God Spares Issac

God is Merciful!

Over the past couple of weeks we have looked at the evidence of salvation and this can be characterized by how we love one another. Tonight we are going to take a quick break from the evidence of salvation and look at importance of salvation as well as the importance of being completely sold out for Christ.

In Genesis there is a story that directly foreshadows what God did for us by sacrificing His son for us! Turn to Genesis 22.

A little background story before we get started is that Abraham had been promised by God that he would be the father of many nations. This sounds awesome but Abraham didn’t believe that him and his wife would ever have a biological child besides ishmael. Abraham had a child with their servant because his wife could not have children.

Abraham and his wife had their promised child when he was 100 years old and Sarah was 90 years old. This was Abrahams pride and joy. This was the promised one the one whom Abraham had waited for and whom the nation of Israel is born. This is where the story picks up after a couple of years after he was born.

Genesis 22:1–14 ESV

1 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “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.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” 6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. 7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together. 9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter 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 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.” 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

1. Abraham’s faithfulness

God called Abraham to do the unthinkable. God called Abraham to kill his promised son as a sacrifice. This would be absolutely absurd to ask any one to do this.

Abraham was faithful to do what God had commanded him to do. He knew that God promised a nation to come out of Issac but by killing him then there would be no promise. But Abraham was faithful to what God has called him to despite his own logic. Abraham started by preparing the wood and the fire for the sacrifice like any other time before and even gets 2 other men to come with him. He then was obviously hoping for a sign from God that he did not have to go through with it, but that didn’t happen. Then 3 days afterwards Abraham and Issac went up the mountain alone and Abraham’s response was that God will provide for us. Abraham had already made the conscience decision to follow through with the sacrifice of his son and knew that God’s promise would still be fulfilled through his family.

Abraham knew that if he killed Issac then a miracle would happen whether that miracle was Issac coming back to life or them having another child. But Abraham is already grieving over the loss of his son as they are going up the mountain. Abraham also had faith the Issac would return down the mountain.

Genesis 22:5 ESV

5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.”

Abraham knew that what ever God had for his family is better despite our own wants and needs. Abraham knew that God was God and we are not.

God calls us to do things that will sometimes seem illogical. We must know that God’s plan is higher than our own and that he is in control.

We must be obedient to our calling which is proclaiming him to all people. It is easy to do our own thing but it is difficult to do things that are against the norms.

This is easy to say but it is difficult to do. It is easy to say that you should live your life out completely for Christ but another thing to do it. We are called to be different but not weird. We are called to live differently by the way we act and love. We are called to be obedient to God.

2. Issac’s Obedience

So many times when we think of this story we automatically assume that Issac was this little boy but he was most likely a teenager. He is led to a place of sacrifice by his 110 plus year old man. Issac could of easily beaten his dad and ran away but he was obedient to his father. Issac also knew something was up because he asked

Genesis 22:7–8 ESV

7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.

Issac had faith in his father but also in God. Issac was not dumb but was attentive in the fact that they had all of the requirements for a sacrifice except the sacrifice. Abraham comforted Issac in the fact that God will provide a lamb for the offering.

Issac was even obedient enough to be tied up and even laid on top of the wood altar. Issac then saw his dad draw the knife back in order to kill him and yet he was still obedient in waiting for God to provide for them.

We must be obedient to what God is calling us to do in our lives and trust in Him.

3. God Provides

Genesis 22:11–14 ESV

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 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.” 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

God stopped Abraham at the very last second before he plunged the knife into his son. Then Abraham looked and there was a ram that was stuck in a bush by its horns. This would then be sacrificed instead of his son. Abraham had already sacrificed his son all the way up to the point of the actual deed. He was faithful until God told him not to commit the sacrifice. God provided in order to save Issac. The ram that God provided took the place of Issac on the altar.

Similarly God provided the perfect lamb in order for us to forgo the punishment of our own sins. Over the past couple of weeks we have looked into the aspects of being a Christian and over the past couple of weeks God has laid it on my heart that some of you may not be Christians to begin with. God provided the perfect lamb which is Jesus in order that we may have a relationship with God. We must then accept this gift from God in order to be saved.

I feel as if there are some of you tonight who may have just been going through the motions and do not have a relationship with Christ. Tonight we are going to do something a little different and instead of us praying a being dismissed we are going to have one other song before being dismissed and during this song if you feel led to come talk to either me or Breanna please come talk to us.