. You see that conspicuous use of your son, your only son, the son that you love. He never lets him forget this relationship.
Blessing, I will bless you. 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, it could be their enemies or his enemies. Your seed is gonna possess the gates of his enemies.
In your seed, I've already explained this, this is Jesus, Galatians 3.16, 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. So I'm going to get to some concluding thoughts in just a moment, but before that concluding thought, we'll have a pre-concluding thought. I've tried to emphasize along the way in the narrative the human dimension, right?
This was no fun day for Abraham. This was no walk in the park for Abraham. This wasn't, hey, Isaac, we're going to go throw the football around and maybe take a dip in the lake. This is a different day altogether.
So try to enter in a bit to that mindset and even Isaac's mindset as he's now bound on that altar and he sees his dad with the knife about to plunge it into him in order to make quick work of him to present a burnt offering unto the Lord. But the passage is ultimately about God. It's about Christ. Christ is the seed.
Verse 18. Christ is the one mentioned by Abraham in his theology lesson. In verse 8, the Lord will provide. That's why this is an anticipatory message concerning the incarnation of our blessed Savior.
This is a promise concerning Messiah. We read at the outset of worship, Isaiah 9, that's one of the famous ones that's usually on the Christmas cards. Nobody puts Genesis 22 on the Christmas cards, but it's as vital, it's as important, it's as key as is Isaiah 9, 6. In your seed, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.
The Lord will provide. Verse 14, it's such that Abraham names the mountain, the Lord will provide. This fed the faith of the people of God. Before they had beautifully bound calfskin leather Bibles with wide margins published by Cambridge, they were fed the promises of God.
They were nourished on scripture. They were taught concerning Jesus. There was a come long expected Jesus. There was this anticipation, an old covenant to Israel.
You see this in the early chapters of Luke and the birth narrative there. There is a messianic expectation in the people of God in the first century. Unfortunately, many of them didn't see that Messiah Christ was the answer to their expectation. But all the people of God in the Old Covenant were nurtured by faith in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and Genesis 22 is a vital place. in that redemptive scheme, in that blessed provision of our great God in terms of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Application
In conclusion, you see the faith of Abraham. That's certainly a model, certainly a lesson for us to glean, certainly something for us to appropriate or something that we should see in our lives as perhaps lacking. Lord, increase our faith. If the world is declining, if there is marks of bad things on our horizon, what do we need?
We need faith, brethren. If you don't, please pray for me that God would increase my faith, because it's going to be tough, brethren. If the last couple of years were any indicator, we aren't promised that the next few years are going to be hunky-dory and without any difficulty of trial. What's going to get us through this?
It's not us, it's faith in our blessed God. It's not even our faith in our blessed God, it's our blessed God. Faith is the instrument by which we appropriate that necessity to persevere. So faith is Abraham's motif.
Secondly, there is what's called typological significance in the passage. The Old Testament has a lot of types. And a type could be a person, could be an event, could be a structure that points forward to the anti-type. Now the anti-type isn't something opposite to the type, it's something in the stead of the type.
So for instance, the temple. The temple was typological. The temple was typical. The temple pointed forward to Jesus.
Because the whole concept of temple is dwelling. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Our studies in Ephesians, in Ephesians 2, 18 and 22 specifically, the church as the people of God come to the Father through the Son in the Spirit. That's temple, God dwelling with his people.
So the temple was a type. It was typological that pointed forward to Jesus, the anti-type. This is confirmed even more in John 2, when Jesus says, destroy this temple, and in three days, I will raise it up. They said, it's taken us 46 years to build this temple, and you're gonna raise it up in three days?
What does John the theologian tell us? He was speaking about the temple of his body. Well, brethren, when you look at Genesis 22, if you don't see types there, let me send you back to Genesis chapter 22. Think about a few things here.
First, the event itself. The event points forward to the Exodus. See, there's types in the Old Testament that are fulfilled by anti-types in the Old Testament. The Old Testament is a comprehensive document.
One man has said it's messianic to the core. You'll see Old Testament subsequent later on, Old Testament prophets reflecting on earlier revelation in the Old Testament. The event points forward to the Exodus. Israel would go on a three-day journey to worship God on a mountain.
Sounds a lot like Abraham and Isaac going on a three-day journey to a mountain to worship God. The event also points forward to the Levitical system. Now, burnt offerings appear before Leviticus chapter one, but Leviticus chapter one gives the detailed legislation concerning the burnt offering. So what we have here is typological of what's gonna come in the Levitical priesthood, when the priests are charged with taking those animals and presenting them on the altar unto God.
But of course, the event points us to Calvary too, right? Points us to a mount where there's a sacrifice in the stead of others. So this is a rich event in redemptive history. Secondly, the patriarch Abraham.
Abraham and God the Father, so who's typical? Abraham. Who's anti-typical? The father of the son.
They're both purposed and determined to give their son, the only son, the son whom they love in the stead of others. And so Abraham goes to do this. He's obedient to the point where the knife is raised, but God in his mercy stays his hand. Not so with Christ.
Look at Romans chapter 8 for one instance. Paul's argument there is from the greater to the lesser. You think the God who sent his only begotten son to die on that cross for you, to be raised again that third day is gonna let you suffer and die in turmoil without any aid or assistance? Really?
Is that what you think? He didn't spare his own son, but he delivered him up for us all. How shall he not with him also freely give us all things? And again, not full fridges, not, you know, well-adjusted children and not cars full of gasoline.
He'll give us all things spiritually that we stand in need of, that every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places that is there and purpose to stabilize us in the various difficulties we find ourselves in. How about Isaac? Is he typological? Absolutely, positively, he's typological.
He's a type of Jesus. But again, there's no angel of the Lord staying the hand of the Father when Jesus dies on the cross. And for anybody who's got a bit of a hesitancy, you know, I read that Calvin quote and he seemed to almost imply that God was, you know, torturing poor Abraham with this, you know, this sort of journey and his son piercing the silence with, you know, Father. Do you know that the prophet Isaiah tells us in Isaiah 53 that it pleased Yahweh to bruise him?
The NAS renders it the best. It pleased Yahweh to crush him. Why? Because he's a sadistic father?
No, because he's a loving and gracious father. For his love for us, the son ponies up to take the wrath that we deserve. He lives for us, he dies for us, and he's raised again for us. Not as an act of hate, not as a demonstration of sadism, but as a demonstration of God's love.
God commendeth his own love toward us, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. So Isaac is typological of our Lord Jesus. But there's one other type in here, and it's that ram. That ram caught in the thicket, kind of an insignificant player in the grand scheme of things.
I mean, we're, you know, kind of spent now. Abraham and Isaac, boy, how do you unring that bell, you know, on your way back down that slope of Moriah? It's just, wow! Praise God for the angel of the Lord.
So, I mean, you just go home, and you eat, and you feast, and you rejoice, and you're thankful. What about that ram? It's typical of our blessed Savior. John's gospel is beautiful.
In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1.1, the divinity of the Word. John 1.14, the incarnation of the Word. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
John 1.29, the mission of the Word. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This ram caught in the thicket portrays for us substitutionary atonement. Abraham put the knife in it instead of his son.
That's why we're here. That's why we're heaven bound. That's why we have peace with God, because the father did not renege, but ultimately the knife found its way into the son of Hisloth, His only begotten son, so that you and I could have the forgiveness of sins, so that you and I could receive His righteousness by faith, so that you and I could know the blessed joy of being adopted sons and daughters of God Most High. And if you're not a believer here this morning, This is my encouragement to you, to look unto the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is, in fact, the Lamb of God. He does take away the sin of the world. Ask anybody here that's a believer. Ask anybody here that's a believer and say, you know, name the few things that makes it good being a Christian.
You know what I bet every one of us would say, at least in the top three? It's the forgiveness of sins. It's that sin thing, you know, when you just feel gross and horrible and disgusting because you know that you've offended a holy God, when your conscience is bothering you at every step of the way. I mean, even believers still struggle with that.
Even believers still are haunted by their past sins and their past patterns. But you ask a believer, what is it about being a Christian? And they'll probably say something like, my sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin, not in part, but the whole, is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord.
That lamb caught in the thicket is one of the most significant parties in this passage, typologically, because he points us to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Closing Prayer
Well, let us pray. Our God and our Father, we thank you so very much for this passage of Holy Scripture, a passage, admittedly, we don't always come to at Christmas time, but a passage that is vital to our understanding of the incarnation. to see the promises of God as yea and amen in our blessed Savior, to see that seed of Abraham as the champion of Israel, to see him as the Messiah to men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, to see him as that one in whom there is forgiveness, the cleansing blood of our blessed Savior. and as well a righteousness that avails with you. We pray that wherever this gospel is preached today, you would open hearts, cause sinners to see themselves rightly and by grace to cast themselves upon the Lord Jesus Christ and his mercy. Encourage our hearts and build us up and strengthen our faith, increase it and increase our knowledge of the Most High.
And we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Well, you can take your hymn books and turn to 568 and we'll close our worship by singing the doxology of praise to our triune God. That's page 568.
Praise Him, all ye blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below. Praise Him, all ye heavenly joys. Praise God with song and holy voice.
God of peace, who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do his will, working in you what is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Our Father, we thank you for this time that we can worship you together We thank you for the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray for your blessing upon all those who are unable to be with us this morning.
I pray for the Neufelds that you would bless Don as he's hurt with his leg. And I pray that you would just watch over them both. Increase their faith, increase their love for Christ. And God go with all of us now and may your face shine upon us.
May we know your peace and may we know your blessing. And we pray through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. We may be seated for a brief time of meditation.