1. Please pray with me. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our Redeemer. Amen. The message from God’s Word in our Summer Sermon Series, “What Can Faith Do?” from Hebrews 11 is focusing on Hebrews 11:17-19, which says, “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, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.” The message is entitled, “By Faith the Sacrifice,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. Could you do it? Could you take your only child up the mountain and sacrifice him to the Lord? How many of you could wrap the cords around your child’s wrists tight enough that he or she wouldn’t struggle? How many of you could set the wood on the altar and then place your child on top, knowing that the fire would be coming? How shaky would your hands be when you took the knife and drew it near to the flesh of your precious child?
3. How many of you, would instead turn your back on such a God before you offered up your own flesh and blood? That’s what many have done upon hearing about God’s test of Abraham. Would you think God cruel, petty, evil or devilish even, when faced with the thought that He would require you to sacrifice your one and only child just—for what?—to prove that you love him? Would you think the God of the Old Testament shows his stripes as no better than any of the other pagan gods, desiring child sacrifice? That’s the way many view this scene in the life of father Abraham. And because of that, many fall away from the faith of Abraham. Maybe you struggle with this, or you know someone else who does. I have.
4. But that’s because they don’t know the whole story. If you think all that’s going on is God forcing Abraham to make a child sacrifice to him to prove himself, then you’ve missed the whole point. And that’s what I pray we’ll all see today, the whole point, so that you can be a lifeline to those who struggle with this very same God. Because, in the end, this story—and this God—is actually all about the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ.
5. If you go back and reread the whole story of Abraham in Genesis, you can see it. Or just look at how Hebrews 11 summarized it for us: “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, of whom it was said, ‘Through Isaac shall your offspring be named’ ” (Hebr. 11:17–18). That same God who’d called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldeans (Genesis 11:27–32), who in person promised him this son Isaac by Sarah, this same God promised that by Sarah’s son all of Abraham’s offspring would be named. That means that the boy has to live long enough to have one son. Or God would be a liar. And Isaac hadn’t had any kids yet.
6. So, is this a test of whether Abraham loved God more than he loved his only son? No! Is this a bloodthirsty God desirous of child sacrifice? No! This isn’t a test of Abraham’s love for God, his obedience, or his sacrifice. Nor is this a test that you or I has to undergo today. This is Abraham’s faith. This was specifically about that promise God had made: “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” And if it’s through Isaac, he has to have children, and in order to have children, he has to be alive. And, he can’t do that if he stays dead.
7. That’s why Hebrews 11 continues, Abraham “considered that God was able even to raise [Isaac] from the dead” (Hebrews 11:19). Isaac has to live. Even if he’s cut, even if he’s burnt, even if he dies, Abraham knows God is faithful to his promises. So Abraham believes that Isaac must come down from that mountain with him, regardless of what happens. “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1). Abraham was sure that God was faithful to his promises. So he was convinced God would act in faithfulness to his word—regardless of how impossible that might seem to us.
8. This is a story of the faithfulness of God. This is a story of the hope of resurrection, not of sacrifice. This is an image of the very same hope we can have at the deathbeds of our loved ones—where no matter what happens, we can know that they must come down from that mountainside, they must rise from their tombs, regardless of what happens. Because God is faithful to the Word he’s spoken to you.
9. Of course, the story doesn’t end with the boy on the altar. Turn your Bibles to Genesis 22 and follow along with me. The wood was laid on his back for him to carry to the place of sacrifice. The bonds held fast his hands and feet in place. The blade was prepared to spill his blood. All the while the thorns were clinging around the Victim’s head. The Lamb of God was offered as the sacrifice in place of Isaac and—therefore—all of his descendants to come. And on what day do they come down from the mountain, Abraham having figuratively received his son back from the dead, his day of resurrection? What day does Genesis say? The third day.
10. Jesus said in John 8, “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad” (Jn 8:56). Abraham saw the wood, the bonds, the crown of thorns, the Lamb of God, the third-day resurrection. “He saw it and was glad.” Because the Lamb slain in place of his son meant blessing for all the nations of the earth. I ask you, does that change the way you see Abraham and the sacrifice of Isaac? Do you understand God any differently now knowing what it’s really about? Do you think knowing what was really going on in the story would help someone struggling with this account? That’s why we must read the Old Testament in light of the New.
11. Could that change how someone struggling with God’s command to Abraham sees God himself? It does. For it shows us that, far from a god desiring blood and sacrifice from us, God is a God of self-sacrifice for us. A God who gives of himself in place of his children, who gives his only Son that we and our sons and daughters would not die eternally. A God who is faithful to his Word. God proved Himself faithful through what Abraham did, believed, and saw. God has given us many precious promises that we might believe and be blessed like Abraham and Isaac.
12. For the wood, the bonds, the crown of thorns, the Lamb of God, the day of resurrection—that’s for us too. Most of you parents here, like Abraham, have laid the cross of wood upon your children and given them over to death in the certain hope of resurrection. That’s what Paul says happens in Baptism. “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:3–4). If you’ve never thought about Baptism that way before, let Abraham’s sacrifice help you today. Don’t get distracted by the cute babies or humble font. That’s a place of death, of sacrifice, of drowning into the grave with Christ in his crucifixion, so that you, too, and your children can know the power of his resurrection. That’s what you’re doing for your children in Holy Baptism. And thanks be to God for it! That’s faith at work trusting the Word and promises he’s spoken to you.
13. We believe God when he says that all who die in faith will be raised from their tombs on the Last Day to live forever with God in the flesh, in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. We trust his Word. And so, on our deathbeds, we can cling to Baptism and the promises made to us in the font of resurrection and life. We don’t have to fear our deathbed, because we consider that God is able even to raise us from the dead. And our same confidence for ourselves is the confidence we can have for our loved ones who’ve been baptized and who believe. For Jesus says, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mk 16:16).
14. Don’t you think that would change the way people understand God? The way they think about father Abraham? Do you think it would impact the way folks bring their children to the baptismal font? How we’d cherish our baptisms all the more? It would. And it does. Because the Word and the Sacraments of Christ change people. I pray that this time meditating on the sacrifice of Isaac impacts your faith to rejoice in your baptism and to be a witness to others struggling with God, that together we may all rejoice in the Lamb of God who took our place in death that we might join him in his place in life eternal. In Jesus’ name. Amen. Now the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, until life everlasting. Amen.
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