This is your daily reminder. God has not run
out of mercy, not for you, not today. Welcome
to the New Mercies Podcast. Welcome. Today is
April the 2nd, and we are in Genesis 22 today.
If you're new here, be sure you follow the podcast
so you don't miss an episode Monday through Saturday,
all leading up to our time together on Sunday
morning. If you're a part of our New Providence
Church family, or if you watch us online, basically
I'm giving you my notes and all of my cross -references
to what I'm going to be preaching on Sunday.
So today we are going to look in Genesis 22,
one of the most beautiful pictures in the Old
Testament about a father and son and sacrifice
and what this looks like. I was telling my small
group this past week that I love this text because
it's really the best place in the Old Testament
that gives us a picture of what happens at Calvary
at the time of Jesus's sacrifice from the...
Father's perspective. We can read Genesis 22
multiple times. In fact, I was preaching at this
church as a guest preacher a couple of times
in a row, and I actually preached this exact
same text just from three different perspectives.
The first time I did it, I was from the perspective
of Isaac. And then the next... Next perspective
was of Abraham. And then the next one was of
those that were onlookers. And here's what I
noticed. If you read that text in those different
perspectives, you get a completely different
understanding of what's going on. And it helps
to give you a little more robust, a little bigger
picture of what's actually happening here. And
it gives you a little more insight into the father's
perspective specifically. As I was looking at
it from Abraham's perspective, it was very rich
and very awesome. Here's what I know as we read
this text today. Read all of Genesis 22. I'm
going to give you a little summary of it and
just give you a couple highlights, and then I
want to talk about something that maybe, just
maybe, you didn't see, hopefully. But what I
want to talk about is as we look through the
text, you see God is testing Abraham from the
beginning. He says, Abraham, take your son, your
only son Isaac, whom you love. Well, what we
will notice is if you read this story and you
look at what happens in Passion Week and up to
Easter Sunday, Resurrection Sunday, you'll see
a lot of parallels, a lot of things that God
is saying to us through his son Jesus and what
Abraham says to his son Isaac and how these symbols
play over. I mean, it is a beautiful, you can
almost lay the two stories over side by side,
one on top of the other, and it looked exactly
the same because Isaac is Abraham's. one and
only son. Now, Abraham did have another son,
but God was making a promise through this one.
He was making a faithful covenant through this
one son. I think it's very important for us to
know, he says, Abraham, take your only son, whom
you love, Isaac, and I want you to take him and
I want you to sacrifice him. Now Abraham doesn't
understand this, but he says, I want you to take
him to a place. I want you to pick up, get together,
go for a journey. You're going to go, you're
going to take three days, and you're going to
get to this place. When I show you the place,
you'll know that's the place to stop. I keep
saying the phrase, the place, because you'll
read it over and over again in Genesis 22. I
did it on purpose. I wasn't just stuttering over
myself over and over again. Over and over you'll
hear it says, when he got to the place, when
he looked at his head and saw the place. And
that phrasing is the same that is used when Jesus
gets crucified. It said when they took him to
the place of the skull. You may have read that
in Luke 23 a couple of weeks ago. He says, when
you get to the place, I will show you where you
are to sacrifice your son. And then there's a
moment at the bottom of this hillside where he
tells the servants that are with him, hey, you
guys stay right here. We're going to go a little
bit further. We're going to worship. going to
come back to you. And then there's a little journey
that takes place, depending on the perspective
that you look at. Sometimes I think of this as
the perspective of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane,
and he tells his disciples, hey, stay right here.
I'm going a little further, and then I'll come
back. I'm going a little further, and I'll come
back. It kind of mirrors that account. But I
also think there's something really beautiful
that Abraham says to these servants, we're going
to a place that only a father and son can go.
This is just between me and him. This is just
between us. No other man outside of the family,
no other person outside of our family can come
and experience what we are going to go experience.
That's what happened on the cross. right? It's
between God and Jesus. Jesus is paying for our
sins and God is the one that is dealing with
those sins. When we sin, we sin against God alone,
right? Our consequences may affect other people,
but our sin, our direct rebellion is against
the Lord. Abraham and Isaac go a little bit further.
And when they are on their way, there's wood
laid on Isaac's back. Abraham has the fire and
they've got some stuff that are there with him
to prepare the sacrifice. And Isaac looks to
his dad, and he says, Father, here's the wood,
and here's the fire, and here's our supplies.
Where is the lamb to be sacrificed? And Abraham
says, well, God will provide. And that is an
amazing faith. Now, here's what Abraham believed.
Now, if we can go into Hebrews 11, and we can
read about Abraham's thoughts in those days.
Abraham had so much confidence, he was willing
to sacrifice his son, believing that God would
raise him from the dead because he's the child
of the promise. It's a ridiculous amount of faith.
There had been nobody raised from the dead at
this point. There had been nobody had that kind
of story, but Abraham said, my God is big enough
to do that kind of story. And now he goes up
to the mountain, and you can read it in the text.
I don't want to spoil all of it for you in case
you haven't read it yet. But he goes up to the
mountain to sacrifice his son, and right before
the moment he gets bound, Isaac, the son, It's
bound up and tied up and laid on an altar. Now,
this place is a mountain range, and it's Mount
Moriah. It's a place that's actually where Jerusalem
sits. So here's what happens in the scene. He
gets ready to slay his only son that he loves,
and God provides a ram in the thicket right beside
him. And as he frees his son and brings the lamb
out and sacrifices that ram there on that altar,
Isaac thought, man, right there's my substitute,
right? Jesus is our substitute. He's the lamb.
There's all those pictures involved with all
this. But I think it's very interesting that
Abraham says, this is the place. This will be
the place that the Lord will provide. And it's
the same mountain range where Jesus was sacrificed.
It's the same mountain range where Jesus was
crucified. Why? Because the Lord will provide.
On that mountain range, the Lord will provide.
Now I want to share something maybe you don't
see when you read this story. And it's actually
found in verses 20 through verse 24. It's towards
the end of the chapter. Here's what happens.
You read this chapter and you're thinking, man,
this is a great story. This is awesome. I've
heard this before. I've read it. I understand
a little bit of it. But there's something that
happens after this that almost feels anticlimactic.
But let me just tell you, it is nothing of the
sort. It is absolutely beautiful. I want to read
a couple of verses to you at the end of Genesis
22, just so you don't think the story's already
over. Here's what the Bible says in verse number
20. Now, after these things, it was told to Abraham,
behold, Milcah also has born children to your
brother Nahor. Uz, his firstborn, Buz, his brother,
Chemuel, the father of Aram, Chesed, Hazo, Pildash,
Jidlaf, and Bethuel. And in verse 23, I want
to read this. Bethuel fathered Rebekah. These
eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham's brother.
I want to stop right there. Verse 23, because
there's something really awesome that maybe we
did not see. Why in the world do we start seeing
children born after this sacrificial moment?
Well, let's fast forward and let's look at the
death of Christ and the resurrection of Christ.
And when Jesus comes back from the dead and he
is there, the church is born. There is birth,
new birth that happens after the sacrifice, after
the... faithfulness, after the obedience, there
is new birth that takes place. Now here's what's
awesome. You read these names and you think these
names, I don't, they sound weird. They don't
matter to me. I don't understand them. Why do
they matter? This introduces a lady into the
story in verse 23. It's found in the parentheses
in your Bible. Her name is Rebecca. Here's what
I want you to know. So the children of Israel,
it's Abraham's lineage, right? Abraham's lineage,
not Abraham's brother's lineage, Abraham's lineage,
specifically Isaac's lineage, right? Here's what
happens. After this moment on this mountain and
this sacrifice and this death to life moment,
after this substitute was provided, after Isaac
is alive coming down to the bottom of this mountain
to meet those servants once again, after that
incredible moment, There is new birth, and not
only new birth, but new birth outside of the
family, marrying in. You know who Rebecca is,
right? Rebecca ends up marrying somebody, and
it's a pretty awesome story. Here's what I love.
After Jesus died and he rose again, the church
was born, and it wasn't just born to one nation.
It was born to all of those even outside of the
nation. We're able to become a part of his family
because he is so good and so gracious and so
loving that he says, even those outside of this
covenant family are going to be a part of my
greater family. And so he brings us and marries
us in as the bride of Christ. It's a beautiful
story. It's incredible to think about. I hope
and pray when you read Genesis 22 today, you
find a little bit more joy, a little bit more
satisfaction in knowing that God loves you so
much. He sent his only son to die for you so
that we might have new birth and live. That's
what he wants us to do. That's what he wants
us to be. I encourage you today, read Genesis
22. Read a couple times if you need to. Find
something in there that the Lord wants to show
you and reveal to you today.