We turn tonight to Genesis chapter
22. Genesis chapter 22. We began looking at the life of
Abraham several weeks ago. He was 75 years of age when God
commanded him to leave Ur of the Chaldees. How old is he now
in this chapter, chapter 22? Well, we know that he was a hundred
years old and Sarah was 90 when Isaac was born. How old is he
now? Well, Matthew Poole said that
he was now 125. We don't know for sure how old
Isaac was, but he wasn't what we would think of as a young
boy. I've seen ages from 5 to 37,
the different writers, from 5 to age 37. I know this, and we will
see this as we go through the chapter, he was old enough to
carry a very heavy load. And so I would say he was at
least an older teenager, at least. We will go through the history
in this chapter, and then I want to point out some very obvious
types between this and God Almighty giving His Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, for His people. First, God's command in verses
one and two. And it came to pass after these
things that God did tempt Abraham and said unto him, Abraham. And he said, behold, here I am. And he said, take now thy son,
thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the
land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon
one of the mountains, which I will tell thee of." I would remind
us again, because we've seen this earlier, that when we read
the word tempth, We must understand when it refers to God, it means
to test because God cannot be tempted with sin, neither tempteth
he any man to evil. In Hebrews chapter 11 and verse
17, we read Abraham by faith when he was tried. So God did
tempt, God did prove. God did say or God did examine
or try the faith of Abraham. God would prove Abraham's faith
by this test, but not only his faith, he proves his love and
he proves his obedience. God's Word in verse two, we're
told in the Hebrew, is expressed much more emphatically than the
way it is translated or can be translated into English. Matthew
Henry gave this translation. Take now that son of thine, that
only son of thine, whom thou lovest, Isaac. Emphatically telling
him which son, because remember he had two sons. He had the son
by the bondmaid Ishmael, though he had sent him away at this
time, but he also had this son of promise, Isaac. Take now thy
son, thine only son, the only son of promise, the only son
by Sarah. Take now thine, thy son, thine
only son, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah
and offer him there for a burnt offering. Over the last few weeks
in looking at the life of Abraham, we have seen him in many trials. This is not the first. As long
as God's people, as long as you and I are pilgrims in this world,
we may expect them. We would be kidding ourselves,
we would be deceiving ourselves, we would be Foolish to think,
if we are God's children, that we are going to go through this
life, through this world, that is an enemy to God, and not have
trials and temptations, difficulties. You know, the Apostle Peter,
in his first letter, he said this, Beloved, think it not strange
concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you, as though some
strange thing happened unto you. Don't think it's strange, Peter
says, that you're going through trials and temptations and difficulties. Don't think it's strange. God
has appointed every trial, every trial in your life, every trial
in my life that we go through from the time that the Lord begins
the work of grace in our hearts to the time he calls us home.
Every single trial is appointed by God. It doesn't happen by
accident. They don't spring up out of the
ground. They are part of God's all providence. His providence
that rules over all. And God knows when they're going
to come and how long they're going to last, when they're going
to end. God knows that. You know, in
the letter of Philippians, Paul wrote this, and it sounds strange
to many people, I imagine. He said, for unto you it is given
in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him. In other
words, faith, for by grace are you saved through faith, and
that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. It's given unto
you to believe on him, but not only is that given to you, but
also, he said, but also to suffer for his namesake. So the first
thing we see here is God's command in verses 1 and 2. Second, Abraham's
obedience, beginning with verse 3 through verse 6. And Abraham
rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took
two of his young men with him. And Isaac his son, and claimed
the wood for the burnt offering, rose up, and went unto the place
of which God had told them. Then on the third day Abraham
lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said
unto his young men, Abijah here with the ass, and I and the lad
will go yonder and worship and come again to you. And Abraham
took the wood of the burnt offering." Now a burnt offering, before
I read the rest of that verse, just remember a burnt offering
consumes the entire sacrifice. All of it is consumed. So it's
going to take a large amount of wood to sacrifice an animal
or whatever God had told Abraham to sacrifice his son. So Abraham,
that's the reason I said we know Isaac was not a small child because
Abraham laid the wood upon him. He carries the wood up the mountain. And Abraham took the wood of
the burnt offering, laid it upon Isaac his son, and he took the
fire in his hand and a knife, and they went both of them together."
Matthew Henry, in his commentary, gives six objections that might
have occurred to Abraham not to obey God's command. And I'm going to give us these
six, but abbreviate it and not give you the scriptural references,
although there is a scriptural reference for each one of these.
Six objections that might have occurred to Abraham not to obey
God's command. Number one, it seemed against
God's law, against the law of murder. Surely I must have misunderstood. Surely I didn't get this right.
God is commanding me to take my son and to offer him as a
burnt offering? Well, that's against his command
of murder, to kill. Second, another objection. How
could this consist with his natural affection to his son? How can
I do this? I love my son. And God knows
I love my son. God told me I love my son. How
can I do this? This is against natural affection. This is a person naturally has
affection for their offspring, and this is against natural affection. I must have got this wrong. I
must have misunderstood what the Lord told me to do. Number
three, God gave him no reason for it. When he commanded him
to send Ishmael away, he did tell him why. And that was, he
shall not be heir with an heir, that is, with Isaac. He gave
him a reason for sending Ishmael away. God did, gave him a reason.
That was difficult, wasn't it? And we saw that when he was commanded
to send Ishmael away. That was difficult, but God did
give him a reason for doing it, but now God tells him to offer
up his son Isaac and gives him no reason. Just do it. Just do it. And four, how could
this be consistent with his promise? God has promised that in Isaac,
in Isaac, All the families of the earth shall be blessed. And
now I'm commanded to sacrifice Isaac. And number five, how, how can I ever look Sarah
in the face again? This child that we've waited
for and prayed for. This child of promise, and now
I'm taking him and offering him up as a burnt sacrifice. How
can I come home and tell my wife that I have sacrificed our beloved
son? And number six, what with the
pagans, Abraham lived in the midst of pagans, in the midst
of heathens who didn't know God. He was a stranger. And they all
looked at him, no doubt, in his religion, his worshiping of the
true God. What are they going to think?
When they hear that I've offered my son as a sacrifice, what kind
of a God is that? We know the pagans did offer
their children in sacrifice. We know that later, we read that.
And the children of Israel even began to copy the pagans in doing
that. But God, and God said it never
entered into my heart, into my mind to command such a thing
as that. Abraham had God's word and God's
word alone to lean upon. That's what he had. That's all
he had. If he had listened to carnal
reason, he had many reasons why this couldn't have been right,
why this couldn't have been God's word to him. But he had God's
word. He had heard God speak to him
before. He had obeyed God. And we've
already pointed out, and again, once again, we see how prompt
he is in his obedience. The scripture says in verse 3,
Abraham rose up early in the morning. God maybe spoke to him
in the night season, maybe in a vision or dream. I don't know
how he spoke to him, but we see how prompt Abraham was in obeying
God's command. He takes everything that's necessary. Everything we're going to need
for this offering, he wanted to make sure he had. He didn't
want to forget the fire. Maybe when I get there, if I
don't have the fire, I won't be able to do it. No, he prepares
everything. Maybe forget his knife. I believe
I've read this is the first time. You know, we've seen several
firsts as we've looked at the life of Abraham here in the book
of Genesis. And I believe this is the first
time that we have the word fire. And I know it's the first time
we have the word knife given to us in the scripture. But he
prepares everything. He had the wood, he had the fire,
and he had his knife to offer up Isaac as a burnt offering.
And as I said earlier, one reason we know that Isaac wasn't a small
child is because Abraham laid the load of the wood upon him. And it is significant, it's significant
if you notice in verse 4, then on the third day, on the third
day this happened. In Hebrews, we read, Hebrews
chapter 11, that Abraham received him in a figure from the dead. In other words, Abraham, when
God commanded him to offer up his son in his heart, in his
heart, he sacrificed Isaac. He offered up his son Isaac. When Isaac was bound on the altar
on the third day, But when Abraham by faith offered him up, then
on the third day, the scripture says, which no doubt pictures
to us a figure of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
had offered him up when God gave the command. In his heart, in
his heart, Abraham had slain his son. He had obeyed God. Now third, I want us to look
at Isaac's question and Abraham's answer in verses seven and eight. And Isaac spake unto Abraham
his father and said, my father. And he said, here am I, my son. And he said, behold the fire
and the wood, but where's the lamb for a burnt offering? And
Abraham said, my son, God will provide himself a lamb for a
burnt offering. So they went both of them together. He knew, Isaac did, because Abraham
worshiped the Lord. He knew that to worship God,
a bloody sacrifice is all important. It's not Just maybe it is absolutely
important. It is essential. Where is the
lamb? What a question. What a question
for each one of us tonight. Where is the lamb? Every time
that we come here to worship God, where's the lamb? Where's the lamb? Is the lamb
of God foremost in our hearts? The songs that we sing and the
prayers that we pray and the message that we hear, where's
the Lamb? Do we depend upon Him to make
our worship acceptable? We're here tonight and we've
sung and we're going to sing a hymn at the conclusion, the
Lord willing, we're hearing His word, but where's the Lamb? For God to accept our worship,
our praise, There must be the Lamb. It must be the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Every preacher, every preacher
should ask himself this question. Where's the Lamb in this message? Every message I bring, where
is the Lamb? And if the Lamb is not here,
if the Lamb is not in the message, it's probably a message that
should never have been preached. Because the scripture says that
Christ is all and in all. I have a plaque. One of the men
of our church had this made and it's here on the front of the,
on the bottom of the pulpit here. You can't see it, but I can see
it. And it says, preach Christ. Preach Christ. And that's what
I try to do. That's what I want to do. And
that's what we're talking about when we ask that question, where
is the lamb? Where's the lamb? Someone told me recently that
they went to their pastor and said, I'm going to leave the
church. And the pastor said, well, why? Why are you going
to leave? He said, well, because you don't
preach Christ. You don't preach Christ. And
the preacher said, well, now, don't leave. Don't leave. I'll
preach more Christ. I just started laughing when
I heard that. For a preacher to be told he doesn't preach
Christ, and then him say, well, I'll preach Christ more. How
ridiculous is that? What kind of a preacher is that?
It's not a preacher that God's called, obviously, because when
God calls a man to preach, He gives him the message, and the
message is Christ. When you're preaching from the
Old Testament, it's Christ. Preaching from the New Testament,
it's Christ. No matter the Psalms, the prophets,
no matter where we're preaching from, it's Christ. It's the Lamb
of God, which taketh away the sins of the world. Notice Abraham's answer. That's
Isaac's question. Where is the lamb? But notice
Abraham's answer. It may be understood in one of
these two ways. Either way is right. Either way
is good. Abraham maybe meant God will
provide for himself a lamb for a burnt offering. Maybe understood
like that. Where's the lamb? My son, God
will provide for himself. a lamb for a burnt offering. Or, number two, it may be understood
like this, God will provide Himself a lamb, Himself the lamb. And that, of course, is what
we know that He did. All right, fourth, God provided
the substitute, verse 9 through 13. And they came to the place
which God had told him of, And Abraham built an altar there,
and laid the wood in ardor, and bound Isaac his son, and laid
him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his
hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the
Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham. And
he said, here am I. And he said, lay not thine hand
upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For now I
know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son,
thine only son, from me.' And Abraham lifted up his eyes and
looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket by
his horns. And Abraham went and took the
ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his
son." Abraham comes to the place that God had directed him to,
Mount Moriah. And incidentally, it was on this
mountain, or these mountains rather, that the temple was built,
the Temple of Solomon, where the Lord Jesus Christ came and
ministered when he came into this world in the flesh. This is a fourth altar that I
found. This is a fourth altar that Abraham
has made. And I just imagine this altar,
he took his time about building this altar, knowing who was going
to be sacrificed on this altar. But he built the altar. Can you
imagine that? Can any parent here tonight imagine
building an altar upon which you would offer one of your children?
Of course not. Abraham did. Abraham was not
weak in faith. He laid the wood in order and
he bound Isaac. Here's another thing to think
about Isaac as a young man. He willingly submitted to his
father. His father bound him and he was
laid upon the altar. He allowed himself to be bound.
And Abraham, the scripture says, he raised his knife. He raised
his knife because to this kind of a sacrifice, he would have
cut his throat. That's how he would have offered
this burnt offering, first of all. And he raised his knife,
but then he heard a voice from heaven. Abraham, Abraham. Oh my. He said, here am I. I wonder. I wonder if this is
not what the Lord Jesus Christ had reference to when he was
talking to those Jews in John chapter 8. And he told them,
your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. And he saw and
was glad. Amen. Now the fifth thing God called
a second time from heaven. Verses 14 through 19. And Abraham called the name of
that place Jehovah-Jireh, as it is said, to this day in the
mount of the Lord it shall be seen. And the angel of the Lord
called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time. And said, By
myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done
this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, that
in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply
thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which
is upon the seashore. and thy seed shall possess the
gate of his enemies, and in thy seed shall all the nations of
the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice. So
Abraham returned unto his young men, And they rose up and went
together to Beersheba and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba. You know,
it's important to say that when they came to the place that Abraham
and his son went up the mountain, he told his two servants to stay. And that reminds us that the
Lord on the cross, he was doing business, as we say, with the
father. The Lord Jesus Christ had to
do something for the Father first before He could do something
for us. He had to do something for the
Father first. That is, God's justice had to
be satisfied. But God called a second time
from heaven, the scripture says. The Lord provided the burnt offering,
and Abraham affixed this to God's name, Jehovah. He knew this name
before, but now He affixes this Jehovah-Jireh. The Lord will
provide or the Lord will see to it. And that's a promise to
every one of us here tonight. We ought to remember this. He
is our Jehovah-Jireh, just as He's our Jehovah-Tiskanu, the
Lord our righteousness. He is our Lord who will see to
it, who will provide. Whatever situation we find ourselves
in, we have a God. He is our Lord who will meet
our every need, just like he met the need of Abraham here
in providing this ram to be offered in the stead of his son. But notice that Abraham is now
told in this second call from heaven of the Lord's oath, his
oath, the Lord said, By myself have I sworn." In Hebrews chapter
6, we are told that this oath, this oath that the Lord tells
Abraham that he had taken is the second of two, listen, two
immutable things that God has given to everyone who flees unto
Christ. To everyone who flees for refuge,
for salvation, to the Lord Jesus Christ, we have these two immutable
things. They're never going to change.
First of all, God's word, God's promise, look unto me and be
ye saved, all ye ends of the earth, for I am God and beside
me there is no other, no savior. And not only his word, but he's
given us his oath. And because there's none above
God, he had to swear by himself so that you and I, you and I,
that we might have a strong consolation, that we might have a strong assurance. Can God lie? Of course not. God say, come unto me and I will
give you rest. Did he? Did he say, All that
come unto me I will in no wise cast out? He did, didn't he? Whosoever heareth my words, and
believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life. Do we
have God's word? Yes, we have God's word. And
my friends, we also have his oath that we might have strong
consolation. These things have I written unto
thee that believe on the Lord Jesus Christ that you might know
that you have eternal life. The first was his word and now
his oath. In thy seed shall all the families
of the earth be blessed. And we know that seed, singular,
is Christ. In thy seed shall all the families
of the earth be blessed. All the nations, all the kindreds,
all the languages of the earth, he has his people and calls them
and saves them. Now, just a few minutes, let's
look at some types here. First of all, when God commanded
Abraham to give his son Isaac, we are reminded that God gave
his only begotten son. Now God has other sons by adoption,
but he only has one son who is his only begotten son, that is,
who is one with him. He's God. And yet he gave him,
for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting
life. Abraham was commanded to give
his son, but we know that God did not allow him to give his
son. But God, our father, he did give
his son. He gave him to save his people. A second thing we see is that
Isaac carried the wood. So the Lord Jesus Christ, he
carried that wooden cross to the Mount Calvary. When the wood
was laid upon Isaac, it may also serve as a type of God laying
the sins of his people upon Christ. You know, the scripture says
he made to meet on him the sins of us all. Your sins, my sins,
those of us who trust in Christ tonight, our sins were imputed,
they were charged to Christ and he became liable, he became guilty. And that's the reason he said,
my iniquities are more than the hairs of my head in that Psalm.
They really became his by imputation. And he felt the weight of them
as he went to the cross in our stead and in our place, just
as that ram was offered in the stead of Isaac. So Christ was
offered in the stead of all of God's Isaacs, all of his promised
sons. Another thing that comes to my
mind is Isaac gave himself willingly. He laid down and willingly was
bound on that altar. So God's son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, he gave himself willingly. He said, no man taketh my life
from me. You know, he said there he could
call 12 legions of angels. How then could man be saved? No, he willingly gave himself
for his sheep. And Abraham received his son
in a figure from the dead on the third day. So Christ, our
blessed Lord, his body lay in that tomb from Friday to Sunday
morning, three days according to the way the Jews calculate
days. And yes, on that third day, early
in the morning, they went out, his disciples, they went out
fully expecting his body to be there. They had the ointments. They went out there to anoint
his body. But the angel said, why seek
ye the living among the dead? He's not here. He's not here. On that third day, what a blessed
day that is. And then the substitute was offered
and Isaac was delivered. So again, all of God's Isaacs,
Abraham's spiritual seed were all delivered through the substitute
being punished in our stead. Someone also pointed out in Types
that this ram that was caught in the thicket, you know, we
think of a thicket as bars and wood and whatever, might also
picture the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ He was crowned with
the crown of thorns when he suffered on the cross. He was delivered
up to death, crowned with thorns. Well, I pray the Lord will bless
this word to you and I tonight. We may go away thankful, appreciative
of our blessed Savior and God's word and every promise that he
has given to us. exceeding, Peter said, exceeding
great and precious promises. May the Lord bless his word.
Let's sing a hymn before we're dismissed.