Genesis 22:9-19
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Background
We take time during the Christmas season to remember and reflect upon the biblical story of Jesus Christ being born as the Son of Promise, the fulfillment of thousands of years of biblical prophecy.
It is fitting that last week we looked at the birth of another son of promise, Abraham’s son Isaac. Abraham had waited 25 years for God’s promise to be fulfilled, an heir born of his own body to him by his wife Sarah.
Yesterday, we saw Abraham commanded by God to sacrifice Isaac as a burnt offering. Now we will see what comes next in their story.
9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
10 Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
12 He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
God had sent Abraham and Isaac to Mount Moriah, about a 3-day journey north/northeast of Beersheba, where Abraham had been sojourning.
As we saw yesterday, God had commanded to take his only begotten son, Isaac, the son of promise, and offer him on the altar.
Abraham and Isaac went up to Mount Moriah, and Abraham told Isaac that God will provide for Himself the lamb for the offering.
TIMELINE
TIMELINE
Look at what is taking place here:
They arrive at the location that God had described to Abraham, and he begins building an altar for the purpose of sacrifice.
What must Abraham have been thinking while he was building the altar, with his son standing next to him?
He bound Isaac and laid him on top of the wood.
Abraham was faithful, and did what he was asked, even though it was about to cost him everything.
Isaac willingly gave himself over to Abraham to be bound without a struggle.
Abraham, fully intent on complete obedience, reached for the implement that would end all of the hopes and promises that had been given.
Sometimes God asks us to give up that which is precious to us.
Sometimes God asks us to give up that which is precious to us.
Remember that Abraham had said that he and Isaac were going up to worship.
17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son;
18 it was he to whom it was said, “In Isaac your descendants shall be called.”
19 He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.
God stopped Abraham before he completed the sacrifice.
22 Samuel said, “Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.
6 With what shall I come to the Lord And bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, With yearling calves?
7 Does the Lord take delight in thousands of rams, In ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?
God recognized that Abraham feared God more than he wanted his own desires.
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments; His praise endures forever.
13 The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.
We ought to be willing to give up everything, just like Abraham.
29 “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.
38 “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.
13 Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son.
14 Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the Lord it will be provided.”
15 Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven,
16 and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son,
17 indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies.
18 “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham lived at Beersheba.
Remember Abraham’s words: God will provide for Himself the lamb for the offering.
God provided a substitutionary sacrifice, to take the place of Isaac.
God’s plan all along was to do that for us, too.
2 For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.
3 He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.
6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.
7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth.
God did not withhold His only Son, but gave Him up as a sacrifice for us.
God did not withhold His only Son, but gave Him up as a sacrifice for us.
Just like Isaac, Jesus laid his life down willingly.
17 “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again.
5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.
8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
God reiterated His promises to Abraham because of his obedience.
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?
22 You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected;
23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God.
Abraham returned home with his son, and the promises the God has been making to him firmly secured.
APPLICATION
APPLICATION
Sometimes God asks us to give up that which is precious to us.
God did not withhold His only Son, but gave Him up as a sacrifice for us.
Next week, we will begin a 2-week break from Genesis and be in 2 John.