"As Good As Dead" Genesis 22:1-14 Sunday Morning Worship Service

Well, uh greetings, Emmanuel Bible Church.

Uh very grateful uh to be here and um uh to minister uh with my friend uh Jesse Johnson.

Just uh grateful for him uh for his ministry and for his friendship uh over the years.

Um excited to uh get to know uh more of you a little bit more.

Uh just grateful for the uh the ways that uh we're connected as churches.

Uh uh Baltimore Bible Church and Emmanuel Bible Church are uh connected, uh at least through uh the support of one of our missionaries together, Jordan Stanridge.

So uh grateful for uh for him, for his ministry.

Uh he'll actually be with us in Baltimore uh next week.

So uh we're grateful to have him uh with us.

And uh we also uh enjoyed a VBS uh last week.

So last week's Sunday, I had to preach with all the decorations, the VBS decorations behind me.

Uh I thought I was gonna have that uh joy and privilege to do that here and maybe use some of the props on the stage.

I'm not sure.

But uh anyway, just uh grateful uh to be here uh again and um uh just uh again thankful for the ministry uh that the Lord is doing here.

So why don't you take your Bibles with me and open up to the book of Genesis, Genesis chapter 22.

Genesis 22 · chapter mention

Genesis chapter 22.

Genesis 22 · chapter mention

As you turn there, just by way of introduction, we know from the New Testament uh that Jesus fulfills all of the Old Testament sacrifices.

That's true.

And because that's true, the text that we're about to read in Genesis 22 is really a foreshadowing of what was to come.

And what we're able to do looking in Genesis chapter 22 is we're able to see and approach the cross from a different angle.

Genesis 22 · chapter mention

Instead of looking at the cross from the perspective of those who can look back to the cross, we're looking at the perspective of those who had to look forward to the cross.

They had to look forward to that ultimate sacrifice which was to come in the future.

Genesis 22 takes place some 2,000 years before Christ was ever even born, but the parallels that we find in Genesis 22 are really striking.

What we'll find in Genesis 22 is a miraculous birth, a unique son, a sacrificial death, and even the picture of a resurrection.

And we don't have to wait until the book of Isaiah to get a glimpse of the suffering servant, because what we have in Genesis 22 is really a gripping illustration of what was to come.

The substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ is pictured here in the very first book of the Bible.

This has been called the grand crisis and crowning event in the history of Abraham.

This is a picture of ultimate sacrifice, and the concepts of uh sacrifice and substitutionary atonement are all found here.

So what we discover is that these aren't new evangelical doctrines that Luther thought up, but they were embedded in the very first book of the Bible.

So why don't you follow with me as I read Genesis chapter 22 and we'll introduce ourselves to the text here?

Genesis 22 · chapter mention

Genesis 22, starting at verse 1.

So now it came about after these things that God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, and he said, Here I am.

He said, 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.

Why don't you bow your heads with me for a word of prayer?

Heavenly Father, we do come before you today, oh Lord, and I'm just pleading with you to open up our understanding of what we read.

Father, this is your word.

And Father, I pray that you would help us to understand these things.

Father, that we would make appropriate application to our lives, and Father, that we would give glory to the Son, who is the ultimate sacrifice and the ultimate substitution.

So, Father, I pray that you would uh use me as a weak instrument to be a blessing to your people, I pray.

In Jesus' name, amen.

From the time that mankind took his first bite of the fruit in the garden of Eden, we all deserve to die.

Genesis chapter 2, verses 16 and 17 says the Lord God commanded the man, saying, From any tree of the garden you may eat freely, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.

Genesis 2:16

From the day that you eat from it, you will surely die.

And God, if he were to wipe out mankind from that very moment, the entire human race, and Adam and Eve, if he were to wipe them out at that very moment, God would not be doing mankind anything wrong.

We were all as good as dead from the moment that Adam and Eve disobeyed God.

But surprisingly, for 930 years, God postponed the death of Adam.

In Genesis 5 and verse 5, it says, So all the days that Adam lived were 930 years and he died.

Adam lived for 930 years on borrowed time.

But death finally tapped Adam on the shoulder and said, Time's up.

He deserved to die, and he did die.

But Adam, for those 930 years, he carried around with him the reminder that he deserved death.

And what was that reminder?

It was the reminder that was draped around his body, he wore the skin of an animal.

And Adam carried around with him the very reminder that you deserve to die instead of this animal.

I mean, that's not a throwaway verse when God clothed Adam and his wife with animal skins.

It's not like God was just making a fashion statement.

What he was saying is that, you know, an apron of fig leaves or a grass skirt is not enough to make up for what you've done.

You deserve death for your sins, but instead of taking your life, I'm going to take the life of another.

It was skin for skin.

So Adam wore around his body the visible symbol that he deserved to die.

I mean, where else do you think God received the animal skin from to make the covering from for Adam and Eve?

You know, it wasn't like he went to the bargain basement rack and, you know, pulled out an animal skin that was just hanging on a hanger somewhere.

This was an animal that gave its life so that Adam and Eve could continue to live.

Skin for skin, Adam and Eve deserve to die.

And even before the law of Moses provided a system and a structure for bringing sacrifices to the Lord, it was understood that an animal substitute was expected.

Genesis chapter 4, Abel on his part brought of the firstlings of the flack and their fat portions, and the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering.

Genesis 4 · chapter mention

There is a reason why God accepted Abel's offering.

Noah, after he came off the ark, he took of every clean animal and every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

And the Lord smelled the soothing aroma and said, I will never again curse the ground on account of man.

The ground was was cursed, and the world was flooded because of mankind's sin.

Job, who belongs to the time of the patriarchs, offers burnt offering.

This is before the law of Moses.

He's offering up burnt offerings for his sons.

Why is he doing that?

He says in Job chapter 1 and verse 5, perhaps my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.

Job 1 · chapter mention

That's why I'm going to offer up a sacrifice.

Because they deserve to die for their sins.

And I'll offer up a sacrifice in their place.

So these offerings were in relationship to sin.

There was a connection that was made between the sacrifice and the sinner.

The sinner deserves to die.

And God is not wrong to pass his judgment on sinners.

In Ezekiel chapter 18, verse 4, it says, The soul who sins will surely what?

Ezekiel 18:4

Die.

We deserve death.

And there were times when God would even wipe out an entire city, call on Israel to wipe out an entire city.

And that was not wrong for God to require the lives of everyone who lived in that city.

We find that in the uh the book of Joshua, where the entire city of Jericho was taken and every life was given up to the Lord.

And there was nothing wrong with that because the soul that sins deserves to die.

And God is not wrong to require our life.

That's even true about Isaac.

First of all, we see the sacrifice was required.

Again in verse 1, it says, Now it came about after these things that God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, and he said, Here I am.

And he said, Take now your son.

Your only son, whom you love.

Isaac.

And it's like God is slowing the language down.

That every word is landing like a blow upon Abraham's conscience.

By this time, Abraham is used to hearing the voice of God.

He was first called by God back at the age of 75 in Genesis chapter 12.

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

It says Abraham was 75 years old when he departed from Haran.

Abraham's heard the voice of God before.

He's followed the words of God before.

Genesis 13, after Abraham separated from his nephew Lot, God spoke to him again and says, Count the dust if you're if you can number it, so shall your descendants be.

Abraham, I'm making you a promise.

You're going to have descendants, and a great nation will come from you.

God speaks to him again in Genesis chapter 15, and Abraham's starting to get nervous because he says that the promise hasn't been fulfilled yet.

Genesis 15 · chapter mention

You've told me that I'm going to have many descendants, but I don't even have one.

I mean, forget about counting the stars.

I can't even count one descendant.

Lord, are you going to give me this child?

I'm childless right now.

And God says to him, Now look toward the heavens and count the stars if you're able to count them.

He said, So shall your descendants be.

And this one, this Eliezer is not going to be your heir.

One's going to come forth from your own loins.

Ten years later, Abraham is now 85, Sarah's 75.

They still don't have a child.

Genesis 16 and verse 2, it says, Now behold, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children.

This is Sarah talking to her husband.

And she says, This, please go into my maid, and perhaps I will obtain children through her.

Gentlemen, this is the time that you don't listen to the advice of your wife.

But Abram listened to the voice of Sarah.

And Abram had a son by Hagar, but this was not the son that God promised.

This was not the way that he was going to receive that promise by going outside of his marriage.

I promised you a son, and that son's going to come through your own loins, and it's going to come through the womb of your wife Sarah.

Genesis 17, God speaks again.

At this point, Abraham is 99 years old, Sarah is 89.

And God says in Genesis 17 and verse 19, Sarah, your wife, will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac.

And I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.

In the following year, when Abraham is a hundred years old.

A hundred years old.

Actually, Hebrews chapter 11, verse 12 says, Abraham was as good as dead.

Hebrews 11:12

But at this age, when he's a hundred and his wife is ninety, in Genesis 21 and verse 1, it says, The Lord took note of Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as he had promised.

So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him.

And can you imagine the joy that Isaac would have been to Abraham and Sarah after waiting for this promise for 25 years?

Abraham at 75 was waiting for the promise.

He finally receives the promise at a hundred years old.

Can you imagine?

There would have been no comparison for the joy that would have belonged to them.

I mean, this is the miracle baby.

And the kind of joy that Abraham and Sarah had is evident in the naming of their son, they called him Isaac, which means laughter.

And there's actually a double meaning.

I mean, when Sarah first heard that she would have a son, she laughed.

Like, like, this is a joke.

You know, how am I going to have a son at my age?

But now when she actually has the son, she says, I'm the joke.

Because everybody's laughing at me.

I mean, just imagine, you know, a 90-year-old kind of, you know, making her way into the nursing mother's room.

It's like, what is that?

It's a joke.

She says, I'm the one who's everybody's gonna laugh at because God has blessed me with the child.

Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children?

And this is a son that they adored, they doted over this child.

Just one example of the joy that they had is found in Genesis 21 and verse 8, where it says, the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.

How many of you have a party when your baby starts chewing solid food?

I mean, that's what he does.

Like, hey, my baby stopped milk today and he's chewing.

Everybody, let's throw a party.

We're gonna throw down because my baby is chewing today.

That's the kind of joy that he had over Isaac.

This is the child of promise.

The entire history of redemption is wrapped up in this child.

And after God speaks to Abraham, fulfills his promise with Abraham, he has this child at a hundred years old.

Now God speaks to Abraham again, and these words would have been the last words that Abraham would ever expect to hear.

Take now your son, your only son, whom you love.

Isaac.

As if Abraham doesn't know what God is talking about.

He slows him down.

It's like every word is just afflicting him, torturing him.

He's waited for 25 years for this promised child.

And now you're telling me to offer him up?

There's nobody who's more dear to me than this son of my old age.

How could you ask for his life?

And this is something that's troubled interpreters for centuries.

I mean, what is God doing here?

Some have argued that Abraham misunderstood what God said.

They say that God never expected Abraham to offer up his son literally.

He just wanted him to dedicate him completely to the Lord.

And it was all just a big misunderstanding.

One commentator says this God meant Abraham to make the sacrifice in spirit, not an outward act.

He meant to write deeply on the Jewish mind that fundamental lesson regarding sacrifice, that it is in the spirit and will that all true sacrifice is made.

The sacrifice God seeks is devotion of the living soul, not the consumption of a dead body.

I mean, I mean, Abraham, you totally misunderstood what I was telling you to do.

All I wanted you to do is bring him up in the next child dedication service and pray for him.

Why do you think I would ask you for his life?

Abraham, what are you thinking?

But if that was the case, God was pretty unclear in his communication, wasn't he?

Because he asked for a burnt offering, not a living sacrifice.

And why would Abraham be viewed as passing the test if he completely misunderstood the directions?

How many of you pass the test when you completely misunderstand the directions?

Why would Abraham be understood as passing the test?

And finally, why is a ram substituted for Isaac if God wasn't requiring a sacrifice?

Abraham didn't misunderstand God.

There's others who contend that human sacrifice was just common.

And that during this time and the history of redemption, that Israel was still under development and they offered up child sacrifices, and that was just okay.

And there is evidence from ancient texts that there are other pagan religions that offered up human sacrifice, but there's no evidence that it was ever, ever accepted anywhere in Scripture.

It was condemned everywhere.

So Abraham would not have thought that this was normal.

There's some who argue that this is just a story to prove that God can demand whatever he wants, even if it's immoral.

Basically, God can change his mind and do things that are wrong.

There's others who say that this story is just here to teach us not to listen to the voices in our head that we think is God speaking to us.

And then there's others who would say that this story never really took place at all.

That's not a real story.

It's just an ancient Jewish tale meant to teach us about sacrifice.

And actually, it doesn't really help us at all to say that it was just a made-up tale because what's the lesson it's trying to teach?

None of these are satisfactory answers.

Abraham didn't misunderstand God.

It wasn't an acceptable practice.

Abraham would have been shocked and disturbed by this just as we are.

I mean, God, are you serious?

You can't be serious about this.

It's almost as if every word is calculated by God to torture Abraham.

But again, if God asked for every one of our lives, he wouldn't be wrong to do it.

And there's two reasons that as the Israelites are reading this story, this account in Genesis 22, that in the back of their minds they would have known that, you know what?

Isaac was not eventually slain and stayed in the grave.

He couldn't have been.

As they're reading the story, they they know that God didn't really receive this sacrifice because we're Israelites.

And where do Israelites come from?

They're the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

So if Isaac was no longer around, we wouldn't be around, right?

So so somehow there's something else that God is doing in Genesis 22.

They would have known that.

Also, in verse 1, it says that this was a test.

Now it came about after these things that God tested Abraham.

This is the test of the emergency broadcasting network.

This is only a test.

So they they understand that there's something else going on here.

But Abraham doesn't know that.

The sacrifice was required.

God asked for this sacrifice.

Number two, the sacrifice was prepared.

Look at verse 3.

So Abraham rose early in the morning, 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.

It's been observed that with all the details that were given, that we don't have one word about what Abraham is thinking.

What is Abraham thinking during this time?

And again, if this was meant just to give us the facts, it could have just said that, you know, he rose and went to the place that God told him about.

But that's not what it says.

It slows us down.

Abraham rose early in the morning.

He saddled his donkey.

He 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.

Why is it so important to talk about splitting the wood and rising early and saddling his donkey?

Why do we have all of these details that are listed for us here?

And think about this.

I mean, Abraham is a wealthy man, right?

He's got plenty of servants.

There's 318 trained men who are born in his house.

Abraham has hundreds of servants, if not thousands, by this point.

He's somewhere between 110 and 120 years old.

He doesn't have to saddle his own donkey.

He doesn't have to split his own wood.

He would have been able to say to any one of his servants, hey, you know, saddle the donkey.

I'm going on a trip.

Why is he doing this himself?

Why is he up early in the morning to do this?

I love what R.C.

Sprohl said.

He said, some evangelicals read this as if he got up first thing in the morning, clicking his heels, saying, Good morning, God.

Reporting for duty.

What do you want today?

Oh, you want my son?

Let me get right after that.

He says, that's the way that it happens in fairy tales.

But this is a real story.

With real people who have real emotions, who are making real sacrifices.

Abraham is up early in the morning.

Why?

Because he can't sleep.

Why is he cutting his own wood?

It's like in frustration, taking up the axe, and all the tension in his body is like flying through the handle, going through the axe into the wood because he's contemplating what the Lord has asked him to do.

Lord, you can't be serious about this.

And he prepares for this three day journey, taking his son with him.

How many times would Abraham take a glance over at his son, contemplating what he's about to do?

He can't tell anybody what's going on.

What is Abraham thinking as he's going through with this?

Like I said, Genesis 22.

Don't let us know what he's thinking, but Hebrews chapter 11 does.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

Flip over to Hebrews chapter 11.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

Look at verse 19 with me.

Hebrews chapter 11, verse 19.

Hebrews 11:19

What motivated Abraham to follow through with this request from God?

What is he contemplating?

What is he pondering?

What's in his mind?

What is he considering during this time?

Take a look at Hebrews chapter 11, verse 19.

Hebrews 11:19

He, being Abraham, considered, this is what he's thinking, that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.

What's going through Abraham's mind?

What is he thinking?

He's saying, God, I know that this is the son of promise.

I know that all the promises are wrapped up in this child.

And if you're asking for his life, you must mean to give them back to me.

There is no way that I'm going to leave a dead son on the top of this mountain.

Somehow, somehow, this child is going to get up and walk down the mountain with me.

This is what he's thinking in his mind.

And if you flip back to Genesis chapter 22, we have an indication that this is what he's thinking in his mind.

Genesis 22 · chapter mention

Take a look again at chapter 22.

Verse 4.

It says, On the third day, Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance, the place of which God told him.

Abraham said to his young men, listen to this, stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there, and we will worship, and we will return to you.

Abraham is here speaking in faith.

We're going to worship, we're going to go over there, and we're coming back.

Abraham is thinking about a resurrection.

Donald Gray Barnhouse, who is a pastor at 10th Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, he said this: he says, There is no contradiction in God.

That is the foundational fact.

There is power in God, there is wisdom in God, there is majesty in God, there is glory in God, but there is no contradiction in God.

God has to perform a miracle.

And it doesn't matter that Abraham has never seen a resurrection before.

We have a number of resurrections in the Old Testament.

The widow of Zarephath's son in 1 Kings 17, the Shunammite woman's son in 2 Kings 4, the man that was thrown into Elisha's grave in 2 Kings 13.

But all of that happened after these events.

Abraham has never heard of a resurrection before.

Abraham is believing without seeing.

He's walking by faith and not by sight.

And he's trusting the Lord.

God, if you want me to offer him up, you've got to raise him up to bring him back down.

And I'm going to trust in your word.

Do you know that's the same thing that God asks you to do?

God asks you to trust in him.

Lord, I don't care if I've never seen this before, but I know that this is true, and I'm trusting in every promise of your word.

And we come to God in faith, trusting in him that God, you are faithful to your promises.

You're faithful to your word, and I'm clinging onto your word with both hands.

Abraham believed even when he never saw such a thing as a resurrection.

He had no idea how long it would take, what it would look like, but he would not let go of God until God blessed him.

This is the supreme act of faith on Abraham's part.

Sacrifice was required, sacrifice was prepared.

And number three, the sacrifice was submitted.

Look at verse six.

And he took in his hand the fire and the knife.

So the two of them walked on together.

Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, My father.

He said, Here I am, my son.

And he said, Behold the wood and uh the fire and the wood, but but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?

Abraham said, God will provide for himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.

So the two of them walked on together.

At this point, Isaac has seen many offerings.

Isaac is here anywhere between 10 and 20 years old.

He's old enough to carry the wood of the sacrifice, but he's still young enough to be called the lad.

That word that's used of Isaac in this text is actually the same word that was used for Ishmael when he was around 13 years old.

So we're probably looking at a 13-year-old Isaac, a teenage Isaac.

And he's familiar with the process of burnt offerings.

He's seen this plenty of times before.

He understood that the lamb was an acceptable offering.

And here he is, and he's carrying the wood for the sacrifice upon himself.

An ancient Jewish commentary actually likens Isaac with the wood on his back to a condemned criminal carrying his own cross.

That's a Jewish commentator.

And here he is carrying the wood and says, We have the fire, the knife, I've got the wood, but but where is the lamb?

Father, aren't we missing the most important part of the sacrifice?

The sacrifice itself?

And then Abraham utters one of the most solemn and theologically loaded statements of Scripture.

He says, God will provide for himself the Lamb.

He may not have understood all that he meant by that, but he meant every word of it.

And basically he's telling Isaac to trust God, my son.

Trust the Lord.

And Isaac submits himself to his father's will.

Not as I will, but as you will.

And the two of them walk on together.

All of this, apparently, without any struggle from Isaac.

Isaac submits himself to the will of God and also to the will of his father.

Not as I will, but as you will.

And that's even understood more clearly when we look at this next section that the sacrifice was actually offered.

Take a look at verse 9.

It says, Then they came to the place of which God had told him.

And Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.

Isaac was as good as dead.

Twice in the New Testament, it says that Abraham offered up Isaac.

What does it mean by that?

Abraham offered up Isaac.

Hebrews chapter 11, verse 17.

Hebrews 11:17

It says, by faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac.

James chapter 2, verse 21 says, Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac, his son on the altar?

James 2:21

There is no doubt that Abraham was going to fully carry through with this act.

But again, we're slowed down by the details.

I mean, we're, it's it's an intense moment.

It's moving in slow motion.

He builds the altar.

The altar would have been a heap of stones assembled together, leveled off at the top.

And next the dry wood would have been placed on top of that heap of stones.

And then just like an animal, Isaac is tied at the wrists, and he's tied at the ankles.

And then he's lifted up by his father and placed on top of the wood.

Jewish commentators actually refer to this event, the entire event, as the binding, the binding of Isaac.

He's bound like an animal and placed on top of the wood.

And like I said, Isaac had to submit himself to this.

If you don't believe that, what teenager in here can't outrun a 120-year-old man?

Isaac submits to this.

He's, you know, come over here, son, let me put these ropes around you.

And Isaac allows his father to do it.

Keep your feet still so I can wrap the ropes around your ankle.

And Isaac allows his father to do it.

He did this willingly.

And then he's picked up by his father, who probably so many times had picked up his son to love him, to shower his affection on him.

But now it seems like all of that love is turned to hatred.

As Isaac looks up at his father in bewilderment, as if to say, My father, why have you forsaken me?

Arkent Hughes observes that to the ancient Middle Easterner, burnt offering suggested a process that started first with the cutting of the throat.

And Abraham picks up his knife.

And he's about to drop the knife into his own son's neck.

And at the very last moment before the knife does its work, there's a voice from heaven that says, Stop! That's enough, that's enough, stop.

It says in verse 10, 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.

He said, Here I am.

He said, Do not stretch out your hand against the lead and do nothing to him, for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.

You did not withhold him, which means what?

You offered him up.

And in Abraham's mind, again, Isaac was as good as dead.

It was over with.

The sacrifice was offered.

And Abraham passes the test.

He feared God.

He was prepared to give God everything.

And listen to this.

What does he tell the young men?

He says, I and the lad will go over there and we will worship.

Do you know what this was?

This was an act of worship.

When Abraham was going to offer up his son, it was an act of worship.

God, I'm willing to give you everything.

I'm willing to be obedient to you even when it doesn't make sense to me.

Do you know what that's what true worship is?

It's not just coming to church and offering up, you know, a couple of dollars in the plate or something like that.

No, no, true worship is saying, God, you can have everything that I am.

I give myself to you.

I'm willing to be obedient to you.

I'm giving my body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to the Lord.

I give myself away to you, God.

That is worship.

Every time that you obey God when it doesn't make sense, and you just say, hey, you know what?

I'm gonna hold on to every promise of this book, that's worship.

You're worshiping God.

You're saying, God, you mean more to me than I mean to myself.

I'm willing to give myself to you.

So again, he hears from heaven, stop.

I know that you fear God, you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.

And Abraham receives his son back as if back from the dead.

Like I said, in Abraham's mind, he's already followed through with the act.

So when he he takes the ropes off of Isaac's hands and he takes them off his ankles and he allows his son to get up, helps his son off the altar, it's like he was receiving him back from the dead, because in his mind he was already as good as gone.

Hebrews chapter 11, verse 19 says, He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.

Hebrews 11:19

It's like he received him back from the dead.

Just a wonderful, wonderful story of walking in faith and obedience to God.

But this isn't where our story ends.

Because if we left it there, God would have demanded a sacrifice that he never received.

God required a sacrifice, right?

I mean, that's what he asked for.

That's how the chapter opens up.

I'm asking for a sacrifice.

So does God ask for a sacrifice that he never receives?

And this is where we learn that the sacrifice was substituted.

Take a look at verse 13.

It says, Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns.

And Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son.

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.

This is the substitute.

God asked for a sacrifice, and God received the sacrifice.

And as Isaac saw this ram offered up, sacrifice would have taken on an entirely new meaning form, right?

Because those ropes were literally my ropes.

Those were the ropes that were around my wrists.

Those are the ropes that were around my ankles.

And now that that ram is standing in my place.

He is substituting for me.

That's what it means to be in the place of.

Death was required and death was offered.

Someone was supposed to die and somebody died in their place.

But there's something else that's important to point out here.

Back in verse 8, Abraham said, God will provide for himself the lamb for the burnt offering.

But you know what?

That's not what God asked for.

God asked for a son.

God didn't ask for a ram or a lamb.

God asked for a son.

And a ram is not equivalent to a son.

Maybe for some of you, you got kids that are pretty hard-headed, but you know, they're not rams, okay?

A ram is not equivalent to a son.

And why couldn't Abraham make the sacrifice closer to where he was living in Beersheba?

Why does he have to travel three days' journey to go to the mountains of Moriah?

Why does he have to travel there to make the sacrifice?

There's something else that's going on here.

Why the mountains of Moriah?

Flip over to 2 Chronicles chapter 3.

2 Chronicles 3 · chapter mention

2 Chronicles chapter 3.

2 Chronicles 3 · chapter mention

Take a look at verse 1, 2 Chronicles chapter 3.

2 Chronicles 3 · chapter mention

It says, then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David at the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Orna and the Jepusite.

This mountain of Moriah is significant because it would be the same place where Jerusalem would stand.

The land of Mariah would later be known as the area of Jerusalem.

And just outside of that city, in a place called Galgatha, the place of the skull, there would be another sacrifice that would be offered up.

And it's no accident that the one who was offered in the place of the skull, just outside the gates in Jerusalem, was identified by John the Baptist in John chapter 1 and verse 29 to 30 as the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world.

John 1 · chapter mention

This is the one who would come and be the Lamb that the Lord would provide for Himself.

And it wouldn't just be a lamb, it would be a son, exactly as God asked for.

And this one would also be born of a miraculous birth.

There's many miraculous births in scripture.

A number of women who are barren, who are past the age of childbearing, who were able to have a son.

I mean, that's a miracle.

You don't take anything away from that.

But there's something different about Jesus because Jesus is the only one who is born without a human father.

This is the true miracle, baby.

The miracle of all miracles is Jesus Christ.

This one would be the child of promise.

Genesis 22, verse 18, it says, In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.

Genesis 22:18

And in Galatians chapter 3, Paul picks up on this language and he says in verse 16, Galatians chapter 3 and verse 16, now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed, singular.

Galatians 3 · chapter mention Galatians 3 · chapter mention

He does not say in two seeds, plural.

There's one who's coming who's going to be that promise son.

And the sacrifice that Jesus made was required by God.

In Philippians chapter 2, it says that he became obedient to the Father.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

The sacrifice was also prepared by God.

In Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 5, it says, But a body you have prepared for me.

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

You've prepared the sacrifice, God.

You've prepared the acceptable sacrifice.

And the sacrifice was also submitted.

Submitted to the Lord.

If you remember in John chapter 10 and verse 18, Jesus says, No one has taken my life away from me.

John 10 · chapter mention

No one has taken it away from me.

But I lay it down on my own initiative.

I voluntarily hold out my wrist to be tied.

I'm giving up my life.

And this was a sacrifice that was not only offered up to God, it was a sacrifice that was offered up by God.

Sometimes I think we forget that it was the Father who offered up his son.

John chapter 3, verse 16.

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.

The father made the sacrifice of his son.

And the two walked along together to the place of offering.

Father and son.

This was the son of the father's love.

Matthew 3, verse 17, he says, This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased.

Matthew 3:17

This is the son of my love, the son of my heart.

He always does what pleases me.

My beloved son in whom I'm well pleased.

But yet this same son would be offered up and cry out on the cross, Eli, Eli, Lama Sambakhtani.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

And on the cross, all the love that the Father had for the Son seemed like it was turned into hatred, as the Father pours out his wrath upon the Son.

And it's as if God, the Father, bound his son by the wrist and by the ankles and placed him on the altar of sacrifice.

And the knife was raised to slay his own son.

But there was not a voice from heaven to yell, stop.

There would be no substitute for the substitute.

Jesus Christ would actually go through with the sacrifice.

And Isaiah 53, verse 10 says, The Lord was pleased to crush him, putting him to grief if he would render himself as a guilt offering.

Isaiah 53:10

As the hymn says, bearing shame and scoffing rude, in my place condemned he stood, sealed my pardon with his blood.

Hallelujah! What a savior! This is the one that was offered up for us.

Jesus satisfies the wrath of God on the Mount of Calvary.

And after this sacrifice, it wouldn't be as if he was brought back from the dead, he would literally be brought back from the dead.

There's no sacrifice like the one that we have in Jesus.

There's no other substitute like Jesus.

He was the one who died.

This is the one who was God in the flesh.

He was the one who purchased us with his own blood.

And one more observation before we close our time together.

Is it kind of shocking to you the way that the angel speaks to Abraham?

Anybody ever think about that?

Look back at Genesis chapter 22.

Genesis 22 · chapter mention

Verse 12 says, Do not stretch out your hand against the lad and do nothing to him, for now I know that you fear God.

But listen what he says.

Since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.

Why is the angel talking like that?

You haven't withheld your son from me.

Look down at verse 15.

It says, Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven.

And he says, By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your only son, your son, your only son.

Indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed.

Verse 9 18, and your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.

Why is an angel talking like this?

You're obeying me, and I will bless you, and you haven't withheld your son from me.

Why is an angel speaking like this?

Don't want to take a long time here, but we know from scripture that sometimes an angel is More than just an angel.

In the book of Genesis, Genesis chapter 18, if you remember, Abraham received three visitors that came to him and he's preparing the food for them.

Genesis 18 · chapter mention

You know, hey, you know, tells his wife, Sarah, you know, prepare everything.

We need to provide for these visitors who've come.

Then it says that two of them went down to Sodom and Gomorrah.

It says that two went.

There was one who stayed behind, and it says that Abraham stood before the Lord.

There was an angel who was more than just an angel.

Exodus chapter 3.

Exodus 3 · chapter mention

We're told that the angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in the burning bush.

And from the midst of the burning bush he speaks.

And it says in Exodus 3 and verse 4, when the Lord Yahweh saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush.

But I thought you just said it was an angel that was in the midst of the bush, but now you're saying this, the one who's speaking is God?

Yes, because an angel was more than just an angel.

Joshua chapter 5, the angel of the Lord appears to Joshua as he's appearing to attack Jericho, and he identifies himself as the captain of the Lord's hosts.

Joshua 5 · chapter mention

I'm the one who's in charge of all the armies of the Lord.

Remove the sandals from your feet, because the place that you're standing on is holy ground.

What is an angel doing speaking like that?

I'm the one in charge, and the place where I am is holy.

Judges chapter 6, Gideon is standing before this angel of the Lord.

Judges 6 · chapter mention

In Judges 6 and verse 16, it says, The Lord said to him, Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian.

The angel says, I'm going to be with you.

Again, it's an angel that's more than just an angel.

Theologians referred to this as the as Christophanes, second person of the Trinity, who's revealed in the Old Testament before the second person of the Trinity was incarnated, came in flesh, and human flesh was born of the Virgin, that this second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, comes as the angel of the Lord.

And here we have the angel of the Lord who comes to the very place where he himself would be crucified.

It's like a preview.

He was there to preview everything that would happen to himself.

And one day he would come to be the true substitute that the Lord Himself had provided.

He's the ultimate sacrifice that every sacrifice was pointing to.

And Jesus' sacrifice would take place in the same region that Abraham offered up his son Isaac, if not in the same exact spot.

And his death can be counted as your death.

If you turn from your sins, if you trust in Jesus Christ, you have a substitute.

You have one who was offered up in your place.

You have one who bore the wrath of God for your sins.

And if you're here and you haven't yet trusted in Jesus Christ, I beg you to trust in Christ.

Because if the knife does not come down on the sun in your place, the knife will come down upon you.

We all need a substitute.

We all need a somebody who propitiates God on our behalf, a propitiation for our sins.

Someone who bears the wrath of God in our place.

And if you don't have a substitute, you will bear the wrath of God on yourself.

But what a joy that we have a substitute.

We have one who is the child of promise.

We have one in whom there was no sin, who died and rose again to glory.

And it's in him that we find all the promises of God wrapped up in one child.

And we find a preview of all of this in the very first book of the Bible.

Hallelujah.

What a Savior.

Amen.

Let's go to the Lord in prayer.

Heavenly Father, we do thank you, Lord, for your word.

Your word is true, your word is rich, your word is all that we need.

Father, we thank you for what we read in Scripture.

And Father, we do pray that you, Lord, would help us to glorify and honor you.

Father, I pray that we would look for no other substitute.

Father, that we would not offer you the filthy rags of our own righteousness.

But Father, that we would look to the Son, to the Son only, because He is the one who was provided.

He was the Son who was offered.

And if we don't look to Him, we have no other substitute.

There is not another sacrifice for sins.

Father, I pray that you would be honored and glorified in our lives.

In Jesus' name, we praise you and give you thanks.

Amen.

And now, for a parting word from Pastor Jesse Johnson.

If you have any questions about what you heard today, or if you want to learn more about what it means to follow Christ, please visit our church website, ibc.church.

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Now, if you're not a member of a local church and you live in the Washington, D.C.

area, we'd love to have you worship with us here at Emmanuel.

I hope to personally meet you this Sunday after our service.

But no matter where you live, it's our hope that everyone who uses this resource is involved in their own local church.

Now may God bless you this week as you seek Jesus constantly, serve the Lord faithfully, and share the gospel boldly.