Isaac, or Jesus?

Last post was about Abrahamic covenant. It wasn't too exciting, but it's important. Read it please!

So God has promised Abram/Abraham a nation through a son by his wife, Sarai. In a moment of weakness and act of "little faith", Abram has a son through Hagar, Sarai's maid. She has Ishmael, who is the father of the Arab people. God later finally fufills His promise (He always does, He always will, praise His name!) and Sarah bears Abraham a son named Isaac. Through Isaac, his promised child, will come many nations and the promised land. Isaac is Abraham. His sons will be Abraham's lineage, and his sons will inherit his promise. Isaac is essential to Abraham, his pride and joy, his only hope. Then God does something nutty.

1 Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." 2 Then He said, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you." (Genesis 22)

This blows my mind. Absurd. Actually, its offensive. How could He do that to such a man?

Lets dig into it.

So Abraham does as he is told. Why? He had faith. Hebrews 11 says he had faith that God would even raise him from the dead. Do you have faith to do what God asks of you?

Another interesting tidbit- The mountains of Moriah are where Solomon later builds the Temple. Interesting, isn't it?

To make a long story short, Abraham takes his son to the mountains, prepares him as a sacrifice on the alter, raises the knife to slay him (he was really going to go through with it!) 11 But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" So he said, "Here I am." 12 And He said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me." Only son.. Where have I heard that before?

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Another interesting tidbit- The Angel of the Lord is not just an angel. It is the pre-incarnate Christ, Jesus before he came to earth as a man. In Judges, Gideon says to one identified as 'The Angel of The LORD' "Alas, O Lord God!" The Angel doesn't correct him. Anyway, The Angel of the LORD is the pre-incarnate Christ. If you don't believe me, ask some scholars and study it for yourself.

So check this out- Abraham is about to slay Isaac. It seems absolutely horrible, but look at it this way- we are all sinners, worthy only of death. Isaac was also the father of two wicked nations. How much wickedness could be spared if he was put to death? Really, Isaac deserved to die, for his sins and for the sins that would be committed by Israel and Edom, the two nations that would come from him. Now this is cool. This is really cool. Keep reading.

The pre-incarnate Christ, Jesus Himself, God's only Son stops Abraham dead in his tracks. Abraham has been faithful, and Christ comes in and provides a sacrifice in place of the son.

13 Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.

Jesus provides a sacrifice, a ram in place of the son who deserved death anyway. But that wasn't it. Do you see the connection? Do you see it?

JESUS TOOK ISAAC'S PLACE! He didn't just provide a ram, he provided the Lamb! Christ, the Lamb who was slain! Isaac deserved death, but God stopped his death because Abraham was faithful. God loved Abraham, so he sent HIS only son to replace Isaac. Christ gave a ram that day, but He also gave Himself. He chose to die, and He was obedient to His Father unto death. Isn't it beautiful? Do you see it? Isn't it beautiful? Christ, the son sacrificed in Isaac's place, in Israel's place, in the place of all mankind, in your place, in mine. All for the sake of love, for Abraham the father, for Isaac the son, and for all men.

Do you see it yet? Pray that you do, it's beautiful, it's so very beautiful! Thank you oh my Father, for giving us your Son! Hallelujah! Hallelujah, hallelujah hallelujah!

Abrahamic Covenant

I have to apologize. I haven’t posted in a near eternity. I’ve promised this series of theology and I haven’t delivered. My bad. I ended up with less time than I thought I’d have. The downside is this revelation is now a little old in my mind and so there’s a chance the point might not be quite as kickin’. But don’t worry, it’ll still be worth it. It’s like getting promised a million dollars and only getting nine hundred ninety nine thousand dollars instead. It’s not quite as good, but it’s still sweeter than honey with sugar on top. By that I mean it’s still good.

We all know my posts are as long as a novel, so I’ll get on with it.

So this guy Seth begets Noah who begets Shem who begets Terah who begets Abram and some others that aren’t as important to us right now. One day long, long ago, God tells Abram to go to the land that He shows him. He promises to make him a great nation, to bless him, to make his name great, and to make him a blessing. He also promises that all the families of earth would be blessed through him. So Abram goes with his nephew Lot.
Some time later, Abram and Lot split up and Lot takes the good land and leaves Abram with the poor land (remember that one from Sunday school?). God promises the land to Abram and his descendants. The land is promised to him, thus it becomes the “Promised Land.”
In Gen.15, God tells Abram to chop some animals in half, down the middle, and to put the halves of the animals in two columns on the ground facing each other. Then God puts Abram to sleep. God tells Abram of the captivity of his descendants in Egypt and their exodus. Then a smoking oven and a burning torch appear and pass through the halves of the animals, symbolizing God, covenanting Himself to Abram. This covenant is referred to as the ‘Abrahamic Covenant.’
Later, God gives him the sign of circumcision, a sign of the covenant between him and God. He also changes his name from Abram, exalted father, to Abraham, father of a multitude. God tells Abraham he will become many nations, that kings will come from him, that the Promised Land will be an EVERLASTING possession of his descendants, and that He will be their God. So as a side note, according to God the Palestinians have no official place in Israel. They can be resident aliens, but they can’t own the land. It belongs to the Jews. God made Abraham an everlasting covenant.
Thus concludes the third in the series. The next will be about Isaac. It should be short-ish. Hurray! I hope you learned something new about the Abrahamic covenant. I’d go deeper into covenant and what that is all about, but I probably wouldn’t do it a justice. So there you go.