The Faith of Abraham - RCS Chapel
Notes
Transcript
Hebrews 11:17–19 (NIV84)
17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 19 Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.
Genesis 22:1-14
Genesis 22:1–14 (NIV84)
1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”
Notice how God reminds Abraham about Isaac.
Your Son.
Your only son, Isaac.
Whom you love.
Think for just a minute, who else is an only-begotten Son in the Bible?
3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day
We have to remember that phrase, “the third day.”
Where else in the Bible is the “third day” important?
4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”
Notice what Abraham tells the servants:
“I and the boy will go.”
“We will worship.”
“We will come back to you.”
This is why Hebrews says that Abraham believed that God would raise Isaac from the dead.
6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac,
Isaac carries the wood on which he was going to be sacrificed up to the top of the mountain.
Who else carries wood that would be used as a sacrifice?
and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” 8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”
Every English translation gets what Abraham says here wrong.
“Provide” isn’t right. The Hebrew word there means “see.”
We already had the same word (verb) show up earlier in v. 4 where the text says that Abraham “saw the place in the distance.”
And we are going to hear the same word again in v. 13.
The other thing is the word order is wrong in English. It should be, “God will see Himself, the Lamb, for the burnt offering.”
In the Bible, who is called the Lamb (the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world)?
And the two of them went on together. 9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
I don’t have time to fully explain this, but the angel of the Lord is Jesus. The word “angel” means messenger.
Notice how He speaks as God, “You have not withheld from Me your son, your only son.”
13 Abraham looked up
Same word that wrongly got translated as “provide” back in v. 8.
and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns.
Who else in the Bible had His head caught in thorns?
He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide (see). And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided (seen).”
Hebrews 11:17-19
17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 19 Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.
Abraham had great faith, but what I want you to see today is that you, Christian, have the same faith as Abraham has.
Abraham believed that God would provide Himself [as] the Lamb for the sacrifice.
And Jesus did just that.
Like Isaac, Jesus was God’s son, His only-begotten Son, whom God loved.
Like Isaac, Jesus carried the wood where He would be sacrificed.
Like the ram caught in the thicket by its horns, Jesus was crowned with thorns.
Jesus stops the sacrifice of Isaac because Isaac could not bear the sins of the world, but Jesus could.
Jesus did, and He did it for you.