Sunday, April 26, 2009
WHAT IF YOU KNEW?
Before this brief sermon, we read the following scripture passages....
John 14:1-15… Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. 4. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. 5. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? 6. Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. 7. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. 8. Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. 9. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? 10. Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. 11. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake. 12. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. 13. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. 15. If ye love me, keep my commandments.
Matt. 16:24-26… Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 25. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. 26. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
Luke 16:19-31… There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: 20. And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, 21. And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; 23. And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. 25. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. 26. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. 27. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: 28. For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. 29. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. 30. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. 31. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
Matt. 7:13-27… Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14. Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. 15. Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 16. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17. Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. 21. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23. And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. 24. Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 25. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 26. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 27. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
I have a question for you this morning: What if you knew that for every hour you live on this earth you will spend a thousand years either in heaven or hell? For every hour here, a thousand years in the presence of Jesus, if you are truly His child. For every hour here, a thousand years of torment in hell, if you do not truly have His life within you. That is a very sobering thought, isn’t it? Sometimes it’s hard for us to think like that. I have to confess that sometimes it is too heavy for me and I can’t take it for very long. I’m not asking you to endure this for very long this morning, but for a very few minutes would you please think with me along these lines.
So what if you did know for certain that for every hour you live on this earth you will spend a thousand years either in heaven or hell? For every day on this earth, 24,000 years in heaven or hell.
You say, “Ron, what are you trying to do? Are you trying to shock us? Are you trying to appeal to our emotions?” My goal is to encourage us to think of eternity. I believe that is a legitimate scriptural goal. You know Psalm 23 very well. How does it end? “And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Ps. 23:6). Jesus said, "I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world… This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever" (Jn. 6:51,58). Over and over we read the phrase, “to whom be glory forever and ever” (applied to both God the Father and Christ the Son). So who is it that will praise the Lord forever and ever? Yes, the angels, but also the people of God.
Looking on the darker side, let’s read from Mark 9:43-48…
And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: 44. Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. 45. And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: 46. Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. 47. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: 48. Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
Jude spoke of those for whom the blackness of darkness is reserved forever (Jude 13).
Is it any wonder that Jesus said, "Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed" (John 6:27)? In many ways Jesus pleads with us to take the long look that will weigh eternity. It is the same with Paul, who wrote these words in II Cor. 4:16-18?
For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. 17. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; 18. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
What if you knew that for every hour you live on this earth you will spend a thousand years in either heaven or hell?
Let’s not stop at the end of II Corinthians 4. Let’s just keep reading into chapter 5. II Cor. 5:1-11…
For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: 3. If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. 4. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. 5. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. 6. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: 7. (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) 8. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. 9. Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. 10. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. 11. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.
So we see here that our great hope of spending eternity with the Lord Himself is a means of motivating us. Paul said, “Knowing therefore the fear of the Lord, we persuade men.” He understands perfectly well that he himself can persuade no one; it must be the Spirit of God. In I Corinthians 9 he speaks of saving some. Again, he is aware that it is the Lord who must save. Nevertheless, Paul shared the gospel and urged men to repent and believe.
In the same way, the concept of eternity must motivate us. Back to my question: “What if you knew that for every hour you live on this earth you will spend a thousand years either in heaven or hell?” The fact is, we do know that. If you don’t know that, may the Lord open your eyes to the truth. The truth is that for every hour you live on this earth you will spend a million years in heaven or hell, a billion years, 900 trillion years. There is no end. Or we can figure it the other way. For every hour on earth you will indeed spend a thousand years either in heaven or hell. But for every minute on earth you will spend a thousand years in heaven or hell. For every second on earth you will spend a billion years in heaven or hell. Do you see what I mean? It almost becomes too heavy to even think about. But think about it we must.
If you are a believer, if Christ lives in you, how can you think about these things and not be moved to tears. We are rubbing shoulders with people every day who are quickly approaching a day when their eternal destinies will be sealed. And what about your own life? There are rewards in heaven. Sometimes I am likely guilty of downplaying that truth, because it has been so abused. Nevertheless, it is true that there are rewards in heaven, for Paul tells us that
“we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (II Cor. 5:10). It is difficult to understand how we will have great joy and be at perfect peace, when we could have lived in such a way that would have yielded greater rewards. All I can understand is that somehow our rewards will have to do with our capacity to enjoy the Lord Himself. Though my capacity isn’t as great as yours, I will not be consciously aware of it. That’s my thinking; you may have different thoughts. Regardless of the details, it is important that we live for the glory of God, for that is what pleases Him and is best for us both now and for all eternity.
But what if you are not a believer? Understand that I am not trying to scare you into heaven by telling you about hell. No one can scare you into anything. Why not? Because you are dead in your sins and you don’t have the ability to make yourself alive and escape the torments of hell. You are dead in your trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1). So what can you do? Cry out to the only one who has the ability to give life. Jesus said that He gives life to whomever He chooses (John 5:21). He who rose from the dead is able to make you alive in Him. But how is He able to do that?
Hear the gospel again. You came into this world dead in your trespasses and sins. You were born in sin; you are a sinner to the core of your being. And you have proved it by sinning again and again and again. You are a rebel against God. You may think you love God, but you don’t; you are His enemy. Because you have not trusted and obeyed the Lord Jesus, you are under the wrath of God. And no matter how hard you try, there is not a thing you can do about it. Even your best deeds are like filthy rags.
Now the good news. Yes, God does love you, but let me explain what that means. Better yet, let the Word of God explain what that means. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (I John 4:10). That is, Jesus turned away the wrath of God by taking that wrath upon Himself. In the Garden of Gethsemane, when He was facing the cross, He prayed to the Father: “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matt. 26:39). What was the cup that Jesus dreaded so? It wasn’t the physical pain that He would endure. Other men have endured as much physical pain as He did. The cup was the wrath of God. His own Father would pour out upon Jesus the punishment that was due us. That is why Jesus cried out from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (II Cor. 5:21).
But how do we know that what Jesus did was effective? Because God the Father raised Him up from that grave. At the resurrection, Jesus was declared to be the Son of God with power (Rom. 1:4). Jesus rose that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Because He lives, you can live also. His death and resurrection qualified Him to give life to people like us.
So what is your part? Repent and believe. That’s it – nothing more and nothing less. Repent. Forsake yourself and all your good works. Give up on trying to get good enough for God. All your good deeds, Bible reading, prayer, and church attendance will never make you acceptable to God. I’m not saying you need to quit reading your Bible and praying, but if you rely even a little bit on those things to make you right with God, then you are confessing that Jesus’ death and resurrection were not good enough to save you. Repent of all your evil deeds and your good deeds, because even the good ones are filthy rags in the sight of a holy God.
But if you repent of all your deeds, then where will you put your trust? Trust the only one who is worthy of your trust, the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe that Jesus is indeed the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing” (Rev. 5:12). Join the four beasts of Revelation and the elders and countless multitudes who fall down before Him and sing His praises. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved” (Acts 16:31).
But you say, “I can’t seem to repent and believe.” I believe you. But I have good news for you, God is able to lead you to repentance and stir faith within you. No one else can, but He can and He will. Cry out to Him. Cry out to Him even right now. Tell Him that though you are totally unworthy, you long for His life. And when you repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you will know that salvation is of the Lord.
Let’s close with a quote. C. T. Studd read these words in an article written by an atheist. They made a profound impression on Studd. May they make such an impression upon us…
If I firmly believed, as millions say they do, that the knowledge and practice of religions in this life influences destiny in another, then religion would mean to me everything.
I would cast away earthly enjoyments as dung, earthly cares as follies, and earthly thoughts and feelings as vanity. Religion would be my first waking thought and my last image before sleep sank me into unconsciousness. I should labor in its cause alone. I would take thought for the morrow of eternity alone. I would esteem one soul gained for heaven worth a life of suffering.
Earthly consequences would never stay my hand, or seal my lips. Earth, its joys and its griefs, would occupy no moment of my thoughts. I would strive to look upon eternity alone, and on the immortal souls around me, soon to be everlastingly happy or everlastingly miserable.
I would go forth to the world and preach to it in season and out of season, and my text would be:
“What shall it profit a man if he gain the
whole world and lose his own soul?”
Monday, April 27, 2009
Saturday, April 25, 2009
God's Purposes Accomplished through Isaac -- 4/19/09
Sunday, April 19, 2009
GOD’S PURPOSES ACCOMPLISHED THROUGH ISAAC
Genesis 23-26
We live in a society that encourages us to make plans. Our educational system has absolutely gone to seed on the concept of setting goals. There is certainly nothing wrong with making a plan, though all the personal plans of the Christian must be tentative. “A man’s heart devises his way; but the Lord directs his steps” (Prov. 16:9). "Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: 14. Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away" (James 4:13-14). A tentative plan is all right, but some in our society are so fixed on setting goals that there is little time and effort left to accomplish them. That trend has found its way into religious circles. Churches are even encouraged to set a goal as to how many people they will baptize during the coming year.
But there is one who has a plan, and that one is God. For Him, setting the goal and accomplishing it are one in the same. When God makes a plan, it is done. When God gives a promise, you can write it down, because it will be accomplished. How can you know that is true? First, check His record. Hundreds of His promises have already been fulfilled. Second, remember that He is God, the Almighty. He is true to His Word and He is able to accomplish what He promises. Third, we have the truth of His Word. Ps. 115:2-3, "Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God? 3. But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased." Listen to the Lord speaking to His people in Is. 48:3-5…
I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I showed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass. 4. Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass; 5. I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I showed it thee: lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them.
Yes, God has a plan and He will accomplish it. Isn’t that good to know! There is no other plan that is guaranteed.
Let’s go back for a moment to the plan God revealed to Abraham in Genesis 12. Gen. 12:1-4…
Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee: 2. And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. 4. So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.
Notice especially these promises…
… unto a land that I will show you
… I will make of you a great nation
… in you shall all the families of the earth be blessed
Add to that the promise we find in Gen. 17:4-5, "As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. 5. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee." The Lord clearly told Abraham that he would be the father of many nations; that was the very meaning of the name God gave him – “Abraham.”
This morning we are going to see that Isaac was a part of those promises. You will recall the scriptural phrase “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” It is common to find the names of these three patriarchs together. If you are not familiar with them, Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac was the father of Jacob. Now let me ask you a question. Of the three, which is best known? Yes, I would have to say Abraham. Which is least known? Isaac. We will read a great deal about Jacob as we go through Genesis. Isaac, on the other hand, does not receive as much coverage. He is the link between Abraham and Jacob. Except for his father taking him to Mt. Moriah and the fact that he dug some wells, we know little about him except his family. Nevertheless, we must understand that God accomplished His purposes through Isaac. That is what we want to look at this morning, as we explore Genesis 23-26. We won’t have time to read every verse in these chapters, but I strongly encourage you to read them thoroughly on your own.
I. Isaac Loses His Parents (23:1-20)
Let’s begin by reading about the death of Sarah in Gen. 23:1-2, "And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old: these were the years of the life of Sarah. 2. And Sarah died in Kirjatharba; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her." Abraham lost a wife, and Isaac lost a mother. Isaac was 37 years old at the time. We know his age at this time because we know he was born when Sarah was 90.
It is no wonder that Abraham mourned for over the death of his wife. They had been through much together. Abraham loved Sarah. We need to be careful in our attitude toward those who lose loved ones, especially when that loved one was a believer. We might say, “Well praise the Lord that Sally has gone home to be with the Lord.” Such a statement can pierce the heart of her husband, who has been her companion for many years. Yes, we rejoice on behalf of the believer who died, but we weep with those who love her, because they are experiencing a tremendous loss. Yes, they love the Lord. They are not questioning God’s timing. But they still hurt. Abraham trusted God, but he still mourned the loss of his precious wife.
The rest of chapter 23 tells the story of how Abraham purchased a burial plot for Sarah. Why 18 verses to tell the story of buying a cemetery plot? Proper burial of the dead was a way of showing honor and respect for the one who died. Abraham couldn’t just dispose of his wife, as if she were a worn out pair of shoes. Perhaps more importantly, we must note that this was the only land that Abraham owned in the land of Canaan. He was a stranger and pilgrim in that land, but he thought it was important to buy this burial plot. Why? We are not told the details, but it seems that Abraham was confessing that this was indeed the land God had promised to him and his descendants. Remember the promise we read from chapter 12 about “that land that I will show you.”
It is interesting that chapter 22 closes with the record of the twelve sons borne to Nahor, who was Abraham’s brother. This, of course, was taking place back where the rest of Abraham’s family was, back in Padanaram. Abraham received good news from a far country. His brother and family were doing well. Then we immediately read in 23:1 that Sarah died. The logical thing for Abraham to do would be to take her back and bury her where the family was. Don’t think for a minute that it would have been too far. Distance was not a factor when it came to providing proper burial. I remind you that Jacob would be buried in this same tomb, though they had to bring his body back from Egypt. But rather than burying her with his people, Abraham buried her in the land that God had promised. Let’s read from Heb. 11:13-16…
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. 15. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. 16. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
Abraham was not seeking to return to his former homeland. No, he was seeking a country that this world knows nothing about. He desired a better country, even a heavenly country. And while he was on the earth, he accepted his place as just a stranger and pilgrim. Nevertheless, while he was here, he would rejoice in the land the Lord would give to his descendants. He showed it by purchasing a burial plot in that land. By the way, my understanding is that the price he paid was rather high, but it didn’t matter. Abraham was investing in what he knew to be important.
Now turn over to chapter 25. Let’s read Gen. 25:1-10…
Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah. 2. And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. 3. And Jokshan begat Sheba, and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and Letushim, and Leummim. 4. And the sons of Midian; Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abidah, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah. 5. And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. 6. But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country. 7. And these are the days of the years of Abraham's life which he lived, an hundred threescore and fifteen years. 8. Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people. 9. And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre; 10. The field which Abraham purchased of the sons of Heth: there was Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife.
Now we see the death of Abraham as well. He was 175 years old when he died. Now understand that all the events recorded in these chapters are not in chronological order. Later in this same chapter we will read about the birth of Isaac’s sons, but that actually took place before the death of Abraham. How do we know? Because we are told that Isaac was 60 when the twins were born, which would make Abraham 160 at the time. Jacob and Esau were 15 years old when their grandfather Abraham died.
The fact that these things are not always in chronological order has left questions about the status of Keturah. In 25:1 we read that she was Abraham’s wife. But in I Chron. 1:32 she is identified as his concubine, and the same is true here in 25:6. Did she marry Abraham after Sarah died or before? Verse 1 could be translated just as accurately, “Abraham had taken a wife.” The context is the determining factor. Was her relationship with Abraham similar to that of Hagar, who is apparently the other concubine referred to in verse 6? Or is she given that designation simply to make it clear that she was not on a par with Sarah? Rather than debating it, we will later come back to the main reason for including these verses in the first place.
Notice that Isaac and Ishmael buried their father. Though Ishmael had been put out of the household, there is still a relationship with his father Abraham. And where did they bury him? In the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre (verse 9). And if that isn’t specific enough, we read in verse 10, “The field which Abraham purchased of the sons of Heth; there was Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife.” He was buried in the very plot that he had purchased for the burial of his wife, in the land of Canaan, which God had promised to give to his descendants.
Certainly Abraham’s death was a huge blow to both Ishmael and Isaac, but we will focus upon Isaac, who was the son of promise. Remember that Isaac was born when his father was 100 years old. He was the only son of Abraham and Sarah. For 37 years he enjoyed both of them. But after the death of his mother, his father lived another 38 years. By the way, 175 was a long life for that time. Notice again the way his death is recorded in Gen. 25:8, "Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people." Though Isaac now has a wife and two sons, how he would miss his father Abraham.
II. Isaac Gains a Wife (24:1-67)
Now think again about the promises to Abraham. God had promised him that he would be the father of many nations (Gen. 17:4-5). Let’s pause there for a minute. How was that going to happen? We think of Abraham as the father of the Jewish nation, but not so much the father of many nations. We know from history that many nations did not come through Isaac. So how was Abraham going to be the father of many nations?
Look again here in chapter 25. In verses 2-4 we see that Abraham had six sons by Keturah. Then in verses 12-15 we see that Abraham’s son Ishmael had 12 sons of his own. Why do we need such records. Who cares about the sons of Keturah and the sons of Ishmael? Notice the names of those sons of Keturah. Among them we find the name Midian. You will remember that in the times of the Judges the Midianites were the enemies of Israel. A nation came from Midian. It is likely that Shuah was the father of the Shuhites, and we remember Bildad the Shuhite as one of Job’s friends. So we see that Abraham was the father of these nations.
The connection is even more specific when we come down to Gen. 25:16, "These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their towns, and by their castles; twelve princes according to their nations." From Ishmael came the rulers of twelve nations. And who was the father of the father of these nations? It was Abraham. He truly was the father of many nations. Though we may not always understand why certain things are included in the scriptures, be patient and trust God. Know they are there for a specific purpose because God is wise and He doesn’t do things haphazardly.
So we see that Abraham was the father of many nations through his other sons, but what about Isaac? God promised to make Abraham the father of a great nation (Gen. 12:2). And what nation is that? We know from history that this would be Israel. By the way, where do we get that name Israel? We’re getting a bit ahead of ourselves, but this is important. Yes, that was the new name that God would give to Jacob. But what does that have to do with the nation of Israel? Jacob (renamed Israel) had twelve sons and each son would become the head of a tribe, known as the twelve tribes of Israel. So the nation Israel takes its name from Jacob, who became Israel.
That’s fine. Abraham was the father of that nation, and the nation took its name from Jacob, who was renamed Israel. That leaves only one problem – how do we get from Abraham to Jacob? In order for Abraham to be the father of this great nation Israel, Isaac is going to need to have at least one son. Somewhere down the road there is going to be a need for many children, but at this point Isaac is going to need to have at least one. And if Isaac is going to have a son, then he needs a wife. Chapter 24! Guess what. This is the longest chapter in the book of Genesis. And what is it about? What is the content of chapter 24? You could title it very simply “A Wife for Isaac.” It contains 67 verses, and it is all about obtaining a wife for Isaac. How did Ishmael get his wife? Gen 21:21, "And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt." Or consider the record of Esau in Gen. 26:34, "And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite:" Esau got two wives in one verse, but it took Isaac 67 verses to get his one and only wife! The length of the story reinforces the importance of this marriage.
Oh but I have a better love story for you. This one goes much deeper than falling in love. The foundation of this love story is deep and strong. It isn't a "boy meets girl and they fall in love" kind of story. We live in a day where "boy meets girl, they fall in love and live happily ever after" has been replaced with "boy meets girl, they fall in love and get divorced sooner or later." The great cure for that tragedy must go back to the foundation. So let me direct you to this unique and beautiful love story. Rather than try to read all of it, I will just read some key verses. I encourage you to go back and read the whole story this week.
But now Abraham is old and he longs to see his son take a wife--not just any wife, but the right wife. He doesn’t want a wife from the heathen, idol-worshipping people in the land where they were living. So he decided to send his servant back to Mesopotamia (Padanaram), where his relatives lived. .
Now immediately this love story hits a snag. The servant says, "But what if the woman I choose refuses to come back with me." Now surely that is an appropriate question. What young girl would jump in the car with a servant of a distant relative and agree to marry a man whom she had never seen? Even if he was as rich as Isaac, she might have a problem with that.
Notice Abraham's answer in verse 7, "The Lord God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my family, and who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, To your descendants I give this land, He will send His angel before you and you shall take a wife for my son from there." Abraham trusted the Lord to bring a wife back for his son.
Did you catch that? Abraham was the richest man in the country. God had blessed him with sheep and cattle and all a man could want. He had servants to do his bidding. But Abraham did not trust his riches and his power to buy a wife for Isaac. He didn't say, "If she refuses to come, you tell her that Abraham of Canaan commands her to come." He didn't threaten and he didn't bribe. He simply said that the Lord would send his angel and prepare the way.
Parents, listen up. People in our day badmouth "arranged marriages." It takes the romance out of marriage. I remind you that as nice as romance may be, romance doesn't hold marriages together. Romance is not the key ingredient in making a marriage what it ought to be. Marriage is in trouble in our society precisely because instead of marriages being arranged, people are falling into them and out of them.
This is the best kind of arrangement. Abraham trusted God to arrange the marriage. Don't you know that his announcement to his servant was the fruit of much prayer. Surely he had prayed to God, asking Him to find a wife for his son Isaac. And so now he assures his servant that God can be trusted to cause this chosen woman to come back. Abraham placed his confidence in the Lord.
So the servant went his way, making the long journey back to the homeland. He found a town and stopped on the outskirts of a town by a well. The custom was that the women came out to draw water for the family. So as he settled down to wait, notice what the servant did in verse 12. "Then he said, O Lord God of my master Abraham, please give me success this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham." He prayed. He asked God to bring the right woman for Isaac.
What a combination--trust in the Lord plus continuing prayer. This servant went as far as he could go, and then he prayed. To the best of his knowledge, he was doing the right thing. And he was praying that the Lord would bring success. Success didn't necessarily mean a girl with outward beauty. Success meant the will of God.
The girl who came out to draw water was named Rebekah. How was the servant to know if this was the girl the Lord had chosen? He simply said to the Lord, "If this is the one, let her not only give me a drink when I ask, but let her volunteer to water the camels as well."
Now look at verse19, "And when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking. Then she quickly emptied her pitcher into the trough, ran back to the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels." I ask you, "What was wrong with this girl?" She didn't know this man and the servants with him. She didn't know he was looking for a wife for his master's son. She simply saw a man who was thirsty and who had a thirsty bunch of camels.
Do you see? This girl ran to draw water for the camels. This was a girl who was eager to be of service. I don't know about that day, but it is becoming a rare thing in our day. Today young ladies are being deceived into thinking that it is right and proper to be boy crazy. And even the Christian community just winks and says that it is natural for kids that age. It wasn't natural for Rebekah. She wasn't cruising around with a group of girls looking for guys. She had an eye out for serving others, even when they were not young men who were prospective boyfriends or husbands. It was that very eagerness to serve which marked her out as the right woman for Isaac. She had no idea she was engaging in the very act that would identify her as the future wife of the son of Abraham.
Young people, I surely don't have all the answers about finding a mate, but I am sure of one principle. The way to find the mate God has for you is not to look for mate. Develop an eagerness to serve others and then let God lead you to the right mate. Rhonda and I can testify that the Lord put us together when we were not looking for anyone except Him, and it was in the context of service. We think He did a very good job.
Then the servant asked this young lady about her family. Amazingly enough, she was the daughter of one of Abraham's relatives. To be more exact, Rebekah was Isaac’s second cousin. God had indeed directed this servant back to Abraham's people. So now he has found a girl who is eager for service, a girl whom the angel of the Lord has pointed out, a girl who is from Abraham's people, and a girl from a family of hospitality. He is overwhelmed.
So what does the servant of Abraham do? Does he give the other servants a high five? Does he jump for joy? No. Verse 26 tells us, "Then the man bowed down his head and worshipped the Lord." Did you hear that? He worshipped the Lord. What was wrong with the man? Did he think he was in church? Did he think he heard someone say, "Now let's bow in prayer"? No, the Lord God was in the middle of this entire undertaking. There was nothing more natural than for him to worship the God who had brought it all about.
And then verse 27, "And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His mercy and His truth toward my master." He not only worshipped the Lord, but he also blessed the Lord. He gave glory to the Lord. In our terms, he gave God the credit. He not only talked to God about what He had done, but he spoke openly before all of what God had done.
Do you see how the foundation for marriage is being built? The Lord is right in the middle of everything. In the midst of finding a wife for Isaac, the servant who is doing the seeking is worshipping and blessing the Lord. Somehow, he knows that this is the Lord's doing.
So the servant goes home with Rebekah and her brother Laban, who has come out to meet them. When he gets to the house, the servant insists on relating the purpose of his visit before he will so much as even eat. This was a very faithful servant. After telling them the who matter and how Rebekah seems to be the one the Lord has led him to, he then comes straight to the point. He asks them straight out if they will give Rebekah to be the wife of Isaac. That was common custom in that day. The father did give the bride away.
Look at verse 50 to see how Rebekah's father and brother responded. "Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, The thing comes from the Lord; we cannot speak to you either bad or good. Here is Rebekah before you; take her and go, and let her be your master's son's wife, as the Lord has spoken." Please understand what they are saying. Notice that they don't offer any opinion about it. From the testimony of the servant, it is obvious that the whole matter has been directed by the Lord Himself. So that is the end of it. They cannot say whether they will let her go or not; the Lord has already said it. So all that is left for them is to get in step with the God who is arranging this marriage.
And when Abraham's servant heard the response of Laban and Bethuel, what do you think he did? "He worshipped the Lord, bowing himself to the earth" (52). When he sees the hand of the Lord at work, his first response is to worship God.
Now after the servant had produced valuable gifts and presented them to Rebekah, they were all fed and bedded down for the night. When the servant arose the next morning, he said, "Now send me away to my master." Apparently after thinking on it over night, Rebekah's mother and brother said to the servant, "Okay, but let her stay and visit with us for a few days--at least ten." That seemed like a reasonable request. After all, chances are that they would never see her again. What could be wrong with a ten-day goodbye? But Abraham's servant had a one-track mind. He knew why he had come. Just as he wouldn't eat until he had told the family why he had come, he didn't think it wise to wait around for ten days. Verse 56, "And he said to them, Do not hinder me since the Lord has prospered my way; send me away so that I may go to my master." For him, it was an urgent matter because he had been sent directly by Abraham.
At this, they told the servant that they would get Rebekah and ask her personally. And they did. They said to her, "Will you go with this man?" And she said, "I will go." You may say, "What would have happened if she would have said, 'No'?" I don't know the answer to that question. The point is that she said, "Yes." This was a family matter. In a sense, her family gave her away before they asked her. But at the same time, they did ask her and she was in complete agreement.
Is it any wonder that marriages and families are deteriorating in our society. In a great number of cases, young people are making decisions about marriage without the guidance and support of family. And our society encourages it by saying, "You have a right to choose your own mate. You don't have to listen to anyone else. It is your right." And then after they are married, they hear: "If you aren't happy in the marriage, then you have a right to get out." It wasn't so with Rebekah. She found security, support, and encouragement from her family.
Now here is a good question: Why was Rebekah so willing to go with Abraham's servant to be the wife of Isaac? How could she leave family and home to step into the unknown? Yes, Isaac had plenty. You might consider him rich. But even in our day, thoughtful young ladies know that money cannot make things right and cause a marriage to work. Didn't Rebekah fear the possibility that she wouldn't like Isaac, that she wouldn't like his family, that she wouldn't like the climate? Let me make a suggestion to you. I don't think Rebekah was impulsive and foolish. I don't think she was a girl just looking for adventure. Rather, she was a young lady who had real values. Remember that her father and brother rightly recognized the hand of God in the arrangement of this marriage. Surely she had a similar outlook.
Now consider something else. Back in Genesis 2, we read the story of how God made a wife for Adam. God said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him." And then God put Adam to sleep and formed Eve from one of his ribs. Then Adam said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." Now listen to these following words, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be one flesh."
Now I don't know whether Rebekah had ever heard these words or not. It might seem that she and her family had no knowledge of such things. After all, they hadn't gone to the land of Canaan with Abraham. But remember that Rebekah's father and brother acknowledged that it was the LORD who had arranged everything. "The LORD" is none other than Jehovah, Yahweh, the God of Abraham and Isaac. So Rebekah and her family knew something of the true God. Whether she had heard the specific words or whether God had somehow instilled the principle in her heart, Rebekah knew about leaving her parents and cleaving to her husband. She knew that the time would come when she would be called on to leave her home and be joined to the man who would be her husband. The distance meant little because it seems that she had already settled the issue in her heart.
So Rebekah and her maids left with the servant of Abraham. And as she went, she left with the blessing of her family. "Our sister, may you become the mother of thousands of ten thousands. And may your descendants possess the gates of those who hate them" (verse 60). Yes, they would miss Rebekah, but they were happy for her. They wanted the very best for her.
Now what about Isaac? What was he doing and thinking all this time? Verse 63, "And Isaac went out to meditate in the field in the evening." What a strange thing. Isaac was out in the fields thinking. Now the meaning of this word is a bit cloudy. I can't prove that Isaac was out in the field thinking about the Lord and how He must be the one to bring him a wife. But if I had to guess, that is exactly what I would expect. Here was a young man who was about to receive a wife. He didn't know what she would be like. He didn't know how eager she would be to become his wife. He didn't know what she would look like. Furthermore, he was about to begin a lifetime commitment. This marriage would tie him to a woman for the rest of his life. Surely it was appropriate that he should get alone with his God.
Then the great moment came. Rebekah and those with her were on camels. Isaac saw them coming. And Rebekah saw Isaac in the field. The servant of Abraham confirmed for her that this was indeed Isaac, the man whe was to marry. When she knew it was Isaac, she took a veil and covered herself. That, of course, was according to the customs of the day. But I want you to notice that Rebekah was willing to abide by the customs. She exercised restraint and modesty.
Now let me read the last words of the story in verse 67, "Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent; and he took Rebekah and she became his wife, and he loved her." Notice the order. Rebekah became his wife and he loved her. Didn't those crazy people know that they had the order reversed. In more recent times we have discovered that the proper order is to fall in love and then get married. We have become so enlightened. No, Isaac and Rebekah had it right. You see, the love they had was not the same love as we think of in "falling in love." The "falling in love" kind of love is not the kind of love that lasting marriage must be based on. That kind of love is selfish and self-seeking.
But what is this love that Isaac had for Rebekah? And what kind of marriage is this that doesn't depend at all on falling in love? What if they were not compatible? Listen to me. This is the kind of love that makes for real marriage. This kind of love didn't depend on how Rebekah looked. It didn't depend on her personality. It didn't depend on some kind of magic chemistry between the two people. That kind of love was based on a commitment. And in their case, it was even more than a commitment to one another. It was a commitment to God, the God who invented marriage.
III. Isaac Is Blessed by God, In Spite of Failure (25:5,11; 26:1-33)
I have already reminded us that we know far less about Isaac than we know about Abraham and Jacob. After reading verse after verse about Abraham in Hebrews 11, we come to Isaac’s record and read simply: “By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come” (Heb. 11:20). That’s it. Since much less is recorded about Isaac than either his father Abraham or his son Jacob, can we conclude that God didn’t bless him? What does the scripture say? Gen. 25:11, “And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac..” As the Lord blessed Abraham, so He blessed Isaac.
Go back to 25:5, "And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac." This is just before Abraham’s death, which is recorded down in verse 8. Remember now that Abraham had at least seven other sons, the six sons of Keturah and Ishmael, the son of Hagar. What about them? They too are the sons of Abraham. Abraham didn’t leave them out. Verse 6, “But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts…” He gave his other sons some gifts, but he gave all that he had unto Isaac. The idea is certainly, “But what he had of real value he gave to Isaac.” The other sons received some mementos by which they could remember their father, but Isaac received the inheritance.
Why was this? Why was Isaac blessed of God? Was it because he was some super saint? I must say that from what we know, he was the purest of the patriarchs, in that he had only one wife and no other woman. Best we can tell from the scriptures, it was just Isaac and Rebekah. Maybe that is why God blessed him, because of his purity of life. But then we come to chapter 26.
The chapter begins with words of great blessing. Because of a famine in Egypt, the Lord spoke to Isaac. Read Gen. 26:2-4…
And the LORD appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of: 3. Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father; 4. And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;
Not only did God bless Isaac, but He gave to him the blessing he had given to Abraham. What a blessed man was Isaac.
From there the story goes downhill. Basically, all I need to say is that it is a repeat of what we found in the last part of chapter 12 and in chapter 20, but this time the main character is Isaac instead of Abraham. That’s right, to protect his own hide, he lied about his wife Rebekah, claiming she was his sister. Never forget that sin has consequences, and this time it had consequences for the next generation. So we see that Isaac too was a man of failure, just like his dad.
So why did God bless him? It wasn’t because of who Isaac was; it was because of who God is. By blessing Isaac, God was fulfilling His promise – His promise to make of Abraham a great nation, His promise to make Abraham’s name great, His promise to give Abraham a multitude of descendants. After reading God’s promise to bless Isaac in 26:2-4, we then read in verse 5, “Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes and my laws.” He was doing it for the sake of Abraham. We read the same thing down in Gen. 26:24, "And the LORD appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake." “For my servant Abraham’s sake.”
Don’t ever forget that the blessing of God does not have its root in our goodness and greatness and ability and deeds. The blessing of God is rooted in the God who chooses to bless. Nevertheless, we must never get the idea that this truth means it makes no difference how we live. Listen to the next verse, verse 25, “And he builded an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord…” As the servant of Abraham worshipped God when he saw God accomplishing His purposes, Isaac now does the same. His primary relationship in all of life is with the Lord Himself, and he gladly acknowledges that truth.
Conclusion
So we get a good look at Isaac. Thought lost his mother and father, God blessed him with a wife. Though he failed even in the way he treated that wife, God continued to bless him. In the next section, we will see that the Lord blessed him with twin boys, though his wife Rebekah was barren for the first 20 years of their marriage.
Here is what I want to leave us with this morning. God has a plan, and He will accomplish that plan. Though the stories we have been reading are about Abraham and Isaac, they are really about the Lord Himself. Now Abraham has passed off the scene, but the Lord continues His work. That work is not dependent upon any man, but the Lord has seen fit to bless us by making us a part of His plan.
May our response be the same as that of Isaac. May we pause again and again and call upon the name of the Lord. No, we don’t need to build an altar. The cross of Calvary was the last altar; there is no need for another. It was there on that cross that God gave His Son Jesus, to bear the sins of Abraham and Isaac, and Jacob and Joseph, and you and me. There the Lord Jesus was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God. When you through repentance and faith embrace the Christ who died on that cross and rose from the grave, you are doing more than building an altar; you are finding life that God intended to give.
Praise God that the promises He made to Abraham are ultimately fulfilled in Jesus. It is through Him that all the families of the earth are blessed!
GOD’S PURPOSES ACCOMPLISHED THROUGH ISAAC
Genesis 23-26
We live in a society that encourages us to make plans. Our educational system has absolutely gone to seed on the concept of setting goals. There is certainly nothing wrong with making a plan, though all the personal plans of the Christian must be tentative. “A man’s heart devises his way; but the Lord directs his steps” (Prov. 16:9). "Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: 14. Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away" (James 4:13-14). A tentative plan is all right, but some in our society are so fixed on setting goals that there is little time and effort left to accomplish them. That trend has found its way into religious circles. Churches are even encouraged to set a goal as to how many people they will baptize during the coming year.
But there is one who has a plan, and that one is God. For Him, setting the goal and accomplishing it are one in the same. When God makes a plan, it is done. When God gives a promise, you can write it down, because it will be accomplished. How can you know that is true? First, check His record. Hundreds of His promises have already been fulfilled. Second, remember that He is God, the Almighty. He is true to His Word and He is able to accomplish what He promises. Third, we have the truth of His Word. Ps. 115:2-3, "Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God? 3. But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased." Listen to the Lord speaking to His people in Is. 48:3-5…
I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I showed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass. 4. Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass; 5. I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I showed it thee: lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them.
Yes, God has a plan and He will accomplish it. Isn’t that good to know! There is no other plan that is guaranteed.
Let’s go back for a moment to the plan God revealed to Abraham in Genesis 12. Gen. 12:1-4…
Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee: 2. And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. 4. So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.
Notice especially these promises…
… unto a land that I will show you
… I will make of you a great nation
… in you shall all the families of the earth be blessed
Add to that the promise we find in Gen. 17:4-5, "As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. 5. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee." The Lord clearly told Abraham that he would be the father of many nations; that was the very meaning of the name God gave him – “Abraham.”
This morning we are going to see that Isaac was a part of those promises. You will recall the scriptural phrase “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” It is common to find the names of these three patriarchs together. If you are not familiar with them, Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac was the father of Jacob. Now let me ask you a question. Of the three, which is best known? Yes, I would have to say Abraham. Which is least known? Isaac. We will read a great deal about Jacob as we go through Genesis. Isaac, on the other hand, does not receive as much coverage. He is the link between Abraham and Jacob. Except for his father taking him to Mt. Moriah and the fact that he dug some wells, we know little about him except his family. Nevertheless, we must understand that God accomplished His purposes through Isaac. That is what we want to look at this morning, as we explore Genesis 23-26. We won’t have time to read every verse in these chapters, but I strongly encourage you to read them thoroughly on your own.
I. Isaac Loses His Parents (23:1-20)
Let’s begin by reading about the death of Sarah in Gen. 23:1-2, "And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old: these were the years of the life of Sarah. 2. And Sarah died in Kirjatharba; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her." Abraham lost a wife, and Isaac lost a mother. Isaac was 37 years old at the time. We know his age at this time because we know he was born when Sarah was 90.
It is no wonder that Abraham mourned for over the death of his wife. They had been through much together. Abraham loved Sarah. We need to be careful in our attitude toward those who lose loved ones, especially when that loved one was a believer. We might say, “Well praise the Lord that Sally has gone home to be with the Lord.” Such a statement can pierce the heart of her husband, who has been her companion for many years. Yes, we rejoice on behalf of the believer who died, but we weep with those who love her, because they are experiencing a tremendous loss. Yes, they love the Lord. They are not questioning God’s timing. But they still hurt. Abraham trusted God, but he still mourned the loss of his precious wife.
The rest of chapter 23 tells the story of how Abraham purchased a burial plot for Sarah. Why 18 verses to tell the story of buying a cemetery plot? Proper burial of the dead was a way of showing honor and respect for the one who died. Abraham couldn’t just dispose of his wife, as if she were a worn out pair of shoes. Perhaps more importantly, we must note that this was the only land that Abraham owned in the land of Canaan. He was a stranger and pilgrim in that land, but he thought it was important to buy this burial plot. Why? We are not told the details, but it seems that Abraham was confessing that this was indeed the land God had promised to him and his descendants. Remember the promise we read from chapter 12 about “that land that I will show you.”
It is interesting that chapter 22 closes with the record of the twelve sons borne to Nahor, who was Abraham’s brother. This, of course, was taking place back where the rest of Abraham’s family was, back in Padanaram. Abraham received good news from a far country. His brother and family were doing well. Then we immediately read in 23:1 that Sarah died. The logical thing for Abraham to do would be to take her back and bury her where the family was. Don’t think for a minute that it would have been too far. Distance was not a factor when it came to providing proper burial. I remind you that Jacob would be buried in this same tomb, though they had to bring his body back from Egypt. But rather than burying her with his people, Abraham buried her in the land that God had promised. Let’s read from Heb. 11:13-16…
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. 15. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. 16. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
Abraham was not seeking to return to his former homeland. No, he was seeking a country that this world knows nothing about. He desired a better country, even a heavenly country. And while he was on the earth, he accepted his place as just a stranger and pilgrim. Nevertheless, while he was here, he would rejoice in the land the Lord would give to his descendants. He showed it by purchasing a burial plot in that land. By the way, my understanding is that the price he paid was rather high, but it didn’t matter. Abraham was investing in what he knew to be important.
Now turn over to chapter 25. Let’s read Gen. 25:1-10…
Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah. 2. And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. 3. And Jokshan begat Sheba, and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and Letushim, and Leummim. 4. And the sons of Midian; Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abidah, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah. 5. And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. 6. But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country. 7. And these are the days of the years of Abraham's life which he lived, an hundred threescore and fifteen years. 8. Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people. 9. And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre; 10. The field which Abraham purchased of the sons of Heth: there was Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife.
Now we see the death of Abraham as well. He was 175 years old when he died. Now understand that all the events recorded in these chapters are not in chronological order. Later in this same chapter we will read about the birth of Isaac’s sons, but that actually took place before the death of Abraham. How do we know? Because we are told that Isaac was 60 when the twins were born, which would make Abraham 160 at the time. Jacob and Esau were 15 years old when their grandfather Abraham died.
The fact that these things are not always in chronological order has left questions about the status of Keturah. In 25:1 we read that she was Abraham’s wife. But in I Chron. 1:32 she is identified as his concubine, and the same is true here in 25:6. Did she marry Abraham after Sarah died or before? Verse 1 could be translated just as accurately, “Abraham had taken a wife.” The context is the determining factor. Was her relationship with Abraham similar to that of Hagar, who is apparently the other concubine referred to in verse 6? Or is she given that designation simply to make it clear that she was not on a par with Sarah? Rather than debating it, we will later come back to the main reason for including these verses in the first place.
Notice that Isaac and Ishmael buried their father. Though Ishmael had been put out of the household, there is still a relationship with his father Abraham. And where did they bury him? In the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre (verse 9). And if that isn’t specific enough, we read in verse 10, “The field which Abraham purchased of the sons of Heth; there was Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife.” He was buried in the very plot that he had purchased for the burial of his wife, in the land of Canaan, which God had promised to give to his descendants.
Certainly Abraham’s death was a huge blow to both Ishmael and Isaac, but we will focus upon Isaac, who was the son of promise. Remember that Isaac was born when his father was 100 years old. He was the only son of Abraham and Sarah. For 37 years he enjoyed both of them. But after the death of his mother, his father lived another 38 years. By the way, 175 was a long life for that time. Notice again the way his death is recorded in Gen. 25:8, "Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people." Though Isaac now has a wife and two sons, how he would miss his father Abraham.
II. Isaac Gains a Wife (24:1-67)
Now think again about the promises to Abraham. God had promised him that he would be the father of many nations (Gen. 17:4-5). Let’s pause there for a minute. How was that going to happen? We think of Abraham as the father of the Jewish nation, but not so much the father of many nations. We know from history that many nations did not come through Isaac. So how was Abraham going to be the father of many nations?
Look again here in chapter 25. In verses 2-4 we see that Abraham had six sons by Keturah. Then in verses 12-15 we see that Abraham’s son Ishmael had 12 sons of his own. Why do we need such records. Who cares about the sons of Keturah and the sons of Ishmael? Notice the names of those sons of Keturah. Among them we find the name Midian. You will remember that in the times of the Judges the Midianites were the enemies of Israel. A nation came from Midian. It is likely that Shuah was the father of the Shuhites, and we remember Bildad the Shuhite as one of Job’s friends. So we see that Abraham was the father of these nations.
The connection is even more specific when we come down to Gen. 25:16, "These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their towns, and by their castles; twelve princes according to their nations." From Ishmael came the rulers of twelve nations. And who was the father of the father of these nations? It was Abraham. He truly was the father of many nations. Though we may not always understand why certain things are included in the scriptures, be patient and trust God. Know they are there for a specific purpose because God is wise and He doesn’t do things haphazardly.
So we see that Abraham was the father of many nations through his other sons, but what about Isaac? God promised to make Abraham the father of a great nation (Gen. 12:2). And what nation is that? We know from history that this would be Israel. By the way, where do we get that name Israel? We’re getting a bit ahead of ourselves, but this is important. Yes, that was the new name that God would give to Jacob. But what does that have to do with the nation of Israel? Jacob (renamed Israel) had twelve sons and each son would become the head of a tribe, known as the twelve tribes of Israel. So the nation Israel takes its name from Jacob, who became Israel.
That’s fine. Abraham was the father of that nation, and the nation took its name from Jacob, who was renamed Israel. That leaves only one problem – how do we get from Abraham to Jacob? In order for Abraham to be the father of this great nation Israel, Isaac is going to need to have at least one son. Somewhere down the road there is going to be a need for many children, but at this point Isaac is going to need to have at least one. And if Isaac is going to have a son, then he needs a wife. Chapter 24! Guess what. This is the longest chapter in the book of Genesis. And what is it about? What is the content of chapter 24? You could title it very simply “A Wife for Isaac.” It contains 67 verses, and it is all about obtaining a wife for Isaac. How did Ishmael get his wife? Gen 21:21, "And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt." Or consider the record of Esau in Gen. 26:34, "And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite:" Esau got two wives in one verse, but it took Isaac 67 verses to get his one and only wife! The length of the story reinforces the importance of this marriage.
Oh but I have a better love story for you. This one goes much deeper than falling in love. The foundation of this love story is deep and strong. It isn't a "boy meets girl and they fall in love" kind of story. We live in a day where "boy meets girl, they fall in love and live happily ever after" has been replaced with "boy meets girl, they fall in love and get divorced sooner or later." The great cure for that tragedy must go back to the foundation. So let me direct you to this unique and beautiful love story. Rather than try to read all of it, I will just read some key verses. I encourage you to go back and read the whole story this week.
But now Abraham is old and he longs to see his son take a wife--not just any wife, but the right wife. He doesn’t want a wife from the heathen, idol-worshipping people in the land where they were living. So he decided to send his servant back to Mesopotamia (Padanaram), where his relatives lived. .
Now immediately this love story hits a snag. The servant says, "But what if the woman I choose refuses to come back with me." Now surely that is an appropriate question. What young girl would jump in the car with a servant of a distant relative and agree to marry a man whom she had never seen? Even if he was as rich as Isaac, she might have a problem with that.
Notice Abraham's answer in verse 7, "The Lord God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my family, and who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, To your descendants I give this land, He will send His angel before you and you shall take a wife for my son from there." Abraham trusted the Lord to bring a wife back for his son.
Did you catch that? Abraham was the richest man in the country. God had blessed him with sheep and cattle and all a man could want. He had servants to do his bidding. But Abraham did not trust his riches and his power to buy a wife for Isaac. He didn't say, "If she refuses to come, you tell her that Abraham of Canaan commands her to come." He didn't threaten and he didn't bribe. He simply said that the Lord would send his angel and prepare the way.
Parents, listen up. People in our day badmouth "arranged marriages." It takes the romance out of marriage. I remind you that as nice as romance may be, romance doesn't hold marriages together. Romance is not the key ingredient in making a marriage what it ought to be. Marriage is in trouble in our society precisely because instead of marriages being arranged, people are falling into them and out of them.
This is the best kind of arrangement. Abraham trusted God to arrange the marriage. Don't you know that his announcement to his servant was the fruit of much prayer. Surely he had prayed to God, asking Him to find a wife for his son Isaac. And so now he assures his servant that God can be trusted to cause this chosen woman to come back. Abraham placed his confidence in the Lord.
So the servant went his way, making the long journey back to the homeland. He found a town and stopped on the outskirts of a town by a well. The custom was that the women came out to draw water for the family. So as he settled down to wait, notice what the servant did in verse 12. "Then he said, O Lord God of my master Abraham, please give me success this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham." He prayed. He asked God to bring the right woman for Isaac.
What a combination--trust in the Lord plus continuing prayer. This servant went as far as he could go, and then he prayed. To the best of his knowledge, he was doing the right thing. And he was praying that the Lord would bring success. Success didn't necessarily mean a girl with outward beauty. Success meant the will of God.
The girl who came out to draw water was named Rebekah. How was the servant to know if this was the girl the Lord had chosen? He simply said to the Lord, "If this is the one, let her not only give me a drink when I ask, but let her volunteer to water the camels as well."
Now look at verse19, "And when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking. Then she quickly emptied her pitcher into the trough, ran back to the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels." I ask you, "What was wrong with this girl?" She didn't know this man and the servants with him. She didn't know he was looking for a wife for his master's son. She simply saw a man who was thirsty and who had a thirsty bunch of camels.
Do you see? This girl ran to draw water for the camels. This was a girl who was eager to be of service. I don't know about that day, but it is becoming a rare thing in our day. Today young ladies are being deceived into thinking that it is right and proper to be boy crazy. And even the Christian community just winks and says that it is natural for kids that age. It wasn't natural for Rebekah. She wasn't cruising around with a group of girls looking for guys. She had an eye out for serving others, even when they were not young men who were prospective boyfriends or husbands. It was that very eagerness to serve which marked her out as the right woman for Isaac. She had no idea she was engaging in the very act that would identify her as the future wife of the son of Abraham.
Young people, I surely don't have all the answers about finding a mate, but I am sure of one principle. The way to find the mate God has for you is not to look for mate. Develop an eagerness to serve others and then let God lead you to the right mate. Rhonda and I can testify that the Lord put us together when we were not looking for anyone except Him, and it was in the context of service. We think He did a very good job.
Then the servant asked this young lady about her family. Amazingly enough, she was the daughter of one of Abraham's relatives. To be more exact, Rebekah was Isaac’s second cousin. God had indeed directed this servant back to Abraham's people. So now he has found a girl who is eager for service, a girl whom the angel of the Lord has pointed out, a girl who is from Abraham's people, and a girl from a family of hospitality. He is overwhelmed.
So what does the servant of Abraham do? Does he give the other servants a high five? Does he jump for joy? No. Verse 26 tells us, "Then the man bowed down his head and worshipped the Lord." Did you hear that? He worshipped the Lord. What was wrong with the man? Did he think he was in church? Did he think he heard someone say, "Now let's bow in prayer"? No, the Lord God was in the middle of this entire undertaking. There was nothing more natural than for him to worship the God who had brought it all about.
And then verse 27, "And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His mercy and His truth toward my master." He not only worshipped the Lord, but he also blessed the Lord. He gave glory to the Lord. In our terms, he gave God the credit. He not only talked to God about what He had done, but he spoke openly before all of what God had done.
Do you see how the foundation for marriage is being built? The Lord is right in the middle of everything. In the midst of finding a wife for Isaac, the servant who is doing the seeking is worshipping and blessing the Lord. Somehow, he knows that this is the Lord's doing.
So the servant goes home with Rebekah and her brother Laban, who has come out to meet them. When he gets to the house, the servant insists on relating the purpose of his visit before he will so much as even eat. This was a very faithful servant. After telling them the who matter and how Rebekah seems to be the one the Lord has led him to, he then comes straight to the point. He asks them straight out if they will give Rebekah to be the wife of Isaac. That was common custom in that day. The father did give the bride away.
Look at verse 50 to see how Rebekah's father and brother responded. "Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, The thing comes from the Lord; we cannot speak to you either bad or good. Here is Rebekah before you; take her and go, and let her be your master's son's wife, as the Lord has spoken." Please understand what they are saying. Notice that they don't offer any opinion about it. From the testimony of the servant, it is obvious that the whole matter has been directed by the Lord Himself. So that is the end of it. They cannot say whether they will let her go or not; the Lord has already said it. So all that is left for them is to get in step with the God who is arranging this marriage.
And when Abraham's servant heard the response of Laban and Bethuel, what do you think he did? "He worshipped the Lord, bowing himself to the earth" (52). When he sees the hand of the Lord at work, his first response is to worship God.
Now after the servant had produced valuable gifts and presented them to Rebekah, they were all fed and bedded down for the night. When the servant arose the next morning, he said, "Now send me away to my master." Apparently after thinking on it over night, Rebekah's mother and brother said to the servant, "Okay, but let her stay and visit with us for a few days--at least ten." That seemed like a reasonable request. After all, chances are that they would never see her again. What could be wrong with a ten-day goodbye? But Abraham's servant had a one-track mind. He knew why he had come. Just as he wouldn't eat until he had told the family why he had come, he didn't think it wise to wait around for ten days. Verse 56, "And he said to them, Do not hinder me since the Lord has prospered my way; send me away so that I may go to my master." For him, it was an urgent matter because he had been sent directly by Abraham.
At this, they told the servant that they would get Rebekah and ask her personally. And they did. They said to her, "Will you go with this man?" And she said, "I will go." You may say, "What would have happened if she would have said, 'No'?" I don't know the answer to that question. The point is that she said, "Yes." This was a family matter. In a sense, her family gave her away before they asked her. But at the same time, they did ask her and she was in complete agreement.
Is it any wonder that marriages and families are deteriorating in our society. In a great number of cases, young people are making decisions about marriage without the guidance and support of family. And our society encourages it by saying, "You have a right to choose your own mate. You don't have to listen to anyone else. It is your right." And then after they are married, they hear: "If you aren't happy in the marriage, then you have a right to get out." It wasn't so with Rebekah. She found security, support, and encouragement from her family.
Now here is a good question: Why was Rebekah so willing to go with Abraham's servant to be the wife of Isaac? How could she leave family and home to step into the unknown? Yes, Isaac had plenty. You might consider him rich. But even in our day, thoughtful young ladies know that money cannot make things right and cause a marriage to work. Didn't Rebekah fear the possibility that she wouldn't like Isaac, that she wouldn't like his family, that she wouldn't like the climate? Let me make a suggestion to you. I don't think Rebekah was impulsive and foolish. I don't think she was a girl just looking for adventure. Rather, she was a young lady who had real values. Remember that her father and brother rightly recognized the hand of God in the arrangement of this marriage. Surely she had a similar outlook.
Now consider something else. Back in Genesis 2, we read the story of how God made a wife for Adam. God said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him." And then God put Adam to sleep and formed Eve from one of his ribs. Then Adam said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." Now listen to these following words, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be one flesh."
Now I don't know whether Rebekah had ever heard these words or not. It might seem that she and her family had no knowledge of such things. After all, they hadn't gone to the land of Canaan with Abraham. But remember that Rebekah's father and brother acknowledged that it was the LORD who had arranged everything. "The LORD" is none other than Jehovah, Yahweh, the God of Abraham and Isaac. So Rebekah and her family knew something of the true God. Whether she had heard the specific words or whether God had somehow instilled the principle in her heart, Rebekah knew about leaving her parents and cleaving to her husband. She knew that the time would come when she would be called on to leave her home and be joined to the man who would be her husband. The distance meant little because it seems that she had already settled the issue in her heart.
So Rebekah and her maids left with the servant of Abraham. And as she went, she left with the blessing of her family. "Our sister, may you become the mother of thousands of ten thousands. And may your descendants possess the gates of those who hate them" (verse 60). Yes, they would miss Rebekah, but they were happy for her. They wanted the very best for her.
Now what about Isaac? What was he doing and thinking all this time? Verse 63, "And Isaac went out to meditate in the field in the evening." What a strange thing. Isaac was out in the fields thinking. Now the meaning of this word is a bit cloudy. I can't prove that Isaac was out in the field thinking about the Lord and how He must be the one to bring him a wife. But if I had to guess, that is exactly what I would expect. Here was a young man who was about to receive a wife. He didn't know what she would be like. He didn't know how eager she would be to become his wife. He didn't know what she would look like. Furthermore, he was about to begin a lifetime commitment. This marriage would tie him to a woman for the rest of his life. Surely it was appropriate that he should get alone with his God.
Then the great moment came. Rebekah and those with her were on camels. Isaac saw them coming. And Rebekah saw Isaac in the field. The servant of Abraham confirmed for her that this was indeed Isaac, the man whe was to marry. When she knew it was Isaac, she took a veil and covered herself. That, of course, was according to the customs of the day. But I want you to notice that Rebekah was willing to abide by the customs. She exercised restraint and modesty.
Now let me read the last words of the story in verse 67, "Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent; and he took Rebekah and she became his wife, and he loved her." Notice the order. Rebekah became his wife and he loved her. Didn't those crazy people know that they had the order reversed. In more recent times we have discovered that the proper order is to fall in love and then get married. We have become so enlightened. No, Isaac and Rebekah had it right. You see, the love they had was not the same love as we think of in "falling in love." The "falling in love" kind of love is not the kind of love that lasting marriage must be based on. That kind of love is selfish and self-seeking.
But what is this love that Isaac had for Rebekah? And what kind of marriage is this that doesn't depend at all on falling in love? What if they were not compatible? Listen to me. This is the kind of love that makes for real marriage. This kind of love didn't depend on how Rebekah looked. It didn't depend on her personality. It didn't depend on some kind of magic chemistry between the two people. That kind of love was based on a commitment. And in their case, it was even more than a commitment to one another. It was a commitment to God, the God who invented marriage.
III. Isaac Is Blessed by God, In Spite of Failure (25:5,11; 26:1-33)
I have already reminded us that we know far less about Isaac than we know about Abraham and Jacob. After reading verse after verse about Abraham in Hebrews 11, we come to Isaac’s record and read simply: “By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come” (Heb. 11:20). That’s it. Since much less is recorded about Isaac than either his father Abraham or his son Jacob, can we conclude that God didn’t bless him? What does the scripture say? Gen. 25:11, “And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac..” As the Lord blessed Abraham, so He blessed Isaac.
Go back to 25:5, "And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac." This is just before Abraham’s death, which is recorded down in verse 8. Remember now that Abraham had at least seven other sons, the six sons of Keturah and Ishmael, the son of Hagar. What about them? They too are the sons of Abraham. Abraham didn’t leave them out. Verse 6, “But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts…” He gave his other sons some gifts, but he gave all that he had unto Isaac. The idea is certainly, “But what he had of real value he gave to Isaac.” The other sons received some mementos by which they could remember their father, but Isaac received the inheritance.
Why was this? Why was Isaac blessed of God? Was it because he was some super saint? I must say that from what we know, he was the purest of the patriarchs, in that he had only one wife and no other woman. Best we can tell from the scriptures, it was just Isaac and Rebekah. Maybe that is why God blessed him, because of his purity of life. But then we come to chapter 26.
The chapter begins with words of great blessing. Because of a famine in Egypt, the Lord spoke to Isaac. Read Gen. 26:2-4…
And the LORD appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of: 3. Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father; 4. And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;
Not only did God bless Isaac, but He gave to him the blessing he had given to Abraham. What a blessed man was Isaac.
From there the story goes downhill. Basically, all I need to say is that it is a repeat of what we found in the last part of chapter 12 and in chapter 20, but this time the main character is Isaac instead of Abraham. That’s right, to protect his own hide, he lied about his wife Rebekah, claiming she was his sister. Never forget that sin has consequences, and this time it had consequences for the next generation. So we see that Isaac too was a man of failure, just like his dad.
So why did God bless him? It wasn’t because of who Isaac was; it was because of who God is. By blessing Isaac, God was fulfilling His promise – His promise to make of Abraham a great nation, His promise to make Abraham’s name great, His promise to give Abraham a multitude of descendants. After reading God’s promise to bless Isaac in 26:2-4, we then read in verse 5, “Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes and my laws.” He was doing it for the sake of Abraham. We read the same thing down in Gen. 26:24, "And the LORD appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake." “For my servant Abraham’s sake.”
Don’t ever forget that the blessing of God does not have its root in our goodness and greatness and ability and deeds. The blessing of God is rooted in the God who chooses to bless. Nevertheless, we must never get the idea that this truth means it makes no difference how we live. Listen to the next verse, verse 25, “And he builded an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord…” As the servant of Abraham worshipped God when he saw God accomplishing His purposes, Isaac now does the same. His primary relationship in all of life is with the Lord Himself, and he gladly acknowledges that truth.
Conclusion
So we get a good look at Isaac. Thought lost his mother and father, God blessed him with a wife. Though he failed even in the way he treated that wife, God continued to bless him. In the next section, we will see that the Lord blessed him with twin boys, though his wife Rebekah was barren for the first 20 years of their marriage.
Here is what I want to leave us with this morning. God has a plan, and He will accomplish that plan. Though the stories we have been reading are about Abraham and Isaac, they are really about the Lord Himself. Now Abraham has passed off the scene, but the Lord continues His work. That work is not dependent upon any man, but the Lord has seen fit to bless us by making us a part of His plan.
May our response be the same as that of Isaac. May we pause again and again and call upon the name of the Lord. No, we don’t need to build an altar. The cross of Calvary was the last altar; there is no need for another. It was there on that cross that God gave His Son Jesus, to bear the sins of Abraham and Isaac, and Jacob and Joseph, and you and me. There the Lord Jesus was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God. When you through repentance and faith embrace the Christ who died on that cross and rose from the grave, you are doing more than building an altar; you are finding life that God intended to give.
Praise God that the promises He made to Abraham are ultimately fulfilled in Jesus. It is through Him that all the families of the earth are blessed!
Sunday, April 5, 2009
A Greater Sacrifice (Gen. 22) -- 4/5/09
Sunday, April 5, 2009
THE GREATER SACRIFICE OF GENESIS 22
Last week we looked at Genesis 22. There we read the story of how God tested Abraham by instructing him to take his only son Isaac and offer him as a sacrifice on Mount Moriah. If we hadn’t read the rest of the story, we might have rebelled and accused God Himself of being unusually cruel. Praise God that He did give us the rest of the story, and in that story we found great beauty and glory, as God revealed to Abraham that his greatest treasure was not his son Isaac, but God Himself. In Abraham we saw faith, a simple trust in a mighty God. Having received the promises of God, Abraham believed firmly that God would be true to His Word, even if it meant raising Isaac from the dead. That simple faith produced obedience. Abraham took Isaac, as he was commanded, and offered him as a sacrifice. Oh yes, it’s true that the angel of the Lord stopped him before the deed was completed, but make no mistake about it, Abraham offered his son to God. The Lord gave him back his son, and surely Abraham would always see him as a gift form God.
This morning we are going to begin again in Genesis 22, but we won’t be able to stay there. Why not? Because the story told here reaches far into the future. We saw that this act of Abraham required faith. At the same time, it revealed faith. This morning we are going to see that it foreshadowed something far greater. Abraham’s offering of Isaac was a picture of a far greater sacrifice in the future. Yes, it was a picture of God offering His own Son as a sacrifice. It is impossible to escape that truth. And we don’t want to escape that truth; rather, we want to magnify it. May God use the story of Genesis 22 to remind us the greatness of God giving His Son.
With that in mind, let us read it again. Gen. 22:1-19…
And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. 2. 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. 3. 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 clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. 4. Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. 5. 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. 6. 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. 7. 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? 8. And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. 9. 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 his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. 10. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. 11. And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. 12. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. 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. 14. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen. 15. And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, 16. And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: 17. That 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 sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; 18. And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. 19. So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.
I. The Obvious Parallel
For anyone who knows the Bible at all, it is impossible to miss the parallel between Genesis 22 and the greater sacrifice that took place almost 2,000 years later. Let’s take time to point out some of the parallels. We have a father named Abraham; we have God the Father. We have the son Isaac; we have Jesus the Son. As Abraham offered his Son as a sacrifice, so God the Father offered His Son Jesus as a sacrifice.
That is the basic parallel, but it is not a perfect parallel by any means. The difficulty is that God the Father is active in both of these stories. While we see Him as parallel to Abraham in that He too will offer up His Son, in Genesis 22 He is the One who commands Abraham to sacrifice Isaac his son. While Abraham is the father in this story, he is relating to God the Father. While it is the father Abraham who exercises faith in this story, it is not God the Father who exercises faith in the greater story. Rather, it is Jesus the Son who will exercise faith. Because God plays a part in both stories, being the Almighty in one and the Father in the other, it is not a perfect parallel. Nevertheless, there is much we can learn by comparing Genesis 22 with the ultimate sacrifice.
We saw last week that much hung in the balance here in Genesis 22. God had made great promises to Abraham. Very specifically the Lord had told Abraham that he would have many descendants and those descendants would come through Isaac, the son of promise. Way back in chapter 12, the Lord told Abraham that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through him. Later it becomes clear that the link to that blessing is Isaac. Everything was wrapped up in Isaac, who was the promised Son. You will remember that there was much difficulty and trial along the way before the birth of Isaac. Praise God that He did indeed give Abraham and Sarah this promised son. Now Abraham could see how God could fulfill those promises He had made.
So it was with the Lord Jesus, the only begotten Son of the Father. He too was the Son of promise. The promises concerning Him began way back in Gen 3:15, when the Lord said to the serpent, "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." Early in the scriptures God’s people had this promise that the seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent (the devil himself). But that was only the beginning of the promises. Years later the Lord would say to Moses in Deut. 18:15, "The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken." Down through the years the Lord sent prophets who spoke of this promised One. Is. 7:14, "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel [God with us]." Through this same prophet Isaiah the Lord would reveal the glory of this promised One… (Is. 9:6-7)
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 7. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
Listen to the promise that came through Malachi… (Mal. 4:1-2)
For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. 2. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
Those are just a few of the hundreds of promises concerning the Son of God, the Messiah, the Redeemer of Israel.
But as with Abraham, so it was with God’s people down through the centuries. As Abraham waited for the son of promise, so Israel waited for its Messiah and Redeemer. They waited for hundreds of years. Nevertheless, the time finally came. For some 400 years there had been no prophetic word from the Lord, but with John the Baptist came the announcement of the greater one, the one who was born after John but who was before John. Yes, the fullness of the time had come, and God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law (Gal. 4:4). Listen to the words of the angel of the Lord spoken to Joseph… (Matt. 1:21-23)
And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. 22. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, 23. Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
Praise God! The Messiah was finally arriving. Emmanuel had come. And Mary brought forth her firstborn Son and laid Him in a manger. As there was tremendous joy in the home of Abraham, so there was great joy for Mary and Joseph. Though Mary and Joseph must have had many questions, they knew this was a special birth, as this child had been conceived by the Holy Spirit. It is no wonder that after the angels left their presence, “Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19).
Things were wonderful for Abraham until God tested him, instructing him to take Isaac up on the mountain and offer him as a sacrifice. After all the waiting for the son, now God seemed to be requiring Abraham to give him up. So it was with Jesus. After all the waiting for the Messiah, it became increasingly apparent that things were not playing out the way God’s people had expected. Jesus was talking about dying. Turn to Mark 8. (Let me give you an easy way to keep this truth before you. Go the middle of Mark; that is chapter 8. Then remember the number 31. You will find it in chapter 8 and chapter 9, then you only have to go forward one verse in chapter 10). Let’s read it…
Mark 8:31… "And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
Mark 9:31… "For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, andthey shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day."
Mark 10:32-34… "And they were in the way going up to Jerusalem; and Jesus went before them: and they were amazed; and as they followed, they were afraid. And he took again the twelve, and began to tell them what things should happen unto him, 33. Saying, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes; and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles: 34. And they shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him: and the third day he shall rise again."
But surely this can’t be. This is their Messiah. He is the One that has been promised for centuries. He has finally arrived, and now how can it be that He will die. No wonder Peter rebuked Jesus, saying, “Be it far from thee, Lord; this shall not be unto thee” (Matt. 16:22). Those apostles couldn’t conceive of God’s Messiah being killed. Doesn’t that remind you of the situation with Isaac? The promised son had finally been given, and now God was telling Abraham to offer him as a sacrifice.
Consider these two sons. Remember that Isaac was plenty old enough to know what was going on. He carried the wood up the mountain, indicating that he was likely in his upper teens or early 20’s. Remember the question he asked his father: “Father, I see that we have the wood and the fire, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” (Gen. 22:7). We are not told exactly what Isaac was thinking, but we know that he was thinking. Nor are we told how Isaac responded when they reached the top of the mountain. The narrative reads simply in verse 9, “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 his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.” He bound his son Isaac. He didn’t do that without Isaac’s consent. Abraham was in the neighborhood of 120 by this time, and Isaac was a healthy young man. There is no hint of a struggle. Isaac was a willing participant, as his father bound him and raised the knife to slay him.
What a picture of the ultimate sacrifice. Make no mistake about it, Calvary marked the place where God the Father offered His Son. It wasn’t about the powerful Roman forces or the cunning Jewish leaders; it was about God and His Son Jesus. Is. 53:10, “It pleased the Lord to bruise (crush) him…” “For he made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (II Cor 5:21). Who made Him to be sin for us? It was His Father, the Lord God Himself. But couldn’t Jesus have freed Himself? Couldn’t the Son of God who stilled the waves of the sea have avoided the crucifixion? Yes, He could have, but He didn’t. As Isaac offered himself up to his father, so Jesus did at the cross. That’s what the Garden of Gethsemane is all about. Matt. 26:39-42…
And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. 40. And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? 41. Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. 42. He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.
So we see that the scene at Mt. Moriah foreshadowed Calvary, where God the Father offered up His only begotten Son. That reminds me of one other striking parallel. Go back to Gen 22:2, "And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah…” Let your mind linger over those words “thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest.” What a description of the Father’s love for His Son Jesus. Remember the words that came from heaven when He was baptized. “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17). That voice came again on the Mount of Transfiguration: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear him” (Matt. 17:5). While we may never fully understand what Abraham went through on Mount Moriah, the God who gave His only begotten Son comprehended it perfectly. Abraham’s trial can represent only a small portion of what God the Father went through when Jesus was on the cross.
II. The Great Differences
And that brings us to the great difference between the events that occurred at Moriah and at Calvary. As we have seen, there is a strong parallel that cannot be ignored. It took us a while to draw out that parallel, but there is a sense in which it will take only a moment to note the difference between the two. But this is what I found – the more I meditated on these two events, the more I realized that there are great differences between the two.
So what was the great difference? Simply put, while the angel of the Lord called out to Abraham and stopped him from slaying his son Isaac, there would be no one to cry out to God the Father. While Abraham found a ram in the thicket which he could substitute for his son, there was no one who could serve as a substitute for Jesus. As awful as it seems at first sight, God the Father went through with the terrible deed. As it were, He raised the knife and did indeed slay His own Son.
When Abraham took Isaac up on the mountain, he was obeying the instructions of his God and Creator, but when God offered His Son at Calvary, He was not following the instructions of anyone, for there is no one to instruct Him. "Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counselor hath taught him?" (Is. 40:13). "For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counselor?" (Rom. 11:34). God acted on His own. If He had withdrawn His hand and spared His Son, He had no one to whom He must give account. No one would have scolded Him, for He is the Almighty, who has done whatsoever He has pleased (Ps. 115:3).
Then can someone tell me why God the Father crushed His own Son on that cross? He bound Himself to fulfill His eternal plan. And what was that plan? 1 John 4:9-10, "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." Do you see? God had long ago determined to redeem for Himself a people out of a corrupt humanity. But it would have to be a mighty redemption, because God cannot tolerate sin in His presence. Being a just God, He could not simply overlook sin. No, sin would have to be punished. But if He punished my sin, that would take me to hell forever and ever.
Jesus was the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8). It was there at the cross that God provided for us a spotless Lamb, an acceptable substitute, a mighty Redeemer. God could not spare His Son, because there was no other who could fill the bill. There was no other who had lived a sinless life that pleased the Father in every detail. There was no other who completed the picture of all those lambs offered under the old covenant. There was no other who was qualified to bear the sins of the world. Jesus was the one and only! No other could provide propitiation for our sins; no other could turn away the wrath of Almighty God.
As I said, the longer I thought about these two stories, the more clearly I began to see the great differences between the two. That doesn’t destroy the parallels; it simply shows us that the picture can never come close to the real thing. Isaac was a willing sacrifice on Mount Moriah. Praise God! But Jesus was far more than a willing sacrifice. He was the triumphant Redeemer, the glorious victor over sin, the coming Savior of the world. Isaac was loosed and went down the mountain with his father, but Jesus cried out in victory: “It is finished!” Oh yes, He died, but He wasn’t defeated. He won the victory over sin and shortly He would win the victory over death itself.
And what about the consequences of these two events? Abraham and Isaac went down the mountain and returned home. No doubt, their lives were greatly enriched. Isaac knew he had a father who was totally devoted to God. Abraham knew he served a God who was dearer than his own beloved son. It was a wonderful thing, but it didn’t have much effect on the lives around them. But then we come to the Son of God. Don’t feel sorry for Jesus, “who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of God” (Heb. 12:2). Remember what Jesus said not long before He died. “The hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified” (Jn. 12:23.) That’s right – glorified! Then in the next verse: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit" (24). Jesus was talking about His own death, assuring them that His death would bear much fruit. And so it did. When comparing Jesus with Adam, Paul said: "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous" (Rom. 5:19). Many of us here this morning are the fruit of Jesus’ death and resurrection. His death was not in vain.
I mentioned the resurrection. Let’s talk about that aspect of these two sacrifices, for here we find another great difference. Let’s go back and read again Heb. 11:17-19…
By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son. 18. Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: 19. Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.
Abraham believed that, if necessary, God would raise Isaac from the dead. And in a sense, that is exactly what happened. Abraham had already let go of Isaac, but God gave him back. Notice those last words of verse 19, “from whence also he received him a figure.” We generally take that as meaning, “Figuratively speaking, Abraham did receive him back from the dead,” and that is very legitimate. However, I don’t believe we will do any violence to the text, if we take in the sense of Isaac being a type of one to come. The NASV of verse 19 reads, “He considered that God is able to raise men even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.” Isaac was a figure, a type, a picture of a greater resurrection in the future. While Isaac was received from the dead in a figure, Jesus rose from the grave in reality. What was pictured in Isaac was performed in Christ. Though Abraham had performed the deed in his heart, Isaac did not truly die, but Jesus did. That is why the emphasis on Jesus being three days in the grave. No one could get the idea that he just fainted, that he passed out from exhaustion and later revived. Listen for the specific words died, buried, and rose, as we read I Cor. 15:1-7…
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2. By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 3. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4. And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: 5. And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: 6. After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. 7. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.
Praise God that figuratively speaking Abraham received Isaac back from the dead. That is a glorious truth, but it is not a truth that can transform Isaac into a savior. He would become a man of God, but he would never be the savior. Brothers and sisters, we serve a risen Savior. The Christ we know literally rose from the dead. He died, was buried, rose, and is alive today. He is no less alive because we can’t see Him. 1 Pet. 1:8, "Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.”
I serve a risen Savior; He’s in the world today.
I know that He is living, whatever men may say.
I see His hand of mercy; I hear His voice of cheer,
And just the time I need Him, He’s always near.
He lives; He lives; Christ Jesus lives today.
He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way.
He lives; He lives, salvation to impart.
You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart.
III. The Call to Faith
So there is an obvious parallel between the offering up of Isaac and the Father offering up His Son Jesus. At the same time, there are great differences between the two. So what? What are we supposed to do about it? Is this just a nice intellectual exercise to compare these two events which took place almost 2,000 years apart? Not at all.
Let me ask you a question. If there is one word that is woven into the story of Abraham offering up his son, what is it? If you are having trouble coming up with the answer, just go back to Heb. 11:17-19. The answer is “faith.” that is not my answer, but that is the answer of the Word of God. “By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac…” Faith is the theme of Genesis 22:1-19 from beginning to end. Abraham was a man of faith. He put his trust in a great God, in a God who is able even to raise the dead. Surely after reading this story, we understand that we should do the same. We should trust God.
But then we come to God offering up His Son Jesus at the cross. Now the theme of faith comes to the forefront. We are not left to infer that we should trust God; the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ demands that we trust God. When God sent Jesus into the world, He spoke His ultimate message to mankind. John 1:1-4,14…
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2. The same was in the beginning with God. 3. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4. In him was life; and the life was the light of men…. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Heb 1:1-2, "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2. Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son…” When He crushed His own Son at the cross, He left man with no excuse. John 3:16-21,36…
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. 17. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God…. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
We might read Genesis 22 and conclude that it is a wonderful story, a prime example of a man putting his trust in God. But when we read of God crushing His Son on the cross and then raising Him from the dead, we can’t view it simply as a wonderful story. It is the event of all history that demands an answer from every human being. What will you do with the Son of God, knowing that “all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do” (Heb. 4:13).
As we have gone through the story of Abraham, we have come again and again to Romans 4. Turn there again this morning, please. Let’s pick it up in verse 19 and read Rom. 4:19-22…
And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb: 20. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; 21. And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. 22. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.
Praise God, but that isn’t the end of the passage. Now come to 4:23-25…
Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; 24. But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; 25. Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
We too can have the righteousness of God. Just as God’s righteousness was imputed to Abraham, reckoned to Abraham, accounted to Abraham, that same righteousness can be ours, IF we believe on Him that raised up Jesus from the dead. This is the only “if” with which we must deal. Jesus was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification. Have you put your trust in the God who delivered Him to death and then raised Him up?
How could anyone do otherwise? To reject this Jesus, to fail to trust His Father completely, is the ultimate act of stubbornness and rebellion. Listen to the words of Jesus in John 12:44-50…
Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me. 45. And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me. 46. I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. 47. And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. 48. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. 49. For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. 50. And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.
The one who rejects Jesus will never be able to escape the truth that Jesus came as a light into this world in order to deliver us from darkness. He spoke the truth of salvation from the Father. His words will ring for all eternity and will heighten the torments of hell forever and ever. It reminds me of the “if/only” Psalm. I am speaking of Psalm 81. Let’s read Ps. 81:9-16…
There shall no strange god be in thee; neither shalt thou worship any strange god. 10. I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. 11. But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me. 12. So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust: and they walked in their own counsels. 13. Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways! 14. I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries. 15. The haters of the LORD should have submitted themselves unto him: but their time should have endured for ever. 16. He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.
The LORD God has offered to feed us on the delights of His Son. He sent Jesus to be the propitiation for our sins, that His own wrath might be turned away and that He might fix His love on us forever. But the man or woman who rejects His Son will experience the lostness found in the words of Prov. 1:23-31…
Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. 24. Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; 25. But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: 26. I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; 27. When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. 28. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: 29. For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: 30. They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. 31. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
May God so work in us that not a single person here this morning will miss Jesus, who was delivered for our offences and raised for our justification. May each ultimately know the risen Christ, of whom Isaac was only a figure. And once we know Him, may He pour His rivers of living water through us, that the lost sinners around us might come to the fountain of life and drink freely of Him.
THE GREATER SACRIFICE OF GENESIS 22
Last week we looked at Genesis 22. There we read the story of how God tested Abraham by instructing him to take his only son Isaac and offer him as a sacrifice on Mount Moriah. If we hadn’t read the rest of the story, we might have rebelled and accused God Himself of being unusually cruel. Praise God that He did give us the rest of the story, and in that story we found great beauty and glory, as God revealed to Abraham that his greatest treasure was not his son Isaac, but God Himself. In Abraham we saw faith, a simple trust in a mighty God. Having received the promises of God, Abraham believed firmly that God would be true to His Word, even if it meant raising Isaac from the dead. That simple faith produced obedience. Abraham took Isaac, as he was commanded, and offered him as a sacrifice. Oh yes, it’s true that the angel of the Lord stopped him before the deed was completed, but make no mistake about it, Abraham offered his son to God. The Lord gave him back his son, and surely Abraham would always see him as a gift form God.
This morning we are going to begin again in Genesis 22, but we won’t be able to stay there. Why not? Because the story told here reaches far into the future. We saw that this act of Abraham required faith. At the same time, it revealed faith. This morning we are going to see that it foreshadowed something far greater. Abraham’s offering of Isaac was a picture of a far greater sacrifice in the future. Yes, it was a picture of God offering His own Son as a sacrifice. It is impossible to escape that truth. And we don’t want to escape that truth; rather, we want to magnify it. May God use the story of Genesis 22 to remind us the greatness of God giving His Son.
With that in mind, let us read it again. Gen. 22:1-19…
And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. 2. 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. 3. 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 clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. 4. Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. 5. 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. 6. 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. 7. 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? 8. And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. 9. 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 his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. 10. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. 11. And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. 12. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. 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. 14. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen. 15. And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, 16. And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: 17. That 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 sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; 18. And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. 19. So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.
I. The Obvious Parallel
For anyone who knows the Bible at all, it is impossible to miss the parallel between Genesis 22 and the greater sacrifice that took place almost 2,000 years later. Let’s take time to point out some of the parallels. We have a father named Abraham; we have God the Father. We have the son Isaac; we have Jesus the Son. As Abraham offered his Son as a sacrifice, so God the Father offered His Son Jesus as a sacrifice.
That is the basic parallel, but it is not a perfect parallel by any means. The difficulty is that God the Father is active in both of these stories. While we see Him as parallel to Abraham in that He too will offer up His Son, in Genesis 22 He is the One who commands Abraham to sacrifice Isaac his son. While Abraham is the father in this story, he is relating to God the Father. While it is the father Abraham who exercises faith in this story, it is not God the Father who exercises faith in the greater story. Rather, it is Jesus the Son who will exercise faith. Because God plays a part in both stories, being the Almighty in one and the Father in the other, it is not a perfect parallel. Nevertheless, there is much we can learn by comparing Genesis 22 with the ultimate sacrifice.
We saw last week that much hung in the balance here in Genesis 22. God had made great promises to Abraham. Very specifically the Lord had told Abraham that he would have many descendants and those descendants would come through Isaac, the son of promise. Way back in chapter 12, the Lord told Abraham that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through him. Later it becomes clear that the link to that blessing is Isaac. Everything was wrapped up in Isaac, who was the promised Son. You will remember that there was much difficulty and trial along the way before the birth of Isaac. Praise God that He did indeed give Abraham and Sarah this promised son. Now Abraham could see how God could fulfill those promises He had made.
So it was with the Lord Jesus, the only begotten Son of the Father. He too was the Son of promise. The promises concerning Him began way back in Gen 3:15, when the Lord said to the serpent, "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." Early in the scriptures God’s people had this promise that the seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent (the devil himself). But that was only the beginning of the promises. Years later the Lord would say to Moses in Deut. 18:15, "The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken." Down through the years the Lord sent prophets who spoke of this promised One. Is. 7:14, "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel [God with us]." Through this same prophet Isaiah the Lord would reveal the glory of this promised One… (Is. 9:6-7)
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 7. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
Listen to the promise that came through Malachi… (Mal. 4:1-2)
For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. 2. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
Those are just a few of the hundreds of promises concerning the Son of God, the Messiah, the Redeemer of Israel.
But as with Abraham, so it was with God’s people down through the centuries. As Abraham waited for the son of promise, so Israel waited for its Messiah and Redeemer. They waited for hundreds of years. Nevertheless, the time finally came. For some 400 years there had been no prophetic word from the Lord, but with John the Baptist came the announcement of the greater one, the one who was born after John but who was before John. Yes, the fullness of the time had come, and God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law (Gal. 4:4). Listen to the words of the angel of the Lord spoken to Joseph… (Matt. 1:21-23)
And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. 22. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, 23. Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
Praise God! The Messiah was finally arriving. Emmanuel had come. And Mary brought forth her firstborn Son and laid Him in a manger. As there was tremendous joy in the home of Abraham, so there was great joy for Mary and Joseph. Though Mary and Joseph must have had many questions, they knew this was a special birth, as this child had been conceived by the Holy Spirit. It is no wonder that after the angels left their presence, “Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19).
Things were wonderful for Abraham until God tested him, instructing him to take Isaac up on the mountain and offer him as a sacrifice. After all the waiting for the son, now God seemed to be requiring Abraham to give him up. So it was with Jesus. After all the waiting for the Messiah, it became increasingly apparent that things were not playing out the way God’s people had expected. Jesus was talking about dying. Turn to Mark 8. (Let me give you an easy way to keep this truth before you. Go the middle of Mark; that is chapter 8. Then remember the number 31. You will find it in chapter 8 and chapter 9, then you only have to go forward one verse in chapter 10). Let’s read it…
Mark 8:31… "And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
Mark 9:31… "For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, andthey shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day."
Mark 10:32-34… "And they were in the way going up to Jerusalem; and Jesus went before them: and they were amazed; and as they followed, they were afraid. And he took again the twelve, and began to tell them what things should happen unto him, 33. Saying, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes; and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles: 34. And they shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him: and the third day he shall rise again."
But surely this can’t be. This is their Messiah. He is the One that has been promised for centuries. He has finally arrived, and now how can it be that He will die. No wonder Peter rebuked Jesus, saying, “Be it far from thee, Lord; this shall not be unto thee” (Matt. 16:22). Those apostles couldn’t conceive of God’s Messiah being killed. Doesn’t that remind you of the situation with Isaac? The promised son had finally been given, and now God was telling Abraham to offer him as a sacrifice.
Consider these two sons. Remember that Isaac was plenty old enough to know what was going on. He carried the wood up the mountain, indicating that he was likely in his upper teens or early 20’s. Remember the question he asked his father: “Father, I see that we have the wood and the fire, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” (Gen. 22:7). We are not told exactly what Isaac was thinking, but we know that he was thinking. Nor are we told how Isaac responded when they reached the top of the mountain. The narrative reads simply in verse 9, “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 his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.” He bound his son Isaac. He didn’t do that without Isaac’s consent. Abraham was in the neighborhood of 120 by this time, and Isaac was a healthy young man. There is no hint of a struggle. Isaac was a willing participant, as his father bound him and raised the knife to slay him.
What a picture of the ultimate sacrifice. Make no mistake about it, Calvary marked the place where God the Father offered His Son. It wasn’t about the powerful Roman forces or the cunning Jewish leaders; it was about God and His Son Jesus. Is. 53:10, “It pleased the Lord to bruise (crush) him…” “For he made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (II Cor 5:21). Who made Him to be sin for us? It was His Father, the Lord God Himself. But couldn’t Jesus have freed Himself? Couldn’t the Son of God who stilled the waves of the sea have avoided the crucifixion? Yes, He could have, but He didn’t. As Isaac offered himself up to his father, so Jesus did at the cross. That’s what the Garden of Gethsemane is all about. Matt. 26:39-42…
And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. 40. And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? 41. Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. 42. He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.
So we see that the scene at Mt. Moriah foreshadowed Calvary, where God the Father offered up His only begotten Son. That reminds me of one other striking parallel. Go back to Gen 22:2, "And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah…” Let your mind linger over those words “thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest.” What a description of the Father’s love for His Son Jesus. Remember the words that came from heaven when He was baptized. “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17). That voice came again on the Mount of Transfiguration: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear him” (Matt. 17:5). While we may never fully understand what Abraham went through on Mount Moriah, the God who gave His only begotten Son comprehended it perfectly. Abraham’s trial can represent only a small portion of what God the Father went through when Jesus was on the cross.
II. The Great Differences
And that brings us to the great difference between the events that occurred at Moriah and at Calvary. As we have seen, there is a strong parallel that cannot be ignored. It took us a while to draw out that parallel, but there is a sense in which it will take only a moment to note the difference between the two. But this is what I found – the more I meditated on these two events, the more I realized that there are great differences between the two.
So what was the great difference? Simply put, while the angel of the Lord called out to Abraham and stopped him from slaying his son Isaac, there would be no one to cry out to God the Father. While Abraham found a ram in the thicket which he could substitute for his son, there was no one who could serve as a substitute for Jesus. As awful as it seems at first sight, God the Father went through with the terrible deed. As it were, He raised the knife and did indeed slay His own Son.
When Abraham took Isaac up on the mountain, he was obeying the instructions of his God and Creator, but when God offered His Son at Calvary, He was not following the instructions of anyone, for there is no one to instruct Him. "Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counselor hath taught him?" (Is. 40:13). "For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counselor?" (Rom. 11:34). God acted on His own. If He had withdrawn His hand and spared His Son, He had no one to whom He must give account. No one would have scolded Him, for He is the Almighty, who has done whatsoever He has pleased (Ps. 115:3).
Then can someone tell me why God the Father crushed His own Son on that cross? He bound Himself to fulfill His eternal plan. And what was that plan? 1 John 4:9-10, "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." Do you see? God had long ago determined to redeem for Himself a people out of a corrupt humanity. But it would have to be a mighty redemption, because God cannot tolerate sin in His presence. Being a just God, He could not simply overlook sin. No, sin would have to be punished. But if He punished my sin, that would take me to hell forever and ever.
Jesus was the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8). It was there at the cross that God provided for us a spotless Lamb, an acceptable substitute, a mighty Redeemer. God could not spare His Son, because there was no other who could fill the bill. There was no other who had lived a sinless life that pleased the Father in every detail. There was no other who completed the picture of all those lambs offered under the old covenant. There was no other who was qualified to bear the sins of the world. Jesus was the one and only! No other could provide propitiation for our sins; no other could turn away the wrath of Almighty God.
As I said, the longer I thought about these two stories, the more clearly I began to see the great differences between the two. That doesn’t destroy the parallels; it simply shows us that the picture can never come close to the real thing. Isaac was a willing sacrifice on Mount Moriah. Praise God! But Jesus was far more than a willing sacrifice. He was the triumphant Redeemer, the glorious victor over sin, the coming Savior of the world. Isaac was loosed and went down the mountain with his father, but Jesus cried out in victory: “It is finished!” Oh yes, He died, but He wasn’t defeated. He won the victory over sin and shortly He would win the victory over death itself.
And what about the consequences of these two events? Abraham and Isaac went down the mountain and returned home. No doubt, their lives were greatly enriched. Isaac knew he had a father who was totally devoted to God. Abraham knew he served a God who was dearer than his own beloved son. It was a wonderful thing, but it didn’t have much effect on the lives around them. But then we come to the Son of God. Don’t feel sorry for Jesus, “who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of God” (Heb. 12:2). Remember what Jesus said not long before He died. “The hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified” (Jn. 12:23.) That’s right – glorified! Then in the next verse: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit" (24). Jesus was talking about His own death, assuring them that His death would bear much fruit. And so it did. When comparing Jesus with Adam, Paul said: "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous" (Rom. 5:19). Many of us here this morning are the fruit of Jesus’ death and resurrection. His death was not in vain.
I mentioned the resurrection. Let’s talk about that aspect of these two sacrifices, for here we find another great difference. Let’s go back and read again Heb. 11:17-19…
By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son. 18. Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: 19. Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.
Abraham believed that, if necessary, God would raise Isaac from the dead. And in a sense, that is exactly what happened. Abraham had already let go of Isaac, but God gave him back. Notice those last words of verse 19, “from whence also he received him a figure.” We generally take that as meaning, “Figuratively speaking, Abraham did receive him back from the dead,” and that is very legitimate. However, I don’t believe we will do any violence to the text, if we take in the sense of Isaac being a type of one to come. The NASV of verse 19 reads, “He considered that God is able to raise men even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.” Isaac was a figure, a type, a picture of a greater resurrection in the future. While Isaac was received from the dead in a figure, Jesus rose from the grave in reality. What was pictured in Isaac was performed in Christ. Though Abraham had performed the deed in his heart, Isaac did not truly die, but Jesus did. That is why the emphasis on Jesus being three days in the grave. No one could get the idea that he just fainted, that he passed out from exhaustion and later revived. Listen for the specific words died, buried, and rose, as we read I Cor. 15:1-7…
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2. By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 3. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4. And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: 5. And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: 6. After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. 7. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.
Praise God that figuratively speaking Abraham received Isaac back from the dead. That is a glorious truth, but it is not a truth that can transform Isaac into a savior. He would become a man of God, but he would never be the savior. Brothers and sisters, we serve a risen Savior. The Christ we know literally rose from the dead. He died, was buried, rose, and is alive today. He is no less alive because we can’t see Him. 1 Pet. 1:8, "Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.”
I serve a risen Savior; He’s in the world today.
I know that He is living, whatever men may say.
I see His hand of mercy; I hear His voice of cheer,
And just the time I need Him, He’s always near.
He lives; He lives; Christ Jesus lives today.
He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way.
He lives; He lives, salvation to impart.
You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart.
III. The Call to Faith
So there is an obvious parallel between the offering up of Isaac and the Father offering up His Son Jesus. At the same time, there are great differences between the two. So what? What are we supposed to do about it? Is this just a nice intellectual exercise to compare these two events which took place almost 2,000 years apart? Not at all.
Let me ask you a question. If there is one word that is woven into the story of Abraham offering up his son, what is it? If you are having trouble coming up with the answer, just go back to Heb. 11:17-19. The answer is “faith.” that is not my answer, but that is the answer of the Word of God. “By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac…” Faith is the theme of Genesis 22:1-19 from beginning to end. Abraham was a man of faith. He put his trust in a great God, in a God who is able even to raise the dead. Surely after reading this story, we understand that we should do the same. We should trust God.
But then we come to God offering up His Son Jesus at the cross. Now the theme of faith comes to the forefront. We are not left to infer that we should trust God; the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ demands that we trust God. When God sent Jesus into the world, He spoke His ultimate message to mankind. John 1:1-4,14…
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2. The same was in the beginning with God. 3. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4. In him was life; and the life was the light of men…. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Heb 1:1-2, "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2. Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son…” When He crushed His own Son at the cross, He left man with no excuse. John 3:16-21,36…
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. 17. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God…. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
We might read Genesis 22 and conclude that it is a wonderful story, a prime example of a man putting his trust in God. But when we read of God crushing His Son on the cross and then raising Him from the dead, we can’t view it simply as a wonderful story. It is the event of all history that demands an answer from every human being. What will you do with the Son of God, knowing that “all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do” (Heb. 4:13).
As we have gone through the story of Abraham, we have come again and again to Romans 4. Turn there again this morning, please. Let’s pick it up in verse 19 and read Rom. 4:19-22…
And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb: 20. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; 21. And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. 22. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.
Praise God, but that isn’t the end of the passage. Now come to 4:23-25…
Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; 24. But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; 25. Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
We too can have the righteousness of God. Just as God’s righteousness was imputed to Abraham, reckoned to Abraham, accounted to Abraham, that same righteousness can be ours, IF we believe on Him that raised up Jesus from the dead. This is the only “if” with which we must deal. Jesus was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification. Have you put your trust in the God who delivered Him to death and then raised Him up?
How could anyone do otherwise? To reject this Jesus, to fail to trust His Father completely, is the ultimate act of stubbornness and rebellion. Listen to the words of Jesus in John 12:44-50…
Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me. 45. And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me. 46. I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. 47. And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. 48. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. 49. For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. 50. And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.
The one who rejects Jesus will never be able to escape the truth that Jesus came as a light into this world in order to deliver us from darkness. He spoke the truth of salvation from the Father. His words will ring for all eternity and will heighten the torments of hell forever and ever. It reminds me of the “if/only” Psalm. I am speaking of Psalm 81. Let’s read Ps. 81:9-16…
There shall no strange god be in thee; neither shalt thou worship any strange god. 10. I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. 11. But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me. 12. So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust: and they walked in their own counsels. 13. Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways! 14. I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries. 15. The haters of the LORD should have submitted themselves unto him: but their time should have endured for ever. 16. He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.
The LORD God has offered to feed us on the delights of His Son. He sent Jesus to be the propitiation for our sins, that His own wrath might be turned away and that He might fix His love on us forever. But the man or woman who rejects His Son will experience the lostness found in the words of Prov. 1:23-31…
Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. 24. Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; 25. But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: 26. I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; 27. When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. 28. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: 29. For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: 30. They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. 31. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
May God so work in us that not a single person here this morning will miss Jesus, who was delivered for our offences and raised for our justification. May each ultimately know the risen Christ, of whom Isaac was only a figure. And once we know Him, may He pour His rivers of living water through us, that the lost sinners around us might come to the fountain of life and drink freely of Him.
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