In our study of the types this
morning, I want us to look at Isaac. He's the next in line
of the types that we're studying. And Isaac is a very clear figure
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I was especially impressed with
the details of his marriage. You remember his father, took
his most trusted servant and sent him to find a bride for
this chosen woman. And she was wooed by the servant,
telling her about Isaac. Telling her about his authority
and who his father was and all of these things. And then he
brought her to Isaac. That's what we do when we preach
the gospel. We're looking for the bride of
Christ. And we, when we find someone who's willing to listen,
and this is what the servant was told, if she didn't want
to listen, just leave her alone. Leave her alone. Because she
ain't the one. And that's what we do. I try
to tell everybody comes through these doors. I try to tell them
about Isaac. Tell them about Christ. And if
they're interested, then I'm going to tell them about his
authority and his power and who he is and all about his person
and his glory and all those things. And he's a clear type of Christ
in those things. And then she forsook all of her
friends and families and everything that she knew, everything that
she grew up with. She just exited off. She just
left everything that she did to go to Isaac. And from that
day forward, she lived with Isaac. And then she was adorned by her
husband. And we are, by the preordination
of of God. When you start studying these
things, there are just countless ways in which Isaac was a type
of Christ, but I've limited my comments this morning to seven
things. First of all, Isaac is a type
of Christ as he was the son of promise. He was the son of promise. God promised Abraham a son. He said, when the time comes,
Sarah's going to have a child, and this child's going to be
my heir. And so he was the son of promise. And this is what
God has said all along, that there's one coming who's going
to be my heir. And when God speaks to us in
Hebrews 1 about this one who has come, Through whom he's speaking
to us now, he said he's the heir of all things. Always was. And he's the one foretold throughout
the Old Testament Scriptures. Salvation from the time of Adam's
fall has been promised through the coming Redeemer. The woman
seed. That's what he tells us way back
in Genesis 3.15. The woman seed. That's Christ. But we're clearly told in Romans
9, 6, and 7, that they are not all Israel which are of Israel,
that is the natural seed of Abraham, neither because they are the
seed of Abraham are they all children, but in Isaac shall
thy seed be called. In Isaac. There was nothing natural
about Abraham's son Isaac. Nothing natural about him. He
was the son of God's promise, and even so, Christ is the son
of God who took to himself the seed of Abraham. When he talked
to Abraham about his seed, Paul tells us over in the book of
Galatians, he wasn't talking about seeds as of many, but he's
talking about one seed, which is Christ. And the one point of doctrine
pressed upon the early church throughout the book of Acts and
throughout the epistles was the scriptural prophecies which prove
that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ of God. This is the promised
one. Now, Sarah and Abraham took it
upon themselves. They said, well, you know, I'm
past the age of childbearing and you're past the age of childbearing. I mean, before we get to that
point, why don't you just take my handmaid and we'll help God
fulfill this promise. And so they did and produced
Ishmael, but Ishmael wasn't a son of promise. And God said, Sarah's
gonna have a child. And they both laughed at the
prospect of it, but Sarah had a child. And she had that child
by Abraham. And he was the son of promise. If Jesus of Nazareth was not
the foretold son of God, then he's an imposter, and we're yet
in our sins. That's what the scriptures say. If he's not the Christ, everything
that we call salvation is out the door. But my salvation is
Christ. It's all in him. If he's not
the one God foretold in the Old Testament, then my faith is gone. My faith,
the whole basis of my faith, the whole basis of my hope is
out the door. It's all wrapped up in Christ.
And this was how important, so important. Now to the Jews, it
was the law and doing good and obeying the law. And after a
while, the promised person just got shoved aside and salvation
wasn't in those things. Salvation was in doing good. Salvation was in obeying the
law. Salvation was making your decision to obey the law and
making a decision to walk with God and all this kind of stuff. But it never was that way with
God. It was all through the promised son. All through the promised
son of which Isaac is a title. Secondly, Isaac is a type of
Christ and therefore establishes the true church of God. In Romans
9, 7, it said, in Isaac shall thy seed be called or identified. And then he goes on to say in
verse 8, that is, they which are the children of the flesh,
like Ishmael was, are not the children of God, but the children
of the promise shall be counted for the seed. And then in Galatians
3.26 it said, for ye are all the children of God by faith
in Christ Jesus. Therefore if ye be Christ, then
are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. There's a superstitious respect
for the Jews held by nearly every nation. I'm talking about those who are
natural descendants of Abraham. But it says in the scripture
those born of God are not born of blood. It's not because of
their blood relationship to Abraham. It's because of the blood of
Christ and that relationship to Christ by faith. That's what
manifests a man to be a true son of God. Their natural heritage
means nothing concerning their relationship with God. And men
are called Christians as they are the children of the promise. And then thirdly, Isaac was a
type of Christ as he was led as a lamb to the slaughter. I
don't know if there's a more clear picture in the Old Testament
of the death of Christ, I've never read it. It is so clear,
those things that God, God told Abraham, he said, you take your
son, your only son, the son that you love, and you take him up
on a mountain, I'll show you where it is, and you offer him
up for a burnt offering. though Ishmael was born of Hagar
and others by one called Keturah after Sarah's death. But Isaac
was the son of promise. And in both God's eyes and Abraham's,
he was his only son. And when he came to die, Genesis
25, five, he gave all that he had to Isaac. Abraham loved Isaac. And God came to Abraham and told
him, take his son and offer him up for a burnt offer. The father
must take the son of promise. Isn't that the gospel? The father
must take the son of promise into a place foreordained and
offer him up on the altar and watch his son burn and suffer
on that altar. Now that's the gospel. That's
the gospel of Jesus Christ. He died by the father's hand. Yes, he did. Yes, he did. Yes, there was a lot of other
things involved, and you can read about it over in Acts chapter
4, but all these Gentiles and all these Jews and all the people
and the soldiers and everybody there, it said, did what God's
hand and God's counsel determined before to be done. He died at
the hands of God. Father must take the son of promise,
his only son, his well-beloved son, and slay him and watch him
burn upon a fiery altar. And just before Abraham would
have slayed his son, God stayed his hand and revealed to him
a ram caught in the thicket, which Abraham then took and offered
him up in the stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of
that place Jehovah-Jireh. The Lord will see to it, or in
the mount it shall be seen. Then in John 8, 56, our Lord
said this. He said, your father Abraham
rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. When did
he see it? On that mount. On that mount,
and he was glad. Oh, he was glad. What a type
of Christ Isaac is. Only he and his father going
together to the altar. And then fourthly, Isaac's the
type of Christ in that God established his covenant with him. His everlasting
covenant. And with all his seed after him. You can read about that in Genesis
17 and 19. My friend, Jesus Christ is the
surety and guarantor of God's everlasting covenant of grace. This is something I never heard
when I was in religion. I never heard mention the word
covenant. I never heard mention the word
surety. And yet David, the man after
God's own heart when he come to die, These were the last words
of the sweet psalmist of Israel, the psalmist David, the prophet
of God. These were his last words. He
said, although it be not so with my house, yet hath he made with
me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure, and this
is all my hope and all my desire, though he make it not to grow. This covenant of grace, 2 Samuel
23. Then in Hebrews 13.20, Paul writes
that the God of peace hath brought again from the dead our Lord
Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood
of the everlasting covenant. God established his covenant
in Isaac that he might be a type or a figure of the Lord Jesus
Christ. This covenant is a covenant agreed
to by the Trinity on the behalf of God's elect and respecting
each of the Godhead, but in particular, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is
its surety. God takes everything that he
demands from us and gives it into the hands of his son, the
surety of that covenant, and he meets every demand. Somebody said if you just take
all the ifs in the scripture, Take all the ifs and string them
on a silver band and just hang them around the neck of the Lord
Jesus Christ. You'll find assurance. Take all
the ifs, because there is no ifs in Christ. All the promises
of God in Christ are yea and amen. God's covenant is established
in Christ. And then he plainly tells us
You know, Paul speaks about this covenant over in Galatians 3.15. And this covenant that he established
with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. And then he plainly tells us
in the very next verse that God was not talking about seed, but
he's talking about the seed, which is Christ. To Abraham and
his seed were the promises made. And we're all beneficiaries of
this covenant by faith in Christ. We believe on Christ, we believe
in Christ, and we believe on Christ, and we believe Christ. And then fifthly, through the
barren bride of Isaac, God's election would be manifested. What a type he is. Turn with
me to Romans chapter nine. Paul brings this out so clearly
in Romans nine concerning the real children of God. Romans
9 and 10. He just finished talking about
Isaac and telling us about that relationship and how that pertains
to us, and then he talks to us about Isaac's bride. And not only this, Isaac being
the son of promise and the figure of Christ and his elect, but
when Rebekah also had conceived by one, even by her father Isaac,
for the children being not yet born, neither having done any
good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said
unto her, the elder's gonna serve the younger. Now that wasn't a natural way
of things, was it? But that's how this election's
gonna stand. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. God's elect come forth from the
seed of the word as the gospel is preached unto you. First Peter
two, you can read it in verses 23 through 25. Born again, not of corruptible
seed, but incorruptible by the word of God. and then in verse
twenty five and he said this is the word which by the gospel
is preached unto you though many shall appear as being
heirs of God and God's elect will receive the blessing of
their father that's what it amounts to God said I'm going to bless
him and not him and I'll tell you Isaac he was such a Everybody
thought Isaac was the heir. Everybody did. I think, I know
his father did. What more could you want? What
more could you want? He was a man's man. He was a
hunter. He knew the heart of his father.
He knew what he wanted to eat. And he brought it to him and
gave it to him. He did everything to please his father. But he
wasn't the heir. Jacob. Jacob. He gonna be there. Why? Huh? Because God gonna establish His
election in Jacob. And His election has nothing
to do with what you appear to be. Has everything to do with
the purpose of God. You see what I'm saying? And
He shows us that in these two children. I can't explain why some hear
and believe while others having the same message reject it and
despise it than Rebecca could explain God's favor of Jacob. She couldn't explain it. She
just received it. And all I know that is in the
process of time, God will manifest his election and chosen sinners
and all the rest will serve him. All the rest. This whole world
will serve God's election. Said unto her, the elder shall
serve the younger, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand. Not of works. I'm tired of hearing
that old, you get an Armenian intellectual and he's gonna tell
you, well, election is God looking down through the telescope of
time. Does your God need a telescope? Huh? Does he need some, he said,
I'm God, there's none like me anywhere. There's none you can
even compare me with. I declare the end from the beginning
and from ancient times the things that are not yet done saying
my counsel shall stand and I'll do all my pleasure. And that's
exactly what he did in Jacob. Sixthly, Isaac is a type of Christ
in that his father accounted that he would be raised from
the dead. He's gonna be raised from the
dead. He took that boy, he told those servants, he said, you
just wait here with the ashes and we're gonna take this wood
and fire and we're gonna go up the Ladd Nile, going up on the
mountain to worship God and we will return. How's he gonna return if he takes
that big old knife he had in his hand and starts slicing up
his son and laying him on an altar and setting him on fire?
because he knew God was immutable. God had to keep his promise and
God promised him all his blessings through that boy. And no matter
what happened to that boy, somehow God gonna raise him from the
dead and he still gonna be that child of promise. He's such a type of Christ. who
would die for our sins and be raised again for our justification. It's impossible for God to lie.
That's what he tells us in the scripture. Abraham knew that.
Impossible for God to lie. And so detailed was Isaac as
a figure of Christ that Abraham understood the death of Christ
and his sure resurrection. And contrary to what some religions
profess that believe not the resurrection of Christ, that
resurrection is absolutely necessary to your salvation. If Christ be not raised, we're
not going to be raised. That's how necessary it is. And
he tells us in 1 Corinthians 15, if Christ be not raised,
all of our preaching is just in vain. It's a vain exercise,
and all of our faith would be vain, seeing it rests upon God's
acceptance of His sacrifice, which He declares in the resurrection.
And if Christ be not raised, we're yet in our sins, and all
those who died resting in Christ, they're going to perish forever
because there's no resurrection. That resurrection's absolutely
necessary. And without the resurrection,
we are, of all men, miserable in this world. If we don't have
any hope in that resurrection, I don't care what else you believe,
you are, of all men, most miserable, because he brings you right up
to the point of your inheritance, and then he says, no, you can't
really have it. I'll just fool you. Huh? That's
how necessary that resurrection is. And surely this account of Abraham
receiving his son in a figure of the resurrection of Christ
is one of the many proof texts for this doctrine. And then lastly,
Isaac is a type of Christ as he blessed his two sons before
he died concerning things to come. You know, you can read
in John 14 through 16, Our Lord's blessing, His sons,
His disciples that were gathered around Him, those who truly believed,
He gathered around Him. And He started to bless them,
telling them about things to come, didn't He? I've got to go up to the cross
and I have to die. But on the third day, I'm going
to rise from the dead. I have to go away. If I don't
go away, then I can't send to you the Comforter. I have to
ascend to the Father. I have to fade out of your presence
and out of your sight, but when I'm gone, I won't leave you comfortless. I'm gonna send to you the Holy
Spirit, and He's gonna come. He's gonna take the things of
Christ, and He's gonna show them to you. And I can just picture
that old man leaning on his staff, blessing his two sons, telling
them about these things that were to come. Can't you? Oh,
my soul. All the blessings of God are
manifest in Christ and are made known by His Word and the laying
on of His hand. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
is the gospel incarnate. He is the gospel in the person
of a man, the God-man. And when Christ came, you know
what He preached? I love to listen to these intellectuals
try to talk about what Christ preached and what John preached. And they try to make different
categories of what all these men. Christ preached Christ. That's what he preached. He preached
himself. How often do you tell them, well,
I'm the father of woman. You neither know me nor my father.
He preached Christ. He blessed his sons, telling
them about things to come, including the hatred of this world. Before the Lord's death on the
cross, he blessed his spiritual sons, speaking to them of the
blessings of his resurrection, and of his gospel kingdom, and
of his glorious return. May the Lord give us some understanding. of these types. I'm not trying
to do these things so you can be fascinated or anything like
that. I'm just trying to show you that
this foundation of Christ was established all through the Old
Testament, and man after man after man after man typified
that coming Redeemer. typified them in their life,
in their death, in their birth, all about them, they all typified
Christ. And later on in the book of Hebrews,
the faith chapter in Hebrews, he goes through each one of these
and tells us how they typified the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank
you.