LIFE LESSONS FROM ABRAHAM AND ISAAC

(SERMON #85 ON THE BOOK OF GENESIS)

by Dr. R. L. Hymers, Jr.

A sermon preached at the Baptist Tabernacle of Los Angeles Lord's Day Evening, November 29, 2015

“Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (, ).

Christ told His Disciples that Moses and all the prophets spoke of Him.

The Old Testament gives many pictures of Christ.

They are word pictures of Jesus, and of God.

The greatest preaching in all history occurred in the time of the Book of Acts – before the New Testament was written.

What did they preach?

They preached of God and Christ from the Old Testament!

Some of the greatest sermons I have ever heard were from the Old Testament.

My long-time pastor Dr. Timothy Lin was a great Old Testament scholar.

After fifty years, I can still remember his sermon on , his sermon on , , , on , and on .

One of the greatest sermons I have ever heard was Dr. R. G. Lee’s “Payday Someday” – on the judgment of Ahab and Jezebel – which was preached from the Old Testament book of I Kings.

And I will never forget personally hearing Dr. M. R. DeHaan preach a series of sermons from to 39.

I also heard a recording of portions of Dr. W. A. Criswell’s five-hour sermon, “The Scarlet Thread Through the Bible,” preached on New Year’s Eve, 1961, at the great First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas.

When you have five hours some time, you can hear a recording of it at www.wacriswell.org.

More than half of that powerful sermon is an exposition of the entire Old Testament! I also heard Dr. J. Vernon McGee almost every day for about ten years, as he taught the entire Old Testament on the radio.

From these great men of God I learned to trust and to love the Old Testament.

And I learned that Jesus Christ is foretold on nearly every page of the Old Testament.

Sometimes He is foretold in specific words, such as, “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” ().

At other times He is spoken of by pictures or types.

As we saw this morning, a type is a person, place or thing in the Old Testament that pictures a person, place or thing in the New Testament.

The 22nd chapter of Genesis is very rich in types of God the Father, and Christ the Son.

I want you to turn there in your Bible.

Please keep your Bible open there throughout this sermon.

is one of the greatest Christological passages in the Old Testament.

In and , we read the prophecy of Christ’s suffering for our sin. But in we learn clearly that Jesus Christ is the substitutionary sacrifice. And we are also given a picture of God the Father and man in sin. I have read this great chapter over and over, and I think we can safely say that it

pictures Abraham as a type of the true Christian, pictures Abraham as a type of God the Father.

That it

pictures his son, Isaac as a type of Christ, and it pictures Isaac as a type of a lost sinner, as well.

Here then are those pictures or types.

I. First, the passage pictures the testing of Christians.

Look at , ,

“And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of” (, ).

The word translated “tempt” is too strong. It is translated as “tested” in the NASV. Dr. Ryrie said, “God does not tempt anyone with evil (), but...He does test, try, or prove us, as in the case of Abraham” (Ryrie Study Bible; note on ). I remember when I was strongly rebuked many years ago for giving exactly the translation of the NASV, and exactly the explanation of Dr. Ryrie. But I was right then, and I am right tonight, over fifty years later. tells us that God does not tempt us to sin. But does show us that God tests us in our Christian life. Abraham, here, is a type of the Christian who is tested, as we all are tested.

The Scofield note correctly says, “The spiritual experience of Abraham was marked by four great crises, each of which involved a surrender of something naturally most dear.” These were,

1. Abraham had to give up his country and his relatives (). I am convinced that Abraham would never have been saved if he had not obeyed God on this point. A great many people (especially the young) never experience salvation because they will not give up worldly friends. They hang onto them – and thus they are never saved.

2. Abraham had to give up his nephew Lot, who was very close to him, and a possible heir, .

3. Abraham had to give up his plan for his other son, Ishmael, , .

4. Abraham had to give up the son that he loved in the depths of his heart, , .

“And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of” ().

Give up Isaac! Give up Isaac! Give up Isaac! Why, Abraham had waited all his life for this boy! And God now says to offer him up as a burned offering! That is the test! God asks you, “What will you give up for me?”

I wanted to be a foreign missionary. And then God took that away. I built a church of over 1,000 in attendance, and then God took that away.

Though the way seems straight and narrow, All I claimed was swept away; My ambitions, plans and wishes, At my feet in ashes lay. (“I Will Praise Him” by Mrs. Margaret J. Harris, 1865-1919). Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid? Your heart does the Spirit control? You can only be blest and have peace and sweet rest, As you yield Him your body and soul. (“Is Your All on the Altar?” by Elisha A. Hoffman, 1839-1929).

All of the truly great Christians in history had to give up their plans and hopes. All of them had to go through sacrifices to please God.

John Chrysostom was exiled by the empress Eudoxia. Martin Luther was excommunicated by the Catholic Church. Richard Baxter was locked in the Tower of London. John Bunyan was sent to prison for twelve years. John Wesley was driven from the Anglican Church. George Whitefield was banished from every church in London. Jonathan Edwards was fired by his own church. Spurgeon was censured by the Baptist Union. J. Gresham Machen was defrocked by the Presbyterian Church. John R. Rice was shut out by the Southern Baptists. Jim Elliot was murdered by the Auca Indians. Richard Wurmbrand was put in prison for 14 years. The Apostle Paul was beaten and stoned, imprisoned, and had his head chopped off.

Every one of the Apostles but John was executed. They died horrible deaths rather than deny Christ. The early Christians were thrown into the Colosseum where they were torn to shreds by lions and bears before great crowds of cheering pagans. The Nazis hanged Dietrich Bonhoeffer by the neck with a piano wire a few days before the Allies liberated Germany. Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones was criticized and ostracized for not supporting the “decisionism” of the Billy Graham crusades. Dr. Harold Lindsell was attacked and ostracized for writing “The Battle for the Bible,” exposing liberalism in the seminaries. Dr. Bill Powell died alone in exile, for publicizing attacks on the Bible in the Southern Baptist seminaries. Christians by the thousands are now beheaded by modern Muslims.

Abraham waited 100 years before God gave him his son, Isaac. Then God tested him by telling him to take the son he loved and kill him, and offer him as a burned offering on Mount Moriah. Every good Christian loses something he holds dear, or he does not pass the test God sends to him. Every good Christian knows what Mrs. Harris meant when she wrote those words,

Though the way seems straight and narrow, All I claimed was swept away; My ambitions, plans and wishes, At my feet in ashes lay.

They all know what Mr. Hoffman meant when he asked that penetrating question,

Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid? Your heart does the Spirit control? You can only be blest and have peace and sweet rest, As you yield Him your body and soul.

II. Second, Abraham pictures God the Father.

Though perhaps not a type, Abraham certainly pictures God the Father, sending down His only begotten Son to suffer and die on the Cross. Certainly gives us a picture of the heart of God the Father. He takes His Son, whom He loves, to Mount Calvary, which is on the same ridge as Mount Moriah, and offers Him there to pay the penalty for the sins of mankind.

Look at , the second half. Abraham “bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.” The Scofield note at the bottom of the page says, “Abraham, type of the Father, who ‘spared not His own son, but delivered him up for us all’ [].” Have we heard so often that we no longer think much about it?

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son...” ().

Think of as you look again at ,

“Take now thy son, thine only son...whom thou lovest...and offer him there” ().

Dr. J. Vernon McGee said, “During the last three hours, that cross became an altar on which the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world was offered. The transaction was between the Father and the Son on the cross...The picture is the same here: it is Abraham and Isaac alone” (Thru the Bible, vol. 1, p. 91).

Dr. M. R. DeHaan said, “What happened between [God] the Father and His Son Jesus Christ during those last few hours of agony we shall never be able to comprehend. It was a transaction between Father and Son. No human eyes were to behold the scene [for there was darkness over all the land]...When the final crisis came and the final sacrifice was made, God [sent darkness]...until finally the culmination came in the ultimate agonizing cry [of Jesus from the cross], ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’” (M. R. DeHaan, M.D., Portraits of Christ in Genesis, Zondervan Publishing House, 1966, p. 137).

Surely Abraham’s heart was broken by the coming death of Isaac. And, just as surely, the heart of God was broken when He turned away and left His Son Jesus crying in the dark for Him, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son” – to save you and me from sin and Hell. Surely God heard the voice of His Son crying for Him on the Cross, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Surely the tears of God the Father flowed as He turned away while Jesus bore our sins alone on that cross!

III. Third, Isaac pictures Jesus.

The Scofield note says, “Isaac, type of Christ, ‘obedient unto death’ ().”

“Being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” ().

Now look at verse 6,

“And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son” ().

This pictures Christ carrying His Cross,

“And he [Jesus] bearing his cross went forth into a place... called in the Hebrew Golgotha: Where they crucified him” (, ).

Now look at verses 7 and 8,

“And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together” (, ).

Isaac says, “Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham says, “My son, God will provide himself a lamb for the burnt offering.” Now look at verse 9,

“And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood” ().

This pictures Jesus, as Isaiah tells us,

“He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth” ().

Dr. McGee pointed out that Isaac was about 33 years old. He got that figure by carefully studying the entire account in Genesis. Isaac obediently allowed his father to tie him up and lay him upon the wood. Now look at verse 10,

“And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son” ().

Although Abraham didn’t understand what he was doing, he had learned long ago to obey what God told him to do. And, in doing this, he passed the test. Look at verse 12,

“And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me” ().

Dr. McGee said, “God tested Abraham. I believe that any person God calls...any person whom God uses is going to be tested...to strengthen our faith, to establish us, and to make us serviceable to Him” (ibid., note on ). Listen again to Mrs. Harris’ hymn,

Though the way seems straight and narrow, All I claimed was swept away; My ambitions, plans and wishes, At my feet in ashes lay.

But she goes on,

Then God’s fire upon the altar Of my heart was set aflame; I shall never cease to praise Him, Glory, glory to His name! I will praise Him! I will praise Him! Praise the Lamb for sinners slain; Give Him glory, all ye people, For His blood can wash away each stain.

I think that was her testimony. All she claimed was swept away. Her ambitions, plans and wishes lay in ashes at her feet. “Then” – oh, that is good! “Then God’s fire upon the altar of my heart was set aflame; I shall never cease to praise Him! Glory, glory to His name!” As Mr. Hoffman put it, “You can only be blest and have peace and sweet rest, as you yield Him your body and soul.”

Think now of the faithful people who saved our church from financial ruin. Every one of them had to pass the tests God sent to them. Others ran away during this church split. But the faithful people remained, even though it cost them a great deal to stay and pass the test. I remember what it cost Mrs. Salazar. I remember what it cost Mr. Prudhomme. I know what it cost my wife, what it cost Dr. Chan, Dr. Cagan, Mrs. Cagan, Mrs. Bebout, and all the others. They could say, “All I claimed was swept away; my ambitions, plans and wishes at my feet in ashes lay.” That’s what happened to Father Abraham, when he raised his knife to slay the son he loved more than life itself! All his ambitions, plans and wishes at his feet in ashes lay! And that is how he and all the others passed the test. Do you wonder why Mrs. Salazar is such a saint? All her ambitions, plans and wishes at her feet in ashes lay!

You don’t become a great Christian by simply studying the Bible. You become a great Christian by sacrificing your ambitions, plans and wishes to God! You become a great Christian the same way Abraham did! There is no other way! Please stand and sing hymn number 4, “Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken,”

Jesus, I my cross have taken, All to leave and follow Thee; Destitute, despised, forsaken, Thou, from hence, my all shalt be: Perish every fond ambition, All I’ve sought, and hoped, and known; Yet how rich is my condition, God and Heaven are still my own! Let the world despise and leave me, They have left my Saviour, too; Human hearts and looks deceive me; Thou art not, like man, untrue; And, while Thou shalt smile upon me, God of wisdom, love and might, Foes may hate, and friends may shun me; Show Thy face, and all is bright. Man may trouble and distress me, ’Twill but drive me to Thy breast; Life with trials hard may press me; Heaven will bring me sweeter rest. O ’tis not in grief to harm me, While Thy love is left to me; O ’twere not in joy to charm me, Were that joy unmixed with Thee. Haste thee on from grace to glory, Armed by faith, and winged by prayer; Heaven’s eternal day’s before thee, God’s own hand shall guide thee there. Soon shall close thy earthly mission, Swift shall pass thy pilgrim days, Hope shall change to glad fruition, Faith to sight, and prayer to praise. (“Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken” by Henry F. Lyte, 1793-1847).

You may be seated.

Ah, I didn’t plan the sermon this way at all! I wrote a beautiful outline before I started writing out the sermon. It took me all day Friday. In the end, my lovely outline was “swept away, and lay in ashes at my feet!” Let it stand! Yet I believe that it gives the message of Abraham and Isaac, probably better than if I had followed my beautiful sermon outline!

Dr. DeHaan said, “Here the typology changes and we have an example of a double type. Isaac could be a type of Christ only so far and no farther, for Isaac himself [was a sinner who] needed a substitute who must be slain in his stead. And so the figure changes from Isaac as a picture of Christ, to a ram as a substitute for Isaac” (ibid., p. 141). Now look at verse 13,

“And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son” ().

Notice the phrase, “in the stead [or place] of his son.” It is a picture of Christ’s substitutionary death, in the place of sinners. The ram sacrificed in the place of Isaac is a perfect picture of Jesus being sacrificed in your place, to pay for your sins on the Cross, Jesus, “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree [on the Cross],” .

I am asking you to trust Jesus. The moment you trust Him, His death on the Cross pays the full penalty for your sin. And the Blood He shed on the Cross will cleanse you from all sin – the moment you trust Him with all your heart. Only trust Him. Only trust Him. Only trust Him now. He will save you. He will save you. He will save you now. Amen.

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Scripture Read Before the Sermon by Mr. Abel Prudhomme: . Solo Before the Sermon by Mr. Benjamin Kincaid Griffith: “Is Your All on the Altar?” (by Elisha A. Hoffman, 1839-1929).

THE OUTLINE OF

LIFE LESSONS FROM ABRAHAM AND ISAAC

(SERMON #85 ON THE BOOK OF GENESIS)

by Dr. R. L. Hymers, Jr.

“Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (, ).

()

I. First, the passage pictures the testing of Christians, , ; ; ; ; , ; , .

II. Second, Abraham pictures God the Father, ; ; ; .

III. Third, Isaac pictures Jesus, ; ; , ; , , ; ; , , ; .

– Abraham Is Willing to Offer IsaacA. God’s command to Abraham and his response.1. (1-2) God tests the faith of Abraham.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.”a. God tested Abraham: This was not so much a test to produce faith, as it was a test to reveal faith. God built Abraham slowly, piece by piece, year by year, into a man of faith. This test would reveal some of the faith God had built into Abraham.i. “I cannot imagine a greater test than that which the Lord applied to Abraham. The Jews usually say that Abraham was tried ten times. Surely on this occasion he was tried ten times in one.” (Spurgeon)b. Here I am: Abraham’s quick answer to the call is a wonderful example of how the man or woman of faith should respond to God. When Abraham said, “Here I am,” it meant that he was ready to be taught, ready to obey, ready to surrender, and he was ready to be examined by God.c. Take now your son, your only son Isaac: Significantly, God called Isaac your only son Isaac, when in fact Abraham had another son, Ishmael. Since Ishmael was put away from Abraham’s family (), as far as God’s covenant was concerned, Abraham had only one son.d. Your only son Isaac, whom you love: Counting from , this is the first mention of love in the Bible. This first mention comes in the context of the love between father and son, connected with the idea of the sacrificial offering of the son.i. Every phrase of God’s command to Abraham was like a knife.· Take now your son.· Your only son Isaac.· Whom you love.· Offer him there.· As a burnt offering.e. Offer him there as a burnt offering: God told Abraham to offer him as a burnt offering. This was not an offering that was burned alive, but one with the life first taken by sacrifice and then the body completely burnt before the LORD.i. Abraham lived as a sojourner, a pilgrim, in the land of Canaan. The priests of many of the Canaanite gods said their gods demanded human sacrifice. The people of Canaan found nothing especially strange about human sacrifice, but Abraham had believed Yahweh was different.ii. With this command, Abraham might have wondered if Yahweh, the God of the covenant and creator of heaven and earth, was like the pagan gods the Canaanites and others worshipped. By the end of this story, Abraham knew that God was not like the pagan gods that demanded human sacrifice. In truth, He was just the opposite.iii. How would we react if God told us to do such a thing? Many years ago, Jack Smith, a columnist for the L.A. Times, wrote about this Biblical incident. He said he would have told God to mind his own business. That’s what the world always says to God.iv. It can’t be denied that either out of madness or demonic deception, some have done terrible things and justified it along these lines. In 1993, a man named Andrew Cate was sentenced to 60 years in prison after being convicted of fatally shooting his 2-year-old daughter, then walking naked through his neighborhood carrying her body. Cate claimed he was acting out the biblical story of Abraham and Isaac, and God would do a miracle to win his brother to Christianity. Cate believed God would miraculously stop him at the last moment before killing his daughter. The man was obviously deranged. What Abraham did was something completely unique in God’s redemptive history, given for a specific purpose once-for-all fulfilled. There is no way God would ever direct someone to do this same thing today. As will be shortly demonstrated, a significant point of this story is the demonstration that God did not, in fact, want this kind of sacrifice.f. Offer him there as a burnt offering: This test was difficult in yet another aspect, because it seemed to contradict the previous promise of God. God had already promised in Isaac your seed shall be called (). It seemed strange and contradictory to kill the son who was promised to carry on the covenant when it had not yet been fulfilled in him. It seemed as if God commanded Abraham to kill the very promise God made to him.i. Abraham had to learn the difference between trusting the promise and trusting the Promiser. We can put God’s promise before God Himself and feel it is our responsibility to bring the promise to pass, even if we have to disobey God to do it. Trust the Promiser no matter what, and the promise will be taken care of.ii. “Brethren, there are times with us when we are called to a course of action which looks as though it would jeopardise our highest hopes… It is neither your business nor mine to fulfill God’s promise, nor to do the least wrong to produce the greatest good. To do evil that good may come is false morality, and wicked policy. For us is duty, for God is the fulfillment of his own promise, and the preservation of our usefulness.” (Spurgeon)e. To the land of Moriah… on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you: There was a specific place God commanded Abraham to go, a particular spot where this would happen. God carefully directed each detail of this drama.2. (3) Abraham’s immediate response of faith.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.a. So Abraham rose early: There is no sign of hesitation on Abraham’s part. Abraham rose early in the morning to do this. It must have been a sleepless night for Abraham.i. Abraham’s obedience showed that he trusted God, even when he did not understand. Sometimes we say, “I’m not going to obey or believe until I understand it all,” but that is to put myself on an equal standing with God.ii. Abraham’s obedience showed that he didn’t debate or seek counsel from others. He knew what to do and refused to use stalling tactics.iii. Abraham’s obedience showed that he trusted God, even when he did not feel like it. There is not a line in this text about how Abraham felt, not because he didn’t feel, but because he walked by faith, not feelings.iv. “But there is not a word of argument; not one solitary question that even looks like hesitation. ‘God is God,’ he seems to say, and it is not for me to ask him why, or seek a reason for his bidding. He has said it: ‘I will do it.’” (Spurgeon)v. God trained Abraham over many decades, bringing him to this place of great trust. In just the last chapter, God asked Abraham to give up Ishmael in a less severe way. God used that, and everything else, to train up Abraham and build great faith in him.b. Saddled his donkey: The phrasing suggests that Abraham did this work personally; he saddled his donkey and hesplit the wood. Though he had plenty of servants to do this for him, Abraham did it himself, even in his old age. Perhaps this was because he was filled with nervous energy.i. “He was a sheik and a mighty man in his camp, but he became a wood-splitter, thinking no work menial if done for God, and reckoning the work too sacred for other hands. With splitting heart he cleaves the wood. Wood for the burning of his heir! Wood for the sacrifice of his own dear child!” (Spurgeon)c. Went to the place of which God had told him: In wonderful, trusting obedience, Abraham went right to the spot which God had told him. He did this even though it would have been easier in Abraham’s eyes if God had asked Abraham to lay his own life down instead of the life of his son Isaac.B. Abraham’s offering of Isaac.1. (4-8) Abraham journeys to the place of sacrifice with Isaac.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.a. On the third day: Abraham came to the place on the third day. The region of Moriah is associated with Mount Moriah, which is modern-day Jerusalem ().i. Abraham had three long days to think over what God commanded him to do. This made the test even more severe. “To be burnt quick to death upon the blazing fagot is comparatively an easy martyrdom, but to hang in chains roasting at a slow fire, to have the heart hour by hour pressed as in a vice, this it is that trieth faith; and this it was that Abraham endured through three long days” (Spurgeon).b. I will go yonder and worship: This is the first use of the word worship in reference to God in the Bible. The Hebrew word shachah simply means, to bow down. While Abraham and Isaac did not go to the mount to have a time of joyful praise, they did go to bow down to the LORD.c. And we will come back to you: Abraham was full of faith when he spoke to the young men who were with him. He believed that both he and Issac would return; that we will come back, and he told them so.i. This does not mean that Abraham somehow knew this was only a test and God would not really require this of him. Instead, Abraham’s faith was in understanding that should he kill Isaac, God would raise him from the dead, because God had promised Isaac would carry on the line of blessing and the covenant.ii. He knew in Isaac your seed shall be called (), and Isaac had yet to have any children. God had to let him live at least long enough to have children. “If Isaac shall die, there is no other descendant left, and no probabilities of any other to succeed him; the light of Abraham will be quenched, and his name forgotten” (Spurgeon).iii. clearly explains this principle: By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,” concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.iv. Abraham knew anything was possible, but it was impossible that God would break His promise. He knew God was not a liar. To this point in Biblical history, we have no record of anyone being raised from the dead, so Abraham had no precedent for this faith, apart from God’s promise. Yet Abraham knew God was able. God could do it.d. Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son: Isaac received the wood for his own sacrifice from his father, and he carried it to the hill of sacrifice.e. He took the fire in his hand, and a knife: Abraham took the knife up the hill. He didn’t leave it behind or pretend to forget it. This was a further demonstration of his obedience, and of his trust that if necessary, God would raise Isaac from the dead.i. “That knife was cutting into his own heart all the while, yet he took it. Unbelief would have left the knife at home, but genuine faith takes it.” (Spurgeon)f. The two of them went together: This literally means the two of them went in agreement. Isaac did this knowingly and willingly. The phrase is repeated twice for emphasis.g. My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering: Abraham knew God would provide a sacrifice, but where? Where was the lamb? That question had been asked by all the faithful, from Isaac to Moses to David to Isaiah, all the way to the time of John the Baptist when he declares: Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! ()i. At this time, Abraham didn’t know how God would provide. He still trusted in the ability of God to raise Isaac from the dead, but he wouldn’t stop trusting just because he didn’t know how God would fulfill His promise.ii. We have a remarkable picture of the work of Jesus at the cross, thousands of years before it happened. The son of promise willingly went to be sacrificed in obedience to his father, carrying the wood of his sacrifice up the hill, all with full confidence in the promise of resurrection.2. (9) Isaac willingly lies down on the altar.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.a. Then they came to the place: Apparently, even on Mount Moriah there was a specific place God told Abraham to stop, because this was the place to do this.b. Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac: At this time, Abraham was more than 100 years old and Isaac would have been able to escape his coming death had he chosen to. Yet he submitted to his father perfectly. In remembering Abraham’s faith, we should never forget Isaac’s faith.i. Some Jewish commentators think Isaac was in his thirties at the time of this event. “The younger man, perhaps five-and-twenty — so Josephus thinks — possibly thirty-three years of age, and, if so, very manifestly the type of Christ, who was about that age when he came to die” (Spurgeon).c. Upon the wood: As an obedient son, Isaac laid down on the wood, ready to be sacrificed.3. (10-14) God’s merciful reprieve.And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 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.” Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind himwas 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.”a. Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son: We must believe Abraham was completely willing to plunge the knife into Isaac, because his faith was in God’s ability to raise Isaac from the dead, not in God’s desire to stop the sacrifice. Abraham didn’t think this was a drama or a mere ceremony.i. “Notice the obedience of this friend of God – it was no playing at giving up his son: it was really doing it. It was no talking about what he could do, and would do, perhaps, but his faith was practical and heroic.” (Spurgeon)ii. One may say, “It’s not fair or right. God told Abraham to do something and then told him not to do it. If God really wanted to test Abraham, He should have made him plunge the knife into his son’s chest.”iii. Yet God often takes the will for the deed with his people. When He finds them truly willing to make the sacrifice He demands, He often does not require it. This is how we can be martyrs without ever dying for Jesus. We live the life of a martyr right now.iv. But, “Often there are believers who wonder how they may know the will of God. We believe that ninety per cent of the knowing of the will of God consists in willingness to do it before it is known” (Barnhouse).b. Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him: With this, God emphatically showed Abraham that He was not like the pagan gods worshipped by the Canaanites and others, gods that demanded human sacrifice and were pleased by it. God strongly and clearly demonstrated that He did not want human sacrifice.c. You have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me: Abraham displayed his heart towards God in that he was willing to give up his only son. God displays His heart towards us in the same way, by giving His only begotten Son ().i. When God asked Abraham for the ultimate demonstration of love and commitment, He asked for Abraham’s son. When God the Father wanted to show us the ultimate demonstration of His love and commitment to us, He gave us His Son. We can say to the LORD, “Now I know that You love me, seeing You have not withheld Your Son, Your only Son from me.”d. Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son: All the while, God still required a sacrifice. God didn’t call off the sacrifice. Instead, He required that there be a substitute provided by God Himself.e. Abraham called the name of the place: The naming of the place was significant. Abraham called it The LORD Will Provide (Jehovah Jireh); In this mount, it shall be provided.i. Abraham didn’t name the place in reference to what he experienced. He didn’t name it Mount Trial or Mount Agony or Mount Obedience. Instead, he named the hill in reference to what God did; he named it Mount Provision. He named it knowing God would provide the ultimate sacrifice for salvation on that hill someday.ii. Earlier, Isaac asked his father where the sacrifice was, and Abraham answered, God will provide for Himself the lamb (). In naming the place Jehovah Jireh, “Abraham says nothing about himself at all, but the praise is unto God, who sees and is seen; the record is, ‘Jehovah will provide.’ I like that self-ignoring; I pray that we, also, may have so much strength of faith that self may go to the wall” (Spurgeon).iii. As it is said to this day: Apparently, Moses meant even in his own day, men looked at that hill and said, “In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided.” Abraham, and later Moses, recognized that God did provide, and it pointed to the ultimate sacrifice when God would provide Himself. “God provided a ram instead of Isaac. This was sufficient for the occasion as a type; but that which was typified by the ram is infinitely more glorious. In order to save us God provided God. I cannot put it more simply. He did not provide an angel, nor a mere man, but God himself” (Spurgeon).iv. This event is also a prophecy of Jesus’ rising from the dead on the third day, as says He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. This is one place where the Old Testament indicates the Messiah would rise again the third day. It says so through the picture of Isaac. Isaac was “reckoned dead” by Abraham as soon as God gave the command, and Isaac was “made alive” (risen) three days later.v. Isaac’s life as a picture of Jesus becomes even clearer:· Both were loved by their father.· Both offered themselves willingly.· Both carried wood up the hill of their sacrifice.· Both were sacrificed on the same hill.· Both were delivered from death on the third day.4. (15-19) God reconfirms His promise to Abraham in light of his faith.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.a. The Angel of the LORD called to Abraham: This would seem to be the voice of God the Son Himself, the unique messenger or Angel of the LORD. The message following seems to be in the first person (By Myself I have sworn). Jesus the Messiah, God the Son, was uniquely present at this remarkable event.b. You have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son: For the third time, God refers to Isaac as Abraham’s only son(previously in and 22:12).c. Blessing I will bless you: Abraham knew the blessingthat comes to those who trust God’s promise, and trust it so completely that they will take action on that belief. Trusting in God’s power to raise his only son from the dead, Abraham received this great blessing.d. I will multiply your descendants: Abraham’s obedience was based on trust in God’s promise to bring descendants through Isaac (). Therefore, God repeated and emphasized that promise after Abraham’s remarkable obedience.e. As the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore: According to Morris, by rough calculations, the number of stars in the sky and grains of sand on the seashore are the same: 10 to the 25th power.f. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice: The promise to bring forth the Messiah from Abraham’s lineage was also repeated (earlier in ). The Messiah – the only sonof God the Father – would fulfill this promise of blessing to all the nations of the earth.5. (20-24) The listing of Nahor’s family.Now it came to pass after these things that it was told Abraham, saying, “Indeed Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor: Huz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram, Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” And Bethuel begot Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah, Gaham, Thahash, and Maachah.a. Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor: When Abraham left Ur of the Chaldeans, he also left his brother Milcah (). Here we learn of the children born to Abraham’s brother, back in Ur.b. Bethuel begot Rebekah: One son of Milcah named Bethuel had a daughter named Rebekah. She is mentioned because she will later become the wife of Abraham’s son Isaac.c. His concubine: This is the first mention of a concubine in the Bible. In addition to his wife Milcah, Nahor also took a concubine named Reumah.i. Matthew Poole gave a good explanation of a concubine: “A concubine was an inferior kind of wife, taken according to the common practice of those times, subject to the authority of the principal wife, and whose children had no right of inheritance, but were endowed with gifts.”ii. This taking of an additional wife or concubine was recognized as legal and was culturally accepted in the ancient world, including the world Abraham and the patriarchs lived in. However, it was never in God’s plan. We know this because of the pattern given in , that a man should leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. In speaking upon the principle, Jesus clearly told us that this was God’s intention at the beginning (). God never gave a specific command against polygamy until the New Testament, but God showed in principle that it was never His heart. In addition, whenever we see the family life of a polygamous household in the Bible, those families are marked by chaos and conflict.

The Sacrifice of Isaac

Text:

I. There are stories that cause some concern because they involve the concept of sacrificing a human being to God.

A. They cause concern because the Bible is very clear about God’s opinion on human sacrifices.

B. The slaying of humans invokes a death sentence -

C. False gods were worshiped with human sacrifices, but not the true God -

1. - To do so would profane the Lord’s name

2. , - God never even thought of allowing such a thing

II. Most are familiar with the sacrifice of Isaac -

A. Abraham was asked to offer his only son to God.

1. This was the child Abraham had waited 25 years for during his old age. Isaac was not born until Abraham had reached the age of 100.

2. This was the child through whom God had promised to bring great blessings upon Abraham. -

3. Here then are two contradictions in God’s command.

a. The child is to die before he has children. Yet, with this child’s children would be an everlasting covenant.

b. God abhors human sacrifices, yet He asks for one of Abraham

4. It is these contradictions that hint there is something more here than the simple obvious facts.

a. Later we are told how Abraham resolved the conflict within himself -

b. Here Abraham demonstrates his great faith.

(1) He trusted God even when God seemed to contradict His own statements.

(2) It wasn’t a blind faith, but one that was well reasoned.

c. Abraham believed he would return with Isaac before he walked up the mountain -

5. In truth, it is a foreshadowing of the later sacrifice of God’s only son

B. Isaac was called the lamb for the offering -

1. Jesus too was called the lamb of God -

2. Redeemed by the blood of a precious lamb -

C. Isaac carried the wood for his own sacrifice -

1. Jesus carried his own cross -

D. They traveled three days to the place of sacrifice

1. Why so far?

a. Some see this as part of the test of Abraham’s faith. He was given plenty of time to change his mind.

b. Yet, perhaps there is something more here

2. The place they went was a mountain in the land of Moriah, known as Jehovah-jireh (The Lord will provide).

a. Moriah is only mentioned one other place in the Bible. It was the mountain where the temple was built -

b. Jesus died outside the gates of the city of Jerusalem. The city where the temple was located. Jesus died on a mountain of Moriah.

3. Abraham’s sacrifice began the day he left home.

a. He had given up his son Isaac for three days before he actually placed Isaac on the altar – before God restored his son to him by halting the sacrifice.

b. Jesus spent three days in the grave before God restored him to life.

III. There is more here than we first notice.

A. A story is being played out in advance of the real story.

B. God asks for Isaac to be a burnt offering, but He did not require his actual death.

1. Later in the Law of Moses, a burnt offering is one offered for sin -

2. It is called a “soothing aroma” because it turned away God’s wrath -

3. It was a whole offering because what was offered was completely given -

C. Yet, because Abraham had given over his son to God, it was an acceptable offering -

D. What we see is a foreshadow of God’s own offer of His Son for the world

1. His sacrifice was sin offering - ;

2. His sacrifice was a burnt offering, even though he was not burnt - , this is because he gave himself wholly over to God to appease God’s wrath.

E. From before the foundations of the world, God planned a way to save you from the sins you bound yourself in. He gave the ultimate sacrifice on your behalf -

F. What will you do with Jesus?