The Sacrifice of Isaac

0:00Good morning. Great. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. The left side is catching up to the right side over here. Right side is we got we got some work to do. Turn in your Bibles to Genesis is where we'll be. Chapter 22. We're going to be covering verses 1 through 19. 1 through 19 of Genesis 22. In preparation for this sermon, a commentary that I read talked about the various ways that you could get sidetracked on this text. And the most common of those is to focus on Abraham's obedience and Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his own son. The inevitable application from such a focus would be to call us all to similar obedience. Something like God, like with Abraham, desires to push you out to the edges of your faithfulness and will bless those who prove themselves willing in their service. While there may be maybe some degree of truth in that statement, such an emphasis would wholly miss out on the point of the text, as I hope God willing, I will illustrate. Yes, God does call us to various measures of sacrifice for his holy name, but this passage that we will read this morning is clearly God focused. I don't know, don't often get this far into kind of dissecting the text before we read it, but I want you to see these themes before we read. God miraculously gave Abraham a son, Isaac, right? Talked about that last week, and promised Abraham that through Isaac he would form a multitude of people, a nation, people for his possession, a nation for his name. Why would God then require Abraham to sacrifice that very promise that he fulfilled? Why would God take away his promise to Abraham? Did God change his mind for some reason? Can God change his mind? Did Abraham really think that was what God was asking him to do? To kill his own son? Does God truly desire a sacrifice from Abraham here? Or is this a marvelous foreshadowing of something greater? A couple thousand years later, when God incarnate walked the earth, should the people have known what this text really meant? Those are some of the questions. Maybe there'll be more. I hope to answer for us this morning, Lord willing. Please stand again once more as we read Genesis 22, 1 through 19. After these things, God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, and he said, Here I am. He said, Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. And after him there, and oh, sorry, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. So Abraham arose in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took his two young men with him and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. Then Abraham said to his young men, Stay here with the donkey, I and the boy will go over there and worship and come to you again to you. So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife, so they both so they both of them went together. And Isaac said to his father, Abraham, my father, and he said, Here I am, my son. He said, Behold the fire in the wood, uh behold the fire in the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Abraham said, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son. So they both went, so they both of them together. When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar on the top of the wood, and then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham, and he said, Here am I. He said, Do not lay your hand on the boy, or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing that you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by his horns, and Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the place, the name of that place, the Lord will provide, as it is said to this day, on that mount, or on the mount of the Lord it shall be provided. And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son. I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of the heaven, and as of the sand that is on the seashore, and your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice. So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Bersheba. And Abraham lived at Beersheba. This is the word of the Lord. Let us pray once more. Lord, thank you again for your word. Please, Lord, speak now for Christ's sake, and it is in his name that I pray. Amen. The first and most obvious question that we need to answer this morning as we begin is was the Lord really asking Abraham to sacrifice his own son? Was the Lord really asking him that? To answer that question, let me turn you to two passages. You don't have to turn there, but Genesis 6 verse 9. Genesis 6, verse 9. Whoever sheds the blood of man by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image. A second text to consider, Deuteronomy 12, 29 through 31. When the Lord your God cuts off before you the nations whom you go into dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, take care that you not be ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, How do these nations serve their gods, that I may also do the same? You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods. The character and nature of God strictly forbids the murder of an innocent human life, and the Lord hates the worship of the pagans and the child sacrifices that they offered. God hates this kind of worship. And Abraham walked with God long enough by this point to know his character enough that he should have known that such an act, that is, sacrificing Isaac, would have been an abomination in the sight of God. Further, remember the joy and the laughter that was brought to Sarah last week, remember, when Isaac was born. And her words that she knew that future generations would look back on her and laugh with her. How could that even be if God's plan was to take back from her and from Abraham this wonderful promise that he so miraculously delivered? Was that really God's plan? To give the promise and then take it back through some sacrifice? Of course, we don't believe that. We cannot think that God's intent was to actually have Isaac sacrificed or that it was God's plan to make Abraham believe that that was his intent. Again, because if we believe that, we have to assume that God's motive is to determine whether or not Abraham is truly with him. Like God is sitting in heaven thinking, you know, I really need to make sure that Abraham will be faithful to me, so I'm going to ask him to do the one thing that I think he might not actually do for me, kill his son. I'm going to ask him to do something that even goes against my own character to see if he'll really follow me. And then everyone who reads the story after will also know that unless you are willing to kill your son for me, you aren't really following me. If we stop and think about it, do we really think that that's what God was doing here? Far be it for me to say what God was really doing or not doing, but it just seems like a stretch if you really look at the text. But what about the verses that call us to take up our cross and follow me? Don't those verses teach that God requires sacrifice? Yes, of course. That verse and many others tell us to deny ourselves for the sake of Christ. They don't tell us to kill someone else for the sake of following Christ. They don't tell us to forsake God's promise to follow Christ, which is what Isaac was. So let me reiterate then, I don't think this test, because it is a test of some in some sorts, has anything to do with Abraham actually sacrificing his son. And I can support that further by showing that I don't think Abraham thought that was the case either. Okay. And to do that, remember back in Genesis 18, when the Lord is getting ready to judge Sodom and destroy it because of the ungodliness there. We didn't go over that text in a sermon, but I'm sure you all remember this story. God is getting ready to judge Sodom. And Abraham intercedes and says, But Lord, what if there is 50 righteous people? Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? And the Lord's reply is, Well, if I can find 50 righteous people there, I'll spare the whole city for their sake. And Abraham says, Cool, but what about 40? Can we do 40? And there's this back and forth, if you remember that story, it's pretty funny. And they go back and forth for a little, but the point is that Abraham is perfectly comfortable with pressing God a little on what he says, both to intercede for the people who might be righteous in his mind and possibly even in the Lord's mind, and in an attempt to uncover the true character of God. Will you spare these fifty if there's fifty? So Abraham is perfectly comfortable in doing that. He's perfectly fine with questioning God about his plans for Sodom. And if he is perfectly fine in questioning God about his plans for Sodom, are we supposed to believe that he wouldn't have spoken up for his only son? He wouldn't have said, God, I'm with you. You know I'm with you. You know I'll do whatever you want me to do, but what are you asking me to do here? Kill my son? Are you asking me to kill the promise that you gave me? Did I do something wrong, God? Are you angry with me? You made a promise. Such a response would be perfectly in line with other biblical texts. Because most of Psalms 119 and plenty of other Psalms is a plea to God to remember his promises. But Abraham doesn't question anything here, does he? He just packs his stuff, cuts the wood, and goes. Further, when they get there, to where they're going to make the sacrifice, he tells the other two that are with him, the boy and I are going over there to worship, and we'll come back again. Was that a lie? To distract them? Because he knew that only one of them was coming back? Or did he have full confidence that they would both come back? When Isaac questions his father about the fact that they're going to make the sacrifice, but don't have anything to sacrifice, Abraham replies, God will himself provide the lamb for the offering, my son. Was that a lie too? Was Abraham just trying to calm his son down so he didn't have to tell him that he was going to be the sacrifice? Or was this one of the most profound gospel declarations in all of Scripture? Maybe the test had nothing to do with communicating that God will keep his promise if you sacrifice everything for him. Maybe the test was to communicate the gospel of Christ. And to trust in God's promises. And to trust in God's promises means that he himself will provide the offering for us. Even more that he himself shall be the offering. God is not going to demand that Abraham give up his only son. But rather, this is a grand foreshadowing that God himself will give up his only son as a sacrifice for us. And the confidence of Abraham comes out again when he names the place where all this occurred, right? And I'm curious, and maybe you're curious, as to why Abraham had to walk for three days. It says in the text that he walked for three days. After the third day, he sees the place where they're traveling, and God specifically told him, go here, and they had to walk for three days to get there. Why did he have to go for three days to this one particular place to make this sacrifice? Why would he have to travel so far for this sacrifice? The sacrifice was near Mount Moriah, which later became the location of the Temple Mount. This is the Jewish temple. Christ was crucified outside of the city of Golgotha, or in Golgotha. And while I don't want us to get too hung up on these events necessarily happening in the exact same place, because there is some scholarly debate there. Geographically speaking, these are very, very close to make this connection. Abraham declaring, on the mount of the Lord it shall be provided, in terms of Isaac, is clearly a foreshadowing of the true and final ram in the thicket that the Lord will provide in the future. Almost nearly where they were standing. The mount on which God will provide for himself an offering that only he could provide. One that doesn't require our sacrifice, but only his mercy. I'll once again repeat my contention that this story of the sacrifices of Isaac is not primarily about getting the reader to sacrifice his most loved possessions for God's sake. But rather, this passage is about God displaying his mercy and providing for himself the offering that he requires. Mercy, not a sacrifice. Have you heard that before? Here are the words of Hebrews 10. For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come, instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, why would they uh have ceased to be offered, since worshippers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins. But in these sacrifices, there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me. In burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book. When he said above, You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings, and these offered according to the law. Then he added, Behold, I have come to do your will. He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that we will have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. So to go to the text this morning and to take away from it the thought that you really need to be more sacrificial in your life. You really need to be more sacrificial so that you can prove yourself to God or earn blessings or plug in whatever. This is to go away from the text with the law, not the gospel. If your takeaway is God wants me to give up the blessings he gave me for his sake, this is the law, not the gospel. It is to extract from God's word a shadow and not the substance. The law is but a shadow of the good things to come. Not the true form of these realities. That's what Hebrews said. Because what comes of our sacrifices to God? If Abraham would have gone through with the sacrifice of Isaac, what then? Would that have fully sanctified himself, given him righteousness? He's already been given righteousness through faith, right? We talked about that a few weeks ago. Would that have proven something to God that he didn't already know? Would God have given him another child and then asked him to do it all over again? I mean, what? What would have happened there? And maybe some would say, but the point was just to test whether Abraham was willing to sacrifice to God. So we just need to be willing to sacrifice to him. Or for him. Is that what we believe about God? That he only helps the willing? Or that God only helps those who help themselves? Surely that's not what we confess. And what of such willing sacrifices? How many of such willing sacrifices would finally do the trick? After how many such willing sacrifices would you finally prove yourself to God? Or feel that you have justified your will to God or your motives to Him through those sacrifices? Would you begin to continually add new sacrifices to your daily list so that you could perpetuate this cycle of self-justification? We might be more like the Pharisees than we realize. Matthew 9, 9 through 13. And Jesus passed on from there, and he saw and called a man sitting, Matthew, sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, Follow me. And he rose and followed him. And Jesus reclined at the table in the house, and behold, many tax collectors and sinners came to him who were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to the disciple, Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? But when he heard it, he said, Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means. I desire mercy, not a sacrifice. For I came to call the ro not the righteous, but sinners. Here also Matthew 12, 1 through 8. And at that time Jesus went through a grain field on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, and they said to him, Look at your disciples are doing it, which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath. He said to them, Have you not read what David did when he was hungry? And those who were with him, how he entered the house of God and Ate of the bread of the presence, which is not, which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who are with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would have not condemned the guiltless, for the Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath. Jesus didn't come for those who have already proven themselves righteous through means of their own self-justification. He came for sinners. For what physician goes to those who are healthy? No one. Jesus didn't come for those who create more and more laws, nor for those who condemn everyone who doesn't prove themselves righteous by following their own self-made interpretation of these laws. Again, I say, if your takeaway from the sacrifices Isaac, if your takeaway from the sacrifice of Isaac is, I need to do better, I need to sacrifice more, I need to be more like Abraham. That's the law, and you've missed the gospel part. The takeaway should be who is this God that provides for himself the offering that he requires? This God who looks down upon our humility when we cry out, you can have it all, God. But it's nothing but filthy rags to him. And whose reply is, I don't need your rags. I've given you my son. The takeaway must be that our God desires to show us mercy, not demand a sacrifice from us. Because he's already given the sacrifice. It can't be bested, it can't be improved upon, it can't be added to. The Lord has provided. The same God who provided a ram whose horns were tangled in the thicket instead of accepting Abraham's sacrifice, which was his son, is the same God who provided his son, upon whose head was a tangled crown of thorns, instead of requiring our sacrifices. Nobody but God can write these stories. It's unbelievable. Alright, so how do we rightly apply? First, we must trust in the Lord who provides. Simple. We must trust in the Lord who provides. It is God alone who provided. And we will never find peace until we look upon His provision, His mercy for us. We must not trust in our works or our sacrifices as the means by which we are justified. Because such works, even if they are as valuable as our one and only Son, they're not sufficient to merit us anything in the sight of God. The mount of our God is called the Lord will provide. And provide he did. And provide he will continue to do. Only trust in our gracious and merciful God. Secondly, as the Lord foreshadows to Abraham right at the end of the text that we read, because God did not withhold his son, his only son, surely he will bless us in Christ. Because God did not withhold his son, surely he will bless us in Christ. Because Christ actively obeyed the voice of God in every way. Because Christ actively obeyed the law in every way. And because Christ passively obeyed the Father by willingly going to the cross and giving up his life to cover your sins and to reconcile you to God, he will surely bless eternally all those who receive his son. And finally, I don't want to totally negate the fact that we certainly can learn what it means to be a faithful follower of Christ from stories like this and others. I'm not totally negating that. Nor do I want to negate the fact that the Bible certainly does call us to an active faith and to sacrifice and to obedience, which it certainly does. The emphasis, though, as I hope I've shown, must be obedience and faith from the gospel. Obedience by and through faith from the gospel. The Lord has provided. And he asks nothing of you but faith in his provision. This is the good news that the story has communicated. Now we go and we live and we honor and we serve the Lord who provides. Amen? Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so very much for your provision. We thank you that you did not withhold your son from us, Lord, but you gave him up as the final sacrifice for us, Lord, for our sins, Lord, for our reconciliation to you. And we thank you for that, Lord. We thank you for this great and good news that you've given to us and delivered to us in the gospel and through your word. Let us cling to that, Lord. Let us cling to you who provided for us, Lord. Lord, may we confess our sins to you where we have fallen short, Lord, and may we know and see as we partake of the Lord's Supper that all of those sins have been forgiven now in Christ. And you have made us new. Continually make us new, Lord. May we trust in you and your Son alone. Lord, and by your spirit, may you continue to allow us to walk and serve you faithfully. We ask all these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.