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Genesis
22:1-24 “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 alter
there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the
alter of 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 Jehovah-jireh: 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. 20 And
it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, Behold,
Milcah, she hath also born children unto thy brother Nahor; 21
Huz his firstborn, and Buz his brother,
and Kemuel the father of Aram, 22 and
Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel. 23
And Bethuel begat Rebekah: these eight Milcah did bear to Nahor,
Abraham’s brother. 24 And
his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she bare also Tebah, and Gaham,
and Thahash, and Maachah.” Introduction [Audio
version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED531] “Interesting
chapter, Abraham bringing Isaac to offer him as a burnt offering on Mount
Moriah. First time that you find the
word “love” in the Bible. God has saved
it for this chapter, 21 chapters when he might have said much about love. First time we find the word “worship” in the
Bible. For 21 chapters he might have
said much about worship. First time we
find the word “lamb” in the Bible. And
God may have said much about that, there were many altars he told us of. Mount Moriah, the place ultimately that God
would offer up his Son. Interesting the
number of cemeteries that are called Mount Moriah. How many parents have offered up sons and
daughters, as it were, into the hands of God?
This chapter is very much from the Father’s perspective. Psalm 69 and Psalm 22 are very much the
crucifixion from the Son’s perspective.
Isaiah 53 is very much the crucifixion from the believer’s
perspective. Matthew, Mark, Luke and
John, in all of their details and all that they have to say, are very brief, ‘and
they crucified him there.’ The
one place in the Scripture more than any other where the Father offers up his
heart and his emotion is in Genesis chapter 22, something that he would reveal
to Abraham, something important for us to see.
John will tell us in his 1st Epistle ‘Herein is the
love of God revealed, not that we loved God, but that he first loved us, and
gave his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.’ He gave his Son to be the place where
wrath would be satisfied, so that we could be loved. He says to Abraham ‘I want you to go to
a place I’m going to tell you about,’ no surprise to God, the Lamb was
slain from the foundation of the world.
Our failings, our weaknesses, the things we did today, the things we did
this week that displease him, come short of what he has for us, never a
surprise to the Father. He offered up
the Son before the foundation of the world, for you and I this evening, and
tomorrow, and until we enter into glory.
Interesting place, I have a Joshua, a Yeshua, bigger than me now, was
four and a half years old, had his tonsils out, kids. Kathy and I were out to dinner with another
couple from church, and Genie my secretary was babysitting, she called us and
said ‘I think you should come home because there’s blood in the back of his
throat.’ this was ten days after surgery.
And I remember that, because I had eaten my salad and the steak had just
come to the table [laughter], and I’m a carnivore, when I walk away from a
piece of meat, it has a place where it sticks in my memory, I need
healing. So we went home and sure
enough, and Childrens Hospital said ‘Bring him down.’ And they admitted him overnight, threw an IV
in him and just watched him, and by the next day he was fine, they said his
scab had broken off. You know, in the
1930s it was one out of 700 bled post-op, and it’s still the same now. They’ve gone from sewing to freezing to
cauterizing. So the next day, the bigger
part of the scab, it’s called the culp-bleed, had broken off in the afternoon,
and because he didn’t want to go back to the hospital, didn’t want to get
another IV, he didn’t tell us, and all afternoon had been swallowing
blood. And at night be began to scream,
hold his stomach, I grabbed the flashlight, sure enough. So we grab him, jump into the van, get ready
to head back down to Childrens, and he passed out and started to seizure, and
the blood just started to come out of his mouth. Ah, he bled out over half of his blood. His blood count was below six, there was
enough blood I had to wipe it off the windshield to see where I was going. And I’m driving 100 miles an hour, now headed
over to another hospital [not Childrens, which was further away], my wife is
telling me to drive faster, inbetween tongues that she’s praying in…and I’m
speeding, going through red lights, I don’t care if the cops chase me, they can
get in front of me and get me there faster, and I’m thinking if I go any faster
we’re all going to end up in the same place.
And I remember just looking at him, at four and a half they’re just so
tender, and he’s unconscious, the blood is just erupting like a volcano, and
I’m just thinking ‘He’s dying, he’s gone.’
And all of a sudden thinking, ‘Well this is not good-bye, this is
‘See you later.’ And by the time we
get over to the hospital he had become conscious again, but he was pure white,
his lips were blue, and we’re both covered with blood, we ran into the trauma
unit, of course the nurse said ‘Do you have the medical card,’ I said ‘Lady,
I have the best Blue Cross, Blue Shield, and you’re gonna need it if you don’t
get my son taken care of.’ I was not
in the mood to be a Christian right then, I was more in the mood to be a dad
with a bleeding son, and caused a little bit of a commotion, which got us right
in, threw an IV in him, tried to stabilize him.
The doctor came over and said, after I filled out the paperwork, ‘You
work for Calvary Chapel?’ ‘Kinda,’ [loud laughter] He said ‘My wife went to your women’s
retreat this year, really enjoyed it,’ and then he prayed with us, we stood
and we prayed, and then I knew the Lord was involved. [I can’t type this without tearing up.] I didn’t know why he was letting it happen or
what was going on, but all of a sudden when you know he’s involved it brings a
tremendous peace. And of course they had
to send up a special unit from Childrens, we couldn’t get in there with him,
drove my wife crazy, we had to follow this unit back down to Childrens, had to
recauterize him and give him a transfusion.
One of the guys from church came down and brought us clean clothes, when
he got out of the elevator and looked at us, we were so covered with blood he
just started to weep. When I got home
two days later, Judy opened up the door in the van, there was so much blood she
started to cry. It had never smelled
right again after that. But I think of
what, how helpless I felt. And I think
of what I would have done to have stopped that, that night. And I think of a Father who was sovereign,
who was Almighty, and who has the power to stop that at any point, as his Son
cries out, and restrains himself, and watches his Son beat beyond human
recognition and the beard ripped out of his face, and spit upon, and restrains
himself and remains silent, and the scourging and having to remain silent, the
crown of thorns, and heaven is silent, the crucifixion, and a Father who could
have stopped any of that at any point restrains himself, because he loves you
and because he loves me, and because there’s no other way. And it says he bore our sins upon the tree,
that spotless perfect Son all of a sudden is a child pornographer, he’s Adolf
Hitler, he’s a bigot, he’s a pervert, he’s an adulterer, the sin of the world
comes on him, and the Father restrains himself.
And because the sin of the world is on him, he’s separated for the first
time in eternity [from the Father], and something that had never come from his
lips came from his lips, ‘My God, my God, why?’ He had said ‘I don’t say anything unless
the Father does it, I don’t do anything unless the Father does it, what I see
the Father doing I do also,’ he’s cut off because our sins are upon
him, ‘Why hast thou forsaken me?’ I can’t imagine my son crying out ‘Dad, why
aren’t you helping me? You have the
power, why have you forsaken me? Why
don’t you stop this?’ And at that
point, heaven instead of being silent, finally answered when the fire of
Almighty God, his wrath fell down, that was his answer, on his Son who was
crying ‘Why have you forsaken me?’ he poured all of his holy wrath without
admixture on his own Son, so much so it was unimaginable. When Christ said ‘It is finished,
Tutelisti,’ it was done before he died physically, he had already died
eternally somehow in those three hours of darkness, before he gave up the
ghost, it was finished, whatever it was.
And somehow the Father decides to let us into his heart, a bit, in this
chapter. “God
Will Provide Himself A Lamb For A Burnt Offering” “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. 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.” (verses 1-2) ‘Take now thy son, thine only son,’ he’s
not tempting in the sense he tempts to sin, James chapter 1, verse 13 says
‘God is not tempted, neither tempteth any man,’ he is testing.
And it’s interesting, because he never tests Lot. Satan tempts us to destroy us, to lure us
away from the Lord and to sin. God,
rather than tempting us to evil, tests us, to bring to the surface in our
lives, in the crisis’s of our lives those things that we would never know were
there in ourselves or in him. 25 years
of silence, Isaac is somewhere between 30 and 33 years old. For 25 years Abraham had sat there in the
plains of Mamre, filled with wonder, looking at this boy grow, and now he’s a
young man, 30, Abraham’s about 125 years old, 135 years old, somewhere in
there. And what is his relationship
like, how amazing it must be for those years.
And now like a thunderclap, this old friend, he’s the friend of God. We think Abraham heard every day, we have no
record now, over 20 years has gone by, but he knows his voice, ‘Abraham,’
‘here I am, LORD.’ ‘Take thy son, your only son,’ not
recognizing Ishmael, ‘your only son, whom thou lovest, and take him into
the land of Moriah,’ Mount Moriah, Moriah means “Jehovah reveals,” or
“Jehovah is shown,” “Jehovah is manifest.”
‘Take him into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt
offering,’ there’s nothing held back, a burnt offering, ‘upon one
of the mountains, a specific mountain, which I will tell thee of.’ From the Father’s perspective, what
did Abraham feel? What did he
think? He hadn’t heard this voice in so
long. And the son of promise had come,
he had seen Sarah rejoice in her old age, this one whom all of the nations of
the world would be blessed through, this son, take him. All love is born out of father-son love,
before there was husband-wife love, before there was mother-daughter love,
before the foundations of the world, the Son offered himself, the love between
the Father and the Son settled something that all other love and all other life
would be borne out of that love. ‘Offer
him there, on the mountains which I will tell thee of.’ Look in verse 3, “And Abraham rose
up early in the morning,” that’s because he didn’t sleep all night, he rose
up early, hopefully getting up before Sarah was awake to ask a million
questions, “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.” (verse 3) Now that’s the same Hebrew word “young men,”
that’s used in verse 5 when he says “I and the lad will go worship,” Isaac is a
young man at this point. And notice “the
place of which God” now it’s past tense, “had told him.” What had happened in that sleepless
night? God said ‘I want you to
take him to the land of Moriah and offer him there for a burnt offering on one
of the mountains I will tell thee of.’ and it says ‘early the
next morning he rose up,’ and then God is leading him to the mountain
God has told him about. And when had God
told him? When had God said to
Abraham? We’re not certain. And I’m sure Abraham didn’t know the fulness
of it. But it does tell us in Hebrews
that Abraham offered Isaac, believing that if it were necessary, God would
raise him from the dead. And by the way,
he was to be a burnt offering, that meant to rise him from the ashes if
necessary. What had God spoken to him
about on that night, what is God trusting Abraham with, as the heart of a
father? What is he, is he telling
Abraham? You know, Mount Moriah, for
those of you who’ve been to Israel with us, is where the Tabernacle was brought
by David, it’s where Solomon’s Temple was built. But in this culture way before those days,
the offering was made at the peak of the mountain, at the top. And if you follow Mount Moriah to its peak,
it’s been carved away on the northern end of Jerusalem, the highest point is
Golgotha, it’s Calvary, that’s the top of Mount Moriah. And he said “Abraham, I want you to
take him and offer him for a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I’m
going to tell you about, I’m going to tell you something about this
mountain.’ And the next day he
rose up early, took two young men, saddled up the beast of burden, clave the
wood. What was it like for Abraham to
cut the wood? The young men, Isaac, must
have seen a different look in his face than they had ever seen before, I would
imagine. Loaded on the beast of burden,
and they went on their way to this place, here it is again, “the place of
which God had told him.” “Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and
saw the place afar off.” (verse 4) isn’t it interesting, Isaac has been
dead in Abraham’s heart for three days. “on
the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes,” and how he had probably dreaded
this, “and saw the place afar off” it was the peak of the mountain. For three days he had been dreading lifting
up his eyes and seeing the place. And
when he did, he knew the place, Calvary, he saw it. “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.” (verse 5) This
is all in the plural in the Hebrew, “we will worship, and we will come
again.” Isaac’s listening to that, the
two men are listening. “We will go
worship,” they knew that worship centered around blood. Abraham didn’t say ‘We’re going to go, the
musicians are going to be there, we’re going to have a song-service,’ that
wasn’t what was worship. We may worship
in the midst of a song service, but worship is an attitude of heart, worship is
a lifestyle, worship centers around substitutionary atonement, the shedding of
blood. And they were taking a knife,
they were taking fire, they were taking the wood, and when he said to the young
men, ‘We will go and worship, and we will come again,’ he was
speaking of something that God was testing in him, Isaac, the young men
listening. “And Abraham took the wood
of the burnt offering,” the Father, Gethsemane “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.” (verse 6)
What was it like for the father to take the wood and put it upon Isaac? And I am sure that he felt completely
helpless, he was being obedient to God.
Imagine him laying the wood on the back of his son, the Father in heaven
seeing the wood that he would lay on the back of his Son that he would bear, to
the same mountain. “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.”
(verse 6) they’re going now where no servant can come with, they’re going
now to the place where the Father and the Son have to set up something alone
where service can be rendered, they’re going to the place of ultimate
sacrifice, and you and I can stand off in a distance and watch it, but we have
no place there. All our righteousness is
like filthy rags, there’s nothing we can contribute, there’s nothing we can
give, no servant was allowed to come.
There was a point beyond which no human energy could go. And it says “and they went both of them
together.” Well there’s three of
them, and they went the both of them together.
What was that like for Abraham?
Was Isaac sweating under the load of the wood? What was each step like? And by Isaac’s questioning, we know that he
doesn’t know. And the father has the
fire in one hand, the Father in heaven would rain fire down. The knife in the other hand, and they went,
the two of them together, and Isaac spake, this long walk, alone together,
these two “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?” (verse 7) ‘Dad, get
me up to speed here, we left everybody behind, you said we’re going to go
worship, we’re going to come again, we have the wood, we have the fire, we have
the knife, where’s the blood, where’s the lamb?’ Isn’t it interesting, the first time in the
Bible the word “lamb” is used is here, “where is the lamb?” The first time that the word “lamb” is used
in the New Testament is in John’s Gospel, chapter 1, verse 29. Isn’t it interesting? The word “lamb” is never used in Matthew,
Mark or Luke in the entirety of their Gospels.
The first time the word “lamb” is used in the New Testament answers the
question in the Old Testament, Isaac’s question is “where is the lamb?” In the New Testament the first time we hear
it is “Behold, the lamb that taketh away the sin of the world” and
God answers the question of the Old Testament.
‘Where is the lamb for the burnt offering?’ the lump in
his throat must have been as big as a basketball. “And Abraham said, My son, God will
provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering:
so they went both of them together.” (verse 8) and I really like the
King James here, “God will provide himself” we see God in Christ, on the
cross, reconciling the world to himself.
Not ‘God will provide for himself,’ which may be intimated in the
language, but the greater truth lays on the surface, “God will provide
himself a lamb for a burnt offering.”
Now listen to it again, the Holy Spirit says it “so they went both of
them together.” First time was “and
they went both of them together,” they leave the young men behind, now the
question is asked, ‘father, the wood, the fire, the knife, where’s the
lamb?’ ‘God, my son, will provide
himself a lamb.’ Now instead of
“and” it’s ‘so, they went the two of them together.’ The
Whole Meaning Behind The Sacrificial System Of The Old Testament, The Passover
Lambs, Points To The Sacrificial Death of Jesus Christ “And
they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an alter
there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the
alter of wood. And Abraham stretched
forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.” (verses 9-10) “this place” has been mentioned twice before
in the record, they came to “the place which God had told him of.” And each act is specifically written out for
us here. “They came to the place that
God had told him of” notice, Abraham, 1, built and alter, number 2, laid the
wood in order, 3, bound Isaac his son, 4, laid him on the alter of wood, 5,
stretched forth his hand. It’s almost as
though the Father in heaven, every act is breaking his heart, as he’s taking
Abraham to this place. The first thing
Abraham did, it says Abraham without Isaac’s help built the altar. Abraham was the best altar builder in the
land of Canaan. There were burnt altars
all over Canaan from him. I wonder if
Isaac said ‘Dad, want me to help?’ ‘No, I’ll do this by myself, and I’ll
take my time.’ What was it like for
him building that altar, knowing that his son was going to be offered on
it? What was the Father in heaven
trusting to Abraham? Because he would
build the altar someday. Then he laid
the wood in order upon the alter, to be burned.
And then he looks at Isaac. Isaac
is 30, 33 years old, Abraham’s 130 years old, and we’re not told, did he say
again ‘Father, where’s the lamb?’
And Abraham, with tears I imagine, must have said ‘Isaac, God spoke
to me and told me you’re the lamb, and told me to bring you here, and to offer
you as a burnt offering,’ not unfamiliar to them, the pagans in the land of
Canaan offered their children as sacrifices.
In Ur of the Chaldees where they had come from, they offered children as
sacrifices. All of that is a Satanic
perversion of the one Parent who has the right to offer his Son. What was it like for Isaac to hear that. He must have looked at Abraham, his face old,
long beard, tears flowing. There’s no
struggle here, there’s no ‘Dad, you’ve gone off the deep end.’ Isaac could have outwrestled, could have
knocked him down, could have resisted, somehow, which would make it harder for
a father. Isaac yields, turns around,
puts his hands behind his back, yields to Abraham as he binds his own son. And then what was it like for that father
take his son and then lift him and put him on the wood to lay him on the
altar? How helpless did he feel?...How
sovereign was God in his thinking at that moment? How different was this from anything God has
ever asked of him? Isaac, a picture of the Son, had to yield willingly. Abraham lays him on the wood, ‘and
Abraham stretched forth his hand with the knife, to slay his son.’ Try to imagine in that scene, Abraham standing
over Isaac, whose heart is more broken? Is it the heart of Abraham? Are his eyes closed, is he looking away from
Isaac or is he looking into Isaac’s eyes, is he looking at his son’s face,
ready to plunge the knife? Or is it
Isaac’s heart the most broken, the person he’s trusted the most, has betrayed him
to a degree that he can’t understand, and yet somehow he yields and lays there
looking up into the face of his father, no doubt tears streaming, with a knife
raised over him? Or was it God the
Father who was in the most pain? You
see, we say ‘Lord, if you love me, give me this job. Lord, if you love me, give me this person to
be my wife. Lord, you love me and you
gave me this person to be my wife? Lord,
if you love me, help my career.’ And
God says ‘No, in this is the love of God manifest, that he gave his Son
to be the propitiation for our sins,’ it’s almost as though God the
Father says ‘Don’t put any thing else alongside of what I have
demonstrated, because you have no idea of the cost that was involved.’ ‘Even in the ages to come we’ll be
learning of his grace and of his mercy.’
He will allow us to compare nothing to that singular act. One of the things that tortures me about what
calls itself the Church today is so much of it is robbed of redemption, so much
of it is slick and polished, and talking about self-esteem, and prosperity, and
there’s no cost, there’s no blood, no repentance, there’s no Jesus, there’s no
redemption. He lifts the knife into the
air, stretches forth his hand to slay his son, unimaginable. “And the angel of the LORD
called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.” (verse 11)
I wonder if Isaac said ‘You hear that?’
Got to lighten it up a little bit here.
“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.” (verse 12) ‘Abraham
rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it.’
It was God’s sacrifice alone. He
had taken Abraham somewhere closer to his own heart than he had ever been, and
allowed him to touch an immeasurable amount of the passion of the Father, which
was 10,000 times 10,000 more times than Abraham could ever realize. “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.” (verse 12) “fearest” an interesting word-study, “you hold in
reverence.” There was probably never a
time in the history of the world that a man and God were closer, in emotion, in
passion, ‘lay not thy hand upon the lad, I’ll supply the lamb.’ “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.” (verse
13) What was that like for
Isaac? Did Isaac hear the angel of the LORD
crying from heaven? Did he hear ‘Lay
not thy hand upon the lad’? What was
it like for Isaac when Abraham cut him loose, what was it like for Isaac when
he stood there with Abraham and watched the blood flow down upon the wood of
that altar, and the fire lit to it, and the smoke ascending and the burnt
offering consumed? Isaac looking at that
substitute dying in his place. [This is
the whole meaning behind the sacrificial system of the Old Testament,
especially the Passover lambs that would be sacrificed in Exodus 12. This explains and pictures the sacrificial
death of Jesus Christ and what that was all about.] I think Isaac becomes a quiet, and this would
make anyone a quiet and introspective human being, with great, great
depth. “And Abraham called the name
of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is
said to this day, In the mount of the LORD
it shall be seen.” (verse 14) “Jehovah-jirah”
in one form “it’s the LORD
sees,” but “it’s the LORD
seeing actively to perform,” so Jehovah-jirah, “the LORD
our Provider.” And Moses then says this,
“as it is said to this day.” When
he’s writing, even now it is said “in the mount of the LORD
it shall be seen.” There’s something that’s going to happen in
this mountain. Moses, born in Egypt,
himself never entering into the Promised Land.
Before he dies he goes up on Mount Pisgah, and God allows him to survey
the land, and we know God gives him a supernatural vision of the land, because
he starts from the north and works his way south, and when Moses writes that,
he has Dan up in the north. Dan was
allotted a property farther southwest than Judah and through idolatry in the
Book of Judges they would find their way to the north. But Moses in Deuteronomy when he describes
the land, describes it from the vision that God’s giving him, from Dan to Beersheba,
and no doubt as he went down the land, he saw Jerusalem, and no doubt Moses saw
Mount Moriah, and he saw this place, where he said ‘that even now, in this
day, these hundreds of years after Abraham, it is still said, there’s a place
there in the land of Moriah, the Mount of the LORD,
and in the Mount of the LORD
it shall be seen.’ How
amazing. God’s
Great Prophetic Promise To Abraham “And
the angel of the LORD
called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,
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:” (verses 15-16) Now look, verse
15 and 16 make it perfectly clear that “the angel of the LORD”
“the messenger of the LORD,”
“the person of the LORD,”
is the LORD
himself. “And the angel of the LORD
called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,
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: 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; And in thy seed shall all the
nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.” (verses
15-18) certainly the lesson of that place,
“because thou hast obeyed my voice.” Now
here’s the last testimony of Abraham in the Bible from the mouth of God, that
verse. It’s just interesting that the
last thing from the voice of God in verse 18 is “in thy seed shall
all the nations of the earth be blessed,” because of this “because thou
hast obeyed my voice.” Abraham was
not the greatest artist that ever lived, the greatest architect, the greatest
surgeon, the greatest politician. His
claim to fame was one thing, that he was the friend of God, and that he obeyed
God. Or he would have lived and died in
obscurity, no one would ever have known who he is. And he’s at the center of Christianity,
Judaism, Islam, the nations of the world touched through him, and through
Christ and the redemption that comes through Christ the nations of the world
blessed through him. And God says, ‘because,
the nations of the world are blessed because this man obeyed my voice.’ What might God do with you and I at
work? Or amongst our siblings, if you
got brothers or sisters, if you’ll take a stand, or in our families? Abraham was never obnoxious didn’t offend the
unsaved neighbours that he had, we’re going to see that, but Abraham did obey
the voice of God, even in the most difficult circumstances, he obeyed. “So Abraham returned unto his young men,
and they rose up and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at
Beersheba.” (verse 19) notice, no
mention of Isaac. Where’s Isaac? Isaac may have said ‘Dad, I need a day or
two to stop trembling, I think I need to be alone, just sit here by this altar
and settle down.’ And we’re going to
have one of the most remarkable pictures here, because Abraham will return,
we’re going to hear that Sarah passes away, Abraham will send his servant to
get a bride for his son, his servant Eleazar, the Comforter, the one who comes
alongside, will be sent to get a bride for the son. And Isaac doesn’t come before us again until
Rebekah is being brought by Eleazar and she falls off her camel when she sees
Isaac. So there’s this picture of a
Father taking his son to Mount Moriah, the crucifixion, the Son not seen again,
Abraham’s wife, Israel set aside for a season, another Bride gathered for the
son, by the Comforter, and the Son not seen again until the Comforter is
bringing the Bride to the Son. Doesn’t
that sound familiar to you, all of that?
Coincidence, I’m sure. The
Line Of Rebekah “And
it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, Behold,
Milcah, she hath also born children unto thy brother Nahor;” (verse 20) He gets word from back in Ur of the Chaldees,
possibly through merchants or whatever.
Listen to this, “Huz his firstborn, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel
the father of Aram, and
Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel. And
Bethuel begat Rebekah: these eight
Milcah did bear to Nahor, Abraham’s brother.” (verses 21-23) “Huz his
firstborn, and Buz his brother,” who would do that to kids?--Huz & Buz, are
they twins, I’m not sure. Huz and Buz
was a break after those names. “And
Bethuel begat Rebekah” that’s what he wants to bring before us now, this
gal. “these eight Milcah did bear to
Nahor, Abraham’s brother.” So
there’s a gal back in the old hometown named Rebekah, who we’re going to have
brought into the story. “And his
concubine, whose name was Reumah, she bare also Tebah, and Gaham, and
Thahash, and Maachah.” (verse 24) Genesis
23:1-20 “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 Kirjath-arba; the same is Hebron in the land of
Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for
Sarah, and to weep for her. 3 And
Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying,
4 I
am a stranger and a sojourner with you:
give me a possession of a buryingplace with you, that I may bury my dead
out of my sight. 5
And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him, 6
Hear us, my lord: thou art a mighty prince among
us: in the choice of our sepulchres bury
thy dead; none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that thou
mayest bury thy dead. 7 And
Abraham stood up, and bowed himself to the people of the land, even to
the children of Heth. 8 And
he communed with them, saying, If it be your mind that I should bury my dead
out of my sight; hear me, and intreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar, 9
that he may give me the cave of
Machpelah, which he hath, which is in the end of his field; for as much
money as it is worth he shall give it me for a possession of a buryingplace
amongst you. 10 And
Ephron dwelt among the children of Heth:
and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the audience of the children
of Heth, even all that went in at the gate of the city, saying, 11
Nay, my lord, hear me: the field give I thee, and the cave that is
therein, I give it thee; in the presence of the sons of my people give I it
thee: bury thy dead. 12
And Abraham bowed down himself before
the people of the land. 13 And
he spake unto Ephron in the audience of the people of the land, saying, But if
thou wilt give it, I pray thee, hear me:
I will give thee money for the field; take it of me, and I will
bury my dead there. 14 And
Ephron answered Abraham, saying unto him, 15
My lord, hearken unto me: the land is worth four hundred shekels
of silver; what is that betwixt me and thee? bury therefore thy dead. 16
And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and
Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had named in the audience of the
sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the
merchant. 17 And
the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before
Mamre, the field, and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that
were in the field, that were in all the borders round about, were
made sure. 18 Unto
Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all
that went in at the gate of the city. 19
And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his
wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre: the same is Hebron in the land of
Canaan. 20 And
the field, and the cave that is therein, were made sure unto Abraham for
a possession of a buryingplace by the sons of Heth.” The
Death Of Sarah “And
Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old: these were the years of the life of
Sarah.” (verse 1) now we’re not told
anywhere else in the Bible about any other woman’s age when she dies. You never say this to a woman ‘How old are
you?’ But here the Holy Spirit just
tells us, ‘Sarah, she was a hundred and twenty seven years old.’ ‘Thanks God, just put it in a best
seller.’ Only woman in the Bible to
be called the mother of believing women.
Sarah was 127 years old, and “these were the years of the life
of Sarah” only woman’s age in the Bible was Sarah, only woman’s age in the
Bible, “And Sarah died in Kirjath-arba; the same is Hebron in the
land of Canaan: and Abraham came to
mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.” (verse 3) Evidently he wasn’t there when she died. He comes to mourn and to weep, she must have
died quickly, she’s 127, he’s 137. She
dies in Canaan in Hebron, she dies in the Land of Promise in the Place of
Fellowship, Hebron means “fellowship,” means “communion.” And what a picture for any godly woman. She dies in the place of promise and in
fellowship, what sweeter place for any of us to close our eyes in this world
and open them in the next, Sarah. [and
as quite a few of us believe, in her next waking moment she will be rising up
with Abraham in the 1st resurrection to immortality, just prior to
the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ, and just prior to the start of the
Millennial Kingdom of God on earth.]
Only man we’re specifically told besides Jesus, it says here that, this
is the first time in the Bible we’re told of a man’s tears, he wept for
her. Just imagine. How long had they been married now? 60 years or so in the land, had they been
married ten years before that, or 20 years before that? Had they been celebrating their 80th
anniversary the year before this? Sarah
was the one he could sit and talk with about the old neighbourhood in Ur of the
Chaldees, ‘Remember when we used to go to the hamburger joint, Honey? Remember when the movies were 25 cents?’ I remember Burger Chef down by Northeast
High School was 10 cents for a hamburger and 15 cents for a cheeseburger. I told my kids you could pull up with a $20
bill and say ‘Give me 200 hamburgers.’ [loud laughter] Of course I could fill up my gas tank for 2
bucks then too. The years that had gone
by, every memory, drug her away from home, talked to her about the true and
living God, ‘the things he was saying to me, she never complained,
she lived without a house, she lived in a tent, she followed me from one place
to another, she listened to all the stuff I was saying that I had no proof for,
finally conceiving at 90 years old. The
times I lied and made her say she was my sister, laughing in the tent as God
was speaking to us.’ A real man and
a real woman, Abraham’s Sarah. He wept,
he came and he wept. That’s a lot of
years together, that’s a lot of years together.
Not there when she died, he comes and mourns. Abraham
Bargains With The Sons Of Heth For A Burial Place “And
Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying,”
these are Canaanites who live in the land,
“I am a stranger and a sojourner
with you: give me a possession of a
buryingplace with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.” (verses 3-4) ‘I am a stranger and a pilgrim, I’m a
foreigner, a sojourner, it’s not my place.’
All the land was his, God said ‘walk through the breadth of
it, I’m going to give it to you, from the River of the Euphrates all the way
down to Egypt, everything’s going to be yours.’ And he says to these guys ‘I’m a
stranger and a pilgrim, I’m a foreigner, it’s not my environment, I’m on a
journey, I’m traveling through, just give me a place here to bury my wife, my
family.’ What a testimony, his
wife followed him through that, not holding onto this world, not settling down
in this world, not groping at this world, followed this guy who God made all
these promises to, whose looking for a city whose builder and maker is God,
followed him to the end of her life. ‘I’m
a stranger, sojourner, give me a possession for the burying, that I may bury my
wife,’ “And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him, Hear
us, my lord: thou art a mighty
prince among us: in the choice of our
sepulchres bury thy dead; none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre,
but that thou mayest bury thy dead.” (verses 5-6) “thou art a mighty prince among us” the
Hebrew says “thou art a prince of God.”
Lot thought getting in with the people living next to him, rubbing
shoulders with them would open doors, open ways to witness. Abraham knew that staying separate and being
obedient to God was the way to have a testimony to the unsaved world. And they looked at him and said ‘Here’s
a guy who had a kid at 100, whose God just smote Sodom and Gomorrah, given him
incredible victories, you are a prince of God among us, Abraham. And the choice of our sepulchres bury your
dead, pick whatever you want,’ “none of us shall withhold from thee his
sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead.” Now they don’t really mean that, we’re going
to go into some Middle Eastern bargaining here.
They had said ‘just take what you want,’ if Abraham had said ‘0k,’
they’d have all gotten really mad. “And
Abraham stood up, and bowed himself to the people of the land, even to
the children of Heth. And he communed
with them, saying, If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my
sight; hear me, and intreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar,
that he may give me the cave of
Machpelah, which he hath, which is in the end of his field; for as much
money as it is worth he shall give it me for a possession of a buryingplace
amongst you.” (verses 7-9) Whatever the price is, I’ll pay the price for
the sepulchre. “And Ephron dwelt
among the children of Heth: and Ephron
the Hittite answered Abraham in the audience of the children of Heth, even
all that went in at the gate of the city, saying,
Nay, my lord, hear me: the field give I thee, and the cave that is
therein, I give it thee; in the presence of the sons of my people give I it
thee: bury thy dead.” (verses 10-11) Abraham’s not supposed to say ‘ok,’ you
have to understand the code here. “And
Abraham bowed down himself before the people of the land. And
he spake unto Ephron in the audience of the people of the land, saying, But if
thou wilt give it, I pray thee, hear me:
I will give thee money for the field; take it of me, and I will
bury my dead there.” (verses 12-13) “And Ephron answered Abraham, saying unto
him, My
lord, hearken unto me: the land is
worth four hundred shekels of silver; what is that betwixt me and
thee? bury therefore thy dead.” (verses 14-15)
now see, we’re getting to the bargaining now, if he really wanted to give it
away he wouldn’t have brought up what it was worth, and he’s hitting him high,
too. ‘Ephron answered Abraham
saying, My lord, just listen to me, I know the land’s worth 400 shekels of
silver, what is that between me and you, for a burying place for your dead?’ “And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and
Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had named in the audience of the
sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the
merchant.” (verse 16) Abraham knew
what he was asking for, Ephron expecting Abraham to counter-offer. “and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver,
which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels” pieces,
not coinage in those days “of silver, current money with the
merchant. And the field of Ephron, which
was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, and the cave
which was therein, and all the trees that were in the field, that
were in all the borders round about, were made sure.” (verses
16b-17) A deed was given to Abraham,
“Unto Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before
all that went in at the gate of the city.” (verse 18) so it was a legal
deed, “And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the
field of Machpelah before Mamre: the
same is Hebron in the land of Canaan.
And the field, and the cave that is therein, were made sure unto
Abraham for a possession of a buryingplace by the sons of Heth.” (verses 19-20) one of the most legitimate places in Israel
today, not so easy to get to Hebron these days, but there in a mosque you can
look way down, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, they’re buried there [not
sure where Joseph is buried, but it’s somewhere in Israel too], legitimate
site, amazing, waiting for the Resurrection, waiting to take possession of
everything that God had promised him, knowing that it will all be his one day,
because the Father offered his Son on Mount Moriah. In
closing But that’s the Good News, the Gospel. I know most of your faces, and I look around,
but understand this, if you’re here this evening, you don’t know God’s love,
try to understand that God loves you so much that he gave his only Son to die
in your place. All the time he had the
power to reach out, to stop it, when his Son was crying out in Gethsemane,
sweating great drops of blood, asking that the cup, the cup of God’s wrath that
was poured out without admixture, would be taken, heaven was silent. The only thing that happened is angels came
to strengthen him that he might continue in his agony. It was a cold night, we’re told, because they
were standing by the fire, and Jesus was sweating great drops of blood. The Romans came and took him, blindfolded,
beat him beyond human recognition, and the Father in heaven could have stopped
that at any point, he had the power, but his eyes were on you, and your sinful
life, and my sinful life, all of our failings.
They took him and they mocked him, they scourged him, they probably
ripped his skin off, his flesh down to his ribs, down to his bowels, and the
Father remained silent, because that was the pathway to your salvation. They put a crown of thorns on his head, they
whipped him and spit on him, and the Father remained silent. And they led him out to crucify him, and
finally all of your sin, not most of your sin, all of your sin, past, present
and future, all of your sin, you weren’t born yet, all of your sin was future
then, all of your sin, yesterdays, tomorrows were laid upon Christ on the
cross, the sin of the world. And it
separated him from his Father, the sky went black for three hours. And out of the darkness he cried ‘My
God, my God, why, where are you, why am I cut off, why have you forsaken
me?’ And some mystery that we’ll
never understand, and no cinematographer can ever capture, God’s answer to his
Son was fire. That’s why on Mount
Carmel, when the fire fell, it ate up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, the
water and left a hole smoldering in the ground, because all of it was settled
on the cross, and Jesus would cry out ‘It is finished, finished.’ All of your sin is paid for, I don’t
care what you’ve done, I don’t care how black you think your sin is, I don’t
care if you’ve murdered people, I don’t care what you’ve done, I don’t care
what your addiction is, I don’t care how far you think you are from God, I know
this, that God loves you so much that he sent his Son to die in your
place. You don’t deserve it, you’re not
worthy of it, you’ll never earn it, he did it, not because of who you are, but
because of who he is. And he sent his
Son to die in your place, and my place.
You can’t earn it, you have to stay back and let the Father and the Son
go there and settle all of your sin alone, without your help, without your
contribution, without you putting stars on the refrigerator, without you
singing Sunday school songs or putting in stained glass windows, there ain’t
nothing you can do, because you are lost and hopeless except for the love and salvation
of Almighty God. But that is offered to
you freely. Your decision is to reject
it or accept it. Don’t stand around
saying how can a God of love send people to hell, no, no, no, a God of love has
made an open pathway for any sinner, that no matter how wretched they are, to
freely go to heaven [or into the kingdom of heaven] forgiven, cleansed. For you and I as believers, that’s why it’s
so insane for us to sin against the Father, the price that has been paid, he’s
given us his Holy Spirit, and he’s given us his Word. I’m going to have the musicians come, we’ll
sing a last song. But look, my
encouragement to everybody, you know, you read through this, you read Psalm 69,
Psalm 22, Isaiah 53, the crucifixion scenes, and try to understand from the
Father’s point of view. Because I would
have done anything to pull my Joshua out of his bleeding and his suffering,
anything, I’d have given my own life.
And God the Father who could have stopped it, who had all power and all
authority, sat by silently so that your sins could be carried and paid for on
his own dear Son. And there is no
greater demonstration of love in time or eternity…[transcript of a connective
expository sermon on Genesis 22:1-24 and Genesis 23:1-20, given by Pastor Joe
Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia,
PA 19116] related
links: Audio
version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED531 |