So Lord, may you graciously help
me, I'll turn your prayerful attention to the chapter that
we read in Genesis chapter 22 and reading for a text verses 7 and 8. Genesis chapter
22 and verses 7 and 8 for a text. 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 is 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. Genesis chapter 22 verses 7 and
8. We've just been singing of the
fountain open for sin and for uncleanness and how that this
chapter in the Old Testament is one that is very, very rich
in pointing to that one sacrifice even of the Lord Jesus Christ
the sacrifice of God's, God the Father's beloved Son, and the
provision that God has made. So as we look at this chapter
and see something of the wonder of this question and the answer,
we have this question of Isaac, where is the lamb for a burnt
offering? And may we, as the Lord helps
us, look at this question and then the answer to that question. Abraham's answer and the ultimate
answer in the New Testament. Well, we have then this test
that Abraham was given. It came to pass after these things
that God did tempt or test Abraham and said unto him, Abraham. And
he said, behold, here am I. And he said, take now thy son,
thine only son, Isaac, that's the only son from his relationship
with Sarah, 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." So Abraham gets this
very shocking command to test his obedience to the very end
degree. that he was to take his son,
his only son, the son that he loved, the son in which he had
all the promises of future prosperity, in the seed that God had promised
was all in Isaac. And indeed, the very coming of
the Messiah was through the line of Isaac. And Isaac at this time
had not, did not, was was young, he wasn't married, he didn't
have any children. There was therefore no seed already
from Isaac. No, he was this young boy, perhaps
17 years of age or something like that, and he's told by God
to offer his son up a great test. Take now thy son, thine only
son Isaac, whom thou lovest." So it was to be something that
was going to cost Abraham a lot to do this. The son of his love,
the son of his hopes, of his desires, and also his blessing
spiritually that in Christ would come through the seed of Isaac. 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." So
he was to take Isaac, you see, to the land of Moriah. And we
find later, you see, that this land of Moriah was where, if
you look in 2 Chronicles and chapter 3, Solomon began to build the house
of the Lord at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared
unto David his father in the place that David had prepared.
in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. That was on the
occasion when David had numbered the people and then God gave
that plague and the plague was stayed and David sacrificed at
that place. So we have here that Abraham
was given this command so many years before to take Isaac to
this Mount of Moriah, that where the Temple Mount where there
was a temple mount there, where the temple was built with Solomon.
But of course, the Lord Jesus Christ was not actually sacrificed
on the Temple Mount. It was to be one of those hills
near that Temple Mount, even on that hill of Calvary, where
the Lord would suffer. So we do not know whether perhaps
it was the very place where the Lord Jesus, so many years later,
would offer himself that acceptable sacrifice. Because it says, of the mountains which I will
tell thee of." So there was a specific place for this offering up of
Isaac. A specific place where Abraham
was to take his son, not to do it anywhere, but to do it where
God had appointed. And we think of the Lord Jesus,
you see, we spoke this up this morning of my time had come. There was a set time and a set
place for Christ to be that acceptable sacrifice and to suffer on behalf
of his church. And we read in verse three, and
Abraham rose up early in the morning and saddled his ass.
There was this a willing obedience of Abraham. He did not drag his
feet. He he got on with it. And we
read that he rose up and he took his young men with him, and Isaac
his son, and Clave, or split the wood for the burnt offering,
and rose up and went unto the place of which God had told him. And then we read in verse 4,
then on the third day. The third day, you think of it,
Abraham had been traveling with these other two servants and
with Isaac for three days. For three days, Isaac really
had that death warrant over him, that he was going to be put to
death by his father. as in accordance to what God
had said. And three days, you think of
it, it was not just a split momentarily thing that Abraham had to go
through. He had to walk three days going on further and further
to this place, which seemed to be at the end of his son. And
yet we know that there was a lot of faith mixed in the great faith
that Abraham had. in this great trial. And he realised,
as we know from the New Testament, what was going through Abraham's
mind. In Hebrews 11 verse 17 we read,
By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac, and
he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten
son. Isaac, you see, was a son of
promise. God had promised Isaac 25 years
before Isaac came. He was long in coming. And it
was a long time for Abraham to wait from 75 years of age to
100 years of age, and to see his wife reach the age of 90
years before she was to bear Isaac as their promised son. And he that received the promises
offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said that
in Isaac shall thy seed be called. And we read this accounting that
God was able to raise him up, even from the dead. So we realize
there that Abraham believed in the resurrection. He believed
that if God had told him to kill Isaac, that God was able to raise
Isaac from the dead and to once again bring him to life after
the offering and the sacrifice and once again bring him to life
so that the other promises that in him shall all the nations
of the earth be blessed in his seed would come true. Abraham, you see, had that great
faith. So then on the third day, Abraham
lifted up his eyes. Well, three days, we think of
that with, it was like Isaac was almost on death row for those
three days. And we think of the Lord Jesus.
He was, of course, he was in the grave three days and three
nights, and then he rose again. But when this went with Isaac,
it was as if there was three days when, in Abraham's mind,
that Isaac was as good as dead. He was destined to be taken into
this place of of death, of sacrifice. But we
read, on the third day he lifted up his eyes and saw the place
afar off. And Abraham said unto his young men, abide ye here
with the ass. Abraham did not bring his young
men up to that sacred place. He was going to leave them some
way away. They perhaps would have stopped
Abraham carrying out this act in obedience to God because they
would have not considered that it was right that he should kill
his son. So he left them and you see we
have to leave these reasoning minds and come and worship the
Lord in the beauty of holiness and we're to obey God and bow
down sense and reason. Faith only reigns here. So Abraham and Isaac then walk
on together. And it's good to notice, you
see, the unity that there is. And Abraham says, I and the lad
will go yonder and worship and come again to you. It was going
to be a sacred place. And of course, Abraham says,
I will come again to you. That was another great act of
faith. He'd been told to kill his son and sacrifice him, but
now he said he was going to come again. Verse six, and Abraham
took the wood and the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac, the wood
of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac, his son. So Isaac
was to carry the wood. And we think of the Lord Jesus
was to carry his own cross part of the way, wasn't it? As he
traveled on that road to Calvary. laid it upon Isaac and son and
he took the fire in his hand and the knife so Abraham had
in his hand the the instruments of death the fire and the knife
which would be for the the death and the burning of his beloved
son. And they went both of them together. There was a unity, you see, between
Abraham and Isaac as they did this great act. It was not that
Abraham and Isaac had a problem and a falling out. No, there
was a unity in what they were doing. And yet, of course, to
start with, Isaac didn't appreciate what Abraham had been told to
do. And we see that, you see, in
the question. The question which is almost
an innocent question that Isaac asks his father. And what a painful
question it must have been for Abraham to try and answer. In verse 7, what we've quoted
for a text, and Isaac spake unto Abraham his father and said,
my father, my father. It's endearing. It's familial,
isn't it? And there was no disunity between
them. They were one. And he said, here
am I, my son. And he said, behold the fire
and the wood. But where is the lamb? for a
burnt offering. Clearly Isaac was one that had
been well taught. He'd often seen his father burnt
offerings and he knew that when his father did such a thing there
was always the animal that he took to be sacrificed, but here
there was something different. There was something different
about this sacrifice, about this burnt offering from all the other
ones that he'd ever seen his father do, because here there
was something lacking. There was something not there
that was normally there. Behold the fire. and the wood. And you think of what the fire
and the wood would be. They were to burn the sacrifice,
weren't they? The fire to kindle the wood and
then the wood to burn and to create the heat to burn the body
of his son. They were instruments of death
really. They were for the destruction
of Isaac. And you see, Isaac you see Seize
these things, behold the fire and the wood. But where is the
lamb for a burnt offering? You see, if we think of this
spiritually, the fire and the wood, what does it represent?
The offering. It represents the wrath of God, the fire, the anger
of God burning up the offering and that there was to be a destruction,
you see, a judgment. the judgment of God. And so we
can see here in this, Isaac was saying, behold the fire and the
wood. We can see the instruments of
destruction, but where's the object that's to be destructed? Where is it? A question for all of us here
this night. Do we see the fire and the wood? What do I mean by that? Spiritually
in our lives, do we see that judgment is coming. Do we see
the fire and the wood? Do we see that there is to be
the wrath of God poured against all that are ungodly? Do we see
that? Do we fear it? Do we realise
there needs to be something that is to satisfy that claim, to
satisfy that demand? Behold the fire and the wood. What a question. But where is
the Lamb? What a question that was. In
a sense, Isaac didn't really realise the depth of what he
was asking. He didn't realise. He asked it
in innocency. He had no idea that he, according
to what God had said, was destined to be the offering, destined
to be that one. Although, of course, that never
took place in God, prevented that taking place, but that was
what Abraham had been told to do. Behold the fire and the wood,
but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? Where's the substitute? Where's the thing to be offered?
Where's that to be spent on, the wrath of God? And you see, in our lives, in
us Christian lives, are we concerned as to where the Lamb is? Where
is the Lamb? What is going to stand in our
place? What are we going to offer? What
is going to die? What is going to be burnt up?
Where is the Lamb? Well, in verse 8, Abraham answers
this question, and really, his answer is a tremendous prophecy,
both in the short term and in the long term, of what God would
do. And when we compare his answer
with what we read in Hebrews, we see really that it doesn't
really correspond to what we read in Hebrews. In Hebrews,
we read that Abraham just to see where that was, accounting
that God was able to raise him up even from the dead from whence
also he received him in a figure. But here you see Abraham does
not say to Isaac, well it's you but I believe God is able to
raise you up from the dead. No, he gives a different response
and it seems that his faith was so strong and he prophetically
gave such a suitable answer, so much pointing to the great
Lamb of God who would be provided by the Father. And Abraham said,
my son, God will provide himself a lamb. You see, that's not really
in line with what we read in Hebrews. It's different. It's a different answer than
Abraham believed that God was able to raise him from the dead.
But here he's saying, my son, God will provide himself a lamb
for a burnt offering. Oh, what a perfect description
that was of the Lamb of God. The perfect description of what
God would do for his dear church. And Abraham said, my son, God
will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. You see, in
the short term, that was certainly true. There was that provision
of the ram, but also in the long term, that was certainly true
in what God had done with his beloved son. So they went, both
of them together. You see, again, a unity. There
was not a disagreement. There was not a squabbling. There
was not a distance between these two. They were going on together. And they came to the place which
God had told them of. To that place, to one of the
mountains, which I will tell thee of in the mountain range
of Moriah. And they came to the place which
God had told him of, and Abraham built an altar there, and laid
the wood in order, and bound Isaac. Ah, what must have this
been? Isaac finds himself bound, and
we don't read there was any squabble, there was any reluctance in Isaac
to allow his aged father, that was more than a hundred years
old, to bind him. But there was that willingness,
you see, and we think of the Lamb of God. that he is dumb
before her shearers, so he opened not his mouth. There was that
willingness to go through this way, to fulfill all righteousness,
and bound his son and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And you see here that this is
so picturing what the Lord Jesus was willing to lay down his life. He willingly was bound. He did
this in the Garden of Gethsemane. He talked to them and they all
fell backwards, but then he gave himself, he willingly said, gave
himself over to them that they should bind him. But you see
here, in this account, we see something of the cost it was
to Abraham. Perhaps, I don't know how it
is with you, but if you think of what took place at Calvary,
you think of all the shame and the derision and the mocking
and the pain that was inflicted on Christ and the humiliation,
and all that took place at Calvary, we think of the cost of it was
to the Lord Jesus Christ, and of course that's right, it was
a huge cost, but perhaps we can forget the cost it was to the
father. We can perhaps think that the
father was hardened in some way to allow that to happen to his
son. We don't think perhaps of the
cost. But you see, if we consider this account in Genesis 22, I
believe it can shed light on the cost it was to the father. And we see here what a cost it
was to Abraham to take his beloved son and to offer him up, the
one that he dearly loved. And the offering up of Isaac
in no way indicated a lack of love between Isaac and Abraham. It did not show that there was
some problem, some division, some animosity between them. No, they were in union together. And we think of that between
the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. There was that unity. There was that love. And yet,
in obedience, to the plan of salvation and the will of God,
they were to go through this difficult path. And they were
to do it, but there was no lack of love. And so when Abraham
took his knife in obedience to God to slay his son, it did not
indicate any lack of love. And of course, as we think of
this, what took place on Mount Moriah, who was present? Well,
it was Abraham. and his son Isaac. There was
that aloneness. It was just the two of them really,
wasn't it? And the other servants were told
to wait away and they were just alone. You might say, well that's
not true of the Lord at Calvary. We read that there was many at
the cross of Calvary. There was much hackling going
on, there was jeering, there was mocking, there was scorning
going on. And there was much, much there. But yet, in another sense, after
that twelve o'clock, when the sun forbore to shine, when there
was that darkness, there was that aloneness, wasn't there?
And there was that transaction that took place between the father
and between his beloved son. And you see, this is what we
have pictured in Sakaraya, chapter 13. The first
verse, of course, was based on an opening hymn, but further
on in that Zechariah 13, verse 7, we have this, Awake, O sword
against my shepherd, against the man that is my fellow, saith
the Lord of hosts, smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall
be scattered, and I will turn mine hand. upon the little ones. So there we have that sword of
divine justice which was to be plunged into the Lord Jesus Christ
in what took place at Calvary. 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. So right at the point at which
Abraham was to plunge that knife into Isaac, there was this angel
appeared and stopped Abraham. stopped him from that final process
of what he was going through for the death of his son. And
of course then the picture changes somewhat because we then have
the picture of substitution taking place, that there was one to
be given in the place of Isaac. But you see, when it comes to
the Lord Jesus Christ, and when it comes to him at Calvary, when
it comes to the Father's beloved Son going through Calvary, when
he comes into that Garden of Gethsemane, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me, there was no substitute found for Christ. There was no substitute. There
was nobody to take his place. He trod the winepress alone of
the wrath of God. He only could unlock the gate
of heaven and let us in. So we see here there's a difference
because all the types in the Old Testament, they pointed so
far to Christ but they all came short. But I do believe this
is a very illustrious type of the Lord Jesus in Isaac being
offered up by his beloved father Abraham. a type of our Lord Jesus
Christ. We can see the love that the
father had to the son, the cost that what we read in in John,
that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son,
the cost it was to the father to give that son of his love,
to give that son of his delight for rebels that were destined
for destruction had he not intervened. This is the great plan of salvation
you see. This is the way. Well, so and
then, of course, that we read and Abraham lifted up his eyes
and looked and behold, there was a ram behind him, a ram caught
in the thicket by his horn. So we see here in the short term,
as I said, that Abraham had said, God will provide himself a lamb. And a ram, of course, is a male
lamb. And there was then this provision that Abraham had prophesied
to his son Isaac that God would provide himself a lamb. And we see that this lamb, you
see, this ram was caught in the thicket. by its horns. We think
of what happened to Christ. He was crowned with thorns, wasn't
he? Crowned with thorns in the mockery
and ridicule that they gave him. Well, Abraham found this ram
caught in the thickets. The ram that was not his own.
A ram that God had truly provided. You see, this was unique in all
of Abraham's offerings. He'd always come to a sacrifice
with a live animal to offer. But here, this was a different
sacrifice. He came with no animal, and God provided that animal. God provided the sacrifice. And
of course, this was to be a picture of the great sacrifice. You see,
when we came, we needed a saviour. We did not bring to God that
saviour. We did not bring the Lord Jesus
Christ to God to offer him up. No, God provided himself a lamb. It was God's provision. He sent
him from glory to be prepared in this earth, to be prepared
for that great work of redemption. And I do believe that's what
it's speaking of as well, that when God, Jesus often said it
was not his hour, there was a right time, a right preparation for
the Lord Jesus Christ to be ready to be that offering. and indeed
in John's Gospel, we have that in John 17. In John's Gospel, chapter 17,
verse 4, I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished
the work which thou gavest me to do. Yes, he had not finished
Calvary, but the lamb was ready. The lamb was complete. You think
of it in the type of Noah with his ark. There came a time when
that ark was ready. It was ready for the storm. It
was ready for the voyage. It was ready. And the Lord Jesus
was ready to be offered. He was not a babe. He had grown
into a man. He had fulfilled all righteousness. He had worked out a righteousness
for his people. The time had come. The fullness
of the time had come. that he would be ready. And Abraham
lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, 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 stead or in the
place of his son. So for Abraham there was this
substitution of a ram, a ram that he never provided, but a
ram that then stood in the place of Isaac. So Isaac was set free. So Isaac could see that this
ram was, what was taking place to that ram was where he should
have been. And how this was looking to that acceptable sacrifice
where the Lord Jesus would indeed do that for his people. Well,
Isaac asked this question, behold the fire. and the wood? And do
we behold the fire? Do we behold the fact that there
is judgment, the soul that sinneth it shall die, that we need a
sacrifice, we need a substitute? Behold the fire and the wood,
but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Where is it? Well, Abraham replied, God will
provide himself a lamb. But really, the answer to Isaac's
question came thousands of years later, really, from the mouth
of John the Baptist, in John's Gospel chapter 1 and verse 36. Sorry, verse 29. The next day, John
seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold, the Lamb of
God, which taketh away the sin of the world. This was the answer,
really, the ultimate fulfilment of Isaac's question. What a profound
answer to that question that he stated so many years before. Where is the lamb for a burnt
offering? had a deeper meaning. Obviously
he was speaking of the immediate sacrifice to take place, but
when we see this in the longer view, we see that there was a
need for a sacrifice. Where is the Lamb? John the Baptist
provides us with that picture. Behold, the Lamb of God. that taketh away the sin of the
world. So this is the one. So we see in this Old Testament
account of the question raised by Isaac, not understanding really
that altogether what he was saying, and I don't think Abraham fully
understood the extent of what he gave as an answer, but it
was so amazingly correct and so suitable and so true. It was
no doubt words that God gave him. And we think of that with
a lot of the Old Testament. Did they really understand all
that they wrote? Did they really understand the
fullness of what it was that they had written down? And here,
Abraham, we read, he rejoiced to see my day and with glad.
No doubt Abraham saw in what took place something of Christ.
He saw something of that God would provide himself a lamb. You see, and this, as I said,
was different than any other sacrifice that Abraham had ever
offered. All the other offerings, he always
brought the lamb. It was always Abraham's provision. But you see, when it came to
this offering, when it came to this offering, there was no...
Abraham did not provide the lamb. God provided it. And we think
that is a picture, you see, as it was, you see, with all the
Old Testament sacrifices. The people had to bring the rams
and the lambs and the bulls to be sacrificed. But when it came
to the Lord Jesus Christ, God provided. God provided, he sent
his own son into this world to be born of the Virgin Mary, to
grow up in a despised town of Nazareth, and to be shown to
be the son of God. But it's interesting to notice
also that In this sacrifice that we have
of Abraham with his offering up Isaac and then replacing Isaac
with this ram, we don't read of Abraham ever offering up another
offering. I know we're coming to the end
of Abraham's life here, but we do not read in the Bible, in
Genesis, of any other offering. And you see, when it comes to
this last offering that the Lord Jesus has provided, for his people. we realize that there is only
one needed. Hebrews chapter 9, we read this
in verse 23. It was therefore necessary that
the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with
these, but the heavenly things with sacrifices, with better
sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into
the holy place with hands. This is Hebrews 9 verse 24. A
figure of the true but into heaven itself now to to appear in the
presence of God for us nor yet should nor yet that he should
offer himself often as the high priest entered into the holy
place every year with the blood of others. For then must he often
have suffered since the foundation of the world. But now once in
the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men
once to die, behold the fire and the wood. There is an appointment
to die, and after death the judgment. And may it be a cry in each of
our hearts, where is the lamb? I need a lamb. I need a substitute. I need one to be my substitute. I need one to stand in my wretched
place. Behold the fire and the wood,
and it is appointed unto men once to die. But after this the
judgment, the wood and the fire. So Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many. It was not to be a repeated sacrifice. Abraham only offered this one
sacrifice where he did not provide the lamb. And unto them that look for him
shall he appear the second time. without sin unto salvation. So we have in these words the
fulfilment of the Lord Jesus Christ in all his great work
of redemption. And there was then this fountain
that we've been singing of, opened for sin and for uncleanness.
There was a way, there was a lamb, there was a substitute, there
was something for the wrath of God to spend itself upon. And so that Isaac could look
on. Isaac and Abraham, there was
one provided. And as we think then of these
things, as we think of the greatness of this plan of salvation, that
when it came to an acceptable sacrifice, God provided it himself. There was no other good enough
to pay the price of sin. He only could unlock the gate
of heaven and let us in. There was only one Lamb. May we be amongst those then
that see in the Word of God and in the Gospels, behold the Lamb
of God that taketh away the sin of the world. May we behold that
Lamb. May we ask the question, where is the Lamb? may we behold
the Lamb, Jesus reveal thyself to me, make me know the Lamb
of God, make me partakers, make me in Christ, make me a partaker
of that heavenly life that I may live while I behold thee die. You see there was a substitution
It shows so clearly the way that God had made that a substitute
should stand in the place of the guilty one. And may we then
realize that we're guilty, that we need a substitute. And hear
those words of John the Baptist, behold the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sin of the world. And if the sin of the world,
why not my sin? Why don't I flee to Christ? Why not me? If free grace, why
not for me? Oh, that we may venture, that
we may run with patience the race set before us, that we may
flee to Christ, and that we may find a place of refuge, a place
of safety, a place of everlasting love and joy in Christ. May the Lord have his blessing.
Amen.