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Oct. 7, 2018 | 20th Sunday after Pentecost

The Lord Will Provide a Lamb
• Genesis 22:1–18 • Hebrews 11:17–19

T HIS STORY MAY BE the scariest story in the Bible for children. When boys and girls hear it they might ask, “Would God ask my parents to kill me? And a second question: “If God did ask, would they do it?” It is a scary story — God looks really threatening — but I promise it has a happy ending.

Parents, hold hands with your children as I share the story with you.

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ONE DAY, GOD TOLD ABRAHAM to take Isaac up to Mount Moriah and offer him as a burnt sacrifice on an altar. Although Abraham loved his son very much, he obeyed. He took Isaac and two servants. They made the long trip to Mount Moriah. They carried up the mountain, a knife, some wood, and some fire to light the wood. When they could see the place of sacrifice ahead, Abraham left the servants behind. He and Isaac continued alone.

Isaac asked his dad, “Where is the lamb we are going to offer?”

Abraham answered, “My son, God will give us the lamb to sacrifice.”

When they arrived, Abraham built an altar and arranged wood on it. Then he tied Isaac up and laid him on the wood. He raised the knife to kill Isaac, but at the last moment the Angel of the Lord interrupted, “No! Don’t hurt your son. I see that you really do love and trust me. You were even willing to give me your precious only son.”

Just then Abraham saw a ram caught in a bush nearby. He sacrificed the ram to God and named that place “The Lord Will Provide”. They returned home. Abraham had passed God’s test, and Isaac did not have to die.

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ISAAC WAS NEVER IN DANGER. God had other plans (there was a ram hidden in the bushes). In those days, other religions insisted that parents sacrifice their first child to their god. God, however, did not, does not, and never will want parents to sacrifice their children to please God. Given that, this scary story is actually a wonderful, happy story. Parents and children give each other hugs. The whole congregation to say “Alleluia!”

At least since the 3rd century, the Church has made a connection between Jesus and this story known as the binding of Isaac.

■ Both Jesus and Isaac are promised-children. They are miraculously conceived gifts from God (neither mother was supposed to be able to give birth).

■ In both stories, Jesus and Isaac are explicitly identified as their father’s special “one and only son.”

■ Jesus and Isaac were to be sacrificed in the same location (hills of Moriah). Same as the hill on which Golgotha was located.

■ Both Jesus and Isaac carried the wood up the hill that they were to be sacrificed on Isaac the wood for the fire; Jesus the cross

■ Both Jesus and Isaac submitted to their father’s will to be sacrificed

■ Jesus and Isaac were expected by their fathers to be resurrected by God.

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WE SEE IN HEBREWS that Abraham had been told, “Your legitimate descendants will come from Isaac.” Abraham figured that God could even raise Isaac from the dead. So in a way Abraham did receive Isaac back from the dead.

This Isaac story and the story of Jesus Christ share many similarities. But there is a difference, a big difference: Isaac did not die. Isaac was allowed to live.

This is where the imagery changes. At the ending of the story, instead of Jesus being like Jesus, we are like Isaac. That day on Mount Moriah Isaac’s life is spared. An angel intervenes and tells Abraham to stop. Abraham sees a ram caught in a thorn bush and offers it instead as a sacrifice pleasing to God. God provided a ram as a substitute for the death of Isaac.

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A SACRIFICE FOR SIN is an important theme found throughout Scripture because “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” In the Old Testament, animals were used as sacrifice. Often it was a lamb. We understand from the Bible that the payment for sin is death. And that we are sinners, each one of us.

The cost of being a sinner is death. But we have been allowed to live. Our lives have been spared. A sacrifice has been offered in our place. As with Isaac, God freely provided a sacrifice. For Isaac, it was a ram caught in a thorn bush. For us it is God’s son, Jesus Christ.

In the New Testament Jesus is called “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” God became flesh and lived among us. That is Jesus. And now we see the central reason why: to take away the sin of the world. Romans 3:25 — God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement (payment, compensation, reparation) through the shedding of his blood ….

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WE HAVE BEEN SPARED the death. We have been given freedom instead of bondage. We have been given life instead of death. We have not earned this pardon. It is given as a gift — a gift from God — God who loves us with great sacrificial love. A ram caught in a thorn bush is a gift from God that spares Isaac’s life. Jesus under a crown of thorns is God’s gift that spares our lives.

A gift is something you don’t earn, and can’t earn.
A free gift is a matter of mercy and grace.
A gift is something offered, not deserved.

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WHEN JOHN WROTE his first letter to the early Christians, he put it like this (1 John 3:5): “You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.” The reason why the Son of God appeared — the reason the Word became flesh — the reason why God came to us in human flesh was to take away sin, your sin, my sin, the sins of the world. Jesus could do this because he was sinless. Jesus who was sinless took on our sin. He bore our sins on the cross. That day we died to sin. We were given life.

We no longer offer animal sacrifices. Jesus Christ was the ultimate and perfect sacrifice for our sins. In Jesus Christ we are loved. In Jesus Christ’s death we are forgiven. In Christ’s resurrection, we have new life.

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THE TABLE IS A REMINDER of the sacrifice of our Lord for us. The bread is his body given for us. The cup is the blood of Jesus shed for us. He did not sin but he took on our sin. He was innocent but he took on our guilt. He did not deserve to die, but he died in our place. Jesus took on death that we might have life.

The Table is a celebration. This is a celebration of the loving sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away our sins. We have not earned the right to receive this meal. It is a gift. God’s gift to us. The Lord’s Supper is thanksgiving and remembrance for the self-offering of Jesus Christ once and for all time on a cross in Jerusalem.

We remember Christ’s perfect sacrifice of love and service. We offer our praise and thanksgiving to God for this amazing gift.

— Keith Cardwell

Genesis 22:1–18
Holy Bible, New International Version

Abraham Tested
22 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

²Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love — Isaac — and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

³Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. ⁴On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. ⁵He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”

⁶Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, ⁷Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”

“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.

“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

⁸Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

⁹When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. ¹⁰Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. ¹¹But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

¹²“Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

¹³Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram^[a] caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”

¹⁵The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time ¹⁶and said, “I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, ¹⁷I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, ¹⁸and through your offspring^[b] all nations on earth will be blessed,^[c] because you have obeyed me.”

— This is the Word of the LORD.

Footnotes:

a. Genesis 22:13 Many manuscripts of the Masoretic Text, Samaritan Pentateuch, Septuagint and Syriac; most manuscripts of the Masoretic Text a ram behind him
b. Genesis 22:18 Or seed
c. Genesis 22:18 Or and all nations on earth will use the name of your offspring in blessings (see 48:20)

Hebrews 11:17–19
Holy Bible, New International Version

¹⁷By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, ¹⁸even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”^[a] ¹⁹Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.