The Son Whom You Love

Today is the final act of our time with Abraham.

He’s not dead yet.

But his story reaches it’s deadly climax.

Everything comes to a head, everything comes to it’s breaking point.

Let me explain something to you, I’m terrified of this final act.

You ever read a text in the Bible and your scared of it?

You ever read a text in the Bible and become scared of it?

I’m not saying it gives you bad dreams, not that kind of scared.

I mean, have you ever been scared of a text because of what it means for us and what we are called to do.

Today’s text scares me.

And it should scare each one of you.

Today we will look at when Abraham is called by God to sacrifice Isaac and make a burnt offering out of him.

I’m sure you’ve read it.

You’ve probably heard sermons on it.

Out of many of my readings of it, and the sermons I’ve heard, I’m not often scared when reading it or hearing about it.

Often times the preacher or my own reading of becomes very analytical, and I neuter the power of the text.

Up front, let me tell you that I’m scared of this text.

I’m scared of understanding.

I’m scared of personalizing it.

I’m scared of applying it.

Abraham’s life has 4 movements to it.

We’ve experienced 3 of them in our time through Genesis so far.

In each of these movements God demands for Abraham to give something up.

And each thing that Abraham gives up, is a part of him.

It’s a major turning point in his life.

Abraham had to give up his family and country.

Back in , he was commanded to leave his kindred.

He was told to leave his homeland.

Leave his father.

Leave his relatives.

Never to see them again.

You’ve had to move in your life.

Have you ever moved because your job relocated you?

Maybe you were raised in a military family?

Uncle Sam moved you to the middle of nowhere.

It’s hard to pick up your family and move like that.

To uproot yourself, your children’s school, their friends, your friends.

How many of you have moved because you thought the Lord was calling you to go somewhere else?

I don’t know a whole lot of people who have done that.

That’s scary.

Yet, that’s what happened to Abraham.

He said goodbye to his family and left.

The second major sacrifice in Abraham’s life was his nephew Lot.

He was supposed to leave his family behind, yet his nephew Lot came with him.

Abraham was more of a father figure to Lot.

Abraham cared for Lot like a son.

Yet, he was commanded to separate from his past and from his family, including his beloved nephew Lot.

This is hard, because it’s not just separating from someone you love.

He has to separate from someone that he has responsibility over.

So there came a point where he and Lot stood on the top of a hill and looked at the land around them.

Abraham said you pick.

You pick whatever land you want.

You go right, I’ll go left.

You go left, I’ll go right.

And he separated from his adopted son, his nephew Lot.

There was a third major sacrifice in Abraham’s life, Ishmael.

Back in , Sarah gave her mistress to Abraham to impregnate.

She became pregnant, and had a son named Ishmael.

But this was not God’s desire.

God had promised him that he would have a son, and the son would come from Abraham and Sarah.

Ishmael was not the promised son.

Abraham cared for Ishmael, but Ishmael was who the promises were for.

And so finally in chapter 21, Sarah says that Hagar, that’s Ishmael’s mom, and Ishmael need to go.

It’s time for them to go.

Then in , God says to Abraham, “Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”

And so, the third test for Abraham was to get rid of Ishmael and his mom.

Perhaps now you’re seeing why I’m scared of this text.

Abraham was called to sacrifice, to give things up for the Lord.

What have I given up for the Lord?

For most of us our big decision of commitment to the Lord is:

Whether you get up early on a Sunday morning to go to church.

Whether you’ll stay for CU.

Whether you’ll go to Bible Study.

Whether you’ll faithfully give to the Lord.

Do we consider where we live in our service to the Lord?

I’ve never went to the extent that Abraham did for his own obedience to the Lord.

Gotten rid of family.

In chapter 21, Isaac is born.

Sarah is 90 years old.

Then today we come to the fourth and final test for Abraham.

It’s a frightening one.

When she first heard she would become pregnant she laughed at God.

The idea was preposterous.

We find it in .

Fast forward a year, she’s just delivered a son.

No longer barren.

Let’s look at all of it today.

She laughs for joy.

Read

She’s a 90 year old woman nursing a child.

That’s a miracle.

And so she laughs, and others laugh as well.

They aren’t laughing at her.

They are laughing with joy.

The Fourth Test of Abraham

Verse 1 begins by saying, “After these things God tested Abraham ...”

Abraham’s been living in the land of Abimelech for many years.

At least 10.

And during this time, God presents him with a fourth and final test.

When it says God tests him some of you get tense.

You see the word test and nightmares from your childhood come to mind.

You hate tests.

In the same way that teachers put a fear of red ink into the depth of my soul, the word test freaks you out.

You never did well on tests and you think tests mean failure.

When God tests it’s not the same as tempting.

God isn’t trying to see if Abraham will fail.

God isn’t trying to get Abraham to fail.

It’s not a tempting.

This test is more of a proving.

For example, when David fought Goliath, before he fought Goliath, Saul brought him his armor for David to wear.

David put it on and it felt awkward.

He took it off saying that he hadn’t had a chance to test it yet.

He wasn’t saying he didn’t think the armor was good.

He wasn’t familiar with it.

He hadn’t practiced with it yet.

When Solomon was king, his renown went across the world.

Eventually, the Queen of Sheba came to him.

She tested him.

She wanted to verify that the rumors were true.

And here God is testing Abraham.

Not to see if he will fail.

But to prove that his faith is real.

To put his faith on display.

You see God’s test to Abraham in verse 2.

“

“Take 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.”

These are big words.

The test is who is God to Abraham.

Is God God, or is He just a blessing?

Do you ever think about why you follow God?

Are you a Christian just because there’s heaven or are you a Christian because you sincerely love the Lord with your heart and He’s your treasure?

There was a lot of promise in Isaac.

Isaac was the promised Son.

Isaac was born in their old age.

Isaac was going to receive the promises.

Why was Abraham obedient to God?

Was it because of the promises?

Or was it because he genuinely feared and loved the Lord?

Abraham’s now gotten rid of Ishmael, he loves Isaac.

But does he love Isaac more than God?

So he’s tested.

Is his faith real?

We know the test, now we see the obedience of Abraham.

He sets out early in the morning and begins a three day journey.

He brings with him two young men who are servants, a donkey, wood and his son and they go.

God had commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son, but he had to do it at a certain place.

He couldn’t do it in Beersheba where he was living.

God had told him to go to a mountain top.

They get near the destination, Abraham leaves the donkey, and the two young men.

And then they begin the hardest part of the journey, it’s just the two of them.

A few times in the text it says, “So they went both of them together.”

Abraham’s playing through what he’s going to do in his mind.

Wondering if his faith in God is real.

Wondering if God is really who He says He is.

Wondering if he can carry through with what God has commanded.

It’s easy for us on this side of history, with our Bibles in our hands to say Abraham better do the right thing.

It’s harder when you’re a father and the son that you love is in front of you.

This is a good opportunity for us to evaluate why we follow God?

Or better yet, Who is God?

We haven’t been told to kill our firstborn, nor should you.

You’re not Abraham, and God doesn’t speak to us like He did Abraham.

Abraham was being tested in his obedience to prove that the Lord really is his God.

We too, have been tested to demonstrate that Jesus really is Lord.

In , there is time when Jesus:

Goes to one person and say follow me.

That person says he will as soon as he buries his father.

Jesus tells this person, “Let the dead bury their own dead.”

Then another person comes to him and says I’ll follow you too, just let me say goodby to my family.

Jesus says, “No one who looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Abraham took off early, and immediately obeyed the Lord.

Sadly, many more are like those that Jesus encountered on the road.

They claim to believe, they claim to have faith, but in reality … they keep putting off obedience and make excuses.

“I’ll get serious about church when I retire.”

“I’ll get serious about fellowship when the kids are older.”

“I’ll get serious about serving when my schedule has cleared up.”

If God is Who He claims He is, don’t delay.

We do it now.

We prioritize Him.

Not our schedule until it allows us to fit God in.

Repent now.

Serve now.

Prioritize your life now.

On this journey, Abraham’s faith is made clear.

Abraham was going to do exactly what he was commanded to do.

But he also knew that he was going to be coming down that mountain with a living son named Isaac and that’s what his faith was, that is what was made clear.

Why?

2 reasons.

The first is that God had made it clear that the promise was to Isaac, and that through Isaac’s descendants they would become a nation that couldn’t be counted.

If Isaac dies, then there isn’t an heir of Abraham and Sarah to become the father of a nation..

The first reason is that God promised that Isaac would be blessed, therefore, he can’t die right now.

If Isaac dies, then God is a liar.

The second reason is that Abraham knew that God has power over life and death, and therefore thought that God would bring Isaac back from the dead.

He thought that he would sacrifice Isaac, and then God would bring him back from the dead.

Think about the miraculous birth of Isaac.

Sarah was 90 years old when she gave birth to Isaac.

That doesn’t happen.

In the previous chapter, Sarah’s laughing for joy because of the birth of Isaac.

She even says “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children?”

There’s something funny about a 90 year old woman breastfeeding a child.

If you think that’s funny, Sarah thought it was hilarious.

But that was a miracle of God.

If a 90 year old woman can breast feed a child, then God can bring a man back to life.

The birth of Isaac proved to Abraham that God can create life, but also that God can bring life back from the dead.

And so, in , when Abraham left the two servants and the donkey, he said “I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.”

As I read that it sounds a little bit too much like the Terminator, “I’ll be back.”

But in the Hebrew it is first person plural, that mean, “We’ll be back.”

He was going to be obedient, but he intended to return with a living son.

says the same thing.

It says about Abraham, “He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead ...”

Abraham was going to do what God had commanded him to do.

He had faith that the promise was to Isaac.

And therefore, after he obeyed, God would raise Isaac back from the dead.

That’s what his faith was.

Then THE moment arrived.

It says he built an altar.

Isaac was supposed to become a burnt offering to the Lord.

So the wood was laid on the altar.

This is where it gets hard.

Sometimes when we get familiar with a passage, we miss the bigness of it.

We miss the shocking nature of it.

You could say we are desensitized.

Let me give you an example.

Back in the old days, when someone would get shot in a movie:

You’d see the gun.

You’d hear the noise.

Then the camera would go to the person who was shot, and you’d see them doubled over and know they were shot.

Maybe there’d even be some blood on them to make it seem more realistic.

The movie Godfather was revolutionary, because in that movie, people would be shot, and you’d see the violence.

Through special affects it’d look like a person was actually shot.

That movie was one of the first movies to have the camera record the victim of a gun shot.

That was controversial.

Today, we don’t even think about it.

It’s just a part of seeing a movie.

We’ve gotten desensitized.

But 45 years ago, our culture wasn’t desensitized and it was graphic.

The same thing with our text.

We know what’s coming.

But we are desensitized to it.

And let me tell you something, there’s a lot here, but we miss it because we’ve seen the old pictures of it that wrongly describe it.

Show pictures.

When I close my eyes and I think of this scene I think of these old images of Abraham offering Isaac.

Show pictures.

These pictures tend to cloud our understanding of it.

First, Isaac was most likely a teenager.

He wasn’t a boy.

That’s how the ESV translates the word, but really he was a young man.

Then look at how Abraham was going to strike Isaac.

It looks like he might be stabbed in the back or something.

is much more graphic.

It says that he took the knife to slaughter Isaac.

That word for slaughter is used for killing livestock.

Livestock weren’t stabbed in the back.

Their throat was slit.

He wasn’t killing his son in murder, he was slaughtering his son as a sacrifice.

You know what happens next, just as he’s about to slit the boys neck, it says an angel appears to him.

This is probably the part where we are desensitized the most and miss the truly cool part.

In those pictures it’s a normal angel that appears.

One of those pictures has one of those weird naked 5 year old boy angels.

The other its as if the angel from the top of your Christmas tree climbed down and entered the scene.

But look at verse 11.

It doesn’t say “an angel of the Lord called to him.”

It says, “The angel of the Lord called to him.”

The angel of the Lord is Jesus.

Jesus

says that all things were created by him, for him and through him.

He is the Word made flesh.

His voice has authority.

And here with a cry of command, he says, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”

And with the same voice that created existence from nothing.

The same voice that would years later call the dead man Lazarus out of the tomb.

Here that voice calls and stops Abraham from slaughtering his only son, whom he loves.

His faith was made clear.

He had faith.

It was a living faith.

And it was made evident by his action.

This is what James was talking about in , “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?”

He proved his faith was real.

Abraham believed in a substitute

As Abraham and Isaac were walking up the mountain, Isaac starts to figure somethings out.

He’s carrying a load of wood on his back.

He sees his dad carrying a torch for fire and holding a knife in his hand.

But where’s the lamb?

So he asks Abraham where the lamb is for the burnt offering.

Abraham says, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering.”

Immediately, after the angel of the Lord intervened, Abraham looks up and what do you know, there’s a ram stuck in a bush by his horns.

God provided the sacrifice.

God was going to receive a burnt offering on that day.

And that ram, stuck in the thicket, was given on behalf of Isaac.

This then becomes a picture of something quite amazing.

They were in the land of Moriah.

On a hill top.

Years later, that same spot would become a threshing floor, and it would be purchased by King David.

King David would there make his own sacrifice.

Then years after that, King David’s son, Solomon would build a temple on that same spot.

And there at the temple, thousand of sheep and rams would eventually be sacrificed to the Lord.

This location, where God provided a ram for Abraham, would become a fixture of God’s ability to allow the death of a lamb to cover the sins of another.

Years later, another lamb was given.

Because of our own sins, we were like Isaac, facing our own death.

But this time God provided another lamb.

And the death of the lamb that God provided wasn’t merely a test of obedience, or a test of faith.

It served a purpose.

, John the Baptist said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

Where God told Abraham to take the son that he loved, says that because of God’s own love, He gave His only Son, so that whoever believes in Him would not perish, but have everlasting life.

And so like Abraham we too need a substitute.

We need someone to stand before God and die for us.

There’s probably no better way to enter the holiday season than by remembering these things.

God has sent a lamb, His name is Jesus.

He has died so that we would live.

Abraham had faith that God could raise the dead.

Our faith is that Christ was raised from the dead.

And one day, because of his death, we too will be raised from the dead.

Abraham demonstrated obedience by obeying all that God commanded.

And so, if Christ is the lamb of God, and if you believe that you’ll be resurrected to eternal life, then you too are to show obedience.

And so, if Christ is the lamb of God, and if you believe that you’ll be resurrected to eternal life, then you too are to show obedience.

And so going back to where we began, if this is all true, then how have you demonstrated it to be true in your own life?

We need to move beyond Christianity being our preference, to God being absolutely true and the driving force in our lives.

So how do we do this?

How do you do this?

For some of you it means it’s time to identify with Christ alone.

You’ve come with baggage, and you’ve never identified in Christ, or been baptized.

For others it means it’s time to really get serious in your fight against sin.

And for others, it means it’s time to put to use the gifts God has given you so that you can selflessly, and joyfully serve Him.