“...That He Gave His Only Son: the Sacrifice of Isaac” (Genesis 22:1-19) | 8/2/20

Genesis 22:1-19 | 8/2/20 | Will DuVal

Today is our last Sunday in the book of Genesis for now; as I announced, we’re going to take a break here midway through and God willing, we will pick Genesis back up in 2021. But next week, I’m excited to launch a new series: “Psalms of Hope”. Because who couldn’t use some HOPE and encouragement these days?! So I hope you’ll be back for that next Sunday, and I encourage YOU to invite others to join us who really need more hope and encouragement in their lives right now as well.

But this morning, as we put a bow on the first half of Genesis, we’ll soon see the story crescendos to quite a climax. For 21 chapters now, we’ve observed this recurring, cyclical pattern of God graciously providing for humanity, but we - in our sin - reject God’s goodness in favor of our own ways, and yet God in his MERCY, gives us yet more grace. 

-God created a perfect garden for Adam & Eve; but they ate of the forbidden fruit instead; and yet God mercifully spared their lives.

-God gave sacrifice as a way for sinful man to be reconciled to him; but Cain polluted his sacrifice with pride, envy, and murder, and yet God spared his life too. 

-So God raised up a line from Seth, but his descendants became the most sinful of ALL by ch.6, and yet God preserved mankind through righteous Noah. 

-God rescued Noah from the Flood, but within a chapter of stepping off the ark, Noah gets drunk and invokes a curse on his own progeny, and yet God remains faithful.

And for the last 11 chapters, we’ve seen the same pattern hold true time and time again throughout ABRAHAM’s life as well:

-God graciously chooses and calls him; Abraham doubts God, lies, and betrays his wife to save his own skin; and yet God redemptively uses Abraham’s failure to BLESS him and make him rich.

-God promises Abraham an heir; Abraham instead takes matters into his own hands and sleeps with Hagar; but God redemptively uses it to bless him with even MORE offspring. 

-God brings Abraham into the promised land again; Abraham fears again, lies again, and gives his wife away again; and yet God redemptively uses it to establish Abraham in the land.

-And last week, God graciously delivered his long-awaited heir, Isaac; but Sarah got insecure and banished Hagar and Ishmael; and yet God intervened to rescue them.

You want hope? encouragement? This is the God we serve: a gracious Provider, who gives us good gifts we don’t deserve; a patient Father, who bears with us in our sinful rebellion against Him, and a merciful Redeemer, who uses even our worst failures to bring about His own good purposes and His own good promises in our lives. 

And this morning, we will see God’s grace and mercy on display like never before in Genesis. 

And there are TWO important theological TRUTHS we need to see about GOD here in Genesis 22, that ought to inspire two important responses from US: [this is your OUTLINE for the morning]: 2 theological indicatives - statements about God - that drive these 2 ethical imperatives - commands for us. #1- that we’re gonna spend the BULK of the sermon on, because it is the primary theme of the passage, is that God TESTS us, to which we ought to respond by TRUSTING GOD. God tests; we trust. And #2, that we’ll conclude with at the end- God PROVIDES for us, to which we ought to respond by LOOKING TO JESUS. God provides; we look to Jesus.

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  Let’s read Genesis 22:1-19 together - would you stand… Genesis chs 22:1-19

  After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy[a] will go over there and worship and come again to you.” 6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. 7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.

  9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”;[b] as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”[c]

  15 And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his[d] enemies, 18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” 19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham lived at Beersheba.”

  This is the word of the Lord... (LET’S PRAY...)

  Theological Indicative #1, the MAIN IDEA of this passage, is that - God TESTS us.

  Ethical Imperative #1, the TAKE-HOME APPLICATION POINT for us, is that - We must TRUST IN GOD.

  And Challenging QUESTION #1, to help us get at the heart of God’s test for us, personally, is: “What do you LOVE MOST in life?” What do you love most?

  When I was in middle school, I was obsessed with cars. I would spend hours browsing car magazines, researching and comparing specs, watching videos online. So my mom saw an opportunity to take advantage of my passion, and in an effort to protect my purity, she made a deal with me: if I could make it all the way to high school graduation without kissing a girl, she would buy me any car I wanted. And for YEARS, it was looking like a sure bet for me. But then spring term of my junior year, with just a year left to go in the bet, I found out through the grapevine that the girl who I had had a secret crush on since freshman year had a crush on ME. So I finally worked up the courage to ask her out on a date. And then another date, where I worked up the courage to hold her HAND. Then another date, and this time I gave her a HUG at the end of the night. And then, I asked her to PROM. And at the end of a night filled with enchantment under the sea, awkward slow dancing, and raging teenage hormones, I asked her, like a GENTLEMAN, if I could KISS her. And as we both leaned in, and time stood still, just before our lips touched, she said, “WAIT- I heard about your mom’s offer: Are you sure you wanna go through with this?” And for a split second, the thought crossed my mind - “Is it WORTH it? I mean, what if my mom like, PAID HER OFF… to lead me on this whole time and tempt me into kissing her - but I quickly decided “I don’t even CARE; I just want to KISS you” and I went for it. The costliest kiss of my life.

  Now, here’s the point: love is VERY difficult, maybe even impossible, to extinguish in the human heart; it really has to be replaced by another STRONGER love. I LOVED cars. But then I went through puberty. And all of a sudden, I LOVED the idea of kissing girls… more. I heard a friend say once: “When a guy hits 30, he has to decide what he wants more: washboard abs, or beer. Cuz you can’t have ‘em both anymore.” Ladies: for you maybe it’s dessert or your waistline - I don’t know, I would get myself in trouble speculating about such things… ;-)

  But listen: whether we realize it or not, our lives are FILLED, every DAY, with hundreds upon hundreds of decisions - both small and large - that will test our answer to that question: what do I love MOST? Beer or abs? Ice cream or fitting in that dress? And then, vanilla or mint chocolate chip?

  And some of those decisions are much, much weightier... no pun intended. For instance, this is why consistent devotional time with the Lord is SO difficult for SO many Christians - because we LOVE our sleep! And the idea of setting the alarm 30 minutes earlier so we can spend that time in God’s word and in prayer instead, is a STRUGGLE. It’s a SACRIFICE. And we won’t DO it, unless our love for the Lord SURPASSES our love for sleep.

  And this morning, we read about the weightest decision, the GREATEST test of loves in perhaps all of human HISTORY, in Genesis 22. The question before Abraham here is actually a rather simple one; God is essentially asking him: “Who do you love more: Isaac… or ME?” Do you truly love ME with all your heart, mind, soul and strength; are you willing to give up anything… and everything… for relationship with me, or when the chips are on the table, will you choose “your son, your ONLY son, who you LOVE,” over me? And Abraham, who has failed God’s test of faith in ch12 when he gave Sarai to Pharaoh, who failed God’s test in ch16 when he slept with Hagar, who failed the test in ch21 when he gave Sarah away AGAIN, that same Abraham, when the stakes are at their highest, finally gets it right. When it matters most, and the test is most difficult, Abraham rises to the occasion. Just consider with me Abraham’s test, and his proven TRUST in the Lord. And as we DO, we need to ask ourselves: when have I been tested by God, and have I consistently passed MY tests of faith?

  V1: “After these things God tested Abraham” - now let’s stop right there and recognize: we as readers know right up front that this is just a test. We know that NOTHING is more abhorrent to the God of the Bible than child sacrifice, and He has no intention of asking Abraham to actually go through with it. But ABRAHAM doesn’t know that! So keep that in mind, as you try and put yourself in Abraham’s shoes here.

  And so often, the same holds true for US in OUR tests today as well: So often, we may only come to understand what God was up to in our lives, why he let us endure this test or that trial, AFTER the fact (and sometimes, not even then!). But the question before you, and me, and Abraham here isn’t “Do I understand God’s plan,” but rather, “Will I submit to it”. Will I TRUST God, and lean on HIM for my strength.

  Another important point to note: Satan doesn’t appear anywhere in this story. Sometimes, in our misguided theological attempts to protect God’s character, we Christians are guilty of attributing GOD’S work to Satan. “I just lost my job; Satan is really trying to derail my faith right now.” Maybe. Or maybe God is trying to BUILD your faith. “I haven’t been able to get to church in 5 months now with this coronavirus; Satan is really trying to attack the church.” Maybe. Or maybe God is trying to PRUNE the church. To re-focus the church, on our original calling. Jesus didn’t leave us to “Go and make engaging worship services”... “Go and make fun kids programming”... he said, “Go and make DISCIPLES”! We can do that virtually or in person, we SHOULD do that - Sunday and Monday, in this building and in your neighborhood.

  Do we view trials as an obstacle, or an opportunity?

  Will our suffering make us bitter, or better?

  Don’t forget the story of Job: Satan’s gotta get permission from God for EVERYTHING he does, every little bit of havoc he wreaks in this world, GOD wants to use in our lives, for our good and our growth.

  You say, “Wait a minute, are you saying God causes the EVIL that happens in this world?” No, James 1:13 says, “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one”. SATAN tempts us to try and bring out the worst in us; but GOD tests us to bring out our best. God wants to purify and refine our faith. The Hebrew word here for “tested” is “nasah”; it means “to prove the value or worth of something”. God wants to PROVE Abraham’s faith; Why? Because God is ignorant and doesn’t KNOW if Abraham really trusts him? Because God is insecure and doesn’t BELIEVE that Abraham really loves him? No, it’s because God is LOVING, and he wants the best for Abraham, and he knows that the best for Abraham is TOTAL confidence in the unfailing promises and character of God.

  We read on, in v1: “God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”” So the FIRST test is Abraham’s readiness. His responsiveness. When God calls, will Abraham be there on the other line to even pick up? And three times in this chapter, Abraham repeats those 3 words: “Here I am”. I’m here, God. I’m ready. I’m listening. Tell me what to do. I want to obey.

  Many of us will miss opportunities to have our faith tested, proved, IM-proved, strengthened, because we won’t even hear the phone ringing. God keeps calling and getting the “I’m sorry, the number you have reached has a voice mailbox that has not yet been set up. Good bye” message. Because in the face of trials, we often opt for the WORLD’S response rather than God’s - the WORLD says, “Trials aren’t FUN; so avoid them at all cost; and if you can’t AVOID them, then try and IGNORE them by just passing the time. Here’s a new app to distract yourself...” But God’s word says, “Make the MOST of the time, because the days are evil” (Eph 5:16). God’s word says, “Count it all joy, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness... that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2-4) Brothers and sisters: are we merely trying to SURVIVE this pandemic… to wait it out… or are we REDEEMING the time, praying for opportunities to have our faith tested, and refined, and strengthened?

  And then God extends the test, in v2: “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and… offer him as a burnt offering”. I ask you again this morning, friends: “What do you love most in this life?” Abraham loved Isaac more than ANYTHING. That’s precisely why God calls him to sacrifice Isaac. If he had loved Sarah more, God would have called him to kill her instead, to test Abraham’s devotion. See, that’s the thing: God isn’t just testing Abraham’s faith IN him; God is testing Abraham’s devotion TO him as well. God wants to know not just “do you really believe the promises I’ve made you - to bless and prosper you, descendants as numerous as the stars”; God ALSO wants to know, “Abraham: do you love ME even more than you love those promises?”

  If we’re honest, I suspect that many of us were first attracted to the Christian faith by the promises. We loved the idea of eternal bliss in heaven more than the idea of intimacy with God. We loved the promise of “all things working together for my good” more than we loved the God who works them together that way. We’ve even developed whole theologies centered around the promised blessings, the so-called “prosperity gospel”. God exists to make ME healthy, wealthy, and happy. And in our preoccupation with the gifts, how often do we forget about the GIVER?

  What do you love most? For the rich young ruler, in Mark 10, it was his stuff. That’s precisely why Jesus called him to sell it and give the money to the poor. It was a test. For another would-be disciple in Luke 9, it was his family, that’s why Jesus told him “If it’s more important to you to return home and give your family one last hug and kiss than to drop everything to come follow ME, to not waste one more SECOND of this life apart from me, then you are not worthy to be my disciple.” You don’t yet realize how valuable I am - I AM the pearl of great price, Jesus says. The treasure worth selling EVERYTHING you own, so you can buy the field where it’s buried. See, that’s the thing - you still gotta BUY the field, friend; Jesus isn’t free; Salvation wasn’t free. Salvation was the most costly gift of all TIME! It cost Jesus his perfect, precious LIFE. And he’s not peddling cheap grace. It will cost YOU your life, Jesus said: “whoever would save his life[g] will lose it, but [here’s the GOOD news] whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 16:25) You haven’t LIVED until you know Jesus. He is totally WORTH it!

  What do you love most? Your stuff. Your money. Your sense of security. Your job. Your lifestyle. Your comfort. Your vices, your sinful indulgences - your addiction. Your lust. Your pride. Your resentment you won’t let go of. Being right? Or maybe yours are more socially acceptable idols: Your spouse. Your kids. Even your self-respect. Your integrity. The best virtues make for the worst idols, because how do you argue with the pursuit of integrity?! With wanting to be the best husband or father, wife and mother? But the truth is that ANYTHING that takes God’s rightful place of absolute and unrivaled CENTRALITY on the throne of our hearts is just that: a dangerous idol, a WEED that threatens to choke out the beautiful seedling of faith that God has planted.

  So for Abraham, if it’s God or Isaac, the decision is clear. And we hear in v3, without ANY hesitation, without a word of deliberation - remember, this is the same Abraham who haggled with God back in ch18 over the sin in Sodom - but here, there’s no back-and-forth; we hear unequivocally in v3, “So Abraham rose... early in the morning” - he wanted to get a JUMPSTART on following God’s extreme call to faith - he saddled his donkey, made preparations, and set out. When they reached the foot of the mountain, v5, he said to his servants: “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy[a] will go over there and worship and WE WILL come again to you.” WE will return, plural. But Abraham KNOWS what God has called him to do, to kill Isaac. So is he just calling God’s BLUFF here? Is he back to his old lying ways again, to keep his servants from getting suspicious and trying to stop him? Or... is he finally evidencing the kind of total trust, the full-blown faith that God has been looking for from him and developing within him for four decades now?

  We don’t have to guess, because Hebrews 11 tells us: “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, 18 of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 19 He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.” (vv17-19) Say what you want about Abraham’s previous failures, but here in ch22 he serves as THE paramount example of faith in all of Scripture. Sure, Daniel slept with lions, David fought a giant, and Peter walked on water, but speaking as a FATHER, you can TAKE my life, just don’t lay a FINGER on my kids. Kent Hughes notes that in the face of losing his ONLY SON, who he LOVED more than ANYTHING in the world: “Abraham envisioned the doctrine of the resurrection when as yet there had been nothing in history to suggest it. In this way he began to see Christ’s day” (300); remember the interaction between Jesus and the Pharisees, in John 8, when “Jesus said... “If anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” The Jews said to him… “Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died?” Jesus answered... “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.”” (vv50-56) In what way did Abraham “see Jesus’s day”? Insofar as Abraham knew God’s word was as good as gold, and when God said, “You are GOING to sacrifice Isaac,” for that ENTIRE three days’ journey from Beersheba to Mt. Moriah, Abraham considered Isaac as good as DEAD… and YET, he also trusted God’s PROMISE from back in ch17 to make him a father of many nations THROUGH Isaac, such that the only way Abraham could LOGICALLY square those two competing realities together in his mind was to conclude that God WOULD in fact allow Isaac to die, but then he’d just raise him from the dead! That was the most logical conclusion, in Abraham’s mind. Skip Heitzig says, “What should we do when life gets il-logical? We have to get THEO-logical. Start reasoning based upon God’s character, who you know God to be.” And Abraham knew God to be utterly trustworthy. Faithful. That’s why he says again, with full confidence, in v8: Don’t worry, Isaac, ““God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering””.

  In FAITH, He climbs the mountain, builds the altar, laid the wood, bound Isaac, took the knife, and as he raises it, I have to believe, I WANT to believe, that there was at least a moment, maybe just an INSTANT, but after all, Abraham was still HUMAN, so there had to be at least the briefest of moments where he paused, and wondered: “IS God worth it? What if GOD has been leading ME on this whole time?” And the way I envision this scene unfolding, it is at that EXACT moment, the moment before Abraham finally makes up his mind, no turning back, just BEFORE he begins to bring the blade down toward Isaac’s throat, that he hears the voice from heaven: “ABRAHAM!”, and he drops the knife.

  Because I’ll just speak personally, for myself this morning, and admit that if I have to ACE the test of faith, if MY idol was on the altar - and see, I DO feel the weight of this story, because for me, it would be one of my children as well, I’ll just use Ellery because for years she was my only child - but I like to think I’ve got the faith to make the journey, maybe even climb the mountain, bind her and put her on the altar. I MAY even raise the knife, but I can tell you with almost CERTAIN confidence, that in that moment, if God is waiting on me to muster up the faith, to set my mind, and start the dreadful downward plunge of that knife toward MY daughter’s throat, then I am in TROUBLE. I confess, as your PASTOR, I do NOT have that kind of faith. Maybe Abraham did. Maybe YOU do. Or maybe you just THINK you do, cuz it’s easy to think that until you’ve got the knife in YOUR hand. But in my OWN feeble, fallible, fallen-short faithlessness, I want to believe that God’s securing of His promises in MY OWN life does not ultimately rest in my faith in him, but rather, in HIS faithfulness to ME. That 2 Timothy 2:13 - even “if we are faithless, he will remain faithful”.

  And friends, the PROOF of God’s unwavering faithfulness to us, is his PROVISION of his OWN son, Jesus Christ. That is theological indicative #2 - God has provided for us, in HIS only son, Jesus, and we look to HIM for our eternal hope and security.

  Did you catch the subtle, prophetic language in this story? Did you notice that Abraham prophesied, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering,” even though it was a RAM that appeared in v13? Did you notice in v14 he “called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; future tense? Not “the Lord HAS provided,” that would have seemed to make more sense. But if we think the hero of this story is Abraham, and the point is that we have to muster up the faith to be like him and ace our most difficult tests of faith in order for God to accept us, then friends - you and I are in TROUBLE, and we will miss the point. The good news is that this story is PREFIGURING, is pointing us ahead 2,000 years in God’s BIGGER story of redemption, when he would provide FOR us a better Abraham, who showed God the Father the faith that we so often fail to. And not just that, God has provided a better ISAAC for us as well:

  -Another miracle baby, born not just to a 99-year old father, but to NO human father! He was conceived of the Holy Spirit.

  -Another long-awaited heir, whose name and arrival had been prophesied years before his birth.

  -Another “ONLY son”, GOD’S only son!

  -Who God loved more than anything; biblical scholars will tell you to pay close attention whenever you see a word or idea show up for the very first time in Scripture, it’s important: and Genesis 22, v2 is the first appearance of word ‘love’ in the Bible. And what’s the context? A father’s love for his only son who is about to be sacrificed.

  -Where’s he gonna die? V2: Mount Moriah - that David would purchase in 2 Chr 3:15 and where Solomon would later build the TEMPLE, on the ridge of mountains running through Jerusalem - the pinnacle of which is Golgotha; overlooking the Temple, overshadowing the Temple, because someone greater than the Temple would arrive, who would fulfill God’s righteous demand for a sacrifice once and for all, and rip the Temple curtain.

  -Like Isaac, he would carry the wood for his own sacrifice on his back up that hill.

  -Like Isaac, who saw the writing on the wall and questioned his father: “My father, where is the lamb?”, so too would Jesus ask his father, “Why have you forsaken me?”

  -And yet, like Isaac, who was an able-bodied TEENAGER at the time, and could have easily just run away and escaped, but who instead TRUSTED his father, and submitted to him, and voluntarily stepped onto the altar, so too did Jesus say, “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord” (Jn 10:18)

  -Like Isaac, he was voluntarily bore the “fire and the knife”, God’s symbolic wrath against sin and his just punishment of it, respectively.

  -JESUS is the answer to Isaac’s question in v7 - “where is the lamb?”; As John the Baptist prophesied of him: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

  -JESUS fulfilled Abraham’s prophecy in v8 that “God will provide FOR HIMSELF the lamb”; it was to appease God’s OWN divine wrath against sin and demand for justice that Jesus endured the cross for us.

  -Like Isaac, who was “as good as dead” in Abraham’s mind for that 3 day journey, he would go into the heart of the earth for 3 days and nights.

  -But as Abraham prophesied of Isaac, when he said “we will come back to you”, God would not just “figuratively” raise this son from the dead, because his was not a NEAR sacrifice. An ALMOST sacrifice. That’s where the comparisons end: Genesis 22 is often titled “the Sacrifice of Isaac”, but it is more ACCURATELY called the “NEAR sacrifice” of Isaac.

  That is where the comparison with Christ ends. Because God did not ALMOST sacrifice his own son for you.

  Romans 8:32 “[God] did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all”

  Why’d he do it? What kind of love could have POSSIBLY caused God the Father to do such a thing to his own Son? John 3:16 “For God so loved the world,[a] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

  It was his love for YOU, friend. And the question for YOU this morning is: how will you respond to God’s love? Let’s pray.