Asking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to the Gospel according to John
chapter 8 and reading through our text, verse 56. Verse 56, your father
Abraham rejoiced to see my day. and he saw it and was glad. John 8, verse 56, the Lord's
word to the Jews when they had been questioning him and the
Lord had said before them, his position has been greater than
Abraham's. Our Lord had said in verse 51,
If a man keep my sayings, he shall never see death. And the
Jews objected to that. They said, Now we know that thou
hast a devil, Abraham is dead, and the prophets. And thou sayest,
If a man keep my sayings, he shall never taste of death. Art thou greater than our father
Abraham, which is dead? And the prophets are dead, whom
makest thou thyself. And these Jews, they had in front
of them a man that never spake like any other man, that worked
miracles, that raised the dead, that spoke to them of the things
of God. And yet they could not see Christ. They could not believe that Jesus
was the Christ. But our Lord says of Abraham,
going back a couple of thousand years to him, and he testifies
that he saw this day and he rejoiced at it. And now we've read the
chapter 22 in Genesis, where I believe for the most part may
be seen that which of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is really a remarkable chapter
that, Genesis 22, how much is revealed of the Messiah and the
coming Christ. And it's good for us to think,
to remember what was gradually being unfolded to the Church
of God. They had the promise in the Garden
of Eden that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's
head. So they had the anticipation
that it would be a child that was born that would be the deliverer. Eve, she said, when she had Cain,
I had born a man-child from the Lord, that he proved to be a
murderer. But there was that expectation. Then when the Lord called Abraham,
we read of his being blessed in Genesis 17 and 18. In 17 verse 19, God said, Sarah
thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed. thou shalt call his name
Isaac, and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting
covenant, and with his seed after him. So again, the promise is
to a seed, it is to be Abraham's seed, it is to be Isaac's seed. And then in the next chapter,
verse 18 as well, we have the three men that were coming to
see, one of them was the Lord, to see Abraham before the destruction
of Sodom, saying that Abraham shall surely become a great and
mighty nations and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed
in him. And Paul, when he writes to the
Galatians, he says that God preached the gospel before unto Abraham. That was the verse reference,
the gospel of the blessing to all nations. Now the blessing
of the Lord for the people of God, right through time, has
always been, as God has revealed to them, the coming Messiah,
or in gospel days, the Lord Jesus Christ. All the faith of those
in Hebrews 11 look to Him. And we need to always be mindful
that the true blessings of God in us all is what is revealed
to a poor sinner of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Right the way through the Gospel
according to John, his may aim is that he might know that Jesus
is the Christ and that in believing he might have life through his
name. Wherever there is a confession
that is called forth, like with the eunuch, it is always not
what they feel in themselves, not what they see in themselves,
but what has been revealed to them of the Lord Jesus Christ. when our Lord rose from the dead. He only appeared to his disciples,
to his people. And wherever the blessing of
the Lord is, whether it be the man that had been born blind,
whether it be Zacchaeus, whether it be the woman at the well of
Samaria, it was all that they were shown that Jesus of Nazareth
was the Christ. And those of the faithful that
were through the wilderness, They drank of that spiritual
rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. That is what warms the heart.
That's of the two and the ways of Emmaus, as the Lord opened
up to them in all the scriptures, including these which we've got
here in Genesis 22, the things concerning Himself. He was revealing
Himself to them, and their heart burning within them, while he
taught with them by the way, they were able to speak of what
was done in the way and how Jesus made himself known unto them
in the breaking of the bread. That is the true witness of the
Spirit. He shall receive of mine and
show it unto you. And those are the times of real
blessing for the people of God. And so I want to look this chapter
here and to see how Christ, how the coming Messiah is to be developed. What is shown in this chapter,
bearing in mind what we've already just said at the moment, is basically
that it should be the seed of the woman, that it should be
Abraham's seed and through And apart from that, there's little
else that is revealed in Scripture up to this point. But in this
chapter, we're going to have many things that are revealed
to us, that now is clear, that Abraham through faith would have
seen, and seen Christ's day, and seen many things that beforehand
were completely hidden, and not known at all. But before we go
into that, just to dwell a little bit on that sovereignty of God,
on what he reveals to some and not another. You have a picture
here where Abraham and Isaac, they leave the young man at the
bottom of the mountain. And they go up and everything
that happens there and they come down to them and they go on their
way. Abraham, by faith, said that
they would go up and worship and come again. There's great
faith in what he said even of that. But those young men, they
were so close to Abraham and Isaac, but they didn't hear these
words from God, they didn't see these signs, it was completely
hidden from them. And it's a reminder, this goes
right through the Word, When you think of our Lord telling
of the parables, and even the disciples, they came to the Lord,
declared unto us this parable, and they needed the Lord to open
it up to them, and they asked, why? Why do you tell these things
in parables that seeing they might not see, and hearing they
might not hear? Then, when the word was preached
after Christ had risen and ascended up into heaven, that some believe
the word spoken and some believe not. And we read, as many as
were ordained unto eternal life believed. And we have this sovereignty
of God, hiding from some, revealing to others. And in that is known
God's people, those that shall be alive when the Lord returns.
the great difference. There will be some that will
pray for the rocks to fall and mountains to fall on them to
hide them from him that sitteth upon the throne. But the people
of God look up for your redemption draweth nigh. The one that is
coming they know. They've already known him here.
He's already been revealed to them. And that is the great mark
for the people of God. that they shall know thee, the
only true God, and thy beloved Son, whom thou hast sent. And the world at large, like
the Jews, they didn't know the Lord. And those that are not
the Lord's people, they will not know the Lord. He is stranger
to them, and even though they might hear the outward word,
they never hear it inwardly. You could be in the house of
God and sitting next to one that is really blessed, that can see
Christ, that has faith in Him, trust in Him for eternity, and
you know nothing of those things. The natural man receiveth not
the things of God, neither can he know them, because they are
spiritually discerned. And you could have a natural
man, and all of God's people, as they are born into this world,
are natural. We're not born spiritual, we're
not born quickening to divine life. We're dead in trespasses
and sins. But the Lord in His time and
way will reveal and open to us Himself, reveal Himself. And
that is something, if you do not know the Lord at this time,
to be asking, praying the Lord who would use through the ministry
and bless your soul with faith, the gift of life, the gift of
faith, to be able to see Him, behold Him by faith, see Him
in the words. Maybe tonight, in looking at
this Genesis 22, that you do see Him, and start to see Him,
and have Him revealed to you. My dear writer, Jesus, reveal
Thyself to me. And may that be our real desire,
that we be like Abraham and Isaac and not like the other men who
were left to come so close. You might say they were scaffolding
because they helped to bring all the things, they went along
the way, but they never parted to see what Abraham and Isaac
saw. So what are those things that
are shown us in this chapter? I want to look first at the confirmation
to Abraham. It wasn't first, but the confirmation
that it is to be of Abraham's seed. In verse 18 we read of
that. And in thy seed shall all the
nations of the earth be blessed. because thou hast obeyed my voice. So in the middle of this chapter
is what the Lord had already said in chapter 17 and chapter
18 and what the Apostle Paul tells of the Galatians that Abraham
had been told that it was his sin. And we need to remember
as well as the backdrop to this chapter where Abraham is told
by the Lord to offer up his son, that the promises were in this
son. They weren't just to Abraham,
it was to Isaac. What he was doing was offering
up the one in whom these promises were all bound up together. So, in this chapter it's not
all new things revealed, But there is a confirmation of that
already. And dear friends, do mark this.
Every blessing that the people of God have will not be new blessings. They will be a rehearsing of
what has been said before, confirming the word of His servants. It will be the Holy Spirit taking
those things and bring them to our remembrance. And sometimes
those are the sweetest lessons, where we cannot give another
text, another verse, as joining to our testimony, but we can
say that Lord has visited me again with this same text and
made it sweet, made it precious, brought back to my remembrance
through the ministry, where it was first spoken to me and the
effect and the sweetness that I felt then. And those times
are precious because we know the Lord is the same. There may
be many things that have happened from when the Lord first spoke
to us and then spoke again, and yet the Lord says in effect,
I change not. The word is the same, the blessing
is the same, Sometimes we can be sorely tempted regarding the
Word, whether it is really from the Lord or not. And the best
blessing is when the Lord comes and brings it again, and we hear
it again. Well, the second thing that is
set forth here is that the Saviour that was to come, the Messiah,
is to be God's provision. He will provide it. In verse 8, Abraham said, this
is in the answer to Isaac's question, where is the land for a burnt
offering? And Abraham says, my son, God
will provide himself a land for a burnt offering, so they went,
both of them, together. And we had, as it were, the corresponding,
when there is provided in this time, a literal ram. Abraham in verse 13 lifted up
his eyes and looked and behold behind him a ram caught in the
thicket by his horns. God had provided that. Abraham
by faith would have seen. God will provide. He will be the provider of this
Messiah, the Christ that comes and really may have gone even
further that he himself would be the lamb. He wouldn't just
provide like you and I might buy something or give something
to someone and you said that we've provided this to someone.
It's like providing ourselves and that it's not something that
we are bringing and Paul when he writes to the Hebrews, he
speaks of our Lord as being the High Priest according to the
order of Melchizedek and he says that the High Priest must have
somewhat to offer those in the Old Testament they had to have,
the lambs and that to be able to offer them. Christ also has
something to offer, He offered Himself. So He is the provision,
He is the one it is to be provided. So here, relatively, you might
say for the first time in scriptures, for the first time, Abraham has
set before him here the Old Testament church so clearly that the Messiah
is going to be God's provision and it is going to be Himself. The third thing is, that the
provision is to be the only son of the Father. Now knowing the creation, let
us make man in our own image. We have the intimation of the
Godhead, the spirit moving upon the waters, and the Father, the
Son, the great mystery of the Godhead, the triune God. But here we have, very clearly
set forth, in the time here, what God says to Abraham in verse
2, He said, Take now thy son, thy only son, Isaac. Now, think again, Isaac in whom
all the promises are. What a beautiful time, in a way
here we have, Abraham is a father. His son is Isaac. And God is
saying to him, Abraham, you are a father. Take your son. Take
your son in whom is all the promises. He's thy only son. Yes, he had Ishmael, but that
was by the maid. It was not by promise. And so
the emphasis on only son. And we have that rehearsed again,
emphasized in verse 16. The Lord saying, and said, by
myself have I sworn saith the Lord, for because thou hast done
this thing, thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son. And that is what is emphasized,
and we know our Lord Jesus Christ testified of his father. that He is of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. He is God's firstborn,
only begotten Son. And that then is revealed to
Abraham. Such a relationship within the
Godhead that was not opened up before this time, but here it
is. And it's not only that, But we
have a further thing revealed, and that is the love that was
between the father and the son. In verse 2, take now thy son,
thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest. Whom thou lovest. You get just a little time here,
sometimes we focus just upon our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ,
coming to this world and encountering it. But here we have a picture
of the Father. What one of us are the fathers,
would take our son, a son who was the only son, whom we loved
deeply, and we gave him to those that were our enemies, and we
gave him so that he walked away from us, he was to be separate
from us for a long period of time, and that he would suffer
and be ill-treated by those that he came to. Sometimes we pass
over that aspect of redemption of the Father. Our Lord said,
the Father himself loveth you. God commendeth His love toward
us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And in this chapter it is opened
up to Abraham, not only that the Messiah, that the Christ,
should be the only son of the Father, but the love that the
Father had to His Son. And then we read that the father
withheld him not. Now this is emphasized as to
what Abraham had done. For because thou hast done this,
in verse 16, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son. And Paul, when he writes to the
Romans, he says in Romans chapter 8 of that withholding, the father
not withholding the son, draws further teaching from that. He
says, he that spared not his own son, but delivered him up
for us all, How shall He not with Him also freely give us
all things? Who shall owe anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth, who
is He that condemneth? And it is Christ that died, O
brother, that is risen again. And these themes, these teachings
that are in Genesis 22, They're taken up by the Apostle, they're
taken up by our Lord, the emphasis of the Father's part in sending
His Son, in not withholding Him, but giving Him. And it is an
evidence of His love to His people, that His love from eternity,
chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. But then we have in this account
as well that the Messiah, the work that should be done by him
when he came, would be a substitutionary work, it should be a substitutionary
offering. We have Isaac and he is bound
upon the altar and Abraham then stretches forth his hand, takes
the knife to slay his son, and the angel of the Lord called
unto him out of heaven. He said, Abraham, Abraham, and
he said, Here am I. He said, Lay not thine hand upon
the lad, neither do thou anything unto him, for I know that thou
fearest God. And he then takes that ram that
was shown him, and He offers Him up for a burnt offering in
the stead of His Son. Now we know with our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ, there is no other one to take His place. He is the Great Antitype. He is the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sin of the world. But the plan of salvation, the
way that God was to save, God's provision, was to be a substitute. Not to be Isaac, not to be the
Church of God, not to be the people of God, but the Lamb of
God in their place. It is Jesus in the sinner's place. Jesus, instead of me, his sufferings,
his death, I, if I be lifted up above the earth, will draw
all men unto me. And this would have been part
of what Abraham by faith saw as he saw that provision of God
and saw the substitute put on that altar. And Isaac would have
seen it as well, a substitutionary offering. Then we have another thing that
Abraham would have been shown. And that is the resurrection
from the dead. We read in Hebrews that Abraham
believed that God was able to raise Isaac from the dead, even
from the dead, even if he hadn't slain him, he would still have
raised him from the dead. And he saw it. He saw him. And
we read in Hebrews that he received him in a figure as from the dead. This is another vital aspect
of the coming Messiah that is so early in the Word of God is
being revealed and is being shown. When we think of in Matthew chapter
1 and we have the generations and we have Abraham and then
we have 14 generations from Abraham to David. And then we have 14
generations from David to the carrying away of the children
of Israel into Babylon. And then from that carrying away
to Christ another 14 generations. And the whole line there, the
kingship line, it comes from Abraham. And so Abraham, a very
important figure and to see how Christ is then being revealed
to him, not just in one aspect, not just the seed, but in many,
many aspects of Christ's work upon earth, work at Calvary,
what our Lord and Savior should be. These things are being revealed
one after another in this passage. Our Lord did rise from the dead,
the empty tomb. He hath given assurance unto
all men in that he hath raised him from the dead. Now there is another thing that
is revealed here as well and that is the hope of the third
day. A third day in scripture is very
significant We think of, of course, the sign of Jonah, three days,
three nights in the whale's belly, and we have our Lord and Saviour,
Jesus Christ, that must be three days and three nights in the
heart of the earth, and then to rise again. Where did that
idea, where did that teaching, where did that hope come from,
that thought, that the Messiah, The Christ that should come should
die and then be raised again the third day. Well, you have
it right here in Genesis 22. As soon as the Lord tried Abraham,
another word, or test, the word used here is tempt. He tempt
Abraham as test, or tried him. That as soon as that was given,
in Abraham's mind, Isaac was as good as dead. He
had been told to offer him up. And so he walks on this three-day
journey, and on the first day, then Isaac is still appointed
unto death. The second day, the third day,
and it's not until the end of that third day that then he is
raised up from the dead. It's a blessed thing to have
a third day religion. One that begins with death and
ends with life. One that is proved to be life
from the dead. And when we think of the whole
plan of salvation, it comes because man has died. Man is under the
sentence of God and the day that thou eatest thereof shall surely
die. No other salvation will be of
any avail if it does not deal with death, if it does not deliver
from death. We are all born spiritually dead. The salvation of God would avail
nothing if it did not provide to quicken us into spiritual
life. The salvation of God would not
avail anything if it did not accomplish a deliverance from
physical death, though we do die, yet that to God's people
is turned to sleep, and that they shall then be with the Lord,
absent from the body, present with the Lord, and a deliverance
from second death. It is vital our faith should
be centred in this, arising from the dead and many times in the
experience of God's children. Now the first it is, we're dead
and trespasses and sins have been quickened. But there's many
times we get so low and almost feel dead again, so far off from
the Lord. And the Lord quickens and raises
us up again and revives our souls again. And we know what it is. the Lord saying, because I live,
you shall live also, and that our life is bound up with the
Lord, that He is divine and we are the branches and the branch
cannot bear fruit of itself, we have no life in ourselves,
but that life is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so that hope
of a third day is a reminder, we are not to Give up hope when
it seems so black, so dark. Wait the Lord's appointed time. Dear Jacob, he says, all these
things are against me. But they weren't, Joseph, his
son was alive. And we have even illustrations
there of the dreams that were told to Joseph with the butler
and baker the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday. And that
was the difference between life and death in the book of the
Baker. And may we know what is prefigured
here, to think that up to this point, up to Genesis 22, there's
not been revealed that at the time of this sacrifice, the time
when the father does not withhold his own son, the time when he
makes that substitutional offering, that it shall be the third day
and that he rises from the dead. We've mentioned it as a separate
point that he should rise from the dead, but what time frame? What time frame? And that really
is shown us here, the third day. That is the hope of the third
day. Then we have the blessing in
Christ that came through obedience. This is what is highlighted by
God here to Abraham, is what is highlighted as a mark of his
faith that he went and James he speaks on it, faith without
works is dead, Abraham didn't just stay at home and say that
he believed that God could raise up his son Isaac from the dead. He actually went, he took him,
he went. Works were joined with it in
that way, proving the faith was real. But Abraham's faith that
God would raise up Isaac, it was given by God to believe that
that would be so. And so the obedience of Abraham
is set forth in the Gospel by the Apostles, but so emphasised
by the Lord here, and actually telling what happened, but then
when he is blessed, then it is God that says to him that it
was obedience, it was because he had obeyed, because he had
offered up his son. Verse 18, Thou seest all the
nations of the earth be blessed because Thou hast obeyed my voice. And you think of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ as set forth by the Apostle when he writes
to the Philippians. It's a beautiful word in the
second chapter. It speaks of our Lord. who being
in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, but made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant,
and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion
as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him, and given Him a name which is above every name, that
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven
and things in earth and things under the earth. That every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God
the Father. When we think of the emphasis
in this chapter of the Father, of His Son, the love to His Son,
of Abraham, the love to his son, and then we think of the obedience
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. These things are all
to strengthen our faith in our Lord and to be used to show us,
like God used to show Abraham, the Lord Jesus Christ. The last
thing I'd mention is that the promises of God to Abraham, those
that we read together in Genesis 17, in 18, those promises that
were in him and in Isaac that his seed should be called, that
they were not destroyed through obedience but rather established
We always need to remember this, because very often with our path,
the path of obedience is also a path of taking up the cross.
Our Lord said that if one is to follow him, let him take up,
or let her take up their cross and follow me. There is a cost
to it. It might be the case we think,
well, If we're going to obey the Lord, then we're going to
upset family, or we're going to lose job prospects, we're
going to lose customers, we won't be able to work on the Lord's
day perhaps. Aspects that in obeying, there
is a cost. But what a reminder we have here. Abraham could have said, the
promises are in my son Isaac. I'm not going to jeopardise those,
I'm not going to put these at risk, the cost is too high. But in obeying God, in trust
in God, those promises, rather than being destroyed, they were
strengthened, they were further established, and we need to remember
that. If we are to be followers of
the Lord Jesus Christ, then there is a following by faith, a following
by obedience. A natural self would say, oh
I cannot do that, I won't do that because of what will happen. And yet faith will say, the people
of God will never suffer by obeying their Lord. those eternal blessings, they
shall have them, and they shall never lack by following the Lord. Now all of these things are taught
here, are set forth here, throughout this one chapter. We think of John Baptist, the
forerunner coming, pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ. Behold
the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. You find
our Lord is made precious to everyone who has their eyes open
to behold Him. Unto you which will leave He
is precious. And won't you be precious if
we view Him in the eyes of this chapter? to think that the only
begotten of the Father, the one whom the Father loved, was given
for us, to think that He laid down His life for us, that He
took it again for our justification, that the blessing of God to us
is through His obedience. Think of the hymn writer, he
cries, obedience clothed, and wash me in His blood, so shall
I lift my head with joy amongst the sons of God." Now all is
bound up with the Lord Jesus Christ as believers. Abraham, his all was bound up
in Isaac, ours is all bound up in the Lord Jesus Christ. Him,
right again, says, I could from all things parted be, but never,
never Lord from Thee. When we view our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ, it's not just in vague terms, it's not just in
general terms, but it's in these aspects that the Holy Spirit
has seen fit to reveal here in this chapter and to open up then
further and further throughout the Scriptures concerning our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This should be our meat and drink. Our Lord said in John 6, except
ye eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man, ye have
no life in you. And what he meant was, which
he clarifies a few verses down in that chapter, he says, the
words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are
life. Those words. are founded upon
passages of scripture like this as the Lord opens up what He
is to do and what He has done for His dear people. So may it
be that we know the Lord Jesus Christ in this way, have seen
Him and that He has been precious to us and that our focus, the
Spirit will always speak of Jesus. He will not direct our attentions
inward but outward. Him right is the same. Out of
self to Jesus lead, for in us intercede. Lead us down to death
and there banish all our guilt and all our fear. So may this
chapter be precious to us. Again I emphasize, before this
chapter, Many of these precious truths in it were not hitherto
revealed, but when we see the Gospel, we see how fully they
beautifully set forth what our Lord Jesus Christ is, His relationship
with the Father and what He has done. And may there be then sweetness
upon our spirit as we have these things set before us, and that
we be numbered amongst those that believe on the name of the
only begotten Son of God, the only antidote for all our fears,
for our sins, for our doubts. For all that we have, the answer,
the remedy, is in our Lord and Saviour.