WEBVTT 00:00:00.820 --> 00:00:02.720 I'm going to invite you to Genesis. 00:00:02.920 --> 00:00:07.220 Chapter 22 is where we're going to be together today, Genesis chapter 22. 00:00:07.260 --> 00:00:14.700 And we're really this is, when dealing with Genesis 22, really the last big event where God is engaging relationally with Abraham. 00:00:15.400 --> 00:00:18.540 Abraham, the story of Abraham ends in Genesis 25. 00:00:18.680 --> 00:00:25.740 And then we follow beyond that in Genesis chapter 23 to 25 is really the passing of a torch from one generation to the 00:00:25.740 --> 00:00:26.290 next. 00:00:26.800 --> 00:00:33.120 but this is really the last big event that we're reading of God's interaction with Abraham in Genesis chapter 22. 00:00:33.200 --> 00:00:40.220 And one of the things that we've recognized as we've studied the life of Abraham together is how far along God has brought Abraham on this 00:00:40.220 --> 00:00:40.840 journey. 00:00:41.220 --> 00:00:44.810 And when we talk about God bringing Abraham along on this journey, we're not just talking about miles traveled. 00:00:44.980 --> 00:00:52.470 Abraham has certainly traveled many Miles and his relationship with the Lord, but we're talking about his faith journey and how God has nurtured, 00:00:53.220 --> 00:00:55.830 his relationship with him in Abraham. 00:00:56.140 --> 00:00:57.680 And it hasn't been perfect, right? 00:00:57.680 --> 00:01:04.920 Abraham probably wishes he had a few do overs and how he's lived his life, and it's but it's really more reflective 00:01:04.920 --> 00:01:07.120 of anyone's relationship with the Lord. 00:01:07.120 --> 00:01:10.060 Just because you come to know the Lord doesn't mean you've got it all figured out. 00:01:10.060 --> 00:01:14.070 And your theology of who God is perfect, and in your practice of that is perfect. 00:01:14.520 --> 00:01:19.180 We're all in a in a journey together of what it looks like to honor God with our lives. 00:01:19.600 --> 00:01:20.280 And Abraham. 00:01:20.280 --> 00:01:23.500 He has some places in his life that just reflects that his. 00:01:23.560 --> 00:01:29.260 It wasn't always perfect with the Lord in terms of his running away to Egypt with and giving Sarah to Pharaoh. 00:01:29.260 --> 00:01:34.940 And he did it again with King Abimelech, and gave Sarah to King Abimelech, and then his relationship to Hagar. 00:01:35.400 --> 00:01:43.020 It wasn't perfect, but the direction of Abraham's life was one that he ultimately wanted to honor God, and it was demonstrated by his willingness to 00:01:43.020 --> 00:01:48.110 give up the comforts of where he lived in order to pursue where God was calling him. 00:01:49.060 --> 00:01:56.600 And through that, we we've learned about what it means in our own life to walk with God and how God meets us in our brokenness, 00:01:57.340 --> 00:02:02.680 alienated from him, to offer his grace that we may know him and walk with him all of our days. 00:02:03.020 --> 00:02:06.660 And when you get to Genesis chapter 22, Genesis 22 is a doozy. 00:02:07.000 --> 00:02:11.120 And I you know, if you were here last week, we talked about Genesis 21. 00:02:11.240 --> 00:02:18.560 It's like it's no wonder Genesis 21 was such a docile chapter in comparison to what we know was waiting in Genesis 22, because when 00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:23.200 we read Genesis 21, the big takeaway, was God, Abraham planted a tree. 00:02:23.560 --> 00:02:26.540 That was the big takeaway. 00:02:26.540 --> 00:02:26.540 Abraham planted a tree. 00:02:26.540 --> 00:02:29.350 And now Genesis 22, we're going to be dealing with something much bigger. 00:02:29.760 --> 00:02:33.980 This is the chapter where Abraham offers Isaac as a sacrifice. 00:02:34.920 --> 00:02:38.940 And so the big question for you today is what do you do with Genesis 22? 00:02:39.300 --> 00:02:41.740 Abraham offers Isaac as a sacrifice. 00:02:41.740 --> 00:02:47.140 That is a very challenging chapter, especially in light of any other time in history. 00:02:47.160 --> 00:02:48.040 You try to do that today. 00:02:48.100 --> 00:02:49.120 You go to jail, right? 00:02:49.120 --> 00:02:52.380 Like how do you relate a chapter like this to your life? 00:02:52.440 --> 00:02:54.820 And what does it mean for us like this? 00:02:54.920 --> 00:03:00.220 This could challenge your thinking of who God is, and your relationship with him. 00:03:00.260 --> 00:03:01.000 You certainly. 00:03:01.000 --> 00:03:05.220 If you follow after the Lord, you need to reconcile a chapter like this on what it means for you. 00:03:05.360 --> 00:03:08.800 And not only that, but other people might have questions too. 00:03:08.800 --> 00:03:10.960 I mean, if you ever pick up the Bible and read it, you get to 22. 00:03:11.060 --> 00:03:12.020 You should have some questions. 00:03:12.300 --> 00:03:12.620 Right? 00:03:12.620 --> 00:03:16.260 And so if other people have questions, what do you say to them about a chapter like this? 00:03:16.360 --> 00:03:19.860 If you claim to follow after the Lord, what does it mean for you? 00:03:20.540 --> 00:03:25.100 And so this is a powerful chapter of the Bible. 00:03:25.500 --> 00:03:29.620 But to be honest, theologians throughout the centuries have wrestled with this. 00:03:29.620 --> 00:03:33.240 Some have labeled this as one of the most challenging chapters in all of the Bible. 00:03:33.700 --> 00:03:37.720 one one theologian by the name of Soren Kierkegaard is noted as this. 00:03:37.880 --> 00:03:40.320 This, for him was the most difficult chapter. 00:03:40.320 --> 00:03:42.020 He describes it that way. 00:03:42.080 --> 00:03:47.680 He talks about coming to this in fear and trembling, in how he engages a passage like this. 00:03:47.760 --> 00:03:55.000 You know, one of the things that I have learned to appreciate in my faith journey as I've studied God's Word, is that some of the most challenging chapters of the Bible 00:03:55.000 --> 00:04:01.490 render some of the most beautiful fruits that, rather than just kind of one off and answer and run away from it or pretend like it doesn't exist. 00:04:01.820 --> 00:04:08.840 If I actually engage it and I plunge the depths of what Scripture is saying here, I find those chapters of the Bible are some of the most cherished 00:04:08.840 --> 00:04:12.700 for me, and what it means for my own relationship with the Lord. 00:04:12.920 --> 00:04:15.150 And no doubt God is using a story. 00:04:15.480 --> 00:04:20.720 That is, it is shocking the way that God presents this story. 00:04:20.899 --> 00:04:27.900 But I think the idea of the nature of this story is intended to really awaken our soul to the importance of 00:04:27.900 --> 00:04:29.420 what's taking place here. 00:04:29.480 --> 00:04:34.190 So the key question for you today, what do you do with Genesis 22? 00:04:34.880 --> 00:04:36.350 And let me just give you point number one in your notes. 00:04:37.740 --> 00:04:41.220 Acknowledge the challenge of following after the Lord. 00:04:42.060 --> 00:04:48.640 I love that, relationship with walking, walking with the Lord and after the Lord. 00:04:48.740 --> 00:04:53.120 It's got complexity and there's a mess to it, and I don't think it's necessarily on God's part. 00:04:53.120 --> 00:05:00.080 I think it's our part, but God is big enough God to handle the challenges that we experience and for us to acknowledge that before. 00:05:00.160 --> 00:05:02.210 For him when you face hard times. 00:05:02.660 --> 00:05:03.860 God's big. 00:05:03.860 --> 00:05:11.080 God's grander than your problems, and just being honest with God with those challenges is important to acknowledge the challenges of following after 00:05:11.080 --> 00:05:11.580 the Lord. 00:05:11.800 --> 00:05:13.910 That's something we try to create here in our own culture. 00:05:14.440 --> 00:05:21.180 And the next couple of weeks I'll introduce to you Christianity 101, anyone that's new to the Christian faith, or maybe even been a Christian for a while. 00:05:21.180 --> 00:05:28.340 If you want to be a part of a class where we spend five weeks looking over the major beliefs of Christianity, we'll spend five weeks talking about that, and we want to create 00:05:28.340 --> 00:05:30.380 it as an environment that you can ask questions. 00:05:30.700 --> 00:05:32.540 That's how you learn and grow where you're curious. 00:05:33.280 --> 00:05:33.440 Right? 00:05:33.500 --> 00:05:37.680 And I think God desires that of us, that we would be challenged. 00:05:37.940 --> 00:05:43.380 God gave you a mind for a reason and we would learn and so acknowledge the challenges before the Lord. 00:05:43.440 --> 00:05:47.020 In fact, Genesis chapter 22, verse one, it starts off that way. 00:05:47.140 --> 00:05:53.960 And the way that God speaks to Abraham and says, after these things, God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham. 00:05:53.960 --> 00:05:55.400 And he said, here I am. 00:05:56.120 --> 00:06:00.800 So it's telling you something about the nature of this passage, that there's something bigger taking place here. 00:06:00.860 --> 00:06:08.460 And the word tested sort of sets the framework for our understanding of how we might work through this passage, that God is doing something specific 00:06:08.460 --> 00:06:13.160 and the challenge that he's bringing to Abraham, he is testing him. 00:06:13.160 --> 00:06:14.580 And so this tempers the story. 00:06:15.560 --> 00:06:21.920 But when you read this thought that God is testing Abraham, I think it's also important to recognize what kind of test are we talking about? 00:06:23.000 --> 00:06:26.600 because there's a way in which God tests us that I think is important in Scripture. 00:06:26.640 --> 00:06:29.880 But there's also another way that we might think in terms of testing that God does not do. 00:06:30.580 --> 00:06:37.600 In fact, if you want to find a chapter of the Bible that speaks very plainly about this, it's Genesis chapter one, the way Genesis or excuse 00:06:37.600 --> 00:06:41.980 me, James chapter one, the way James chapter one starts as, considered all joy. 00:06:41.980 --> 00:06:47.260 My brothers, when you endure various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 00:06:47.720 --> 00:06:49.970 So James talks about the testing of our faith. 00:06:50.160 --> 00:06:54.600 But then in verse 12, it goes on a little bit later and says, God tempts no one. 00:06:55.300 --> 00:07:01.800 So in terms of testing, testing is not this idea of temptation, because God's interest is not in your failure. 00:07:02.440 --> 00:07:04.500 There's a few different ways in which we approach this. 00:07:04.540 --> 00:07:10.330 The thought of testing in culture, you if you growing up going to school, you took a test. 00:07:10.400 --> 00:07:11.790 A test is about a pass fail. 00:07:11.980 --> 00:07:14.440 You find out right where you're at in the midst of a test, right? 00:07:14.740 --> 00:07:16.120 You either move on or you fail. 00:07:16.160 --> 00:07:16.280 Right. 00:07:16.400 --> 00:07:18.280 That's how testing works. 00:07:18.280 --> 00:07:19.340 You go get your driver's test. 00:07:19.740 --> 00:07:20.760 It's a pass fail. 00:07:20.760 --> 00:07:22.980 You're either good enough or you're not right. 00:07:23.120 --> 00:07:24.280 That's how that works. 00:07:24.280 --> 00:07:24.990 You got to do it again. 00:07:26.060 --> 00:07:31.260 but there's another type of testing that just simply reveals where you are, right? 00:07:31.260 --> 00:07:33.660 Like, you go to a doctor for some testing. 00:07:33.820 --> 00:07:39.380 It's not about trying to fail you because no one wants you to fail in your health, or at least no one that cares about you wants to fail. 00:07:39.480 --> 00:07:42.960 But it's about understanding where you are and trying to improve upon that. 00:07:43.760 --> 00:07:50.320 And in terms of Genesis chapter 22, this is what it's saying for Abraham, God's not here to fail Abraham. 00:07:50.320 --> 00:07:51.240 That's God's desire at all. 00:07:51.240 --> 00:07:52.900 God's desire for you is for your success. 00:07:53.160 --> 00:07:55.590 God's desire for you is a relationship with him. 00:07:55.960 --> 00:08:00.740 But there are times in our lives where we can fool ourselves into thinking that we're in a position that we're not. 00:08:01.340 --> 00:08:06.110 Anyone can really fake a healthy relationship with God when things are going well. 00:08:06.700 --> 00:08:11.920 But the question is, when you face a challenge, what do you really depend on? 00:08:12.760 --> 00:08:16.280 Do you lean into the Lord or do you trust in other things? 00:08:17.360 --> 00:08:21.180 And for Abraham, that's what he's about to discover in this story. 00:08:22.040 --> 00:08:25.440 Now, the magnitude of what God says here is shocking, right? 00:08:25.740 --> 00:08:27.540 It's shocking for a few reasons. 00:08:27.960 --> 00:08:34.980 One, because when God tells Abraham, offer Isaac as a sacrifice, it's shocking to us and trying to figure out, okay, how do we respond to this? 00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:42.320 In light of my understanding of the nature of who God is and the promises of God that he delivers to his people, do I even know 00:08:42.320 --> 00:08:42.669 God? 00:08:42.960 --> 00:08:43.299 Right. 00:08:43.299 --> 00:08:44.820 Those kind of questions you might. 00:08:44.820 --> 00:08:46.370 Okay, why do I got to deal with the nature of God? 00:08:46.780 --> 00:08:53.560 But then two it also causes us to examine really the frailty and the importance of life. 00:08:54.920 --> 00:08:55.830 And life is important. 00:08:56.040 --> 00:08:58.340 We don't want to take this just half heartedly. 00:08:59.200 --> 00:09:00.260 Abraham is especially. 00:09:00.260 --> 00:09:05.110 He's waited on Isaac well for several decades in the promise that God gave him. 00:09:05.320 --> 00:09:07.560 And all of a sudden God's asking this of him. 00:09:08.460 --> 00:09:15.500 There's a Psalm 90, verse 12, where the psalmist says, Lord, teach us to number our days, that 00:09:15.500 --> 00:09:17.840 we may gain a heart of wisdom. 00:09:18.700 --> 00:09:21.000 And I think about the importance of the life that God has given me. 00:09:21.000 --> 00:09:28.080 So I really have a healthy perspective of what I should be doing and how I should cherish what God has given me. 00:09:28.500 --> 00:09:32.320 And so it shocks us in the terms of the significance of life. 00:09:32.720 --> 00:09:37.290 But it also wakens us up to ask the question, what are we really trusting in? 00:09:38.120 --> 00:09:43.580 You're going to leave this world the same way that you came into it, and you and the Lord, right? 00:09:43.580 --> 00:09:47.260 Like just you and your bare behind and God face to face. 00:09:47.260 --> 00:09:50.940 But we cling to things in life as if that's the ultimate prize. 00:09:51.000 --> 00:09:58.640 This thought of possessions or position or power or people and relationship. 00:09:58.900 --> 00:10:04.690 We oftentimes can easily try to find our identity, our worth, our purpose and those things. 00:10:05.880 --> 00:10:09.560 But when we realize, like, none of that goes with you. 00:10:10.500 --> 00:10:11.120 So what? 00:10:11.300 --> 00:10:14.090 What is more sacred is what endures forever. 00:10:14.320 --> 00:10:17.200 And there's nothing that trumps your relationship with God. 00:10:18.080 --> 00:10:25.560 And in fact, to prioritize the truth of who God is and truth in general and what is absolute truth. 00:10:25.780 --> 00:10:26.700 And determine to yourself. 00:10:26.700 --> 00:10:31.000 I'm going to stand for that regardless of these other things, power or money. 00:10:31.740 --> 00:10:37.410 That if your life is about truth, power, money, whatever possessions, relationships, those things will all come in time. 00:10:37.660 --> 00:10:44.880 But if your life is about understanding the truth, the absolute truth of what life is about, nothing else can tempt 00:10:44.880 --> 00:10:45.200 you. 00:10:45.880 --> 00:10:47.180 And power can come your way. 00:10:47.180 --> 00:10:51.600 But it won't tempt you from straying from the Lord because you've prioritized what matters more. 00:10:52.200 --> 00:10:57.280 And for Abraham, there's nothing more important in value than the life of his child. 00:10:58.340 --> 00:11:05.680 I mean, he gave up everything from where he was from to pursue this promise that God had given him, that through him 00:11:05.680 --> 00:11:07.880 would come one that would bless all nations. 00:11:08.740 --> 00:11:10.370 And God has finally delivered a child. 00:11:11.640 --> 00:11:18.780 And so for Abraham to willingly turn that over to the Lord as a demonstration of where his relationship with God ultimately 00:11:18.780 --> 00:11:23.410 is God, either I'm depending on you or not. 00:11:23.520 --> 00:11:27.260 And so the questions for us where do you prioritize God in your life? 00:11:28.900 --> 00:11:32.120 Or is anything more important to you than the Lord? 00:11:32.600 --> 00:11:36.050 We put things in his hands rather than than than ours. 00:11:36.620 --> 00:11:37.760 Nothing can tempt you. 00:11:39.000 --> 00:11:46.500 On the other hand, when we worry about the cost or the loss of something or what might happen or, what 00:11:46.500 --> 00:11:47.860 are the steps if I follow? 00:11:47.860 --> 00:11:54.470 Like, try to try to think of every anticipation of all the things before us without just simply trusting the Lord and knowing he's enough. 00:11:54.600 --> 00:11:59.500 We run the risk of losing focus of where God is calling us in him. 00:12:01.100 --> 00:12:08.280 And not only that, when we start to read what God says to Abraham here, this is the first time God gives Abraham a 00:12:08.280 --> 00:12:12.840 command without a promise of a blessing on the back end. 00:12:13.720 --> 00:12:19.600 What I mean this is the first time that God is giving Abraham a command without promising an immediate gift. 00:12:21.820 --> 00:12:26.180 Would you be willing to follow after the Lord without any immediate kickback? 00:12:27.100 --> 00:12:31.740 Will you follow the Lord if God alone is the prize? 00:12:33.520 --> 00:12:34.980 Is your price? 00:12:35.920 --> 00:12:36.940 Is he enough? 00:12:38.060 --> 00:12:41.110 Do you trust that God alone is able to satisfy? 00:12:42.520 --> 00:12:46.600 And when you read the book of Second Corinthians, Paul wrestles with that idea. 00:12:47.320 --> 00:12:47.930 What is sufficient? 00:12:48.800 --> 00:12:49.460 Am I sufficient? 00:12:50.620 --> 00:12:55.160 What he ultimately concludes in second Corinthians chapter 12, verse nine, his grace is sufficient. 00:12:56.120 --> 00:13:02.780 Whatever I go through in life, I found that God meets me there, and he sufficiently provides what I need, where I'm at. 00:13:03.200 --> 00:13:05.070 That's what that's what the Apostle Paul says. 00:13:05.780 --> 00:13:09.970 So acknowledging the challenges of God in Genesis chapter 22, verse two, it says this. 00:13:10.740 --> 00:13:17.840 he said, take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as 00:13:17.840 --> 00:13:22.100 a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. 00:13:22.200 --> 00:13:28.470 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac. 00:13:28.860 --> 00:13:35.120 And he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and rose, and went to place to the place of which God had told him. 00:13:35.660 --> 00:13:40.760 On the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. 00:13:41.940 --> 00:13:49.040 And some people can read this passage and derive some some terrible interpretation and application of 00:13:49.040 --> 00:13:50.080 this, right? 00:13:50.080 --> 00:13:53.170 Like, we don't understand that the intent of a narrative. 00:13:53.740 --> 00:13:59.800 When you read certain books of the Bible, it's important to understand the literary genre and the Old Testament. 00:13:59.800 --> 00:14:03.270 It's majority of the Old Testament is made up in narrative form, telling you a story. 00:14:03.540 --> 00:14:05.000 It's not a prescriptive form. 00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:09.180 Meaning, just because they tell a narrative, it doesn't mean this is what you do with your life, right? 00:14:09.600 --> 00:14:11.560 It's just simply saying, this is what happened. 00:14:11.560 --> 00:14:13.670 It may not have been what God wanted, but this is what happened. 00:14:14.200 --> 00:14:19.290 And there were other times where God says, this is what I want you to do, but it's just it's unique to the person in that situation. 00:14:19.980 --> 00:14:27.140 We don't directly live out exactly what happened in the life of someone else, but rather we understand that through the narrative story and the unique 00:14:27.140 --> 00:14:33.140 happening of this person in their relationship with the Lord, there are some things we can glean about God. 00:14:34.080 --> 00:14:40.520 And then that is certainly true with this story, that when we come to a passage like this, we've got to ask ourselves, what? 00:14:40.560 --> 00:14:46.960 Who is God when something like this is happening, like God, why would he give such a command? 00:14:47.600 --> 00:14:49.440 And God what we are going to learn here? 00:14:49.440 --> 00:14:54.450 He's unfolding a particular theology about who he is experientially. 00:14:54.860 --> 00:14:58.320 I think in the book of Genesis to this point, there is no Bible, right? 00:14:58.320 --> 00:15:03.900 There's certainly forms of worship that you can see taking place out of understanding of who God is. 00:15:04.320 --> 00:15:05.080 But there is no Bible. 00:15:05.920 --> 00:15:09.110 And also in societies during this time, people are largely illiterate. 00:15:09.380 --> 00:15:13.360 So to just simply write the Bible, to declare it may not work well either. 00:15:13.540 --> 00:15:16.480 And so learning about who God is happens in a lot of ways experientially. 00:15:17.100 --> 00:15:24.620 For Abraham, growing up in a pagan place as a pagan man, he's wandered from that place to where God is calling him. 00:15:24.680 --> 00:15:29.820 And as he's going on this faith journey, he's learning experientially who God is as God reveals himself to him. 00:15:30.900 --> 00:15:38.060 And so the same is true in this particular story that God is unfolding experientially, the truth of, theologically, of who 00:15:38.060 --> 00:15:38.720 he is. 00:15:38.800 --> 00:15:45.840 And one of the things that we're going to discover, I'll just let the cat out of the bag, is the uniqueness of who God is in relationship to the false gods 00:15:45.840 --> 00:15:46.850 of this land. 00:15:47.480 --> 00:15:52.440 In this land, false gods are worshiped through sacrifice. 00:15:52.680 --> 00:15:53.820 And not just any sacrifice. 00:15:54.300 --> 00:15:56.660 They're making human sacrifices. 00:15:56.940 --> 00:16:01.020 It was very common around Abraham and even beyond his days. 00:16:01.020 --> 00:16:03.920 You have you have some verse references in your notes regarding this. 00:16:04.840 --> 00:16:12.120 but it was common in Abraham's day that these false gods would be worshiped through, like, for example, 00:16:12.220 --> 00:16:19.360 the fertility god would require at some point the offering of another person, specifically children, in order to continue 00:16:19.360 --> 00:16:21.460 to provide fertility to the people. 00:16:22.220 --> 00:16:28.340 Now that is not good, healthy or biblical, but God is going to distinguish himself here. 00:16:28.360 --> 00:16:35.640 And by the way, those references Leviticus 1821, Deuteronomy 1231, second Kings 16, Ezekiel 23. 00:16:35.640 --> 00:16:36.960 That's in your notes. 00:16:37.280 --> 00:16:39.580 but you'll see God giving commands, saying not to do that. 00:16:39.580 --> 00:16:40.960 Times where other people practice it. 00:16:41.040 --> 00:16:46.520 And even Israel at certain points, got so far away from God that they delved into that type of false worship. 00:16:47.460 --> 00:16:54.240 But here's in this story, what God is going to do is he's going to establish himself uniquely, uniquely juxtaposed from the other gods. 00:16:54.280 --> 00:17:00.200 I mean, if you know the story of Abraham and Isaac and the sacrifice, you know that ultimately Abraham doesn't sacrifice Isaac. 00:17:00.280 --> 00:17:03.140 He goes through the whole process, but God stops him. 00:17:03.360 --> 00:17:03.460 Right? 00:17:03.560 --> 00:17:10.800 Most of us are familiar with this story, and it's certainly demonstrating something about the nature and character of God in comparison to the other gods of this land, 00:17:10.819 --> 00:17:16.700 that God doesn't ask what he himself plans to give, that only God can provide what we need. 00:17:17.140 --> 00:17:19.579 That you can be religious all day long, and it's still not. 00:17:19.720 --> 00:17:22.569 Reconcile your relationship with the Lord because you need redemption. 00:17:23.119 --> 00:17:26.180 You need bot, you need forgiven, and only God can do that. 00:17:26.220 --> 00:17:30.010 Only a perfect sacrifice can ultimately do that. 00:17:30.820 --> 00:17:37.980 And so God in the story, he's certainly teaching us about the nature of who he is and helping us discover that through the experience 00:17:37.980 --> 00:17:39.100 of Abraham. 00:17:39.780 --> 00:17:46.680 But part of the reason we also struggle with this text is that we're culturally removed from the context of what's taking place here. 00:17:47.040 --> 00:17:53.520 There is something unique about the way Abraham is worshiping that is far removed from the worship experience that we have today. 00:17:53.600 --> 00:17:57.070 We'll be able to tie those together here at the end, but here, here's what we want to do. 00:17:57.760 --> 00:18:01.460 Number one, just simply acknowledge the challenge of following after the Lord. 00:18:03.380 --> 00:18:09.530 There is adversity to relationship with Jesus because it comes with sacrifice, a dying of yourself. 00:18:10.420 --> 00:18:12.900 It comes with challenges to your relationship with the Lord. 00:18:13.280 --> 00:18:15.540 Or excuse me, the relationships with the world. 00:18:16.760 --> 00:18:21.540 Because God calls us to walk a different path and it walks contrary to the things of this world. 00:18:23.360 --> 00:18:27.200 So as you go on that journey, acknowledge the challenges of following after the Lord. 00:18:27.200 --> 00:18:33.420 And point number two, then, is this work through adversity by standing on his promises. 00:18:34.840 --> 00:18:36.680 Work through the adversity by standing on his promises. 00:18:36.920 --> 00:18:38.820 In verse three, notice what Abraham does. 00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:42.720 He tells us early the next morning. 00:18:43.680 --> 00:18:48.300 Abraham gets this command and Abraham immediately gets up and does it. 00:18:48.720 --> 00:18:51.040 It doesn't say to us that he was reluctant. 00:18:51.480 --> 00:18:57.700 In fact, what we see, there's no reluctancy, there's no resistance, there's no argument, there's no bargaining, there's no pleading there. 00:18:57.760 --> 00:19:00.880 There's no emotionally just checking out because you don't want to think about it. 00:19:01.020 --> 00:19:02.830 There's no delay whatsoever. 00:19:02.900 --> 00:19:06.080 Early the next morning, Abraham gets up and he does this. 00:19:06.800 --> 00:19:10.360 But no doubt Abraham is trying to work through the challenges of it. 00:19:10.860 --> 00:19:17.900 In fact, you see, by some of the dialogue here in a minute that Abraham, says that Abraham is certainly trying to process through why this is 00:19:17.900 --> 00:19:18.780 happening and who God is. 00:19:18.820 --> 00:19:25.980 In fact, you have three days of a journey, and in those three days, there is time for Abraham to think about this, because this is his 00:19:25.980 --> 00:19:27.530 cherished child. 00:19:27.540 --> 00:19:31.000 Why must I give up my son Abraham could be asking that question. 00:19:31.040 --> 00:19:31.360 Or how? 00:19:31.740 --> 00:19:34.860 How will Isaac produce descendants as God promised? 00:19:34.860 --> 00:19:35.800 Because God promised. 00:19:35.900 --> 00:19:36.660 I'll have a kid. 00:19:36.780 --> 00:19:41.040 And through that kid, there will come the blessing of all nations, all people, groups. 00:19:41.040 --> 00:19:44.520 How will God even fulfill that promise if this is what God says? 00:19:44.520 --> 00:19:48.360 But now God's requiring the sacrifice of a of a child. 00:19:48.460 --> 00:19:51.040 And how can God require a human sacrifice? 00:19:52.100 --> 00:19:53.040 Why would God do that? 00:19:53.040 --> 00:19:54.430 He's just like the other gods. 00:19:55.520 --> 00:20:02.000 So Abraham would be thinking like you and me through through all these things, trying to understand who God is in light of all of this. 00:20:02.040 --> 00:20:05.130 And maybe he just thought it was normal because that's what the other gods required. 00:20:07.720 --> 00:20:12.170 And you see some of those ways Abraham processes through it as the passage unfolds. 00:20:12.200 --> 00:20:18.200 So verse five, it goes on and says, Then Abraham said to his young men, stay here with the donkey. 00:20:19.120 --> 00:20:23.600 I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you. 00:20:25.040 --> 00:20:32.060 Some translations, translate this a little bit more pointedly than I think the ESV that we have up on 00:20:32.060 --> 00:20:32.770 the screen does. 00:20:33.880 --> 00:20:36.140 ESV is implying a certain thought. 00:20:36.160 --> 00:20:39.200 Some translations just go out and go ahead and don't imply it. 00:20:39.280 --> 00:20:41.820 Some translations throw the pronoun we in here. 00:20:42.020 --> 00:20:46.160 And so when there Abraham, when he goes on this journey to Moriah, he's taking a few people with him. 00:20:46.320 --> 00:20:48.180 But only he and his son are going to go up on the mountain. 00:20:48.860 --> 00:20:52.280 And when Abraham is talking to the people, he says, look, stay here. 00:20:52.280 --> 00:20:53.600 We are going to go up here. 00:20:53.600 --> 00:20:55.780 And also we together are going to come back to you. 00:20:56.380 --> 00:21:01.980 So you see, in the context, Abraham is saying, I don't know how this is going to play out, but one thing I do know is what God's promised me. 00:21:02.360 --> 00:21:06.650 So whatever happens as we go together, I know that we will return. 00:21:07.360 --> 00:21:10.040 So Abraham is revealing his expectation in this moment. 00:21:10.040 --> 00:21:11.280 From what he's come to learn about God. 00:21:11.400 --> 00:21:12.510 He knows God is holy. 00:21:12.840 --> 00:21:14.010 He knows God is just. 00:21:14.180 --> 00:21:21.160 I mean, he's seen the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah, but he also knows God is gracious and God has given him a promise. 00:21:22.040 --> 00:21:28.230 And he expects God to fulfill that promise because he has seen the way God has provided for him along the journey that he has gone on. 00:21:28.400 --> 00:21:33.920 He's seen even in times where he didn't expect God to provide for him, that God rescued Sarah a couple times from other kings. 00:21:35.180 --> 00:21:36.480 And so how does that work out? 00:21:36.480 --> 00:21:41.900 Abraham is learning, but what he does know is as he leaves, he's expecting both of them will return. 00:21:42.480 --> 00:21:47.300 And verse six, And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. 00:21:47.380 --> 00:21:50.240 And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. 00:21:50.460 --> 00:21:53.050 So they were went both of them together. 00:21:53.600 --> 00:21:55.390 Here's what it's saying to us in this verse. 00:21:55.920 --> 00:21:58.600 Abraham still has a gentle care and concern for his son. 00:21:59.360 --> 00:22:00.640 His son carries the wood. 00:22:00.860 --> 00:22:04.680 But you see, in this story, Abraham carries the objects that can harm. 00:22:05.760 --> 00:22:12.180 As if to say his love for his son and care for his well-being is still embedded in his heart. 00:22:12.920 --> 00:22:16.560 So Abraham goes, climbs this mountain carrying the those two objects. 00:22:17.180 --> 00:22:20.780 And verse seven And Isaac said to his father, Abraham, my father. 00:22:20.780 --> 00:22:22.430 And he said, here I am my son. 00:22:22.700 --> 00:22:24.620 And he said, behold the fire and the wood. 00:22:25.240 --> 00:22:27.030 But where is the lamb for a burnt offering? 00:22:28.500 --> 00:22:29.860 It's incredible. 00:22:30.380 --> 00:22:37.700 God's finally fulfilled the promise of bringing Isaac to Abraham, and you'll see a few chapters with where Isaac and 00:22:37.700 --> 00:22:44.000 Abraham crossed paths in the chapters ahead that they're both coexisting here at the same time. 00:22:44.140 --> 00:22:44.590 You know what's interesting? 00:22:44.800 --> 00:22:50.670 Out of all the chapters between Isaac and Abraham, this is the only time a conversation between the two are recorded. 00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:55.580 And it's written over the idea of a sacrifice. 00:22:56.740 --> 00:23:04.200 What's also unique is that we're learning in this, in this verse right now, that Isaac is old enough where he's able to carry a mature conversation 00:23:04.200 --> 00:23:04.880 with his father. 00:23:05.660 --> 00:23:08.970 He's able to reason that there's a that there's a sacrifice lacking. 00:23:09.640 --> 00:23:13.080 And to be able to talk to his dad in a rational way about it. 00:23:13.960 --> 00:23:19.160 he doesn't know how all of it's about to unfold yet, but at least or at least from the text, we don't know that. 00:23:20.040 --> 00:23:23.700 But he's to somewhat of an older age of maturity. 00:23:24.240 --> 00:23:27.160 Some speculate that he's probably around the age of 13. 00:23:27.220 --> 00:23:32.590 Others say he may be as old as 30, and he's being able to carry this conversation with his father. 00:23:32.840 --> 00:23:38.560 And then verse eight, Abraham said, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son. 00:23:39.080 --> 00:23:41.520 So they went both of them together. 00:23:42.460 --> 00:23:49.520 And so you see in verse eight how Abraham is viewing this, he's saying, look, I don't know how God's going to do this, but I know God miraculously has done this over and 00:23:49.520 --> 00:23:50.180 over again. 00:23:50.920 --> 00:23:56.410 And so because of the promise God's giving me, I'm completely trusting that God is going to do something incredible. 00:23:57.080 --> 00:23:58.670 God's going to provide that sacrifice. 00:23:59.420 --> 00:24:06.520 In fact, in Hebrews chapter 11, the author of Hebrews just gives a little insight to how far Abraham was leaning 00:24:06.520 --> 00:24:12.860 into the faithfulness of God and the willingness that God has to deliver what he promises to us. 00:24:13.120 --> 00:24:20.180 And in verse 17 says, by faith, when Abraham was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promise was in 00:24:20.180 --> 00:24:25.980 the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, Through Isaac shall your offspring be named. 00:24:26.020 --> 00:24:33.880 So he's saying, look, Abraham took his most sacred gift in life, his son, and he's willing to trust this in God's hands, showing that his 00:24:33.880 --> 00:24:36.120 relationship with the Lord matters beyond all of that. 00:24:36.680 --> 00:24:44.380 And verse 19, he considered that God was able to even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, 00:24:44.440 --> 00:24:45.840 he did receive him back. 00:24:45.880 --> 00:24:48.790 We'll talk about what it means, figuratively speaking, in the end. 00:24:49.720 --> 00:24:54.680 But in verse 19, you see where Abraham's faith is, that God's promise through this. 00:24:55.340 --> 00:25:02.240 And if he's saying this in this happens, then God's got to bring him back, because this is what God promised to do. 00:25:03.160 --> 00:25:10.180 So Abraham, he's certainly thinking through all, all of this as he's delivering the challenges to 00:25:10.180 --> 00:25:11.740 the Lord and following after him. 00:25:11.880 --> 00:25:15.470 He's working through adversity by standing on God's promises. 00:25:15.880 --> 00:25:20.620 And then point number three in your notes is this he discovers God is sufficient. 00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:25.160 Discover God is sufficient. 00:25:25.980 --> 00:25:28.400 It's one thing to read the truth of what God says. 00:25:30.020 --> 00:25:33.100 It's another thing to actually experience the truth of what God says. 00:25:34.740 --> 00:25:38.300 And here Abraham is walking in that experience. 00:25:39.180 --> 00:25:44.220 Remember one of the things God says to Abraham, or the thing God says to Abraham is important. 00:25:44.340 --> 00:25:46.870 It's important to recognize exactly what he says. 00:25:47.000 --> 00:25:49.560 And also by saying what he says, what he's not saying. 00:25:49.900 --> 00:25:50.420 That sounds confusing. 00:25:50.700 --> 00:25:51.440 So let me let me elaborate. 00:25:52.980 --> 00:25:55.740 what God doesn't say to Abraham is, look, go kill your son. 00:25:56.720 --> 00:25:59.250 Because if God said to Abraham, go kill your son. 00:25:59.880 --> 00:26:02.880 Abraham could have would have immediately said, no, there's no way I'm doing that right. 00:26:02.880 --> 00:26:06.930 Like this child of the promise, you're a God who says thou shalt not kill. 00:26:07.140 --> 00:26:08.120 There's no way I'm doing that. 00:26:08.140 --> 00:26:09.590 Life is sacred is made in your image. 00:26:09.780 --> 00:26:10.660 You know I'm not doing that. 00:26:10.720 --> 00:26:14.620 But what God, what he says to Isaac is sacrifice. 00:26:16.700 --> 00:26:23.900 Make a sacrifice, and the idea of sacrifice is what helps us to begin to really understand what God 00:26:23.900 --> 00:26:26.100 is teaching Abraham here. 00:26:26.780 --> 00:26:31.240 I know the idea of sacrifice, especially in terms of Isaac, makes us uncomfortable. 00:26:31.320 --> 00:26:37.840 But when you understand the particularity culturally of what God is saying, it really brings to light the beauty of this passage. 00:26:38.700 --> 00:26:46.160 And not only is God saying, okay, Abraham, make this sacrifice, but when you think in terms of Isaac, remember Isaac is somewhere between the age of 13 00:26:46.160 --> 00:26:46.840 to 30. 00:26:47.580 --> 00:26:53.210 And if Isaac is minimum age of 13, then that means Abraham is 110 plus. 00:26:54.280 --> 00:27:01.380 I'm pretty sure a 13 year old up to a 30 year old is going to be able to take someone 110 00:27:01.380 --> 00:27:03.440 plus, right? 00:27:03.440 --> 00:27:06.800 You see, Isaac's definitely is old enough to carry the wood. 00:27:06.800 --> 00:27:11.450 He goes on this journey without his mom like he's older in years. 00:27:11.960 --> 00:27:19.100 And so for him to just go up this mountain like this with an older man like Isaac is completely 00:27:19.100 --> 00:27:22.760 capable of taking matters into his own hand. 00:27:22.860 --> 00:27:28.440 And then what's interesting, when you read a little bit further, you start to see the way that this sacrifice is taking place. 00:27:28.440 --> 00:27:35.560 It says, when they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his 00:27:35.560 --> 00:27:38.700 son, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. 00:27:38.760 --> 00:27:46.800 Let me just say, and reading a verse like this, you come to realize at the age that Isaac is, and the age of Abraham is, Isaac is willingly, he's 00:27:46.800 --> 00:27:48.080 willingly participating. 00:27:49.400 --> 00:27:50.900 Why would both of them? 00:27:52.120 --> 00:27:55.660 Be willing to follow after God's call this way. 00:27:56.700 --> 00:27:57.860 And then verse ten, it says this. 00:27:57.860 --> 00:28:01.630 And Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. 00:28:02.780 --> 00:28:03.100 Abraham. 00:28:03.160 --> 00:28:09.760 He certainly shows his faith in the Lord, not not what he's getting from God, but the fact that he has the Lord. 00:28:10.980 --> 00:28:12.760 And to him that is enough. 00:28:12.760 --> 00:28:15.640 He's not treating God just simply as a tool to serve him. 00:28:15.840 --> 00:28:19.300 But the prize to Abraham is the Lord himself. 00:28:20.260 --> 00:28:27.280 Now, in order to understand a passage like this, there's a there's a concept that's taught here that we 00:28:27.280 --> 00:28:31.770 don't easily pick up on because we're so far removed from this culture. 00:28:32.640 --> 00:28:35.880 And what Abraham, the reason Abraham is willing to bring this sacrifice. 00:28:37.220 --> 00:28:43.230 not a killing, but a sacrifice is because of this concept in the Jewish mind of firstborn. 00:28:43.840 --> 00:28:48.820 And when it comes to terms of firstborn, there's really two concepts that we need to understand in order to understand this passage. 00:28:49.340 --> 00:28:52.050 The first is the idea of first offerings. 00:28:52.380 --> 00:28:55.480 And then on top of that, the idea of firstborn in an offering. 00:28:56.180 --> 00:29:03.320 When it comes to offering, when you read throughout the Old Testament, you'll find that one of the most common types of offering that Israel participated in was the idea 00:29:03.320 --> 00:29:04.910 of the offering of first. 00:29:05.360 --> 00:29:11.370 In fact, the offering of first is communicated very early in Scripture, all the way back in Genesis chapter four. 00:29:12.200 --> 00:29:15.550 before really Judaism even began, the offering of first existed. 00:29:16.020 --> 00:29:20.700 And the story that you see that taking place in is the is the offering of Cain and Abel. 00:29:20.920 --> 00:29:26.180 If you remember, those two brothers feuded and Abel was killed by Cain. 00:29:26.220 --> 00:29:29.580 And the reason Cain killed Abel was because of jealousy regarding an offering. 00:29:30.480 --> 00:29:32.820 Abel, when he made his offering, he made an offering of. 00:29:32.940 --> 00:29:36.390 First he took the first of his livestock and gave it to the Lord. 00:29:36.540 --> 00:29:42.660 When Cain gave an offering, he just took the scrap of whatever he had and gave it to God. 00:29:42.800 --> 00:29:48.780 And when Israel would give of the first, it was a communication of where their ultimate trust and hope was lying. 00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:57.120 what I mean is, you'll see in Israel's history this idea of offering of the first of the livestock, the offering of the 00:29:57.120 --> 00:29:59.190 first of fruits, the offering of the firstborn. 00:30:00.300 --> 00:30:04.640 And what it's showing is this utter dependency of God to supply for your needs in life. 00:30:05.280 --> 00:30:12.280 You think whenever there's a harvest for you to take the initial first reaping of a harvest and give it back to 00:30:12.280 --> 00:30:19.140 God, you are genuinely saying to the Lord, Lord, here's the beginning of our harvest and we are trusting in you to supply the rest. 00:30:19.320 --> 00:30:20.540 God, we don't want to give you the leftovers. 00:30:20.920 --> 00:30:23.260 We want to give you the best because you're worthy of it. 00:30:24.040 --> 00:30:28.520 And we're also acknowledging, Lord, our dependency on you to continue to supply for us what we need. 00:30:29.480 --> 00:30:36.580 And so Israel's offering of the first spoke to how they viewed their relationship with God and the value and priority 00:30:36.580 --> 00:30:38.090 that God had in their life. 00:30:38.540 --> 00:30:42.970 And so they would give this offering of the first in Genesis four four, when they gave her the first of the livestock. 00:30:43.000 --> 00:30:44.180 It's saying the same thing. 00:30:44.320 --> 00:30:48.760 Here comes the birth of an animal from, from another animal God. 00:30:48.760 --> 00:30:55.980 And we're just going to go ahead and turn this over to you, and it's showing our trust in you to continue to supply that is complete dependency upon 00:30:55.980 --> 00:31:00.040 the Lord in terms of Isaac and giving over Isaac. 00:31:00.140 --> 00:31:02.440 He is the only child for first and only. 00:31:02.440 --> 00:31:03.520 It's telling us in this story. 00:31:03.840 --> 00:31:05.020 Ishmael is gone. 00:31:05.240 --> 00:31:12.240 This is the child of the promise, the hope of their future lineage, the protection for Abraham and Sarah to just give that 00:31:12.240 --> 00:31:13.420 over to the Lord. 00:31:13.960 --> 00:31:17.280 It's completely trusting in what God desires to do. 00:31:18.100 --> 00:31:19.620 Lord, we know that you're good. 00:31:19.620 --> 00:31:22.380 You've demonstrated that God, we know that you've given this promise. 00:31:23.140 --> 00:31:27.600 And so, God, here we are turning this over to you because we know ultimately Isaac belongs to you. 00:31:28.460 --> 00:31:30.540 And so, God, what you want to do with it. 00:31:30.540 --> 00:31:35.340 Lord, we're trusting in you to look after us, but not just the idea of first offering. 00:31:36.900 --> 00:31:40.700 Israel also participated in this concept called the firstborn offering. 00:31:41.560 --> 00:31:45.160 Firstborn is an important word in the Old Testament. 00:31:45.580 --> 00:31:49.700 The idea of firstborn is going to continue to play out for us in the chapters ahead. 00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:52.340 When Isaac has two children, Jacob and Esau. 00:31:52.420 --> 00:31:55.140 If you know the story of Jacob and Esau, Jacob gives up his firstborn. 00:31:56.380 --> 00:31:56.740 excuse me? 00:31:56.740 --> 00:31:59.020 Esau gives up his firstborn right to Jacob. 00:31:59.720 --> 00:32:01.700 Same thing is true with Jacob's children. 00:32:01.780 --> 00:32:04.580 He ultimately has Joseph, and he's the preferred one. 00:32:05.100 --> 00:32:08.460 And so the picture of firstborn is important in Israel. 00:32:08.480 --> 00:32:12.290 And by the way, firstborn doesn't just have to be the first one born. 00:32:12.540 --> 00:32:18.060 When you read about King David, King David has given the firstborn position of the family, though he's the runt of the litter. 00:32:18.100 --> 00:32:25.520 It tells us in Scripture, Solomon, who becomes king after David Solomon takes the right of the firstborn, even though he's not David's 00:32:25.520 --> 00:32:26.010 first son. 00:32:27.040 --> 00:32:32.700 In Psalm 80, verse 27, the King of Israel is described as the firstborn. 00:32:32.920 --> 00:32:39.300 Doesn't mean he's literally the first one born in his family, but it shows his position of importance to the family. 00:32:39.460 --> 00:32:41.950 It's a position of preeminence, of importance. 00:32:42.680 --> 00:32:50.200 The reason Israel had this practice of a firstborn was in case a father passed away, the responsibility 00:32:50.200 --> 00:32:51.420 of the family. 00:32:51.540 --> 00:32:58.480 Was given over to the first born to care for the family and to see the family be successful and who God has called them to be. 00:32:59.340 --> 00:33:01.620 And so the idea of first born was significant. 00:33:02.760 --> 00:33:10.020 It was this place of position in the home to look after your other siblings and your other remaining parent 00:33:10.020 --> 00:33:12.280 and caring for them. 00:33:13.160 --> 00:33:17.820 But also the position of first born became this recognition of a figurehead. 00:33:19.520 --> 00:33:22.880 It was a demonstration of the need of all of the family. 00:33:23.520 --> 00:33:30.640 What I mean is, if you read about the concept of firstborn in Exodus chapter 13 and Exodus 22, if you're familiar with the book of Exodus, 00:33:31.420 --> 00:33:35.490 there's a concept of firstborn taught in relating to Pharaoh, king of Egypt. 00:33:36.640 --> 00:33:40.580 If you remember, the last plague that came upon Egypt was the death of the firstborn. 00:33:40.660 --> 00:33:44.760 And God told Israel, make a sacrifice and cover. 00:33:45.040 --> 00:33:52.200 Cover your home with or the doorpost of your home with this blood, that when the death angel comes, he will pass over your home, and the firstborn will 00:33:52.200 --> 00:33:52.700 survive. 00:33:54.280 --> 00:33:59.420 This firstborn became a figurehead, a representative for the needs of everyone else. 00:34:00.480 --> 00:34:07.720 And so that sacrifice was as if to say, as this firstborn needs a sacrifice to be redeemed, so 00:34:07.720 --> 00:34:08.620 all of us do. 00:34:09.920 --> 00:34:12.489 And looking at Isaac being offered here. 00:34:12.920 --> 00:34:16.159 Isaac is a representative of an entire spiritual family. 00:34:16.940 --> 00:34:21.139 In fact, in the book of Galatians in chapter three, it tells us that we are all children of Abraham. 00:34:21.139 --> 00:34:22.920 If by faith we trust in the Lord. 00:34:23.600 --> 00:34:30.760 And Isaac becomes that firstborn representative of the need of all of us, that we ultimately need redemption, we ultimately 00:34:30.760 --> 00:34:34.710 need a sacrifice, someone to stand in our place as a substitute. 00:34:35.420 --> 00:34:42.620 Isaac becomes this figurehead, this representation of the need of all of us, that as his life is surrendered 00:34:42.620 --> 00:34:49.710 here, so all of us need our lives surrendered to the Lord and what he has done for us by becoming our substitute. 00:34:51.280 --> 00:34:58.600 And so this concept of firstborn is far removed from our culture, but highly significant to understanding exactly what's taking place 00:34:58.600 --> 00:35:00.580 in this story. 00:35:01.500 --> 00:35:05.270 And not only that, you find the word repeated in the New Testament. 00:35:06.500 --> 00:35:11.280 That in Colossians chapter one, that Jesus is the firstborn of creation and the firstborn. 00:35:11.280 --> 00:35:15.920 It tells us in Colossians one to 15 to 18 the firstborn of the resurrection. 00:35:16.380 --> 00:35:20.820 Same thing in Hebrews chapter one verse six, he is your figurehead, your representative. 00:35:20.840 --> 00:35:25.880 And so the story goes on in chapter 22, verse 13, that God provides the substitute. 00:35:25.880 --> 00:35:26.660 Look at this. 00:35:26.720 --> 00:35:29.700 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. 00:35:30.400 --> 00:35:31.540 And he said, here I am. 00:35:32.380 --> 00:35:35.100 And he said, do not lay your hand on the boy. 00:35:36.180 --> 00:35:38.600 God is different than the false gods of this land. 00:35:39.420 --> 00:35:44.540 God won't require of you what he himself plans to provide the boy. 00:35:44.540 --> 00:35:47.420 Don't lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him. 00:35:47.420 --> 00:35:47.880 For now. 00:35:47.920 --> 00:35:55.380 I know that you fear God, and seeing you with what you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. 00:35:57.480 --> 00:36:04.680 Isaac is his demonstrating or seeing demonstrated here the goodness of God and the provision he 00:36:04.680 --> 00:36:05.080 makes. 00:36:05.100 --> 00:36:12.140 In verse 13 he says, And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by 00:36:12.140 --> 00:36:12.840 his horns. 00:36:13.340 --> 00:36:17.820 And Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 00:36:18.700 --> 00:36:20.260 So Abraham called the name of that place. 00:36:20.340 --> 00:36:26.430 The Lord will provide, as it is said to this day, on the mount of the Lord, it shall be provided. 00:36:29.160 --> 00:36:30.620 What Abraham finds is. 00:36:32.020 --> 00:36:35.920 As a ram caught in the thicket a provision. 00:36:35.960 --> 00:36:36.460 Redemption. 00:36:37.160 --> 00:36:37.940 A substitute. 00:36:39.060 --> 00:36:46.400 That Isaac's life has a substitute, and he's given life because of the sacrifice of this 00:36:46.400 --> 00:36:46.880 ram. 00:36:46.880 --> 00:36:48.800 And Abraham then refers to God this way. 00:36:49.280 --> 00:36:51.980 Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will provide. 00:36:53.600 --> 00:36:55.900 Abraham experientially walks with God. 00:36:55.900 --> 00:37:03.220 Not only does he know the truth of what God says in his promises, but he experiences the fulfillment of those promises which 00:37:03.220 --> 00:37:04.540 brings joy to his soul. 00:37:04.560 --> 00:37:07.180 And that's why he worships the Lord will provide. 00:37:08.260 --> 00:37:10.940 Now you look at a story like this and you say, that's beautiful. 00:37:10.940 --> 00:37:11.620 It's great. 00:37:11.700 --> 00:37:14.200 I love the way God painted all that picture. 00:37:14.240 --> 00:37:19.820 And we learn a powerful concept through firstborn and how God's different from the false gods of this land. 00:37:19.860 --> 00:37:23.980 That's wonderful for Abraham, but I want to experience God that way. 00:37:25.220 --> 00:37:25.680 How? 00:37:26.380 --> 00:37:29.600 How do I experience God the way Abraham did? 00:37:30.460 --> 00:37:35.600 And I want you to know that this story of Abraham is a story that continues to be told again and again today. 00:37:35.760 --> 00:37:39.760 Not just not just the story itself, but the concept of the story. 00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:42.840 It's retold every day in the lives of people. 00:37:42.900 --> 00:37:49.120 And how well, one of the things I didn't tell you, Genesis chapter 22, verse two. 00:37:50.440 --> 00:37:54.830 When God told Abraham to go to a place to make a sacrifice. 00:37:56.000 --> 00:37:58.000 God just didn't tell Abraham any old place. 00:37:58.720 --> 00:38:00.800 He told Abraham a place that took three days. 00:38:00.800 --> 00:38:02.360 Which is strange, right? 00:38:02.820 --> 00:38:04.300 Why can't he just sacrifice some? 00:38:05.470 --> 00:38:05.820 You know, somewhere down the street? 00:38:05.860 --> 00:38:07.540 That might have been a pretty place, you know. 00:38:07.720 --> 00:38:09.380 Why couldn't they have picked their own place? 00:38:09.520 --> 00:38:09.700 Why? 00:38:09.960 --> 00:38:12.420 Why did they go to a different place? 00:38:12.440 --> 00:38:14.890 Well, the place that they went was to Mount Moriah. 00:38:15.440 --> 00:38:16.320 And here's what's interesting. 00:38:17.560 --> 00:38:20.520 Abraham goes to Mount Moriah, makes the sacrifice there. 00:38:20.780 --> 00:38:24.060 Mount Moriah ends up being the place where the Jews built the temple. 00:38:24.080 --> 00:38:28.600 Second Chronicles, chapter three, verse one says that the Jews built the temple on Mount Moriah. 00:38:29.800 --> 00:38:34.360 That temple ends up being the same place that the location of the temple ends up being. 00:38:34.360 --> 00:38:37.560 The same place where Jesus offered his life for you. 00:38:38.220 --> 00:38:45.240 Get this as a substitute for Isaac was offered by being caught by his crown 00:38:45.240 --> 00:38:46.420 from thorns. 00:38:47.480 --> 00:38:53.500 So a few thousand years later, there would be one who would come to this Temple Mount and offer his life for you. 00:38:54.220 --> 00:38:57.720 Being caught by his crown with thorns. 00:38:58.880 --> 00:38:59.920 His name is Jesus. 00:39:01.640 --> 00:39:08.840 And as Abraham raised his knife to drop it on his son and God stopped him so God would ultimately bring his 00:39:08.840 --> 00:39:09.860 son to this mountain. 00:39:10.940 --> 00:39:13.100 And this time the knife would not stop. 00:39:14.400 --> 00:39:19.160 That God would offer himself as a sacrifice for you and for me. 00:39:20.200 --> 00:39:24.000 To understand that just as Isaac's life was on the line. 00:39:25.320 --> 00:39:25.950 So is yours. 00:39:27.860 --> 00:39:29.600 But God provides a way of escape. 00:39:31.280 --> 00:39:33.260 The grace of his promises. 00:39:34.320 --> 00:39:35.020 It's incredible. 00:39:35.020 --> 00:39:39.040 Even today in Israel, you can see that area, right? 00:39:39.760 --> 00:39:41.630 If you're familiar with it at all. 00:39:41.800 --> 00:39:47.000 The Temple Mount in Jerusalem is this giant, rectangular square here. 00:39:47.580 --> 00:39:50.420 And over on this side is this little portion of the wall. 00:39:50.420 --> 00:39:57.540 Right here is the only part of the temple that remains standing from the destruction that took place in 70 AD, the 00:39:57.540 --> 00:40:02.260 temple, the Jewish temple was ultimately destroyed, but the Wailing Wall still remains. 00:40:02.300 --> 00:40:09.520 And you see in this picture thousands of Jewish people that gather outside the Wailing Wall of the temple where they pray and 00:40:09.520 --> 00:40:10.500 they offer prayers to the Lord. 00:40:10.540 --> 00:40:14.320 And they put um, scrolls of their prayers in that wall. 00:40:14.620 --> 00:40:19.160 But right in the in the midst of this temple grounds, you see this little dome here? 00:40:19.380 --> 00:40:20.550 This is called the dome of the Rock. 00:40:20.760 --> 00:40:23.860 The Muslims came years later and conquered this piece of land. 00:40:23.920 --> 00:40:26.440 And they built, built two places here. 00:40:26.560 --> 00:40:28.140 And you can't visit either these, by the way. 00:40:28.140 --> 00:40:30.930 But there's a mosque down here, and then there's the dome of the Rock. 00:40:31.260 --> 00:40:35.000 This is where they believed Muhammad had an ascension to the Lord. 00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:37.530 So to them, it's sacred for their own purposes. 00:40:38.120 --> 00:40:45.510 But also, this dome is built here because it's believed that this is the very rock in which Abraham offered Isaac. 00:40:47.600 --> 00:40:54.420 The place where Jesus stood 2000 years later as a sacrifice for you and for me. 00:40:55.480 --> 00:40:57.630 So God wasn't just picking any old location. 00:40:59.080 --> 00:41:04.300 God was using this story to tell a grander story, and that grander story is to help us. 00:41:04.340 --> 00:41:06.960 One, we do recognize the sacredness of life here. 00:41:08.340 --> 00:41:09.110 Life is valuable. 00:41:09.980 --> 00:41:17.160 And how valuable is it that God would pick a story to tell a greater story of how he pursues you, that you 00:41:17.160 --> 00:41:19.260 may know him and journey with him? 00:41:19.300 --> 00:41:21.960 This isn't just a story for Abraham. 00:41:22.880 --> 00:41:26.520 This is a story for you and me that God tells over and over again. 00:41:26.540 --> 00:41:30.720 So the question is, what do you hold on to? 00:41:31.540 --> 00:41:38.480 Rather than give your life for the Lord, what do you consider more important than a relationship with God? 00:41:39.240 --> 00:41:45.320 If God himself were to give his life for you, then who are we to refrain our life from him? 00:41:45.820 --> 00:41:48.720 That we may know him and walk with him all of our days? 00:41:49.160 --> 00:41:56.700 This is not just a story, but rather something God intends for us to understand, to experience the goodness of 00:41:56.700 --> 00:41:57.520 who he is.