Is where I stand. I stand beneath the Lord of
Jesus, please for me, always in love.
How can it be the Lord of Jesus please for me?
Let's pray together. Father, we thank you that every
song that we sang to this evening, every word that we will
hear from this book is true. It's all true.
We acknowledge that we are indeed sinners, rebels, wayward,
and lost sheep. But you brought us home because
you sent the Great Shepherd who laid down his life for the
sheep. We pray, Lord, that you would
use this service to to reign our hearts in and to remind us what
we are celebrating here is the most important thing about our
lives, the most important news that this world can ever hear,
and the most blessed hope that anyone can have.
Be with us, Lord, as we continue in this service, in Jesus name
we pray. Amen.
You may be seated.
Thank you. I found myself today praising
God for His wonderful Providence over this church.
Many of you know that we are in a transition as a ministry, as a
family. In a few short weeks, we'll be
in our brand new permanent home. And there's been a lot going on
in the background. There's been a lot of
preparation and conversation and praying and planning, and yet we
find ourselves in the time of the year where most churches
take this weekend to meditate and reflect on what's most
important. And I praise God that we find
ourselves at this time, even though there's so much going on
for this church, being brought back to what matters the most.
This is all about the gospel. This is all about the Son of
God, Jesus Christ, the living One who lay down His life for
us. What took place 2000 years ago
was not confined to that time. And what I mean by that is God
and His great mercy and power prepared generations for what
Christ would accomplish 2000 years ago.
He had summoned and empowered prophets of the one true God to
provide and preach and to preserve prophecies and precise
predictions concerning the various aspects and the nature
of Christ's substitutionary death.
And more than that, His vicarious death was foretold
through shadows and types, pictures and events, and even
people who point to the greatest fulfillment, the ultimate
fulfillment in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
God has preserved records of this and what we know to be the
Bible. And one of the clearest scenes,
one of the most impressive stories, which is a true story
that foreshadows who Christ is and what he would do, is in the
story of Abraham, called by God to sacrifice his son Isaac in
Genesis 22. What's most often emphasized is
Abraham's impeccable and inspirational unreserved
obedience and faithfulness to the most difficult exhortation
and instruction that he can receive from God.
And so what's usually brought up from that chapter is look at how
faithful Abraham was. Look how he passed the test.
And this is how you and I can be faithful.
And that is wonderful. That is true.
But I want to use this time to remind you that the success of
that story, the impact of that moment, would be lost without
Isaac in the story. Isaac in that story is a picture
of Jesus Christ. Abraham in that same story is a
symbol, is a metaphor, is a foreshadowing of God the Father.
And today, this isn't really a sermon, if you'd like to call it
that. That's OK.
I want to use it more as a time of reflection.
And I want us to look simply at some things about Isaac that
will have each of us here who have an honest understanding of
the Bible saying that's Jesus, that's Christ, that's my Lord,
that's my Lord mentioned thousands of years before he
even entered into the world. And so really, we are going to
just get a glimpse of the masterpiece of this chapter.
And I'll tell you this, if we wanted to, we can go through
every single verse of that chapter.
And if we did, we'd be here for a very long time because every
verse in that chapter virtually points to Jesus Christ.
I make that argument. But we won't be looking at every
verse. We can't do that tonight.
But I want us to consider a few things.
So I heard some Bibles flipping through the pages earlier at the
opening of the service. Can we do that again as we go to
Genesis 22, take our Bibles and go to this very known text and
meditate on a few things that will be very helpful for our
worship tonight? I want to look at three things
about Isaac that reflect Jesus and the first thing I want us to
consider is the significance of Isaac.
Let's read the first 2 verses together.
After these things God tested Abraham and said to him,
Abraham, and he said, here I am. He said, take your son, your
only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah,
and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the
mountains, of which I shall tell you.
You and I should stop in our tracks when we read how God
describes and designates Isaac. He tells Abraham, your son, your
only son, Isaac, whom you love. Now this should strike us.
Why? Well, for many reasons.
One of the main ones, practically speaking, is that we
know that Isaac is not Abraham's only son.
We have Ishmael, who was already born, who was virtually a young
adult at this point, and yet he is designated.
Isaac, at least is designated as his only son.
Why? Why is that?
For the same reason why Jesus is referred to as the only son in
John 316. You know, many critics and
opponents of the deity of Christ will unfortunately point out
that the title Son of God for Christ is not that meaningful,
because it seems as though the Bible tells us there are many
sons of God. In Job 16 we learned that the
angels are referred to as the sons of God, and Romans 814
Those who put their faith and trust in Christ, and who are
indwelled by the Holy Spirit are known as the sons of God.
And so Christ may be more important than others, but not
that special being deemed as the Son of God.
But you have to understand that the word only in the Bible is
not limited to a numeric term or description of quantity Only in
the Bible at times can also mean something of uniqueness value.
You know, in Hebrews 11/17, Isaac there in the New Testament
is also referred to as Abraham's only son, and that word in the
Greek is monogan S It's the same word in John 316.
And the actual meaning of the word is one of its kind,
significant, set apart, special. And that is what we find here
with Isaac. This is what God seems to be
conveying, that he is your only Son.
He's the Son of the covenant. He's the Son whom I will make
the promises that I made to you become a reality.
He is significant. And what's so special for us to
consider here about the only Son whom is who is loved, is that
this emphasizes just how massive this request is for God to make
this call. Is Abraham having to give up his
most cherished, his most, his most prized, his most beloved
thing they could ever offer? And the question I had was, why
ask for him? You made this man wait so long
to have him, and he built all these memories with him, and his
hope is so strong, and he's rejoicing in your faithfulness.
And now, in a very, very, very seasoned part of his life, you
were asking him to give it all up.
Why? Because God wanted to know.
Abraham, do you love me more than anything?
Am I your supreme treasure Do I mean more to you than anything
else I I've ever given to you even even Isaac.
That's exactly what we discovered later on in the story
peak at verse 12 with me for for a moment as Abraham is about to
strike his son with a knife. It says here he being the Angel
of the Lord, 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.
Here's what's so moving about this.
God wanted to see if Abraham loved him more than Isaac, and
the way that Abraham was going to prove that was by giving up
Isaac. And the Lord, as someone rightly
observed in wanting to prove his love for us, did so by not
withholding his own son, but by giving him for us.
It's amazing to consider that we too, and looking at what God has
done with his only son, can say with confidence, I know he loves
me. I, I have absolute confidence
that he loves me because he did not withhold his son from me.
The significance of Isaac is so obvious and what's even more
clear is the submission of Isaac.
If you look at the story and read, you don't only find the
obedience of Abraham, a faithful friend to God, but you also find
the unreserved compliance of his son Isaac.
Now many get this wrong in understanding the story.
They think that Isaacs willingness to go along with
Abrahams wishes was because he was a young boy, he didn't
really have any other choice, or that he was just innocently
trusting in the leadership of his father.
And this confusion stems from the word boy being used in verse
5 and in verse 12. But the Hebrew word actually
denotes A broader meaning than our modern conception.
This is not about a little boy, 1/2 grown man.
This could actually be referring to a young adult or a teenager
because it's applied in the same way in many other passages.
And when you look at the internal evidence, I mean, you
see that Isaac is able to discern the situation,
especially as they're making their way up to the mount.
He realizes we have the wood, we have the fire, but where's the
lamb? You know what I love about that
part? It shows that Isaac understood
what it meant to sacrifice to the Lord.
Abraham taught him well, and he was old enough to carry the load
of wood on his shoulders. A little boy can't do that.
If you read even more carefully, you'll see by the end of the
story that Isaac's old enough to act independently.
So this is not a this is not a child, this is a young man.
And it makes the accuracy of this reflection and this
parallel to Christ that much more wonderful because it
reminds us what Jesus said in John 10/18 when he was speaking
about his own death. He wanted to clarify something
very important and he said that no one takes it from me.
I lay it down of my own accord. I have the authority to lay it
down and I have the authority to take it up again.
Jesus Christ was not reluctant going to the cross.
He wasn't forced. He wasn't coerced.
He wasn't manipulated to do so. He desired to do so.
He desired to do so and obeying the Father, and He desired to do
so in redeeming us. You know, this is so powerful.
But there's even more to consider.
I want you to see the language here, verse 6 of Genesis 22,
down through verse 8. And Abraham took the wood of the
burnt offering and laid it on it, on Isaac his son.
And he took in his hand the fire and the knife.
So they went both of them together.
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's the lamb for a burnt offering?
Abraham said, God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt
offering, my son. So they went, both of them
together. There's a phrase repeated twice
in those verses. It's so important.
It's the last part of verse eight.
Look at it again. So they went, both of them
together, you find at the end of verse 6, as well as though the
Holy Spirit wants to illustrate that the Father and the Son were
in complete harmony. Isaac, not for a moment, went
his own way. He didn't delay, He didn't go
ahead. He was completely In Sync with
his dad, and whatever his father said, he did.
Wherever his Father went, he went.
Whatever his Father asked of him, he did.
What did Jesus tell us in John 519?
That whatever he sees the Father doing, he does.
And so even in this we find Isaac reflecting, showing us,
preparing us for the greater Son who would absolutely and totally
obey what the Father asked of him.
You're saying, why is that important?
I'll tell you one reason. It's important because Jesus won
your obedience. Jesus performed your
righteousness. Every law that He obeyed, every
command that He was given on any given morning by the Father, all
of that righteousness that He accumulated, that perfection is
then now transferred to us as though we have perfectly obeyed
the Father. You see, His obedience is more
than just confirming His deity and His perfection.
Yes, it prepared Him to be the spotless Lamb to be slain,
absolutely. But it's also to win our
obedience, to clean our record, not just by forgiving the debt,
but by putting into that account righteousness.
So we see the submission here of Isaac.
And lastly, the substitute for Isaac.
We know the story very well. This boy is laid on the altar
that Abraham built and that he organized.
There's no sign of a fight. There's no wrestling.
There's no attempt to escape. As much as Isaac's actions here
prove something of his obedience, the things that you
don't find in there also say something about his compliance
and his submission. There's no protest, is there?
There's no questioning, just total trust and total
willingness. And Abraham, I love Abraham's
faith, all the promises in the back of his mind, that three day
journey making his way to the region known as Mariah, trying
to make sense, I'm sure of what this is all about.
And by the time he gets to the desired location, he determined
that although the promise is in this boy, the promise for
generations, the promise for the world to be blessed is in this
child. If God's asked me to kill him,
it means that he's going to raise him from the dead.
That's the only logical conclusion here, because God
keeps His word and so he's ready to go through with this.
Some think that Abraham has this understanding that God is going
to stop him from slaying his son.
No, no, no, Abraham, we have all the reason to believe that he is
going to actually perform this act.
And as he's ready to do it, his hand is stayed.
The Angel of the Lord, as we read earlier in verse 12, stops
him and says, you passed the test.
I know that you fear me. I know that you love me above
all things, including Isaac. But the story doesn't stop
there. Abraham looks behind him and
there's a ram caught in the thicket.
And he takes that ram. And instead of Isaac, he kills
that ram and it becomes a burnt offering.
This is this is one of the earliest depictions, the
earliest sites of God showing us the truth of substitutionary
atonement. But there's more than that
happening here. Look at verse 14.
So Abraham called the name of that place.
The Lord will provide, as it is said to this day, on the mount
of the Lord, it shall be provided.
This is where the famous title for God, Jehovah Jireh comes
from. And many people use the
Scripture to speak about God's faithful provision, his
providential provision, How We have nothing to fear.
God will always provide. That is certainly true, but the
context suggests something much more deep, something that we are
looking at tonight. Concerning Christ, notice that
it doesn't say he called the Lord Jehovah Jireh.
He named the place Jehovah Jireh.
And Moses who's the author of Genesis even adds this in verse
14 as it is said to this day. So even up to the days of Moses,
when it came to this specific location, there were those who
looked on that hilltop and said, Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will
provide. And so does Moses or Abraham
rather set this hill up as a memorial of God's faithfulness?
Absolutely. But the tense here and the sense
here is that he's also Speaking of something future.
Abraham was a prophet. And we have all the reason to
believe that in this scene, in this very moment, he got a
glimpse of something to come. And it's about this place.
Mount Moriah has only referenced one other place in all of the
Hebrew Scriptures. Turn with me to Second
Chronicles 3, verse one. This is the account of Solomon's
efforts and his accomplishments concerning the Temple, the
permanent structure of worship, where the nation of Israel would
be able to meet with the Lord and have their sins covered and
give to God what is His due. Notice what it said here in
Second Chronicles 31. Then Solomon began to build the
House of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah.
So Mount Moriah, wherever this hill is, is in Jerusalem, where
the Lord had appeared to David his father, at the place that
David had appointed on the threshing floor of Ornan the
Jebusite. So Abraham in Genesis 22, after
experiencing God's intervention, after experiencing how God
substituted for his son, says of this place the Lord will provide
you come to Second Chronicles 3 and you see a partial
fulfillment of it. The very same site with the
temple be built where many other animals would be offered up as a
sacrifice to cover the sins of the people of God.
But there's even a deeper, more wonderful connection here.
Notice the clue it says here in the second part of verse one of
Second Chronicles 3, where the Lord had appeared to David his
father at the place that David had appointed on the threshing
floor of Ornan the Jebusite. God wants us as we come to this
historical moment, to think back to what happened with David, who
had his own revelation in Jerusalem at this site, deeming
at the place where God's house would be built.
And when you go there, you see something amazing.
Let's go there in First Chronicles now and look at
chapter 21. What do you have here?
In First Chronicles 21? You have the record of David's
senses bringing judgement upon the people of God.
We don't have time to get into why David counting the number of
military men and counting the number of his population at the
time was wrong. It has to do with his motive and
his method. But a prophet approaches David
to let him know you did sin and God is going to bring judgment.
And so David accepts this. But then you get a glimpse into
the spiritual realm. David himself and others with
him have the veil removed and he he gets some kind of insight
into what's taking place behind the scenes.
And it's here in verse 14. So the Lord sent a pestilence on
Israel, and 70,000 men of Israel fell, and God sent the Angel to
Jerusalem to destroy it. But as he was about to destroy
it, the Lord saw, and he relented from the calamity.
And he said to the Angel who was working destruction, It is
enough, now stay your hand. And the Angel of the Lord was
standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
And David lifted his eyes and saw the Angel of the Lord
standing between earth and heaven, and in his hand a drawn
sword stretched out over Jerusalem.
Then David and the elders clothed, and sackcloth fell upon
their faces. Let's gather some of these
things. In Genesis 22 on Mount Moriah
you have Abraham, called by God to lead his son to the
slaughter. He lays his son on the altar.
He draws his knife, and as he was about to plunge it into the
chest of his one and only son, the angels of the Lord says,
stop. Hundreds upon hundreds of years
go by, and David finds himself at the very same site.
Judgment is released, and here he sees an Angel with a sword in
his hand, extended over Jerusalem.
And before he drops that sword to slay the citizens and
inhabitants of the holy city, a voice from heaven commands the
Angel to stop. Stay your hand.
Something happens hundreds of years after this point.
Jesus and Mark 14, after instituting the Lord's Supper,
tells us in verse 26 and verse 27 that they were ready to go to
the Mount of Olives. But before they make their way,
he looks at his own disciples, and I want you to see what he
says to them in Mark 14, verse 27.
And Jesus said to them, You will all fall away, for it is
written, I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be
scattered. Where is that written?
He quotes Zechariah 13 verse 7. But what he does here in
Zechariah 13, seven is that he quotes the second part of it.
But he tells us by making this reference that He is the
fulfillment of Zechariah 13 seven.
Does anybody remember the first part of Zechariah 13 seven?
Well, allow me to read it in your presence.
Awake, O sword, against my Shepherd, against the man who
stands next to me, declares the Lord of hosts.
Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.
I will turn my hand against the little ones.
Jesus was in Jerusalem when he died.
Was he not just outside the city?
Some even believe that he was on the ridges of Mount Moriah.
In Genesis 22 there was a knife ready to strike Abraham's only
son. His hand was stayed.
In First Chronicles 21 there is an Angel with a sword in his
hand, and he was ready to strike Jerusalem, but a voice from
heaven commanded that hand to go no further.
And then Jesus Christ, the Son of God appears on the scene, and
he would later be pinned to a cross.
And according to Zechariah 13, seven, the sword of the Lord, a
picture of God's justice and wrath would be unsheathed.
But this time there was no cry from heaven for that sword to
stop. There was no halt.
There was no retraction of the outpouring of justice.
There was no escape from this devastating blow.
The sword in Zechariah 13 seven met the Son of God and pierced
him. The law will provide.
He named that place Jehovah Jireh.
Isaac didn't experience it. Thousands upon thousands in
Jerusalem and David's day didn't experience it.
Jesus experienced the sharpest sword with the strongest thrust
so that you wouldn't have to experience it.
He took your place, and he received the blow of God's
fierce judgement, and he took piercings physically, and he
experienced pain and suffering on levels that we dare not
explore because no mind, no matter how great it is, can
conjure up or fathom what took place in those very few hours on
that cross. The substitute for Isaac, sure,
but also the substitute for all of humanity.
And that's what we're reflecting on tonight.
That's what we're here to meditate on tonight.
It should have been you. It should have been me.
But God and his great love gave his Son and allowed the sword to
strike him. And that's why we have this
evening every year, so that we can come into this place and not
think about what I can do for God, how I can bless God, as
important as that is. How I can become more godly and
more holy and more sanctified and more serious.
There's a time and place for that.
But what this is all about, ultimately, is what God has done
for us. This is part of the offense of
the gospel. You're telling me I don't have
any role to play in my salvation?
There's no punishment I have to accept, There's no record that I
have to keep. There's no sacrifice I have to
make. And for many, for millions, this
is unattractive. They want a part to play in
their own redemption. And we are Christians, strange
creatures on this planet for many reasons, including this
one. Our salvation solely rests on
the one who took the sword on our behalf.
And you and I come here, yes, once a year.
But I hope every day to remember that the foundation of it all is
that He took my judgement. He paid the price for me.
He fulfilled the righteousness that I don't deserve but
desperately need. And there are so many threads in
this beautiful book that amplify that message so that you and I
would one believe it. So that we would be saved but
also rest in it. I found myself this whole day
today. Try not to allow any other
thought enter into my mind and to fix my meditation upon this
glorious truth. I am forgiven forever if you
really believe that, if I really believe that, then we're the
richest people on earth, we're the most blessed.
We have nothing to boast about in ourselves but Christ, this
great love. From the beginning He planned it
that He would take what we deserve and give us what we
don't deserve. So tonight, as we are going to
partake of the bread and the cup, please approach this table
with the revelation that the sword fell upon him so that I
can go free. Let's pray.
Father, in the sacred setting we say thank you for your love.
Abraham proved his love for you by giving his only son.
You have shown your love for us by giving your only son.
Thank you for the the brilliance of your word that there are so
many ways to perceive and understand what took place on
the cross. And you've given us a new
revelation of a sword, a sword that did not strike Isaac, a
sword that did not fall upon Jerusalem, and a sword that
should have fell on each of us, but instead was aimed at the Son
of God and Pierce them so that we can be free.
Lord, we gladly confess in your presence tonight that as we eat
and drink of these elements, we are savoring the grace of God,
the free gift of salvation that was very costly.
We love you, Lord, help us love you more.
In Christ's name we pray, Amen. Just remain seated as we get the
table organized. Let these lyrics and the music
wash over you and prepare your heart to come.
Not sorrowful, not guilty, but overwhelmed by His love.