The Gospel in Genesis – Part 3

Redemption Acted Out

This is the third article highlighting the Gospel in the book of Genesis. This time we will study the account of Abraham.

To get us started here is a review of a few of the promises God made to Abraham.

Genesis 12:2-3 (KJV)
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Genesis 13:16 (KJV)
16 And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.

Genesis 15:3-4 (KJV)
3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. 4 And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.

This last promise had to do with the fact that at that point Abraham had no offspring whatsoever. This meant that Abraham’s estate would accrue to a servant rather than any family member.

When it later appeared that the Lord might fail to deliver on this promise (Abraham was 85 years old by then) Abraham and Sarah decided they’d better take matters into their own hands. The result of this human effort was a son named Ishmael, born of a servant girl, of whom God said, “Genesis 16:12 (KJV) 12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”

This son brought about by human effort did not fulfill the promise of God. Neither did this son nullify the promise. God did not fail to deliver on His promise simply because Abraham did something outside God’s plan. I encourage you to remember this when the enemy whispers in your ear that you’ve blown it and God can’t bless you or use you.

Here is the way it played out.

Genesis 17:15-21 (KJV)
15 And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. 16 And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her. 17 Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? 18 And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee! 19 And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: (Issac means “he laughs”) and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. 20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. 21 But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.

God’s covenant is with the child of His promise, not with the child that came from human effort. Abraham and Sarah had taken things into their own hands in an attempt to fulfill God’s promise to them, but while God blessed Ishmael and made him a great nation, His covenant was established only with the fruit of His promise.

Genesis 21:1-7 (KJV)
1 And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken. 2 For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. 3 And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. 4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him. 6 And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. 7 And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age.

OK, now that we’ve refreshed our memories regarding some of God’s promises to Abraham, let’s get into our text.

Genesis 22:1-2 (KJV)
1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt (test, prove) 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.

The instructions are very clear, but the details are deliberate. With every additional description the commandment becomes more challenging. (NET Bible notes)

For a very long time, this command confused me. Since Ishmael is certainly a son of Abraham, I wondered why the Bible says that Isaac is Abraham’s only son. Here is what I’ve come to see. It’s because Isaac is the child promised by God, the child of faith, while Ishmael is the child of human effort. Look at what the Apostle Paul has to say in Romans 9:6-9 (KJV)
6 Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: 7 Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. 8 That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. 9 For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son.

Ishmael illustrates that the result of human effort is of no value when it comes to God. Remember in the first installment of this series we discussed the difference between Abel’s animal sacrifice (something created by God) and Cain’s sacrifice of something he had grown. This is the same.

So, the next question that is raised here is the question of a good and loving God requiring human sacrifice. "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."

A whole burnt offering signified the complete surrender of the worshiper and complete acceptance by God. (NET Bible notes)
This is a picture not simply of atonement, but of propitiation.

God’s standard is perfection. Mankind sinned when Adam and Eve rejected God and chose to trust in their own ability to judge what was righteous rather than trusting in His word. Since this separated them from fellowship with God—which is death—there was no way mankind could ever reconcile themselves to God.

Fortunately, God had a plan right from the start. He began to reveal this plan and part of it was the requirement of blood—the wages of sin is death. God is life, and separation from life is death. As a pattern, example, figure, or type, pointing to His plan to provide salvation God instituted an animal sacrifice system. This system provided a covering, or atonement, for sins until the time when God’s plan and promise would be fulfilled.

Deuteronomy 12:23 (KJV) (and several other places) tells us the significance of blood.

23 Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood is the life; and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh.

Even so, animal sacrifices could never take away sin. They could only cover it because, even though only the best animals were used, the sacrifices themselves were imperfect.

The writer of Hebrews puts it this way in Hebrews 10:3-4 (KJV)
3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. 4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.

Then a few verses later in Hebrews 10:8-10 (KJV) we find:
8 Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; 9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. 10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

So, God asked Abraham to do this in order to show what He had planned for the reconciliation of all of mankind, and as we’re about to see, Abraham appears to have understood it.

Take a look at Genesis 22:3-5 (KJV)
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.

Notice what Abraham tells his men. We are going over there to worship and we will return to you. He and God had been through a great deal by this point in his life. Time and again Abraham had seen God deliver him, bless him, and finally keep His promise to give Abraham an heir. Abraham had faith in God, as we see in Hebrews 11:17-19.

Hebrews 11:17-19 (KJV)
17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18 Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: 19 Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.

Now our story continues in Genesis 22:6-8 (KJV)
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.

What an amazing picture this is of God’s promise plan of salvation for fallen and helpless mankind. “God will provide Himself a lamb…”

We read this wonderful insight in John 1:29-36 (KJV)
29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. 30 This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me. 31 and I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. 32 And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. 33 And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. 34 And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God. 35 Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; 36 And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!

Abraham follows through on what God has asked him to do.
Genesis 22:9-12 (KJV)
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. 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.

Let me just talk about the use of the word fear here—and as it relates to “the fear of the Lord” generally. God is not manipulative. He does not use fear to motivate us. In fact Scripture tells us that God is love, and that perfect love casts out fear because fear has to do with punishment. This fear is reverence and respect for God. It comes about because we realize that apart from God we would be dead, annihilated, non-existent. God has tremendous power, and we stand in reverent awe of that, while also knowing with certainty that He is our loving and tender Father.

Now notice that Isaac allowed himself to be bound and placed onto the altar. Remember, Abraham was over 100 years old at this point, and Isaac would likely have been in his teens at least. It’s likely that he could have overpowered his father, yet there he was on the altar.

There is a similar situation in the New Testament.

John 10:17-18 (KJV)
17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. 18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

Matthew 26:39 (KJV)
39 And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.

John 19:28-30 (KJV)
28 After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. 29 Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

Can you imagine how heartbreaking this had to be for Jesus and for the Father? This is the length to which God went to be in relationship with you and me. This is how much He loves us!

It did not end this way for Abraham as we see in Genesis 22:13 (KJV)
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.

God did indeed provide the sacrifice, just as Abraham trusted Him to do. Abraham’s faith is a beautiful pictorial representation of God’s plan for redeeming humanity.

Now hear all the prophesy of Jesus in Genesis 22:14-18 (KJV) Parentheses, bold, and italics are mine.
14 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: (“Jehovah Jireh” means “God provides.”) as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen. (or provided) 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.

This scene is spoken of and explained in relation to we who live on this side of the cross in Hebrews 6:13-20
For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, 14 Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. 15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. 16 For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. 17 Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: 18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: 19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; (the Holy of Holies) 20 Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

It is no wonder then that the angels proclaimed the birth of Jesus, the Christ as reported in Luke 2:10-11 (KJV)
10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

The life of Abraham painted a beautiful picture of Father’s ancient plan for our reconciliation.