The Gospel Preached to Abraham Beforehand
The Resurrection–Genesis 22:1-24
Galatians 3:8 “And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the nations by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying ‘In you all the nations shall be blessed’”.
We have been looking at the occasions in which God stated His Gospel Blessing, His Promise to Abraham:
Genesis 12:1-3 Notice that it was after Abraham obeyed the Lord in leaving Ur of the Chaldeans, and after his father Terah dies in Haran.
12:3b “and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Genesis 15:1-21 Again, “After these things”, that is the deliverance of Lot & Sodom, and his introduction to Melchizedek, the Priest of God Most High!
15:5-6 “And (God) brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And (God) said to him, So shall your seed be.”
“And he believed in the LORD and He counted it to him for righteousness.”
It is on this occasion that we see the “cutting of the Covenant” and it’s emblematic elements that speak of our Covenental Sacrifice, Jesus Christ. Remember it is only God in the emblems of His Justice and Mercy in Christ Jesus that passes through the sacrifice. He Alone is our Surety of the Covenant!!!
Genesis 17 The sign of the Covenant between God and Abraham (his new name at this point) and his “descendants after you”. (17:4-11). We will consider this after the lesson of the Resurrection!
Genesis 22:1-24 The confirmation of Abraham’s faith–the proclamation of the Resurrection!
Once again, “Now it came to pass after these things”. After Sarah’s laughter (18:1-15). After the destruction of Sodom & Gomorrah (18:16-38). After Abraham lies about Sarah to Abimelech to save his own skin (20). Isaac is born & 14 year old Ismael & Hagar are sent away (21:1-21) After a lot of sordid events in which Abraham didn’t tend to look like a paragon of faith! Recall James 5:17! Elijah was a man of like passions as we are (KJV), and yet this frail man prayed and God stopped the rain for 3 years. The vessels of God’s Promise are just plain old sinners like every one else! It is the Visitation of God’s Grace that alone makes the difference!
Vs. 1-2 The TEST:
God pours it on! “Take now your son, your ONLY SON, Isaac, WHOM YOU LOVE.”
Specific instructions: “Go to the land of Moriah & offer him there as a burnt offering”!
Somewhat vague directions, similar to his command to leave the Ur of the Chaldees. “On one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” Imagine the Abraham’s emotions! Scripture is silent! We must not interpret Scripture by our imaginations!!
Vs. 3-4 Abraham’s obedience:
“So Abraham rose early”, made all the necessary preparations, “and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.” Again, Scripture is silent as to any hesitation on Abraham’s part! Imagine cutting & splitting the wood for your only son’s burnt sacrifice!!!
“On the third day he saw the place afar off.” Consider the Heavenly Father’s gaze as He observed His Only Son, His Beloved Son trudging through the valley of this fallen earth to the sacrificial alter on Golgotha!!!
Vs 5-10 Abraham’s faith:
“The lad and I will go yonder and WORSHIP.” Job 13:15 “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” Romans 12:1 “I beseech you by the Mercies of God, that you present yourselves a living sacrifice”. Worship isn’t the 11:00 hour with it’s worship bands, raised hands, and pious faces! Worship is laying ourselves before the Holy God on His Altar of Sacrificial Worship in full faith that:
Vs 5 “And we will come back to you.” This is the ultimate expression of Abraham’s faith! Hebrews 11:17-19 “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, (the seed of Promise) ....accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.”
Vs 6 “And the two of them went together”. How much more the Heavenly Father & His Beloved Son “went together” to Golgotha & the cross! John 14:31 “But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here.” And He goes into the garden and on to the cross!
Vs 7-8 The son’s heart wrenching question, the father’s faithful answer. “Look, the fire & the wood, but where is the lamb/goat for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide Himself the lamb (KJV) for a burnt offering. AND THE TWO OF THEM WENT TOGETHER.” The Father & Son were together in the Ultimate Sacrifice! The Heavenly Father is always “together” with the “living sacrifices” of His Worship!
Vs 9-10 The incredible extent of Abraham’s faithful obedience! Remember, he believed God was able to raise Isaac from the dead. Why? Because Isaac was the Seed of Promise. Isaac was born to a couple as good as dead (Hebrews 11:12), surely death was no obstacle to God’s Promise! The Resurrection proves that Death is no obstacle to God’s Promise to us!!!
Vs 11-19 God’s sure Provision
Vs 11 The Angel of the LORD (surely the pre-incarnate God, notice vs 12–“now I know that you fear God, & haven’t withheld your son...from Me.”) Notice Abraham’s , “here I am”. The third time this phrase occurs–Vs 1, 7, 11. There is nothing in Scripture by accident.
Vs 12 “Now I Know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, YOUR ONLY SON, FROM ME”. True faith and the right fear of God are hand in glove! This is the message of the book of James. Faith without (costly) works is dead. Do we believe God enough to believe that He can raise our Isaac from the dead??? Do we believe God enough to withhold NOTHING from Him? God isn’t big on “professions”. He is big on evidential “confession” of faith.
Vs 13 The ram in a thicket caught by it’s horns. God indeed provides the sacrifice! But not a lamb, a goat with horns! First time we find a goat is in Genesis 15, the cutting of the Covenant. After this, the next time is in Exodus 29:15, the ram of consecration for the High Priest & his sons, a sweet aroma unto the LORD. Melchizedek is never far from the sacrifice!
Vs 14 Abraham named the place YHWH Yireh, “The-LORD-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day. ‘In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided.” Beloved, we must lift our eyes unto the hills, from whence our Help comes.” Psalm 121:1 Our help comes from the LORD , Who made heaven & earth.” We must always be led to the Rock that is Higher than us. Psalm 61:5
Vs 15-18 God’s Covenant is restated. This reminds me of a baptismal confession, “Upon your confession of faith, I baptize you in the Name of the Father, the Son, & the Holy Spirit.” Remember, not a lot of faith confidence seen in chapters 16-21. But in this ultimate test, the faith that is counted for Righteousness is clearly seen!!!
Vs 19 Abraham doesn’t go out and start “Abrahams Resurrection Ministries”! No, this is so unlike sensationalistic contemporary christianity! This is so matter of fact, so understated. They return to the young men & they go home!! The fruit of faith is most often very ordinary!
Vs 20-24 introduces a bride for Isaac! (Vs 23) This is most fitting. After the sacrifice, what is our Sacrifice all about? He is about calling out His Bride out of the Ur of the Chaldees!!! (Matt. 16:18) Many commentators through out the ages have seen the shadow of the Holy Spirit in Abraham's servant. It would seem that this is foreshadowing the fulfillment of the Father's will in "Gathering together all things in Christ." (Ephesians 1: 9-11)
This is how we know: A key application for us from this incredible testimony of a sinners faith is the picture of the Heavenly Father actually raising the knife, plunging it into the breast of the Son of His Love!!! (Acts 2:23; Isaiah 53:1-10) And He fulfilled Abraham’s faith in that He Raised His Son from the dead and seated Him at His own Right Hand as our Melchizedek!!! This is the Gospel preached to Abraham! This is the faith of Abraham, the father of the faithful!!
The Resurrection–Genesis 22:1-24
Galatians 3:8 “And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the nations by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying ‘In you all the nations shall be blessed’”.
We have been looking at the occasions in which God stated His Gospel Blessing, His Promise to Abraham:
Genesis 12:1-3 Notice that it was after Abraham obeyed the Lord in leaving Ur of the Chaldeans, and after his father Terah dies in Haran.
12:3b “and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Genesis 15:1-21 Again, “After these things”, that is the deliverance of Lot & Sodom, and his introduction to Melchizedek, the Priest of God Most High!
15:5-6 “And (God) brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And (God) said to him, So shall your seed be.”
“And he believed in the LORD and He counted it to him for righteousness.”
It is on this occasion that we see the “cutting of the Covenant” and it’s emblematic elements that speak of our Covenental Sacrifice, Jesus Christ. Remember it is only God in the emblems of His Justice and Mercy in Christ Jesus that passes through the sacrifice. He Alone is our Surety of the Covenant!!!
Genesis 17 The sign of the Covenant between God and Abraham (his new name at this point) and his “descendants after you”. (17:4-11). We will consider this after the lesson of the Resurrection!
Genesis 22:1-24 The confirmation of Abraham’s faith–the proclamation of the Resurrection!
Once again, “Now it came to pass after these things”. After Sarah’s laughter (18:1-15). After the destruction of Sodom & Gomorrah (18:16-38). After Abraham lies about Sarah to Abimelech to save his own skin (20). Isaac is born & 14 year old Ismael & Hagar are sent away (21:1-21) After a lot of sordid events in which Abraham didn’t tend to look like a paragon of faith! Recall James 5:17! Elijah was a man of like passions as we are (KJV), and yet this frail man prayed and God stopped the rain for 3 years. The vessels of God’s Promise are just plain old sinners like every one else! It is the Visitation of God’s Grace that alone makes the difference!
Vs. 1-2 The TEST:
God pours it on! “Take now your son, your ONLY SON, Isaac, WHOM YOU LOVE.”
Specific instructions: “Go to the land of Moriah & offer him there as a burnt offering”!
Somewhat vague directions, similar to his command to leave the Ur of the Chaldees. “On one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” Imagine the Abraham’s emotions! Scripture is silent! We must not interpret Scripture by our imaginations!!
Vs. 3-4 Abraham’s obedience:
“So Abraham rose early”, made all the necessary preparations, “and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.” Again, Scripture is silent as to any hesitation on Abraham’s part! Imagine cutting & splitting the wood for your only son’s burnt sacrifice!!!
“On the third day he saw the place afar off.” Consider the Heavenly Father’s gaze as He observed His Only Son, His Beloved Son trudging through the valley of this fallen earth to the sacrificial alter on Golgotha!!!
Vs 5-10 Abraham’s faith:
“The lad and I will go yonder and WORSHIP.” Job 13:15 “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” Romans 12:1 “I beseech you by the Mercies of God, that you present yourselves a living sacrifice”. Worship isn’t the 11:00 hour with it’s worship bands, raised hands, and pious faces! Worship is laying ourselves before the Holy God on His Altar of Sacrificial Worship in full faith that:
Vs 5 “And we will come back to you.” This is the ultimate expression of Abraham’s faith! Hebrews 11:17-19 “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, (the seed of Promise) ....accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.”
Vs 6 “And the two of them went together”. How much more the Heavenly Father & His Beloved Son “went together” to Golgotha & the cross! John 14:31 “But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here.” And He goes into the garden and on to the cross!
Vs 7-8 The son’s heart wrenching question, the father’s faithful answer. “Look, the fire & the wood, but where is the lamb/goat for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide Himself the lamb (KJV) for a burnt offering. AND THE TWO OF THEM WENT TOGETHER.” The Father & Son were together in the Ultimate Sacrifice! The Heavenly Father is always “together” with the “living sacrifices” of His Worship!
Vs 9-10 The incredible extent of Abraham’s faithful obedience! Remember, he believed God was able to raise Isaac from the dead. Why? Because Isaac was the Seed of Promise. Isaac was born to a couple as good as dead (Hebrews 11:12), surely death was no obstacle to God’s Promise! The Resurrection proves that Death is no obstacle to God’s Promise to us!!!
Vs 11-19 God’s sure Provision
Vs 11 The Angel of the LORD (surely the pre-incarnate God, notice vs 12–“now I know that you fear God, & haven’t withheld your son...from Me.”) Notice Abraham’s , “here I am”. The third time this phrase occurs–Vs 1, 7, 11. There is nothing in Scripture by accident.
Vs 12 “Now I Know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, YOUR ONLY SON, FROM ME”. True faith and the right fear of God are hand in glove! This is the message of the book of James. Faith without (costly) works is dead. Do we believe God enough to believe that He can raise our Isaac from the dead??? Do we believe God enough to withhold NOTHING from Him? God isn’t big on “professions”. He is big on evidential “confession” of faith.
Vs 13 The ram in a thicket caught by it’s horns. God indeed provides the sacrifice! But not a lamb, a goat with horns! First time we find a goat is in Genesis 15, the cutting of the Covenant. After this, the next time is in Exodus 29:15, the ram of consecration for the High Priest & his sons, a sweet aroma unto the LORD. Melchizedek is never far from the sacrifice!
Vs 14 Abraham named the place YHWH Yireh, “The-LORD-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day. ‘In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided.” Beloved, we must lift our eyes unto the hills, from whence our Help comes.” Psalm 121:1 Our help comes from the LORD , Who made heaven & earth.” We must always be led to the Rock that is Higher than us. Psalm 61:5
Vs 15-18 God’s Covenant is restated. This reminds me of a baptismal confession, “Upon your confession of faith, I baptize you in the Name of the Father, the Son, & the Holy Spirit.” Remember, not a lot of faith confidence seen in chapters 16-21. But in this ultimate test, the faith that is counted for Righteousness is clearly seen!!!
Vs 19 Abraham doesn’t go out and start “Abrahams Resurrection Ministries”! No, this is so unlike sensationalistic contemporary christianity! This is so matter of fact, so understated. They return to the young men & they go home!! The fruit of faith is most often very ordinary!
Vs 20-24 introduces a bride for Isaac! (Vs 23) This is most fitting. After the sacrifice, what is our Sacrifice all about? He is about calling out His Bride out of the Ur of the Chaldees!!! (Matt. 16:18) Many commentators through out the ages have seen the shadow of the Holy Spirit in Abraham's servant. It would seem that this is foreshadowing the fulfillment of the Father's will in "Gathering together all things in Christ." (Ephesians 1: 9-11)
This is how we know: A key application for us from this incredible testimony of a sinners faith is the picture of the Heavenly Father actually raising the knife, plunging it into the breast of the Son of His Love!!! (Acts 2:23; Isaiah 53:1-10) And He fulfilled Abraham’s faith in that He Raised His Son from the dead and seated Him at His own Right Hand as our Melchizedek!!! This is the Gospel preached to Abraham! This is the faith of Abraham, the father of the faithful!!