Genesis 22:1-18 The Crucified King

On Easter we celebrate the good news that Jesus died and rose again to save sinners and wash them clean, and that our glorious King will return and make all things new.

To say it another way, Easter is where we celebrate the good news that God always keeps his promises.

That is something we can often overlook or take for granted about God. God never lies. He is always true. He always follows through.

If God has promised it, you can take it to the bank. Its guaranteed. Set in stone. As sure as God is God, it will happen.

What a God! What a Savior!

So to celebrate this Easter, I want to ask, what exactly has God promised us in Christ?

I want us to look at some specific promises God made about the Messiah, and then how God fulfilled all of those promises in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

So lets go to Genesis 22. Genesis 22 is a familiar story, its the story about Abraham and Isaac.

But its not just a story about Abraham and Isaac, it is also a glorious story about Jesus Christ and all of the promises God has kept in him because...

Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of God’s promise to bless the nations.

We are going to go deep today, and when you see what God says in Genesis 22, when you tie this story in with the grand story of redemption, I hope you will see the glory of Jesus Christ and glorify God for all the promises God has kept in him.

Let’s start in Genesis 22:1-3 with the story of Abraham and Isaac.

Abraham and Isaac

Genesis 22:1-3 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.

The story of Abraham is foundational for understanding the Bible.

You have Abraham, the father of our faith, and one day God calls Abraham, and says “Abraham, I want you to take your son, your only son Isaac and I want you to offer him as a sacrifice.”

Notice how much God emphasized Abraham’s love for Isaac.

God calls him his son, his only son.

This is very specific language God is using because Abraham had another son named Ishmael. But Ishmael, we’ll see, was not the son of the promise, Isaac was.

So when God says your only son, he uses language that is normally used to talk about mourning the death or the loss of your child.

Its irreplaceable son. A son that if lost, would be lost forever.

Another way you could say it is that Isaac is Abraham’s beloved son.

And yet God asks him to sacrifice Isaac as a burnt offering.

And the Bible tells us that God did this to test Abraham. Now what was God testing?

Was God testing whether Abraham loved Him more than Isaac? Possibly.

But I think when you look at what the New Testament says about this story, what God was actually testing was Abraham’s faith. Specifically Abraham’s faith in God and his faithfulness to fulfill his promises.

Well what were those promises? To understand that, you need to understand the Abrahamic Covenant.

Abrahamic Covenant

The Abrahamic Covenant was inaugurated in Genesis chapter 12 and then it was progressively revealed, confirmed and expanded in Genesis 15 and 17.\

Let’s start in Genesis 12

Genesis 12:1-3 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

When God called Abraham, God gave him 4 promises.

God promised to make Abraham into a great nation.

God promised to make Abraham’s name great on the earth so that he would be a blessing to other people.

But Abraham wasn’t going to just be a blessing to some people. God promised that through Abraham all the families of the earth would be blessed.

Then a little later in verse 7, God promised to give Abraham’s offspring the land of Canaan. It was the Promised Land.

So there are two things I really want you to see here about the Abrahamic Covenant Genesis 12.

First, when God says he will give Abraham the promised land and make him into a great nation, that is kingdom language.

God is promising through Abraham, a Kingdom.

And the second thing I want you to see, is that in Abraham, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

This means that through Abraham, God promised to pour out blessing on all the nations of the earth which is peculiar because in our sin all the families of the earth don’t deserve God’s blessing. We deserve God’s judgment.

Now those promises are already incredible.

But what makes them even more incredible is that when God promised Abraham all these things, Abraham did not have an offspring.

Right before this promise, in Genesis 11:30, the Bible specifically says that Sarah, Abraham’s wife, was barren and had no child.

And here God was promising to bless all the families of the earth and bring a great Kingdom from Abraham’s offspring.

Then comes Genesis 15. And in the first verse God gives a summary of all promises he had made to Abraham in chapter 12.

Genesis 15:1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”

Then in the very next verse, Abraham asked God how he was going to fulfill these promises.

Both Hebrews and Paul tells us that when God made all these promises to Abraham, he was an old man. In fact the Bible says Abraham was as good as dead.

How was God make Abraham into a great nation when he was already an old man, and didn’t even have a child yet.

But God doubles down and promises Abraham that he would have a son and that Abraham’s descendents would be as numerous as the stars in the heavens.

And the Bible says that Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness showing us that we are saved by faith.

Then to confirm this promise God told Abraham to get some animals, cut them in half and then lay those pieces across from each other.

In Abraham’s day when you made a covenant with someone, you would cut some animals in half and then both sides agreeing to the covenant would walk through the animal sacrifices as a way of saying to the other person if I break this covenant, if I don’t hold up my end of the deal, may I be slaughtered like these animals.

But something unusual happens in Genesis 15.

God puts Abraham to sleep, and he gives Abraham a vision and in the vision, God walks through the animal sacrifices alone.

God was saying to Abraham, “I will fulfill this promises. I will bless all the families of the earth through your offspring, I will make you a great kingdom, and if I don’t, let me be slaughtered like these animals.

God swore by himself that he would fulfill his promises to Abraham.

And if God is God, then God cannot fail and these promises were guaranteed to happen.

Finally Genesis 17. Abraham is 99 years old, and God comes to him again and repromises the promise, but this time God adds more promises to it.

He tells Abraham, kings will come from you.

Now why was that promise so important?

Well to understand that, we need to look at another covenant that God made with one of Abraham’s descendents, David.

David was King of Israel, so God had already made kings come from Abraham just like he had promised, and David wanted to build a house for the Lord.

A temple where the People of God could worship him for all his glory. But God says, I don’t want you to build me a house. I want to build you a house.

2 Samuel 7:12-14; 16 I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son...And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.

Now notice that God says I will raise up your offspring. Remember, David is a descendent of Abraham. So this “offspring” is still Abraham’s offspring.

That means the Davidic Covenant is not independent of the Abrahamic Covenant. It is an amplification and explanation of what God meant when he promised that Kings would come from Abraham.

Now God was not just promising a line of kings in general, but he was promising the King of kings. A King whose throne would be established forever.

So from the Abrahamic covenant, keeping the Davidic Covenant in mind, I want you to see two main promises.

First, God would bless all the families of the earth through Abraham’s offspring.

And second, God would bring a King from Abraham, and then more specifically through David, whose throne would be established forever and ever in perfect justice and righteousness and this King would give God’s people rest from all of their enemies.

But there was still a problem. Abraham was old and he still didn’t have a child.

But Romans 4:19-21

Romans 4:19-21 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. 20 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

And after years of waiting, Sarah conceived and gave birth to Isaac.

The child of the promise was finally born. But now, in Genesis 22, God is telling Abraham take that child of promise and sacrifice Isaac.

What was God thinking? How was God going to fulfill all the promises if he had Abraham kill the offspring on whom all the promises rest?

That was the test. And Abraham passed the test and obeyed in faith.

Genesis 22:6-10 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.

Abraham believed God’s promise. Abraham believed God when he said in Genesis 21:12 through Isaac shall your offspring be named.

And if God had said it, Abraham knew God would do it.

Verse 11...

Genesis 22:11-13 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.

God was faithful to his promise. Isaac lived and in him the hope of a King who would bless all the families of the earth lived too.

How did Abraham know God would fulfill his promise? That even if Abraham sacrificed Isaac that God would still bring a King through him who would bless all the families of the earth?

The easy answer is obviously faith. But faith in what exactly?

Hebrews 11 tells us.

Hebrews 11:17-19 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, 18 of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 19 He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.

Did you catch it? Abraham had faith that God would fulfill his promise because Abraham had faith that God could resurrect Isaac.

That if Abraham killed him, God would raise him from the dead and the promises would be intact.

Abraham believed God would fulfill his promise to bless all the families of the earth and raise up a King whose throne would be established forever through a resurrection.

And what is amazing about the in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ is that that is exactly what God did.

Remember, Abraham and Isaac is not just about Abraham and Isaac.

It is God’s dramatic foreshadowing how He would ultimately fulfill his promise to Abraham.

His promise to bless to all families of all earth through his Son, Jesus Christ.

Christ and Isaac

Jesus is the true Son of the promise. The true offspring of Abraham.

That’s exactly what Matthew wanted us to see in the very first verse of the NT. Matthew 1:1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Jesus is the Son of David. The King of kings.

And he is the Son of Abraham. The promised blessing to all the nations.

Abraham and Isaac is really about Christ and how God kept his promise to bless the nations and raise up a King to reign forever in perfect justice by raising Jesus from the dead.

If you read Genesis 22 keeping the stakes of the promise in mind you’ll start to see this story in a whole new light. Almost every line is saturated with Christ.

Do you remember what God said when he called Abraham to sacrifice Isaac?

Genesis 22:2 Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love...and offer him there as a burnt offering.

And what did God say about his Son, Jesus Christ?

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Do you hear the echoes of your son, your only son, whom you love?

That was Christ to the Father.

And that’s not all. All of Genesis 22 is rich and overflowing with symbolism and foreshadowing how God would fulfill his promise to Abraham.

How Jesus the Son of God would die for the sins of the world and rise again from the grave three days later.

First, Abraham was told to sacrifice Isaac on a mountain in the land of Moriah.

The land of Moriah was eventually where Jerusalem would be. And when Solomon built the temple, he built it on Mount Moriah.

Throughout his ministry, Jesus said that his body was the true temple of God. The true place where heaven and earth met as God incarnate and the true place where we could worship God and have our sin atoned for.

Abraham was told to offer Isaac as a burnt offering. According to the Law in Leviticus 1:1-3 a burnt offering was to make atonement for sin.

In his death on the cross, Christ is our atonement. He is our once for all sacrifice who pays our debt of sin and washes us clean.

And here’s one that’s amazing. Did you notice how Abraham took the wood that was for the burnt offering and Genesis specifically says that Abraham laid it on his son Isaac to carry up the mountain. The place where he would be sacrificed.

What does that remind you of?

John 19:17 So they took Jesus, 17 and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them.

Jesus bore his cross made of wood to the place where he would offer his life as a sacrifice for our sins.

And that’s not all. Abraham, the father, is the one who laid the wood on Isaac.

The cross represents our sin and our iniquity that Jesus had to die for. And look what God prophesied In Isaiah 53.

Isaiah 53:5-6 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

God laid our sin, the wood for our sacrifice on Jesus. And like Isaac, Jesus willingly bore it up the hill to Calvary.

And as Abraham raised the knife, God stopped him, and just like Abraham believed he would, God provided a sacrifice. There was a ram with his horns caught in a thicket.

Isaac’s life was saved through the substitute of the ram. And that ram shows us how Christ is our substitute.

He died on the cross in our place. He bore the wrath that God had against us, and paid our debt of sin so that we wouldn’t have to.

And we know the ram represents Christ because it was specifically his horns, his head, that was caught in a thicket.

John 19:2 Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. 2 And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. 3 They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands.

The ram in the thicket is an allusion to the crown of thorns they placed on Christ.

He was the blessing to the nations. He was the King who was promised. And they mocked and ridiculed the King of kings and Lord of lords by giving him a crown of thorns and covering him in a purple robe, the color of royalty.

Have you ever wondered why they used a crown of thorns? Why thorns? Do you remember what God said when he laid the curse against Adam after the Fall?

Genesis 3:17-18 Cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you.

By using a crown of thorns, God is showing us that Jesus, our great King and Savior bore our curse on the cross. He bore our death and punishment for sin.

That’s why Paul says Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law [meaning death] by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.

Abraham believed God would provide a sacrifice so that God’s promise to bless all the families of the earth and bring the King of kings would be fulfilled. And in Christ, God has.

And where God maintained his promise by figuratively raising Isaac from the dead and giving him back to Abraham like Hebrews says, God fulfilled his promise by actually putting Christ to death and actually raising him from the dead three days later.

Just like Abraham thought, God kept his promise through a resurrection. But it wasn’t the resurrection of Isaac. It was the resurrection of God’s own Son Jesus Christ.

You see, Jesus was the true offspring of the promise. God promised that it was through Abraham’s offspring that he would bless all the families of the earth and raise up a King to rule over the earth with perfect righteousness and justice.

And Isaac was Abraham’s. He was the heir through which all of God’s promises would be fulfilled. But he wasn’t the offspring. That was Christ.

The Bible confirms this in Galatians 3:16.

Galatians 3:16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.

Christ is the fulfillment of all of God’s promises to Abraham.

So what we want to do is ask how is Christ the fulfillment of God’s promise?

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Christ and the Promise

Let’s go back to Genesis 22:15-18.

After Abraham obeyed the Lord God confirmed his covenant promise.

Genesis 22:15-18 By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will SURELY bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, 18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.

All of God’s promises of the Abrahamic covenant are confirmed.

Abraham would be a great nation.

God would raise up a King.

That King would possess the land and have dominion.

And Abraham’s offspring would bless all the nations of the earth.

So out of this promise I want to highlight two things as they relate to Christ and how God fulfilled his promises through Jesus life, death and resurrection.

First...

1. Christ is the Promised Savior

First and foremost Christ is the offspring who blesses all the nations of the earth because he brings salvation to all the nations of the earth.

Look at what Peter says when he is preaching the gospel in Acts 3.

Acts 3:25-26 You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ 26 God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”

So Peter quotes the Abrahamic Covenant. In your offspring all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

And then Peter explicitly defines what that blessing is. How is Christ, the offspring of Abraham, a blessing to all the families of the earth?

To bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.

This is what we have been talking about all morning. Christ saves us from our sin.

Through faith in his sinless life, sacrificial death, and bodily resurrection God gives us the blessing of salvation.

And Christ is a blessing to all the nations because he doesn’t just save the Jews, he saves everyone that comes to him.

He frees us from our slavery to sin and the punishment of condemnation that we deserved and he gives us eternal life.

God kept his promise. He blessed all the families of the earth with salvation in the name of Jesus Christ.

And here’s the good news. If God kept his promise to bring the savior of the world and bless all the nations through him, then surely God will keep his promise to save you if you would come to Christ.

Romans 10:9 If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

That is God’s promise to you. There is no one too bad. No one to evil that God will not save by the blood of Christ.

Come to Jesus. If you are parched and thirsty from all of your sin, come to him, place your faith in him, follow him and Jesus promises to bless you and give you the water of eternal life.

2. Christ is the Promised King

So Christ is the offspring promised to Abraham that would bless the nations by bringing salvation to all the families of the earth.

But Christ is also the offspring promised to Abraham who brings blessing to the nations by reigning over the earth as the King of kings and Lord of lords.

You’ll remember that God promised Abraham that kings would come from him. And then God expanded and clarified that promise in the Davidic Covenant, promising a King of kings.

A King whose throne would be established forever by God himself.

And in Genesis 22, God promises that this King would rule over all nations.

Genesis 22:17 And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies.

This language is a little unfamiliar to us so let me help you here.

The word gate is better understood as city.

A gate was how you entered a city in the ancient world. So if a king laid seige to a city and took the gate and entered into the city, that city was his.

He had conquered it and nothing was going to keep him out. That was his gate.

So what God is promising here is that Christ, as the King of kings and Lord of lords, would possess the gate of his enemies, implying all of his enemies.

In other words, that Christ would have dominion and none of his enemies would be able to stand against him.

That his kingdom would be complete. Total. Dominant.

Now why is it our hope that Christ would possess the gate of his enemies? That his Kingdom would be dominant?

Because in Christ’s Kingdom, Rev 21:4-5 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” 5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”

Christ’s kingdom overcomes sin satan and death. The Kingdom of Christ brings healing and hope to a world broken by death and sin.

Like Jesus said, Christ’s kingdom makes all things new.

And this really starts to make click into place when you remember what Christ said about possessing the gate of his enemies.

Matthew 16:18 I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

A couple of things you need to notice. 1. Christ’s Kingdom is in his church. When God saves people and brings them into the church he transfers them from the domain of darkness to the kingdom of his beloved Son (Col. 1:13).

And Christ says he will build his church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

Now usually when people read this, they imagine that hell is the one attacking the church with the church playing defense believing Jesus’ promise here is that the church will stand firm. It won’t succumb to the attacks of Satan and the world.

But read it again. The gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Who has gates in a battle? The city under seige.

Jesus’ promise here is that he will build his kingdom as the church goes on the offensive. The church is the one attacking Satan’s kingdom and the kingdom of this world.

And Jesus’ promise is that he will possess the gates of his enemies.

That the campaign of his kingdom will succeed and he will have dominion over all the nations of the earth.

That’s the promise of Psalm 2 which the NT specifically applies to Jesus.

Psalm 2:7-9 I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. 8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. 9 You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”

Jesus will have dominion.

Or what about God’s promise in Isaiah 9? This is a familiar passage.

Isaiah 9:6-7 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

The word government in these verses means domination, dominion, or rule.

So God is promising that Christ’s Kingdom will increase and expand. In fact there will be no end to its increase.

This gives the picture that Christ’s Kingdom will progressively grow. Remember how Jesus said the Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that grows into the tallest tree in the garden.

Or that Matthew 13:33 The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.

Christ takes dominion and possess the gates of his enemies through slow, progressive growth of the church.

And Isaiah says, The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Can God be stopped? Can God fail to deliver on his promises? Then Christ will have dominion. He will reign with perfect justice and righteousness over all the earth and his kingdom will have no end.

Well how? How will Christ build his church and possess the gates of his enemies?

It’s the Great Commission. Its the proclamation of the good news of the gospel.

Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8 All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age...you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

People usually miss this, but you can see the fulfillment of the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants in the Great Commission.

First Jesus says All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. In heaven AND on earth.

He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. And in Psalm 2, God promised the King the nations as his heritage and the ends of the earth as his possession.

And what does Jesus say? Make disciples of all what? Nations!

And in Acts 1 right before he ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father and reign until his enemies are made a footstool under his feet Jesus said you will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth.

The King was promised the nations and the very ends of the earth as his possession, and Christ has told us, go get them!

Here is what is so amazing. They way Christ blesses all the families of the earth with salvation is by growing his Kingdom through the proclamation of the gospel.

The promise of salvation is inseparably tied to the promise of the Kingdom.

Jesus has sent the church, us, into the world to receive his inheritance. He has sent us to proclaim the good news of his gospel and bring blessing to all the families of the earth.

The question is, will we succeed? Or better yet, Will Christ succeed? Will the Great Commission go forth to all the nations even to the very ends of the earth?

I believe so. Why? Behold I am with you always, to the end of the age.

The Great Commission is Christ’s Mission. Can Christ fail? Will God fail to fulfill his promise to give the Son all the nations of the earth and subject his enemies under his feet? Of course not!

He is the promise keeping God. And God has promised to bless all the nations in Jesus Christ.

The eternal Son of God took on human flesh. Jesus, became a man. He lived a perfect sinless life as a man. He suffered and died as a man under the weight of our sin.

And God raised him from the dead three days later to save us from our sins.

And today, Jesus is ruling and reigning at the right hand of the Father, going with his church in the power of the Holy Spirit to proclaim the gospel, the sword of his mouth.

And with that sword, Christ conquers his enemies and builds His kingdom so that all the families of the earth might know the blessing of eternal life.

Let’s Pray

Scripture Reading

Philippians 2:6-11

Though [Jesus Christ] was in the form of God, [he] did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

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