Now, the believer's love for
God is greater than his love for this world. The Lord teaches
us that. The Lord gives his people that
love for our God and Savior. The Apostle John wrote in 1 John
2.15, he said, if any man loved the world, the love of the Father
is not in him. We have to be taught that. We
have to be given life and the Spirit of God and lead of God
to love our God, because men prove every day their love for
the world and their enmity for God. And so we, brethren, are
saved from our sin. We're saved from ourselves. We're
delivered from that enmity, the body of sin, whole of it has
been destroyed in us by the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we need
that grace of God, otherwise we'd have no love for God. Our
Savior brings it even closer to home for us when he said in
Matthew 10, 37, he that loveth father or mother more than me
is not worthy of me. And he that loveth son or daughter
more than me is not worthy of me. And in that context he's
speaking of the divisions and the enmity that arises in the
household for Christ's sake and the Gospel's sake. And that's
what he's speaking of there. And he's saying, you that are
called to me, you that are mine, you're going to side with me,
even at the expense of your family who hates me and hates the gospel. But today we're going to look
at the temptation of Abraham to sacrifice his loved child,
Isaac. We're going to look at that in
Genesis 22. It wasn't that Isaac was a rebellious
son and therefore to be put to death. It wasn't anything like
that. Isaac was a good boy as far as children go. He was obedient
to his father and he understood and knew the sacrifices of the
Lord. He was well taught and well trained. This is about the temptation
of Abraham to sacrifice his son because God told him to. God told him to. Now this was
not a temptation of Abraham to sin. This was not about sin.
God does not tempt any man to sin. This was not about tempting
him to sin, but rather it was proving the faith of Abraham,
improving the love of Abraham for his God. The Apostle Peter
speaks of such proving of the believer, saying that the trial
of your faith, being much more precious than a gold that perisheth,
though it be tried with fire, might be found, that your faith
be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of
Jesus Christ." That's what the Lord is doing here. It was a
strong trial, but the Lord had given this man strong faith for
the trial. And so when we're looking at
this, this is not, no one should ever feel that they're being
asked of the Lord to sacrifice their child in this manner. That's
not something that happens. What the Lord is giving us here
is a picture. This is a type, a beautiful type
of the love of our Heavenly Father in not sparing his son, in sacrificing
his own son for the life of His people. That Christ was not delivered
that we would be delivered. Christ's life was laid down that
we would be given life and have life in Him. And so this is a
type of our father fulfilling his promise to his people to
give us life and salvation through the promised seed, which is Christ. Now, the steps and words that
we see here of Isaac, as we look at this, we'll go through most
of the verses in chapter 22. And what we see here is, in this
picture, it's tracing out for us what our Savior did and what
he bore for his people in laying down his life. It's to put our
eyes upon Christ. It's to give us an understanding
of the gospel so that when we see Christ, when we see what
he did, we say, wait a minute, I know that. I've seen that before. The scriptures spoke of the Lamb
of God. The scriptures speak of Christ
and this is Him fulfilling it according to the scriptures.
That we might know Him and we now knowing Him look back and
stand amazed. that, wow, Abraham did see Christ's
day. Abraham did see what the Father
was showing him in these things. That's why it's recorded here.
That's why it remained with Abraham and why that was handed down
to Isaac and Jacob and all the patriarchs for us in these scriptures
here, written and recorded by Moses, by the Spirit. And so
we see the willingness of our savior to sacrifice himself to
the father to save his people. And so another thing we see is
that every believer walks in the steps of Abraham being made
faithful. We are children of faith being
children of promise. and born again by the grace of
God. And so we come believing God.
We see Christ our Savior and what he did and we believe him.
We believe him who died and rose again. So I've titled this, The
Sacrifice of Isaac. Now let's begin with verses one
and two. And it came to pass after these
things that God did tempt Abraham. He's proving the faith that he
wrought in Abraham. God's proving that faith. And
said unto him, Abraham. And he said, behold, here am
I. 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. Now, we're not
told how Abraham felt about this. The scriptures don't record what
Abraham was thinking or what he felt. We know when Sarah,
a picture of the covenant of grace, said to Abraham, cast
out the bondwoman and her son, we're told that it grieved Abraham,
that Sarah's request grieved Abraham until the Lord said,
hearken unto her voice. Do what she's asked you to do.
Cast out the bondwoman and her son. And the next morning, bam,
he wakes up, gets the bread and the water, lays it on her shoulder,
and sends her out the door, casting her out. A picture of the casting
out of vain religion, of dead works religion, which were taught
by the covenant of grace. Covenant of grace. And the Lord
affirms it, saying, what you're hearing Trusting me, believing
me, that's the truth. You don't need works. Works will
not save you. Your works under law don't save
you. My grace saves you. And so we saw how it grieved
him about Ishmael, but until the Lord told him. And now here
the Lord says to him, your son, your only son whom you love,
take him and sacrifice him. Sacrifice him. And just as he
hastened to do what he was told about Ishmael, he rises up and
hastens to do what he hears the Lord tell him to do that night. Verse 3-4 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, and rose up, and went unto the place of
which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham
lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. Now, these early
verses here, we see a cadence of purpose. We see in this providence
that there is a step, there is a purpose of grace that's seen
in this. There's an execution of it. This
is being implemented and put into place and nothing is getting
in the way so that without delay, when Abraham understood what
God had told him to do, he got right on it and he did it. He
did it. Because things do have a way
of souring when they just sit on our mind and they toy in our
mind and we roll them around for too long, we change our mind
about things. But Abraham was very quick to
do what the Lord had told him to do. And it pictures for us
God's will and purpose in sending his only begotten son, the son
whom he loves. And he spared him not, but delivered
him up for us all. God the Father did this for us
in Christ. And so we see here in these verses
an echo of God's purpose in sending his darling son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. We see that in John 3, 16. 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. Our Lord, when He was here in
the flesh, said, The Son of Man has come to seek and to save
that which is lost. He said, I am come that they
might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.
He wasn't careless or slow in anything that he did. Everything
was with purpose. He tells us in the parable, tell
them which are bid, and behold, I have prepared my dinner. My
oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready. Come
unto the marriage. And so in this, we see the father
ordering all things, taking care to have everything that was necessary
for this sacrifice and putting it into motion and bringing it
to pass. And so our God has chosen a people
in Christ before the foundation of the world. And in the fullness
of time, Christ was born of a woman born under the law. to obtain
righteousness for His people, to sacrifice Himself for His
people, that we should have life and liberty and light in Christ,
in Christ Jesus. Our Lord said to the Jews in
John 5 verse 30, I can of my own self do nothing. As I hear,
I judge. And my judgment is just, because
I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which
hath sent me. And so we're told here now in
verse four that it was on the third day that Abraham lifted
up his eyes and saw the place afar off. You can imagine for
three days as they went, as a father, you can imagine for three days
that he walked with his son knowing that his son was going to be
sacrificed. And he could say nothing to no
one about it. He said nothing to anyone about
what he was commanded to do with Isaac for three days. Hebrews
tells us what only faith can see and only faith can understand
about this. Hebrews 11, 17 through 19, by
faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac. And he that
had received the promises offered up his only begotten son. of
whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called, accounting
that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from
whence also he received him in a figure. Being commanded of
God to sacrifice him, and then being delivered, he did receive
him from the dead. He was raised up again and delivered
into his arms from the dead. And in this we see the sweet
conclusion of Christ's death. Because He rose again after three
days. He rose again bringing life and
salvation and every spiritual blessing is taken up by Him and
given to His people. And it's given to us in Christ. For three days His dead body
lay in the grave. And after three days he was raised
again. God the Father was silent for
three days and his disciples were troubled and perplexed.
We thought that he was the one, that he was the Messiah that
was promised to come. But they put him to death. We
don't understand it. Well, after three days of silence,
three days of darkness, Christ rose from the dead and came back
to his disciples and showed himself to them. And then there was great
joy and rejoicing and gladness. Now, the sacrifice of Isaac gives
us many pictures of Christ at the time when he was sacrificed. There are many examples here
in this proving of Abraham's faith regarding the sacrifice
of his son. This is given to show us that
this is speaking of Christ. These things which are recorded
for us concerning Isaac in this sacrifice, we see the Lord Jesus
Christ in His sacrifice for the Church. So we're going to see
a few of these things now. Look at verse 5, Genesis 22. And Abraham said unto his young
men, Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder
and worship and come again to you. Now this brings us back
to that night in the garden of Gethsemane when the disciples
were with Christ and the Sanhedrin came and those men they came
to arrest Christ. And they said they were seeking
for Jesus of Nazareth. And our Lord said to them, if
ye therefore seek me, if you're looking for me, let these go. And our Lord delivered his disciples. Not one was taken. None of them
was arrested. None of them was hurt. None of them was killed in the
process. They all went free. And after
a little, what happened actually, the next thing that happened
was Peter, he drew a sword and he cut off a man's ear and he
tried to deliver his Lord from the hands of these wicked men. but that wouldn't have led to
our redemption. If Christ was not crucified,
if Christ was delivered, we'd still be in our sins. And so
the Lord separated himself from the disciples and went alone
to this work because only he can do the work. And the disciples
couldn't be around because they might try to prevent that and
deliver it and then be hurt in the process themselves or killed
by a Roman guard if they came up there and tried to remove
him. And so the Lord did it himself. Because we can't help them anyway.
There's nothing we can do in laying down our lives for the
lives of ourselves or others. So Christ must do that work alone.
And so we see that where Abraham tells the young men, you stay
here. And I and my son, the lad, we're going to go. And we're
going to do this. And that's what our God did by himself. without our input and without
our help. And so our Lord did this work
of salvation alone, to atone for the sins of the people, to
obtain our eternal redemption and everything we need, Christ
has obtained it and given it freely to his people in grace. Now in verse six, verse six,
and Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it
upon Isaac his son. And he took the fire in his hand
and a knife, and they went both of them together. And so symbolically
here, this is seen with our Lord. They laid the cross, the wood
of the cross, on our Savior to carry to Golgotha. where he was
crucified, John 19, 17. And he bearing his cross went
forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called
in the Hebrew Golgotha. And so Our Lord bore the wood
of the cross. Well, here's Isaac, and he's
bearing the wood upon which he's going to be sacrificed. He's
bearing the wood there. And what it pictures for us is
our burden was laid on Christ. That's what we're really looking
at here is that Christ bore the burden. He bore the sins of his
people and he went and sacrificed himself, made an offering of
himself to the Father to atone for my sins and your sins. You that believe him this day,
he bore your sins and put them away forever. He put them away
by the death of himself. He bore that burden to deliver
us from our just and rightful death, what we earned, the judgment
we earned, Christ paid the price for his people. Turn over to
Isaiah 53, and let's see the words that the Spirit gave thee,
the prophet, concerning our salvation in Christ. Isaiah 53, and we're
just gonna read verses four through six. And notice who is bearing
the burden in these verses. Isaiah 53 verse 4 Surely he hath
borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem
him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded
for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And with his stripes,
we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We have turned everyone to his own way. and the Lord hath laid
on him the iniquity of us all. And so we see Christ bearing
that sin burden as the sin bearer, as the surety of his people,
and he sacrificed himself to the Father to atone for the sins
of his people. All the sins that he bore he
put away in the death of himself. Next, in Genesis 22, verses 7
and 8, 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. Now when we see this here, We
hear these same words by the Son of God, our Savior, when
he prayed to the Father. When he was in the garden, what
did he say? My Father, my Father, if it be
possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will,
but as thou will. I want your will to be done.
So just as we see Abraham there, my Father, where's the lamb? And then we see Christ say, my
Father, let this cup pass from me if it be possible. Otherwise,
I'll do it. I'll go to the cross as the sin
bearer of my people and put that sin away from them forever. And so to pay the debt of our
sins, Christ willingly sacrificed himself to the Father, bearing
the sins of his people, to satisfy the justice of God and to deliver
us who believe Him and hope in Him and have no righteousness
of our own, who are needy sinners, who need His salvation, He put
that sin away forever. He paid the debt, satisfied the
justice of God, and let us go free in His grace. And He now
gives us light, life, and liberty in Himself. And so, our God must
provide himself the Lamb, and he did that in Christ. In Christ,
through the God-man mediator, he is the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sin of the world. That is, his people scattered
throughout the world. There's one Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, for Christ's sake, our God
commands deliver him. I found a ransom. Take my child,
my children, take my people, my bride, and deliver them from
the pit. Lift them up and take them out
because I found a ransom. And that's what Christ did. He
is the ransom to deliver his people. The Lord stopped Abraham
from sacrificing his son, Isaac. God confirmed in verse 12, saying,
thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me. In verse
13, 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. That ram is Christ. That ram pictures the Lord Jesus
Christ who in our stead was sacrificed for his people. Isaac didn't
die. Isaac went free. That ram died
in Isaac's place. And that's what Christ did. He
was not spared. He didn't go free. He went willingly
to the cross, laying down his life, and all his people go free
in Christ. And all his people are delivered
from eternal death and the eternal punishment of God and go free,
having life and light in the Lord Jesus Christ now. He sacrificed himself. And Abraham,
verse 14, 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 what it's saying there is
Christ when he opens our eyes and he makes us to see him and
what he's done we see the provision of God Jehovah provides Jehovah
shall provide he provided abundantly fully everything needed in Christ
in Christ he is Jehovah Jireh and we see the provision of the
Lord and then our Lord confirmed Abraham with an oath right he
had a All this time spoken to Abraham the promises, the promises,
the promises of what he would do in blessing all the nations
of the earth in his seed. And now God swears by it. He
swears to Abraham with an oath saying, I'm going to do this.
Everything I've promised you I shall bring it to pass in your
seed which seed is the Lord Jesus Christ It's in Christ because
our God God the Father did not spare his son He did not spare
him, but delivered him up for us all Now verse 17 and 18 that
in blessing I will bless thee. This is what our Lord promised
This is what he swore 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 so all for whom Christ died
and gave his life, they live, they shall live. He's going to
seek them out and find them and call them by his grace, giving
them his spirit, giving them his life. so that we are brought
into the knowledge of these things, and given an understanding of
what Christ has done for me, the sinner, to give me life in
himself. And he says there, we'll possess
the gate of his enemies. That is, all our enemies have
been defeated by Christ. Satan, who accuses us, his mouth
is shut. Sin, we're delivered from its
dominion. The grave, it cannot hold us.
We shall be raised from the dead in Christ. Even our spiritual
death can't hold us. We are given a new birth by the
Spirit of God in Christ. All our enemies are defeated. And in thy seed, shall all the
nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice. What a glorious picture of our
salvation by the faithful Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who willingly made himself the sacrifice, the Lamb of God, to
take the place of his people, to let us go free, in grace and
by his power. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
all who believe him. are the children of Abraham.
All who believe him are the children of faith. They are the children
of promise. And we see the result of Christ's
obedience here and his obedience unto death. We see our resurrection
and the promise of life. Look at verse 19. So Abraham
returned unto his young men and they rose up and went together
to Beersheba. It's a picture. Our Lord comes
and he raises us up. In life now, and in the life
to come hereafter, when he raises us from the grave, and we go
with him forever. And then immediately following,
it gets into the lineage of Nahor and the sons that he bore, I
think by Milcah. And what do we see? Our eyes
immediately then turn. to the bride, to the bride of
Isaac. It's pictured for us in Rebekah.
Look at verse 23, and Bethuel, that's one of the sons of Nahor
and Milcah, begat Rebekah, begat Rebekah, and she became the wife
of Isaac. And so, Isaac picturing Christ,
Rebekah picturing the bride of Christ, the church. the church.
And so when our Lord's atonement was made, when that work was
done, he now shows himself to his disciples after the resurrection
and immediately The work is turned to calling the bride, saying,
believe, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt
have everlasting life in him. And so that's the sweet picture
there that we see in the sacrifice of Isaac, brethren. I pray the
Lord bless that word to your hearts and encourage you and
give you laughter. That's what Isaac means, laughter,
great joy, great joy and laughter in him. Amen.