Faithfulness and Faith

Most people love a good story, a good dose of good drama, right?

It's because that's the stuff of human life, right?

Love, betrayal, jealousy, hatred, conflict, escalation, and resolution.

And we find in these few chapters of Genesis a highly dramatic story of Abraham, Sarah,

and Isaac, and Hagar, and Ishmael.

And we see everything.

We see faith and doubt.

We see love, joy, and jealousy.

We see, you know, hatred as well.

And the rollercoaster, but through, it's like a rollercoaster, but through it all,

God's faithfulness is the stream that keeps it all steady and constant.

We see his faithfulness all throughout this passage.

And it serves kind of like the rails that keep this rollercoaster in place.

And in this way, these chapters teach us that we can trust God completely

because he's faithful to fulfill his promises,

that God always fulfills his promises, and therefore we can trust him completely.

So in first two chapters, chapters 20 to 21, we see God's faithfulness toward Abraham

in spite of his faithlessness.

And in chapter 22, we'll see Abraham's faith.

And chapter 20, if you've been with us, reads like a deja vu of chapter 12, right?

Because there, Abraham was in Egypt,

and he passed off his wife, his beautiful wife Sarah, as his sister,

so that the Egyptians wouldn't kill him so that they could claim his wife as their own.

And here, again, instead of fighting to defend his wife,

through whom God promised to fulfill his promise of progeny and making him a great nation,

he opts to preserve himself, again, to protect himself at her expense.

And at that point in Egypt, God intervened to protect Sarah.

And here, once again, God intervenes, despite Abraham's faithlessness.

So in chapter 12, verse 3, no, not chapter 12, verse 3,

that's when God had promised Abraham that whoever blesses him, he will bless,

whoever dishonors him, he will curse.

And so here, Abimelech dishonors Abraham, though unwittingly,

and now God will fight for Abraham's vengeance.

And so here, in verse 3 of chapter 20, God says to Abimelech,

Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken,

for she is a man's wife.

Though Abraham is a coward who doesn't defend his wife,

here, God is a strong advocate for Sarah and Abraham.

And he says, in essence, to Abimelech,

you're as good as dead because of what you've done in taking Abraham's wife as your own.

And then Abimelech defends himself, saying,

Well, but he said this is her sister, this is his sister,

and she said this is her brother.

And I did this in innocence.

And that's true.

And the fact that, you know, the king of the Philistines here,

Abimelech says that,

Will you kill the innocent to God?

Shows that God's answer is going to be no,

because we just found that in chapter 18,

that God does not sweep away the righteous along with the wicked.

That's what happened in Sodom.

So Abimelech's question,

Lord, will you kill an innocent people,

anticipates a negative answer.

And that's what, indeed, what we find in verses 6 to 7.

Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart,

and it was I who kept you from sinning against me.

Therefore, I did not let you touch her.

Now then, return the man's wife,

for he is a prophet,

so that he will pray for you and you shall live.

But if you do not return her,

know that you shall surely die at you and all who are yours.

So that encounter with Abimelech began with the threat of death,

and it ends with the threat of death once again.

So God's very serious about defending Abraham and Sarah,

so that his promise to them might be fulfilled.

And then we see Abimelech's response in verses 8 to 10,

and his response is prompt,

and it's pious, really.

He's honoring God in his response.

And it says that the men were actually very much afraid,

and they regarded seizing another man's wife as a great sin.

So it seems that these people,

even though Abraham didn't think much of them,

actually had a fear of God in them.

And in contrast to Abimelech's pious response,

we find that Abraham's response is quite pathetic, right?

He explains in verses 11 to 13,

I did it because I thought there is no fear of God at all in this place,

and they will kill me because of my wife.

And besides, she is indeed my sister.

Well, first, it seems like from this passage that Abraham,

this is not the second time he says,

he says whenever he went to a new place, he said he did this.

He passed off his wife Sarah as a sister so that he could be preserved.

So that's terrible.

And then secondly, not just that,

his answer is a total distraction.

It's a misleading answer.

Well, yeah, she is my sister,

but I mean, that's really not the point of the question, right?

It's not unlike the time when someone asks you, like,

hey, what's up?

And then you answer, well, the ceiling or the sky.

I mean, well, that's just a misleading,

because that's not the point.

It doesn't answer the question.

That's not what's going on.

Here, Abraham, sure, she is your sister.

Sarah is your sister.

But when someone comes because they're interested in claiming her as their own wife,

the question at hand is not whether she's your sister.

Even if she is sister, the question you need to answer is whether she's your wife.

And she is your wife.

And Abraham didn't tell them that.

And so he is totally, it's an inexcusable act that he does.

And even though he judged the nation to have no fear of God in the place,

it shows clearly in this passage that they had the fear of God.

In fact, the only person in this dialogue that seems to lack the fear of God is Abraham.

It's not Abimelech.

It's not the Philistines.

And so Abimelech returns Sarah and gives a handsome fee,

pays a handsome reward as a sign of vindication,

as a sign of Sarah's innocence,

that she was not harmed or touched by him or anyone in his household.

Yet in spite of Abraham's faithlessness,

God is faithful to fulfill his promises.

And so he protects Sarah so that his promise of progeny might continue.

And not only that, he also gives him the promise.

He had promised him the land of Canaan.

And through Abimelech, you get a first glimpse of that promise coming to be fulfilled.

In verse 15, Abimelech promises Abraham,

Behold, my land is before you.

Dwell where it pleases you.

So now Abraham gets to really take a stake,

put a stake down on his land in this property in Canaan

because Abimelech has given him permission to do so.

And at the end of this,

we find out that Abimelech's family,

the woman of his household,

were punished by God by closing their womb.

And that kind of gives us also a glimpse of,

a glimmer of hope.

If God could so close and open their womb,

could God also open the womb of Sarah?

And she had said earlier that God had prevented her from having children.

And we find the answer to that question in verses 1 to 7 of chapter 21.

And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said,

and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised.

And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age

at the time of which God had spoken to him.

And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him,

whom Sarah bore him, Isaac.

So the fact that God kept his promise to Abraham

is emphasized throughout this passage.

It says,

The Lord visited Sarah as he had said,

and he did to Sarah as he had promised.

This is something that God already promised him.

And then Abraham reciprocates by obeying God's commandment.

He says that he circumcised his son Isaac

when he was eight days old,

as God had commanded him.

And appropriately,

because Isaac has brought them such joy and laughter,

they name him Isaac,

which means laughter.

And this miracle boy grows up

and is weaned in verse 8.

And this is an occasion for great celebration

because babies in the ancient Near East

were breastfed for much longer

than babies in our culture are,

usually up to the age of three or so.

So Isaac is probably three years old.

He's a toddler walking around.

And because infant mortality rate also was much higher then,

this was a great occasion for celebration.

It was a milestone when a baby was weaned.

So from now on,

it seems that God's promise to fulfill through Isaac,

that Isaac will be the heir

through which God's promise of progeny and nation

will be fulfilled.

But then conflict and uncertainty is introduced once again

as an old rivalry between Hagar and Sarah is revived.

Verses 9 to 10, it says,

But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian,

whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing.

So she said to Abraham,

Cast out this slave woman with her son,

for the son of this slave woman

shall not be heir with my son Isaac.

So the context suggests that, you know,

that Hagar's son Ishmael is not laughing innocently,

but laughing at Isaac, presumably mocking him.

And he was, and just to be sure,

this was, there was something, you know,

laughable about the son of Abraham.

Abraham is, at this point, 103 years old.

And he's old enough to be Isaac's great-grandfather.

And here he is holding this weaned child.

There's some situation that, to Ishmael,

seemed laughable.

And he, this child,

will now compete with me for my father's inheritance.

And that seems to be the even deeper underlying question.

Because when it says that Ishmael laughed,

remember, Isaac means to laugh.

So literally, what you find here is that

you find Ishmael Isaac-ing.

Isaac-ing here.

He's acting the part of Isaac.

And so that's what's threatened to Sarah

as Isaac's mother,

is that Ishmael's acting the part of Isaac,

and she says,

no, he will not inherit with my son.

This is the son of a slave woman,

and he will not inherit.

So that's what's motivating Sarah

to act, lash out in this way.

And so Sarah clearly doesn't see them

as part of her family.

She refers to Ishmael as the son of a slave woman.

But Abraham refers to him as his son.

So he has an affection for him,

and he wants to keep him in.

So this is very distressing to him.

In fact, he is described as being very displeased.

And that phrase suggests explosive anger.

In fact, in other places in the Old Testament,

just being displeased suggests great anger.

And when God is displeased,

usually there's spilled blood,

judgment, and death.

And so, but this is the only place

in the entire Old Testament

where someone is described as being very displeased.

So this is, Abraham is infuriated

that Sarah would suggest such a thing.

Yet, in a surprising way, God intervenes

and calms Abraham down

and then tells him to listen to Sarah.

12, 13.

Be not displeased because of the boy

and because of your slave woman.

Whatever Sarah says to you,

do as she tells you.

For through Isaac shall your offspring be named.

And I will make a nation of the son

of the slave woman also

because he is your offspring.

Because God had promised earlier

that it is through Isaac

that his promise will be fulfilled.

So he reiterates that, reaffirms that,

and says, don't worry, don't fret.

Listen to Sarah

because this is part of what I'm doing.

It's part of this fulfilling my plan

for you and for your family.

And so Abraham sends off Hagar and Ishmael.

And he says that he rose early in the morning,

verse 14,

and he personally takes bread and skin of water

and puts it on Hagar's shoulder.

And then lastly, perhaps showing his reluctance,

he hands off Ishmael to Hagar.

But unfortunately,

Hagar gets lost on her journey.

It says in verse 14,

she departed and wandered

in the wilderness of Beersheba.

And the story continues in verses 15 to 16.

When the water and the skin was gone,

she put the child under one of the bushes.

Then she went and sat down opposite him

a good way off about the distance of a bow shot

for she said,

let me not look on the death of the child.

And as she sat opposite him,

she lifted up her voice and wept.

So the word she put the child under the bush,

the word put,

it's really kind of the word for dumping.

You know, it usually refers to

people dumping a corpse somewhere

or dumping someone into a well

or a pit to die.

So that's the,

so here it shows Hagar's despair and desolation.

So he's saying she's,

she's dumping Ishmael down and despairing.

I mean, can you imagine,

for those of you who have children

or for at least for those of you who don't,

you could imagine,

can you imagine the pain of

seeing your own child die

and being helpless to be able to do anything about it?

That's the pain that Hagar is in now.

And so she weeps and she says,

I can't bear to watch him die,

so I'll dump him off here.

And then she goes and wails.

But God always takes care of the oppressed

and rescues the needy throughout scripture.

As Psalm 82, 3 to 4 says,

God gives justice to the weak and the fatherless.

He maintains the right of the afflicted

and the destitute.

So that's what he does.

He intervenes.

And he says,

he heard the voice of the boy.

That's an allusion to the name Ishmael,

which means God has heard.

So God heard Ishmael

and then he intervenes on their behalf.

And this is a great example for us as a people,

even though Hagar and Ishmael

are not part of God's elect line.

They are not chosen people.

They're not the people through whom

the Messiah will come.

Yet God reaches out to them.

He has compassion on them.

And he rescues them from this dire situation.

And that's because God always advocates

on behalf of the powerless and the voiceless.

In society.

And that's what Christians throughout history

have been known to do.

Alvin Schmidt, a historian,

writes in his book,

How Christianity Changed the World,

that it's Christian influence on government

that was primarily responsible

for outlawing infanticide,

child abandonment, abortion,

and gladiatorial games in the Roman Empire.

And for instituting prison reform,

such as segregating of male and female prisoners.

Stopping the practice of human sacrifice

among the Irish, the Prusians,

and the Lithuanians,

as well as among other nations.

Outlawing pedophilia.

Granting of property rights

and other protections to women.

Banning polygamy.

Prohibiting the burning alive

of widows in India.

Outlawing the painful

and crippling practice

of binding young women's feet

in China.

Persuading government officials

to begin a system

of public schools in Germany.

And like William Wilberforce

in England fighting again

to abolish slavery.

God heard the voice of the boy.

Are we hearing the cries

of the oppressed in our society today?

Even if they are not part of God's elect,

even if they are not going to believe

in Jesus and on account of what we do,

do we care for them?

Because God cares for people

creating his image.

He advocates on behalf of the weak

and the powerless.

And so that's not even the main point

of this passage.

But that's a side point.

And now we return to the main plot line

which is with Abraham.

And Abimelech appears on the scene again

in verses 22 to 23.

And he says,

he's acknowledged that God is with Abraham.

He just wants to make sure

he gets a piece of that pie.

So he says,

you know what?

When you are thriving and well

in the future,

don't look down on us

but be favorable toward us

is basically what Abimelech

is trying to do.

And he makes Abraham swear an oath.

But then Abraham rebukes him.

He reproves him,

bringing up the fact that

some of his people

had seized the well

that he had dug.

And so they hash out about that

and make a covenant

in Beersheba.

And this is significant

because in verse 33,

it says,

Abraham planted a tamarisk tree

in Beersheba

and called there

on the name of the Lord

the everlasting God.

People don't plant trees

in the yard that they have

in a condo that they're in.

Because you're not going to be there

long enough to see the tree grow.

You plant trees

in your permanent home

where you're going to

where future generations live.

And that's what Abraham does here.

So he plants a tree

in this property

and that's a sign

that it's a development

and advancement once again

of God's promise to him

that you will inherit

this promised land of Canaan.

And so he plants a tree there

and the guarantee of the well

that Abimelech grants him

is a sign of that

because without a well,

what good is land?

You can't live there.

And so we see here

in these chapters 22 to 20 and 21

that we can trust God completely

because he is faithful

to fulfill his promises.

And we see how he does that

for Abraham.

And having seen God's faithfulness

toward Abraham,

we see now the pinnacle

of Abraham's faith

in response to God

in chapter 22.

Verse 1 begins,

After these things,

God tested Abraham

and said to him,

Abraham,

and he said,

Here I am.

This is the first

of three dialogues

in this chapter

and each dialogue

begins with

an address of Abraham

and then his response,

Here I am.

And then each of the dialogues

mention burnt offering,

his only son Isaac.

So each of these dialogues,

three dialogues

in this chapter,

advance the story

and build the tension

until the climactic moment

that comes to Isaac,

the sacrifice of Isaac.

And what God says

to Abraham in verse 2

is it's totally

out of the left field.

It's shocking.

Right?

He says,

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.

Note the similarity

between this

and the command

in Genesis 12, 1

when he said to Abraham,

Leave your country,

your kindred,

and your father's house

and go to the land

I will show you.

So both involve

going to a place

that God will reveal to them.

And in chapter 12,

that command

was progressively

more difficult

and narrow

and specific.

Right?

First,

leave your country,

then your kindred,

your relations,

and then your family,

your immediate household,

father's household.

And now here also,

the command becomes

progressively more difficult

and narrow,

specific.

Because first,

he says,

Take your son.

And Abraham could be

wondering to himself,

which son?

I have two sons.

Maybe God wants me

to go find the Israel again.

But then God specifies,

Your only son.

Not the son

by your slave wife,

Hagar,

but the only son

you have by your wife,

Sarah.

Isaac,

he names them.

And then,

not just that,

your only son,

Isaac,

whom you love.

Yes,

your son,

your only son,

Isaac,

the one you love,

the one on whom

all of your hope

is riding.

Yes,

that one.

Take him

and offer him

as a burnt offering

in the land of Moriah.

That's a devastating command.

Abraham had waited

25 years

for Isaac

to be born.

And from the moment

he first cradled Isaac

in his arms,

he was probably

the apple of his eye.

And as he watched

Isaac grow

and as he helped him

take the first steps

and when he finally

was weaned

and he threw a party

to celebrate

his growing up

and now he's

a teenage boy.

That's what

boy is referring to.

And every year,

probably,

Abraham's heart

was knit closer

to the life

of this child.

God tells him,

take him.

The one thing

in his life

that he was least

willing to give up,

God tells him,

take him,

sacrifice him

on Mount Moriah.

Hey, at least

in chapter 12,

God sweetened the deal

by giving him a promise.

Here,

there's no such promise.

In fact,

the very act

of sacrificing

Isaac

seems to negate

and reverse

and nullify

the promises

that God

had given him.

That's why

this is a test.

Right?

This is God

tested him.

A test reveals

the true character

or nature

of someone

or something.

So is Abraham

willing then

to give up

what is most

precious to him

in order to

obey God,

in order to

follow God?

Does Abraham

trust God enough

to go through

with even this?

That's the test.

Whether Abraham

loves Isaac

more than he

loves God,

whether Abraham

loves the gift

more than the giver,

whether Abraham

has turned Isaac

into an idol

by treasuring him

and enjoying him

more than he treasures

and enjoys God.

What are the precious

things in your life?

What do you love?

What would be the thing

that you'd be least

willing to give up

for God?

That's the idol

of your heart.

This could be

any number of things.

It could be

your family.

It could be

your boyfriend.

It could be

good grades.

It could be

people's approval.

It could be

a business success,

wealth,

and the power

and prestige

that come with that.

It could be

your sports team

or the carefully

curated image

that you project

on your social

media profiles.

It could be

your dream career.

And it could be

good things,

yet if you

treasure them

and cherish them

above,

God,

then it becomes

an idol.

And there's a few

telltale signs

that you have an idol

lodged in your heart.

At first is fear

because you're afraid

of losing it.

Fear, you're afraid.

You're afraid

of losing your job,

your child,

your health.

And the second

telltale sign

is discontentment.

You're discontent,

unsatisfied,

unhappy,

so you complain

and grumble.

Or if you don't

get what you want,

you become angry.

You're discontent

because God

is not enough

for you

and God's not

enough for you

because you don't

have enough of God

because you're making

him share

a part in your heart

with the idols.

The third

telltale sign

is lust.

Not just sexual lust,

but inordinate desire,

any insatiable appetite

for something

that you can't control.

Maybe it's your addiction

to TV shows

or your smartphone,

video games

or alcohol,

porn or drugs.

You believe the lie

that you must have this

and that's a sign

God's not sufficient

for you.

What's the test

that God is putting

before you this morning?

What is he asking you

to sacrifice?

And God commands you

as he did Abraham

to offer it up

as a burnt offering.

To burn it up.

You might have faith

in God,

but your faith

is not enough

if your faith

is not evidenced

in your works,

in your obedience.

So James uses

this example of Abraham

in chapter 2,

21 to 23.

He says,

Was not Abraham

our father

justified by works

when he offered up

his son Isaac

on the altar?

You see that faith

was active along

with his works

and faith was completed

by his works

and the scripture

was fulfilled

that says Abraham

believed God

and it was counted

to him as righteousness.

Faith without works

is dead.

Only the faith

that produces good works,

that produces sacrifice,

that produces obedience

counts toward eternity.

And so here,

it's Abraham's

subsequent obedience

that proves

the genuineness

of his faith.

It says in verse 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.

So Abraham obeys

completely

and immediately.

And on the third day,

he begins to see

the place

that God

has shown him.

So imagine this,

you're having to sacrifice

your only son,

your beloved son Isaac,

and it's a three days journey.

So for three days,

he's playing in his mind

what might happen,

what he would have to do,

the unthinkable thing,

the pain.

And the verses 5 to 8

are written so beautifully

and poignantly.

Read it with me,

verses 5 to 8.

So they went,

both of them together.

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?

Abraham said,

God will provide for himself

the lamb for a burnt offering,

my son.

So they went,

both of them,

together.

You could hear

the irrepressible affection,

the paternal affection,

My father.

Here I am, my son.

And Isaac's unknowing innocence

is heart-rending, right?

He doesn't even know.

So where's the offering

that you're going to bring to God?

And then Abraham answers,

God will provide for himself

the lamb for a burnt offering.

And notice how these verses

are grouped together.

It begins and ends

with the statement.

So both of them went together.

So you see,

that structure makes it seem like

they're on this long,

silent,

ponderous journey together.

They're not really talking,

just walking.

And then after a while of silence,

it's interrupted by Isaac's question.

Where is the lamb

for the burnt offering?

And then after Abraham answers

that question,

they resume once again

on that long,

silent walk together.

Both of them.

It's really just,

there's so much tension

and sadness,

a tinge of sadness

in this passage.

But we see more than just emotion here.

We see Abraham's faith.

In Hebrews 11, 17 to 9,

it said,

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,

of whom it was said,

Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.

He considered that God was able

even to raise him from the dead,

from which,

figuratively speaking,

he did receive him back.

In other words,

because God had promised to Abraham

that through Isaac,

his offspring will be named,

Abraham believed that

in spite of this ordeal,

even through this ordeal,

somehow he would end up

receiving Isaac back.

Because God has told him,

it's through Isaac

that your offspring will be named.

Even if it meant having to kill

his own son,

he believed that God could raise him

from the dead.

And you can see glimpses of this faith

throughout this dialogue.

Because in verse 5,

Abraham said to his young men,

Stay behind,

and then my son and I will go

and will return to you.

Both him and his son,

he said,

they will return.

And we see this again here

in this passage

that we just read in verse 8,

where Abraham says to Isaac,

God will provide for himself

the lamb for a burnt offering,

my son.

This is an allusion

to the name Moriah,

which means the land will provide.

So there's faith

that God will provide.

But from where

and when

this provision

and deliverance

from the Lord will come,

Abraham has no idea.

So he has to go through

with the act.

And we come to that moment of truth

when he arrives

at the place

which God had told him.

Verse 9,

it says,

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.

Then in verse 10,

Abraham reached out his hand

and took the knife

to slaughter his son.

But in the nick of time,

God intervenes.

Rather,

the Lord intervenes.

He says in verses 11 to 12,

but the angel of the Lord

called to him from heaven

and said,

Abraham, Abraham.

And he said,

here I am.

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.

Right?

Throughout this entire narrative,

God was referred to

generically as God.

It's a generic word

that all the people

use for God,

the creator God.

But it's here

at this juncture

when he is addressed

for the first time

as the Lord,

the angel of the Lord

responded.

And this usage

is most likely

theologically motivated

because when God

asks Abraham

to surrender Isaac,

he does so

as God the creator.

But when he comes

to intervene

to redeem him,

to save him,

to deliver him,

he comes as Yahweh,

the Lord,

the great I am

that we've been singing about.

He comes to deliver

and rescue Isaac

from the offering.

And he provides

a substitute,

a ram,

a male lamb

that can be offered

as a burnt offering

in the place

of his son.

dramatic story.

It's an amazing story.

I mean,

anyone tells you

the Bible is boring,

tell them to read this.

Up to this point,

we haven't asked

the question,

was God right

to command

such an unthinkable act?

Right?

And was Abraham

right to obey him?

Clearly,

the narrative

commands Abraham

for his obedience,

right?

So God rewards him

and he says,

because you have done this

and have not withheld

your son,

your only son,

I will surely bless you.

Right?

So clearly,

the narrative

commands Abraham

for his obedience.

But elsewhere

in the New Testament,

for example,

in Leviticus 18,

21,

22 to 5,

God forbids

offering child sacrifices

to Molech,

right?

But of course,

that's wrong

because Molech

is an idol,

right?

It's a false god,

so it's wrong

to sacrifice

your children

to Molech.

And so we can answer

this question

in a couple different ways.

So first,

in a more general way

and then later

in a specific way.

In a more general way,

the simple answer

is yes,

God has every right

to demand Abraham

to sacrifice

his son Isaac.

Right?

And of course,

it's not murder,

right,

if you kill

with the proper authority.

In the same way,

soldiers do not murder

when they go to war.

It's sanctioning authority

of the states

that they send them.

And God,

elsewhere in the Old Testament,

commands Israel's army

to kill,

right,

as instruments

of God's judgment.

So killing

is wrong

only if it's not sanctioned

by the proper authorities.

And God's sovereignly

in control

over every birth

and every death

in this life.

He is the source

of all life.

And in fact,

today,

approximately 150,000 people

will die.

God takes every single

one of those lives.

Over the course

of our service,

God will claim

12,000 lives.

So yes,

it's entirely

within God's rights

as the creator

to command Abraham

to sacrifice

his son Isaac

for every life

belongs to the Lord.

Lord.

But more specifically,

there is an expectation

throughout the Old Testament

that the firstborn son

in particular

belongs to the Lord.

And firstborn son

as representative

of all future progeny,

really.

And so Abraham

here journeyed

for three days

to worship God

upon a mountain.

And this foreshadows

and parallels

the time

when Moses

and the Israelites

will journey

three days

upon a mountain.

And there they received

the law

in Exodus 19, 11, 16,

Exodus 22, 29.

And the law stipulates

the firstborn

of your sons

you shall give to me.

And then God

later specifies

in Exodus 34, 20

that the firstborn males

of all the animals

had to be sacrificed

and the firstborn males

of all

are the families,

all the firstborn male sons.

They had to be redeemed.

They were not to be sacrificed

but redeemed.

Right?

They were supposed

to provide a substitute

and offering

an animal

that would die

in place

of the firstborn son.

And why did God

command this

in Exodus?

In Exodus

this was looking back

to God's deliverance

of Israel

during the Passover.

When God rescued Israel

from slavery in Egypt

he killed all the firstborn

males of Egypt.

However,

he spared the Israelites

families

because they had

a substitute,

a male lamb,

a ram die

in their place

and they had daubed

the blood of the ram

on their doorpost.

And so this,

really the sacrifice

here of Isaac

and God providing

a substitute

is foreshadows

that,

even precedes that.

And God spares

Isaac here

because of the ram

which is a substitute

and God spares,

right,

Israel in Egypt

because of the lamb

that died in place.

And God ultimately

spares people,

anyone that he saves

because of Jesus

who is the lamb of God

who takes away

the sin

of the world.

And that's what

this points to.

That's the ultimate thing,

the ultimate spiritual reality

that this points to

because Jesus is described

as the lamb

that takes away

the sin of the world.

He is God's only son,

the one he loves,

and he too

will carry

the wood

up the mountain

as Isaac carried

the wood

on his back.

Jesus carries

the cross

on his back

up the mountain.

And the key difference,

of course,

is Isaac is spared,

but Jesus

actually dies.

Jesus dies

and is forsaken

by the Father

so that people

who believe in him,

so that we

might have eternal life

and be reconciled

to the Father.

Jesus absorbs

God's wrath

towards sinners

so that we,

the sinners,

might receive

his mercy.

Jesus puts himself

on the cross

of judgment

where only

we deserve to be

so that we can

join God

on his throne

and reign with him

where only he

deserved to be.

That's what this passage

is pointing to.

And Romans 8, 32

says,

He who did not

spare his own son

but gave him up

for us all,

how will he not

also with him

graciously

give us all things?

If you seek

spiritual life,

if you seek

spiritual vitality,

meaning,

if you want your life

to be full of the love

that God pours out

to his children,

the only way

you can do that

is to believe in Jesus,

his life and death

and his resurrection

for your salvation.

He's the ultimate

fulfillment

of all these promises.

And when

God does not condemn

because his son

has died in our place,

who can condemn us?

The great I am,

the Lord has made provision

and the Lamb of God

has been sacrificed

on our behalf

so we can go to him

and place all our hope

and trust in him.

And that's what this passage

exhorts us to do.

So whether you're a believer

or an unbeliever,

I exhort you today,

put all your hope

and trust in him

and let your lives

revolve around

that truth

and that's where

you'll find life,

love,

and fulfillment

of all that God

has given you.

God has promised to us,

to his children.

Let's pray together.

Lord, let us

never lose

the wonder

of what you have

accomplished for us

on the cross.

You pay the ultimate price.

Your most precious son,

your only son,

your beloved son,

so that we might be called

sons and daughters of God.

What grace,

what love.

Now help us

to be challenged

and changed

by that love

you have shown us

through your son,

Jesus Christ,

so that we would consider

no sacrifice too great

when he's laid

at your altar

so that we would be

ourselves transformed

to love others

around us.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.