Last week we began a journey that will take us through the
Old Testament and examine several different foreshadowings of the Christ Child
that we celebrate in a special way during the Christmas Season. Last week we looked
at the earliest prophecy of Christ in Genesis and learned that as soon as sin
was born in the world, so too was God’s plan to eradicate it by means of Jesus.
When we asked the question, “What Child is this?” of Genesis 3:14-15, we
discovered that He is the seed of the woman who was miraculously conceived of
the virgin Mary to right the wrongs of humanity and totally destroy the program
of evil led by the cursed serpent, Lucifer. Today we turn a few pages in our
Bible to Genesis chapter 22 where we confront an entirely different kind of
spectacle—a holy ritual that, at first, seems to spell disaster. The tension
mounts in this scene we are going to observe today by means of four stages that
can be witnessed in verses 9-14. Today, when we ask, “What Child is this?” we
will learn that the Christ child is the only begotten Son of God and the
substitutionary atonement for our sins.
I. STAGE 1: The Preparation-22:9-10
Imagine being 99 years old and having a name like Abram (father)
with no children. Now imagine that God comes to you and promises that a great
nation would be made from you and your barren wife! Imagine taking on a new
name, “Abraham,” (father of a multitude) as a token of good faith that God
would make good on this promise. Imagine that after some time you and your
barren wife give birth to a miracle child. So tickled are you by the events
that have unfolded that you name him Isaac (laughter). All is great in Abraham’s
house. Sure, they were old, but having a young son would keep him and Sarah
young. After all, he was the beginning of a great nation.
Now imagine that God comes to you and says, “take now your
son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and
offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will
tell you” (Gen. 22:3). Would you do as Abraham did and immediately, rise early
in the morning, saddle your donkey, pack wood, call Isaac to join you, and go?
Though I question my own willingness to be faithful in the midst of such a
test, Abraham was obedient without
hesitation.
We pick up the story in verse 9 when “they came to the place
of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the
wood” (22:9a). Everything was prepared,
that is, everything but the sacrifice. Who is the first to notice this? Young
Isaac who says in verse 7, “’Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the
lamb for the burnt offering?’”.
I’ve never been able to wrap my mind around what took place
next as the sacrifice was prepared. After Abraham built the altar and arranged
the wood, he “bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood”
(22:9b). Remember Abraham is by now over 100 years old and Isaac is a teenager
(i.e. very capable of getting free and running away—fearing that perhaps his
dad was suffering from an acute case of psychosis or dementia). However, as
mysterious as it was for Abraham to be obedient to God’s unusual command to
sacrifice Isaac in the first place (without any hesitation), so too is it
mysterious and yet altogether true that Isaac took his place on the altar and
allowed himself to be bound in preparation for the sacrifice that would soon
commence.
The tension of the scene reaches its critical mass as the writer
continues by saying, “Abraham stretch out his hand and took the knife to slay
his son” (22:10). So much of this does not make sense. This was the promised
son Isaac from whom would come a great nation (see Gen. 18) in response to the
covenant promise God made to Abraham (see Gen. 12:1-3). And yet, here is Isaac
strapped on top of an altar with a knife hovering over his neck. Who is
wielding this weapon but none other than Abraham! Somebody stop this!!!
II. STAGE #2: The Prevention-22:11-12
Thankfully, at that very moment and at the very last second,
“the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, ‘Abraham, Abraham!’
And he said, ‘Here I am’…” (22:11). Whew! It is at this crucial moment in the story that
it becomes exceedingly clear that God never intended to have Abraham sacrifice
his son Isaac. Instead, this was a test. In fact, that this was a test of
Abraham’s obedience and resolve was intimated in verse 1 of chapter 22, “Now it
can about after these thing, that, God tested Abraham, and said to him, ‘Abraham!’
and he said, ‘Here I am’”. This familiar call occurred at the beginning of the
test and marked its end in verse 11, “But the angel of the Lord called to him
from heaven and said, ‘Abraham, Abraham!’ and He said, ‘Here I am’…”.
After preventing the sacrifice from happening, the angel of
the Lord provides some instructions, “’Do not stretch out your hand against the
lad, and do nothing to him’” (22:12a). In other words, “put down the knife and
walk away slowly.” If Abraham did not seem bothered by the unusual request to
sacrifice his son Isaac, I’m sure that Abraham had no problem following these new
set of orders.
Once these instructions are articulated, the angel reveals
the results of the test that Abraham had just passed with flying colors, “for
now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only
son, from Me’…” (22:12b). To fear God means to reverence Him as sovereign,
trust Him implicitly, and obey Him without question. This Abraham had done by
following God’s unusual command without hesitation. Likewise, a true worshiper
of God holds nothing back from God but obediently gives Him what He asks,
trusting that He will provide. Abraham accomplished this when he strapped Isaac
to the altar and nearly followed through with what God had originally
instructed.
In his willingness to offer Isaac, Abraham demonstrated that
he was willing to hold nothing back in obeying the Lord. Isaac represented
everything to Abraham. He was Abraham only legitimate son, the key to the promise
God had made him, and his joy. Yet even Isaac was something that Abraham was
willing to part with in order to follow the Lord. Abraham passed the test that
none of us would sign up to take and because of this, he was awarded with
provision.
III. STAGE #3: The
Provision-22:13
“Then Abraham raised
his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his
horns” (22:13a). There, just a little ways off was God’s substitute for Isaac.
No longer would Isaac have to be offered for the sacrifice. God had placed a
ram in their midst for this occasion.
It is here where we must ask the question that is guiding us
through the entire series leading to Christmas, “What child is this?” This
passage affords two answers to this inquiry. First, Jesus is the willing
sacrifice that was placed on the altar by His Father. Though He had the power
to remove Himself from the cross, just as Isaac is assumed to have had the
strength to break free of the altar, He followed His Father’s instructions all
the way to certain death. The only difference is, Jesus was offered and sacrificed, while Isaac was spared. Abraham so loved
God that he was willing to give his only son so that by trusting in Him in this
way, he might honor God. Sound familiar? “For God so loved the world, that He
gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have
eternal life” (Jn. 3:16).
In so doing, Jesus satisfies the criteria for another image
found in this ancient story. Not only is Jesus foreshadowed in Isaac, but He is
also intimated in the ram caught in the thicket. This is made clear in what is
revealed next in the second part of verse 13.
“And Abraham went and
took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son” (22:13b).
The ram was Isaac’s substitute. Because the ram was caught in the thicket and
available for the offering, Isaac no longer had to occupy the place on top of the
firewood.
It is here where we catch the second type for Christ. Not
only is Jesus the willing and only son of promise—He is the substitutionary
atonement for the sin offering. Like this ram caught in the thicket, Jesus
allowed Himself to be caught by the authorities at the right time and place,
and was led like a lamb to the slaughter so that He might take our place and
satisfy the punishment that we all deserve. The truth is, we all deserve a fiery
end for the many sins we commit. However, because Jesus went on our behalf as
our substitute, we do not have to (just as the ram took the place of Isaac).
What child is this? Jesus is the only Son of God and the
substitutionary atonement for sin.
IV. STAGE #4: The Praise-22:14
The fourth stage of this saga involves praise being given by
Abraham to God, “Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide,
as it is said to this day, ‘In the mount of the Lord it will be provided’…” (22:14).
God had indeed provided for Abraham—He provided a substitute for his only son
and a way for his promise of a great nation to progress. However, one gets the
sense from reading the whole story that this came as no surprise to Abraham.
While on the way up the mountain Abraham turned to those who were traveling
with him and his son and said, “stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad
will go over there; and WE will worship and return to you” (22:5). It appears
that Abraham’s faith that trusted God enough to obey the Lord’s unusual command
to sacrifice his only son also trusted that God was going to do something like
this in the end so that Isaac would be spared. Now that is faith!
So What?
When one considers who originally wrote this and to whom,
one can begin to understand how this is rightly applied to us today. Genesis (along
with Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy for that matter) were all
written by Moses while those he led wandered in the desert following their
incredible journey out of Egypt. Waning in the wilderness for some time had
made some groan and complain about their present situation. In fact, many began
to question Moses and God altogether. They doubted the Lord’s provision even
though God had executed multiple plagues, signs, and wonders in their favor and
miraculously supplied food and water every step of their long journey to the
Promised Land. What better way to remind them of God’s enduring provision for the
faithful than with this story of Abraham and Isaac? God is pleased to provide
for those who completely trust Him with every part of their lives. This is just
as true today as it was for Abraham and for the Israelites in the wilderness.
We can expect God to provide for our needs when we entrust everything to Him
through total obedience.
However, the even better news is that when God provides for
those who completely trust Him, He provides His Son Jesus. Just as God provided
a ram in the thicket to solve Abraham’s problems, God provided Jesus Christ for
the sinner to solve his problems. What child is this? He is God’s only begotten
son and substitutionary atonement—the stand in for us who is only ours if we
surrender our lives over to Him, completely trusting and totally obeying Him
with all parts of our lives. Just for a moment this Christmas season , let us
pause and consider what we might give to God—all of our lives, knowing that in
so doing, we can expect to be taken care of for whatever He has called us to
do.
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