With what is happening in our world today, it is so important to know your Bible; to continue to trust in God as He sets the stage for Christ’s return to claim his bride.
As we return this week I think we’ve spent enough time on Law and Grace for the time being. It will be coming up as we move down the pike. So in the mean time, get your Bible, notebook and pen and let’s move on into Genesis, chapter 22.
Of course years have gone by and Isaac is now probably a late teenager, or maybe even twenty. And God is going to put poor old Abraham through another tremendous test.
Now as a rule when I deal with new believers the first thing I warn them is that God is going to test their faith. It’s typical all through scripture. And Abraham is no exception.
You want to remember after waiting all those years when Ishmael came on the scene, how do you think he felt when God said, send him away. Abraham loved Ishmael. It was an excruciating experience for the man. I know it was.
Now he’s gotten attached to the other young man, Isaac. And now what does God tell him to do? Kill him. Imagine what the man, Abraham, must have gone through.
Genesis 22:1-2
“22 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt (test) 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.“
The reason why I emphasize only son, is because as far as God is concerned Ishmael doesn’t even count as a son. God is only concerned with Isaac because through Isaac the Nation of Israel and the Messiah will come. So I want you to take special note of that where he says, take now thy son, thine only son Isaac.
Now God new the heart of Abraham and knew who much he loved Isaac and told him to go to Mt. Moriah. If you go to Israel and go to Mt. Moriah, and when you get inside that Shrine, coming up out of what we would call the basement is this huge rock. A Mosque has been built around it. It is supposedly the rock where Abraham was to offer Isaac. But the point I’m making is Mt. Moriah is the very same place in scripture where Solomon’s Temple rested. So all of this when you are dealing with Israel is specific in time, in prophecy, in everything.
Verse 3-4
“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 (carried) 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.”
The third day should immediately tell us something. What is this going to be a picture of? Of course, Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.
Verse 5
“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.”
What did Abraham know? That even if Isaac’s life had to be taken all Abraham had to do is believe. This is the total picture of what Christ would accomplish o the cross. Typically I think we are perfectly correct in saying that Isaac is a type here of Christ. Abraham is a type of God the Father; you have that same love relationship and sacrifice situation in both instances.
Verse 6-7
“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?”
Remember Isaac is about 18 or 20, and I’m sure he has been witness to more than one sacrifice in order for worship in the ancient. So Isaac had a question, where is the lamb? Now the amazing thing is Abraham doesn’t say at this point, well Isaac it’s going to be you. But what does Abraham say? God will provide.
Verse 8-9
“8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. 9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.”
So when you have a strapping 18 or 20 year old, what could you expect about now? This is one really good instance in which the Son could have really whipped his father. But does he? No. Complete obedience.
Now again, take this two thousand years into the future when it came time for those Romans to begin whipping Jesus and scourging Him, and pulling out His beard, slapping that crown of thorns on His head; what could Christ had done? He could have done the same thing. He could have rebelled and throne it all aside. The scripture says he could have called down ten legions of angels. But in complete obedience he suffered at the hands of all the infidels and of the raging religionist of His day. And he went to the cross.
So did Isaac obediently let Abraham bind him, and lay him upon the altar.
Verse 10-12
“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.“
Here is that term again, and the angel of the LORD. Who is it? It’s Jehovah, God the Son. He is not Jesus in the Old Testament because the Bible doesn’t. But He is God the Son.
Now let’s bring this into the life of a believer. Do believers suffer? Some of them have gone through tremendous suffering. But you know if you are a true believer, no matter what may come your way, will have the best attitude, the happiest disposition. The reason God brings times of testing and tribulation is to test our metal. Because what will a lot of people do? They get bitter, angry, and rebellious. But the true heart when hard times come God becomes all the more precious. This is what we all have to learn.
We have been through some trying times. And God brought us through it.
Just as most of you have been through some trying times. So you know what I’m talking about. God is not going to let us escape our problems, but He will be our host as we go through them.
How do we know God loves us is because He put Christ on the cross. The only thing that would put Him there was the love of God and the sin of mankind.
Verse 13
“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.”
You almost have to wonder if he wasn’t expecting something like this way up there in verse 8, when he said, God will provide. I think he must have known. But there caught in the thicket was this ram. God has never changed.
Go back with me if you will to Genesis, chapter 4. Remember our time-line how I should you, over and over the situation changed from Man’s point of view; his responsibilities changed, but God never changed. In fact, I’ll make no apology for I believe in the dispensational approach to Bible Study, and only from that approach for it is the easiest way to understand scripture.
The best illustration I’ve run across is our own presidential administrations. I like to use Carter and Reagan for they are the best two for comparison I can think of. Here you had four years of President Carter; his administration is of Carter’s ideologies. Then comes Reagan, almost totally opposite in his approach to politics and his administration. But they were both laboring under the same constitution. The constitution didn’t change but the administrations did. And every time we get a new president we have a new administration for all practical purposes; things are going to change, but the constitution, never.
Same thing here in scripture; things may change and are drastically different coming out of the garden than when they were in the garden. It was drastically different with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob coming under the law. It was far different coming out of law and under grace. But God never changes.
Genesis 4: God is dealing with Cain. Remember God had told them if they sin (remember they didn’t have Law but conscious) and their conscious convicted them of having committed a wrong to bring a blood sacrifice God would accept them. Abel did, but Cain did not. Cain rationalized and said, why should I go someplace and barter for a lamb if I can just make a sacrifice of things I have grown. If I make it beautiful and take the trouble to go and approach God with it, Cain said, surely I’ll be accepted. But he wasn’t. Because he didn’t do what God said to do so Cain was destitute to faith.
We pick up the context in verse 5 of Genesis, 4.
Verse 5
“5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth (angry), and his countenance fell.”
Have you ever seen someone get angry and you can just see it all over them? Well, that was Cain and God saw it.
Verse 6
“6 And the Lord (Jehovah) said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?”
Cain can’t you comprehend how much I want you to get right with me? You see God is always anxious for the sinner to make reconciliation.
Verse 7
“7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.”
In other words, if you bring me a blood sacrifice like Able did, shall you not be accepted? Of course he would. But like I told you, Cain was evidently a farmer and had no access to sacrificial animals unless he barters with his brother. And you see pride comes into the picture as he wasn’t about to do that.
So God goes one step farther…God knowing that Cain doesn’t want to have to go to his brother he says, all right Cain, I’ll tell you want I have done. I have provided a sacrifice for you at your door – Just like God did for Abraham in Genesis where He provided the ram – So look what God says, if you don’t have a sin offering I will provide one for you. The Hebrew word for sin is the same as sin-offering is ASHAM, the offering I provide will be a lamb that will not fight with you. That lamb will be perfecting willing to let you pick him up and bring him to me as a sacrifice.
God has never changed.
Come back to Genesis, in chapter 22:13
“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.”
I know Abraham had no problem taking that Ram from the thicket to the altar.
Verse 14, of chapter 22.
“14 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.”
Jehovah Jireh, The LORD will provide or the LORD the provider.
Verse 15-18
“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.”
Here is a repetition of the Abrahamic Covenant back in chapter 12. Here is covenant ground. I keep hammering away at the covenants because if you don’t understand them back in the Old Testament, it’s awfully hard to comprehend what we talk about even in the New.
Verse 19-20
“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;”
Now remember where Nahor is, he is up in Syria, north of present day Damascus.
Verse 21-24 is merely to let us know that Bethuel begat Rebekah. She will be coming on the scene as Isaac’s wife before long.
“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.“
Now as we go into chapter 23 with the few moments we have left, there is an interesting little tidbit here in verse 1.
Genesis 23:1
“23 And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old (127 years old): these were the years of the life of Sarah.”
You may read over that casualty and think so what? But you know what is interesting about that? Sarah is the only woman in the book from cover to cover whose age is given. We have ages of many men, but she is the only woman to give an age of death.
Well Sarah dies and here Abraham has had the whole Middle-East already deeded to him back in chapter 15. But in spite of that he still needs to buy and negotiate an attractive land to bury his wife, Sarah.
So you will come through the chapter and again I’m not going to take time to go verse by verse, but I want you to look at verse 11 with me.
Verse 11-12, chapter 23
“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.“
This is the field from Ephron the Hittite.
Verse 13-14
“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,”
I think it is interesting here that Abraham is not satisfied with accepting a certain amount of acres free for nothing; although he could have. He insisted on paying for it. You can even pick this up within our present day Jew. When it comes to the burial of their dead they are very particular about where they bury their loved ones. So much of the Old Testament still rings true today.
Verse 15-16
“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.”
When you look at scripture you really can find humor. Here Abraham wanted to pay. Ephron wanted to give as a gift so Abraham could bury his dead and then Ephron said the land was worth four hundred shekels of silver. End of story. Abraham ended up paying the value of the land and it was then settled.
Verse 17
“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”
In other words, they surveyed it and Abraham bought it and it became the burial place. Now it isn’t going to be just Sarah’s burial place, but Abraham will also be buried there, Isaac will be buried there and I think Rebecca will be buried there as well.
Verse 18-20
“18 Unto Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the gate of his 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.“
As we move forward into chapter 24, we will be going for a bride for Isaac. As we conclude this lesson I want you to remember that Abraham came down from Haran to Canaan, where we are now. But as we go into chapter 24, he will send a servant to go back up to the land of his relatives. Which now we know as Syrians in order to get a bride for Isaac. Now, why go back into a far country when you know they are all kinds of women in Canaan? What was the reason? Thou shalt not take a Canaanite for a wife for Isaac. Then you will find as we go on a little farther that when Esau comes on the scene, (Twin Brothers, Jacob and Esau) Esau married two Canaanite women. And what does the scripture say, They were a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebecca; because Esau had married Canaanite women. So keep all these things in your perspective of scripture for now God is preparing everything for the covenant people of Israel. He just has them under his thumb. But the Nation of Israel today is still in unbelief, and contrary to everything that we think they should be. But they are still under the sovereign thumb of their God. Because God is watching for Israel for they are still the covenant people. Even back here God had to make sure who they married.
Until next week.
Marantha -The Lord is Coming Soon.
Permission given by Les Feldick.
Being Blount! 