Every Sunday is Easter Sunday. There is a long-standing
debate between the churches on when exactly Easter should be celebrated, should
it be celebrated on a fixed date, every year, should it follow the changing of
the calendar? You can read books about this discussion, it literally divides
the eastern and western churches. But this debate was really settled before it
even began, because the reason Christians began celebrating church on Sunday,
instead of Saturday, is because Jesus rose on a Sunday.
Therefore, every Sunday is Easter Sunday, because every
Sunday is resurrection Sunday.
I don’t have a problem with having a special Sunday that
coincides with the time of year that Jesus died and rose again. Not at all, I
think it is a good thing. But it is vital to understand that the resurrection IS
Christianity. The resurrection is the hope that drives believers and it
always has been. Without the resurrection we are just a sad social club, that’s
not very popular in the world. Believing God can raise the dead is vital to
being a Christian, it is vital to being a believer and it is vital to following
God.
But this belief did not begin with the resurrection of
Jesus, it is even more ancient than that.
I want to take us back well before the Christian era this
morning to reflect on the resurrection, to one of the most powerful, and
probably controversial passages in the whole Bible, the sacrifice of Isaac on
Mt Moria. And then we will come back to the New Testament. Let’s begin.
God Tests Abraham
(Gen. 22:1-2) – Our passage begins this morning with God testing Abraham, we
read,
“After these things God
tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.” 2 He said,
“Take 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.”
This is a significant statement to any parent, at least
any parent who loves their children, not every parent does, which is a sad
reality in our sinful world. But a bit of context about the things that
happened before this, draws out just how big a statement this was from God to
Abraham. Let’s go back to the start of Abraham’s journey.
God called Abram, which means father of one, out of Haran
away from his family and kin. But originally Abraham was from Ur of the
Chaldees, in other words Babylon and that is where God originally revealed
himself to him.
So, God called this pagan man to come and follow him.
Nothing in this early account mentions that Abraham was a good man, or a
righteous man, or an excellent man. We just know that God called him, Genesis
12:1-3,
“Now the Lord said to Abram,
“Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that
I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you
and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those
who bless you, and him who dishonours you I will curse, and in you all the
families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Rather than make the case that Abrahm was good, the Bible
actually makes the opposite case, that Abram was not a good man at this point, Ezekiel
16:1-5,
“16 Again the word of the
Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations, 3 and
say, Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth are of the
land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. 4
And as for your birth, on the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were
you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in
swaddling cloths. 5 No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you out of
compassion for you, but you were cast out on the open field, for you were
abhorred, on the day that you were born.”
God points out here that Israel’s father and mother were
an Amorite and a Hittite. How is this possible, when Abram was an Aramean?
Well, the Amorites were a group of peoples that likely came
from the Caucasus mountains, down into the ancient Near East and then moved
back West later on. These Amorites founded Babylon. The famous Hammurabi, the
King who wrote the famous ancient Babylonian law was an Amorite. They also eventually
moved back West and settled in Canaan and in the land of Aram.
So, the Arameans, were a subgroup of the Amorites, as
were many other Canaanites. Hittites were also known in this region and further
West as well. So, Abraham was an Aramean and an Amorite in the same way that an
American can be a Texan and an American, or a Victorian can be a Mexican and an
Australian. So, this is not a contradiction when you understand the history of
these terms and who these people groups were.
Babylon is the ancient evil of the Bible, and the final
evil. What God is saying to Israel is, “You are of the Babylonians, when I
found you, you were the worst.” Joshua confirms this for us,
“24 Joshua gathered all the
tribes of Israel to Shechem and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and
the officers of Israel. And they presented themselves before God. 2 And Joshua
said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Long ago, your
fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor;
and they served other gods” (Joshua 24:1-2).
God didn’t choose Abraham because he was better, or
special, or more handsome than other men. God did not choose him because he was
smarter, wiser or better than other men. God chose him for his own reasons, probably
because he was such a pagan, and then he promised this man with no kids, that
he would be the father of many, “And I will make of you a great nation.”
Biblically, a nation is a people born of similar kindred,
that is by decent from a common family line. God is promising Abraham that he
would have many descendants, Genesis 15:1-6,
“1 After these things the
word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield;
your reward shall be very great.” 2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you
give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of
Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a
member of my household will be my heir.” 4 And behold, the word of the Lord
came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your
heir.” 5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look towards heaven, and number
the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your
offspring be.” 6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as
righteousness.”
God took this pagan man, revealed himself to him, and
then consistently showed him that he would be the father of many. And God did
fulfil this promise. But before it happened, Abraham faced many threats:
Pharoah stole his wife, which threatens to impregnate
her.
Abraham goes to war with armies that include Nephilim (Rephaim),
placing his life in danger.
Abraham’s wife offers him the slave girl, causing an
issue in the family line.
Abraham challenges God over Sodom and Gomorrah,
potentially putting him at odds with his greatest benefactor.
Abimelech steals his wife, again threating his ability to
have a child with her.
“After these things” - After all of these threats finally
Isaac, the child of promise, has been born. Abraham has literally crossed from
the other side of the ancient Near East, followed the commands of a God
different to that of his fathers, he has been slowly transformed and proven
himself through many challenges, and now the promised child is finally here,
and God says,
“After these things God
tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.” 2 He said,
“Take 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.”
Can you imagine this? Abraham, by this time is obviously
a good man, a transformed man. His faith in God has had him credited
righteousness, just as any believer today is. But he is still of pagan origin
and thinking in many ways. You see it in how he handles certain situations, he
is quick to lie, or tell half-truths, and a few other tells. And in this
ancient pagan world. One of the things that false gods did was that they asked
for firstborn sons as a sacrifice. This event is a bit like God redeeming a man
out of alcoholism and then asking him one night to go into a pub, alone, with
money to buy drinks. It is a clear test. So, what does Abraham do? He trusts.
Abraham Trusts God (Gen
22:3-8)
“3 So Abraham rose early in
the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and
his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to
the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his
eyes and saw the place from afar. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay
here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come
again to you.” 6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on
Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went
both of them together. 7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And
he said, “Here am I, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but
where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God will provide for
himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them
together.”
Abraham does exactly what God asks him to do. He prepares
the boy, he gathers everything that is needed for the sacrifice, the fire and
the wood. This is one of the most controversial events in all of the Bible, and
many a sceptic or an atheist has questioned how can God be good if he asks
Abraham to commit such a terrible crime. And the innocence of the child is driven
home by this innocent childlike question,
“7 And Isaac said to his
father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here am I, my son.” He said,
“Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8
Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.”
So they went both of them together”
Here is an ancient man, in an ancient land, being asked
by an ancient deity to sacrifice his first-born son. To modern ears this is
beyond wicked. This is the very definition of evil. Many people believe that
this world is ruled behind closed doors by evil globalist elites who sacrifice
children in secret, and we correctly think this is evil. In Abraham’s day they
did it out in the open. In Abraham’s day, they did not have to hide it.
Abraham must have been incredibly tense here, because up
until this point he knew he had been redeemed from this kind of religion. But
he is not called the man of faith for no reason. So far God had never failed
him. God had brought him this far and protected him from much. And God had
provided him with the promised child, along with much, much more.
But God has not just provided him with the promised
child, he has also said this, Genesis 17:18-19, “18 And Abraham said to God,
“Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” 19 God said, “No, but Sarah your wife
shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my
covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.” In
other words, Abraham, who has learnt that God never abandons his promises, had
the promise that God was going to go establish his covenant with Isaac and his descendants.
He did not know how God was going to do it. But he knew that God was going to
do it, because God never lies.
Many people read this account in Genesis 22 and think
that Abraham knew that God was going to provide a ram or a lamb. Because he
says, “8 Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt
offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.” But that is not how the
Bible itself says Abraham was thinking. What he was actually thinking about was
that God was the God of the resurrection. We read this in Hebrews 11:17-19,
“17 By faith Abraham, when
he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in
the act of offering up his only son, 18 of whom it was said, “Through Isaac
shall your offspring be named.” 19 He considered that God was able even to
raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him
back.”
This is Holy Spirit inspired insight. In other words,
Abraham, this redeemed pagan from the land of paganism, Babylon, was going to
do it. He was going to sacrifice his son, because he trusted God, and believed
God could raise him from the dead, and give him back to him.
If we stop here, this sounds terrible. That the father of
our faith is what most people in our culture would consider a religious lunatic.
But Abraham trusted God like this, because so far he had shown himself to be
good, and just and righteous, and faithful and God would not fail to prove this
again.
God Changed Religion Forever (Gen.
22:9-19)
God was testing Abraham in this act, but he also inverted
and changed religion forever. People bring up this passage to criticize God,
for asking Abraham to sacrifice his son, but those who do so, have not read the
full story and don’t understand what God was doing. God showed Abraham there
was a better way,
“9 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 son and laid him on the altar, on top of the
wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his
son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham,
Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the
boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have
not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13 And Abraham lifted up his
eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his
horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering
instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will
provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be
provided.”
When those who are critics of the Bible say that God is
awful, because, God asked this man to sacrifice his son, they do not realize
how subversive God’s actions in this situation are.
God is dealing with a man who is of Babylon, not by
ancient decent, he took him actually from there. This is the place where
systematized idolatry was originally created. The star signs that silly women
follow in the magazines originated in ancient Babylon. Magic originated in
Babylon. Many of the wicked pagan practices condemned in the Bible find their
origin in this place, as Revelation says, Revelation 17:5-6, “5 And on her
forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of
prostitutes and of earth's abominations.” 6 And I saw the woman, drunk with the
blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.” This was an ancient
evil and will be the final evil, as well.
What God is doing here is transforming a man of Babylon,
an Amorite, into a man of God.
God never intended to let Abraham kill his son. Child
sacrifice, which today most often takes the form of abortion, is an
abomination, something God hates. God always intended to do this to test
Abraham, but also to teach him. To test that Abraham truly believed and trusted
in God above everything else. But also to teach him this important truth, God
will provide the sacrifice,
“12 He said, “Do not lay
your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God,
seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13 And Abraham
lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a
thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a
burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called the name of that place,
“The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord
it shall be provided.”
Through this event, God was transforming how humanity
should see religion.
The ancients believed that the more powerful the blood,
the more powerful the sacrifice. Therefore, the blood of innocent children was
the most powerful sacrifice in their view. God hates this. He hated the ancient
religious practices of this world. They needed to change, and to help change
them he began with this moment. He taught the father of our faith this
important point, “God will provide the sacrifice to fulfil his promises”, “14
So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is
said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
It is impossible to overstate how significant this was.
Abraham’s hope was focused on looking to the fact that God could raise his son.
Which he could. But God showed him something better, “I don’t want your son, I
want your whole heart, and I will give you more than you could ever offer me.”
This was the opposite of any other god in the ancient world.
This points us to what the blessing of Abraham, for
today, actually is.
Some people think the blessing of Abraham is all about
some land for one people in a small part of the world. But those who think this
haven’t read how the Apostles understood it. There was another blessing in
this, a blessing that is thoroughly Christian and you don’t want to miss it.
The Gift of Transformation
(vv.15-19)
God rewards Abraham mightily here, and says something
powerful that many people know, but misapply in strange ways, God says,
“15 And the angel of the
Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said, “By myself I have
sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your
son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your
offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And
your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, 18 and in your offspring
shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my
voice.” 19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went
together to Beersheba. And Abraham lived at Beersheba.”
God’s intention is to bless the whole world through
Abraham. So, what is the blessing of Abraham? What is the blessing that God
intended for Abraham to have to bless the whole world with?
Some people think this blessing that God wants to bless
the world with, is that if you give to Israel you will be blessed. Bless Israel
and you will be blessed.
Some people think that as Abraham prospered so will his
descendants prosper, if they just have the right kind of faith and sow in the
right kind of way, like Abraham did.
But I want to ask a question: why did God give Abraham
the land of Canaan? Why? It was so Israel could live there.
Why did God want Israel to live there? So, they could
have their own nation and establish righteousness as an example in the land.
Correct?
Now why did God want this to happen? So, there would be
righteous people there that knew God, knew God’s love and knew God’s ways.
Why did God want this to happen? So that there would be a
righteous line and a righteous remnant from a treasured people through which
the Messiah would come.
In other words, the blessing of Abraham, that was always
intended for the world, was not a land, not even just a nation. These were just
means to the end, and the end, the goal, the fulfilment, was Jesus and the
resurrection. Which brought the blessing of Abraham to “all the nations of the
earth…”
We can know this for certain, because this is what the
Apostle Peter himself said, Acts 3:22-26,
“22 Moses said, ‘The Lord
God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall
listen to him in whatever he tells you. 23 And it shall be that every soul who
does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ 24 And all
the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also
proclaimed these days. 25 You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant
that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring
shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ 26 God, having raised up his
servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from
your wickedness.”
Do you see that, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which
can turn us from our sins, is the fulfilment of the blessing God spoke about in
Genesis 22:18, “18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth
be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
This is powerful stuff, in the account of the sacrifice
of Isaac, God was transforming Abraham, turning this newly converted pagan,
into a man of God, who had shed his own pagan ways, and looked forward to the
fulfilment of God’s promises. And in this same event God points him to the
better sacrifice that God would provide, the sacrifice of his own son, who laid
his life down of his own accord and rose again, proving he was God, and through
whom all who trust in him can be forgiven from our sins and turned from our
sins.
The same God that redeemed a Babylonian like Abraham,
took him from the most wicked region of the ancient world, and turned him into
the founder of the line of the Messiah, is the same God who rose Jesus from the
grave.
And what does Paul say about that? The same power that
rose Jesus from the grave is at work in those of us who believe, Ephesians
1:19-20, “19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power towards us who
believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in
Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the
heavenly places,”
It is vital that we have this focus on believing in the
resurrection. Because it was Abraham’s faith in being resurrected in the next
life that motivated his obedience to God, no matter what God asked, Hebrews
11:8-10,
“8 By faith Abraham obeyed
when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an
inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he
went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with
Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking
forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.”
Abraham himself knew that the promise would be ultimately
fulfilled in heaven, not on this earth. He knew the land was a means to an end.
In other words, his hope was not in the things of this world, his hope was in a
greater promise.
Paul even points to this, Romans 4:13, “For the promise
to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come
through the law but through the righteousness of faith.” Abraham knew God, who
was the creator, the giver of life, the one who could make his old wife
pregnant and who could raise up his son Isaac after death. He knew that this
God was promising far more than just a nice block of land. And this transformed
him.
You see when we believe, when we truly believe, that God
has in store for us more than we could ever ask for in the next life, it means
the things of this world lose their hold over us, and what God asks of us
becomes so much easier.
Without the resurrection, there is no Christianity.
Without the resurrection, we’d be sorry losers, who were giving up much of what
the world has to offer, for a foolish hope. With the resurrection, we are capable
of not letting anything in this world get in the way of us reaching “the city
that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.”
This is what Abraham really looked forward to. Those
whose hope is in this life, must fight, scramble, scrape, and do what it takes
to get as much as they can, without hope that they will even succeed. Those
of us whose hope is in the God that could have resurrected Isaac and did
resurrect his Son, just need to trust and rest in that trust. “By
faith…by faith…” It’s the better way, the way of Abraham, the father of
us all. As Paul says, Romans 4:15-17,
“16 That is why it depends
on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all
his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who
shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, 17 as it is written,
“I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom
he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things
that do not exist.”
The faith of Abraham means to believe in the God who “gives
life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.” The
blessing of Abraham, means to be among those who believe this. To be among
those who have been transformed by the death AND resurrection of Jesus.
Application
So how do we apply this? One simple question, do you
believe that Jesus is Lord and died for your sins, and confess that God raised
him again from the grave so you can be saved? If yes, then you are among those
blessed by the blessing of Abraham. Let’s live it out.
Never forget that Jesus rose from the dead and is coming
again.
Never forget that if God can transform an ancient
Babylonian, he can transform us.
Never forget that the power God raised his son from the
dead with, is at work in us.
Don’t let people confuse the blessing of Abraham with the
things of this world. The ultimate blessing he was looking forward to was the
transformation that comes from the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We should mourn for those who seek to find their
fulfilment in this world and seek to share the message of Jesus with them. The
only hope is in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christos Anesti…Alithos
Anesti, Christ is risen, he is risen indeed.
