Isaac: Imperfect; Jesus: Perfect.
Genesis 22: 1-19 and Hebrews 10: 1, 5-10
Intro
Over my years as a GP I’ve had many consults with patients about grief and loss.
I want to share one with you today.
I am aware that this may be very difficult for some of us.
Some of us may know the grief of losing a child.
We may know someone who has endured that grief.
Even, the parents among us will know the heart-wrench of contemplating such a loss.
I do not want to re-open old wounds or refresh grief.
I want to encourage understanding, empathy, compassion and care.
The mother I was seeing on this occasion was distressed because her son had cancer.
Despite many treatments his cancer continued to grow.
She knew that he was going to die prematurely because of the cancer.
It seems so wrong to her that her child should die before she did.
You see, this mother was well in her eighties and her son in his sixties.
You never stop being a parent, do you?
The grief of a parent losing a child is deep and lasting.
If it is not distressing for you: hold on to that feeling for a moment.
Add to it that your actions might cause the loss of your child.
So, you can begin to imagine what Abraham felt when God spoke to him that day.
Spoke,
and then commanded.
In words that fully recognised the preciousness of Isaac to Abraham, God commands him to make an offering of him.
As I read this story, I am chilled,
squirming,
my mind is screaming for reasons,
not wanting to accept that this is the God I worship.
And Scripture tells us that this is a test!
Do I want to pass such an exam?
Do I want the job on offer here?
So where do we begin, in our search to understand what God is doing here?
How do we put this together with the rest of Scripture and come to a consistent picture of the God we worship?
Our God who has most recently revealed himself to us in Jesus.
Hebrews chapter 10 helps to show us a principle of Scripture:
that Scripture interprets Scripture.
In this case, the New Testament explains the Old Testament.
While the events of our story really happened to real people, they are recorded for our benefit so that we can learn more about God’s character and plan for us.
There are many things we might learn from these people and events, and the further teaching about them in the New Testament. I will focus on the 3 in our note sheet.
Testing
Abraham is already saved when this event occurs.
Many years before he had already placed his trust in God, who calls himself “I am”, and that puts him in a right relationship with God.
Not for the first time, God tests him.
So, testing is not for salvation, but comes after salvation. 1 Pet 1: 6-7
What God is testing is Abraham’s faith in Him.
This is what testing is always about for believers. Jam 2: 21; Heb 11: 17-19
Testing shows evidence of our faith in God.
That we have faith in God,
and the qualities of that faith. Jam 2: 21
Testing shows the genuineness of our faith in God. 1 Pet 1: 6-7
Testing our faith in God produces steadfastness and completeness in the believer. You cannot get it any other way. Jam 1: 12-13
That God tests our faith in him is not strange and should not surprise us. Jam 1: 12-13
Testing our faith in God is for our benefit, not God’s.
God already knows about Abraham’s faith and about our faith.
It is us who need to know if our faith is in God,
if it is weak or strong,
if it is genuine,
if it is producing steadfastness.
Let us take note of the context of this event.
Just before this Abraham had the events with Hagar and Ishmael that we learnt from last week.
For both Abraham and Sarah that was a “faith-in-God-fail”,
they tried to make God’s stated plan happen by their own efforts.
This time Abraham does not try to fix or add to God’s plan, he simply obeys what he knows of it day by day, even down to minute by minute, when he picks up the knife!
Testing seems to me to be about showing us the strength of our faith in God enough to reassure us [not puff us up],
or, the weakness of our faith in God and the power and mercy of God in our circumstances,
that is, God’s provision for us despite our paltry faith.
Isaac is a type of Jesus
Call on the congregation to contribute here
Like Jesus: only son
Beloved
Wood laid on
Questions what’s happening
Probably acquiesces: “so they went both of them together”
Trusts his Father/God
Is bound
Not like Jesus: Human father
Did not die
An alternative sacrifice could be provided
Isaac’s death was not about redemption.
The Promise, The Covenant
When Abraham is first called, God’s promise is to bless him,
give him a great name,
make of him a great nation in order that he would be a blessing,
in particular, so that all families on earth would be blessed.
When the Covenant is first made with Abraham it adds a promised son
and a promised land.
When circumcision is added to the covenant,
the promises are made to Abraham and his descendants.
After this episode God adds that Abraham’s descendant will be a conqueror.
Isaac fulfilled only one of these promises,
even as he is one small part of the fulfilment of the others.
So, even after this heart wrenching episode we are still left waiting and, perhaps, wondering how God’s promises will be fulfilled.
Or more correctly, in Whom God’s promises would be fulfilled.
So, we come all the way in time from Abraham to Jesus.
In their songs around the time of Jesus’ birth both John the Baptist’s father, Zechariah, and Jesus’ mother, Mary, say that Jesus’ coming “remembers” God’s covenant with Abraham,
that is, Jesus’ coming is the fulfilment of the promise.
The Apostle Peter in his sermon in the temple in Jerusalem says that the Jews, as “sons of the covenant” are participating in the fulfilment of the promises to Abraham when they hear the good news about Jesus.
The Apostle Paul in his letter to the church in Galatia says that the covenant promises to Abraham were the good news to him because they contain the good news about Jesus in saying “In you shall all the nations be blessed”.
It is Jeus’ perfection that makes him the perfect sacrifice.
The beloved,
only son of God,
who carried his wooden cross,
accepts God’s plan
and trusts God in the midst of it,
is bound to the Cross and dies,
because no alternative sacrifice can be found,
conquers his enemy death by returning to life
and is now able to bless all the families on earth.
Isaac’s sacrifice would have redeemed no-one,
Jesus’ self-sacrifice can redeem anyone!