How Abraham Learned About the Sacrifice of Christ

Well, good afternoon once again. Today I want to begin a month-long discussion on the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread as we prepare to unfold God's plan in our lives and God's plan for the world. As we begin to prepare for this and think about the Passover in particular, I have a question for you today, and here's the question. Where in Scripture is the sacrifice and the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ first indicated? Where in Scripture is the sacrifice, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ first indicated? Now you may say to yourself, well, it's Exodus 12, and you should know that I couldn't have given you a question and an answer that easy.

Indeed, Exodus 12 does discuss, through God's experience in bringing ancient Israel, how to be the Passover, and that reflected certainly the sacrifice and the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. But there's an event that occurred before Exodus 12 that I would like to focus on today because it is one of the richest symbolic topographies in the entire Old Testament, and it reveals something that Abraham was able to know and understand. Let's begin by going to John 8, beginning in verse 51, John 8, and verse 51, and see a comment made by Jesus Christ about Abraham.

Jesus likes to stir things up, and he makes a statement here. He says, Most assuredly I say unto you, If anyone keeps my word, he shall never see death. Well, of course, Jesus is usually on a different plane than his audience and everyone else. He's talking about eternal death, right? They're thinking of physical death, growing older, getting a disease, and dying, and he is thinking about eternal life. So he says, If anyone keeps my word, he shall never see death. And then the Jews said to him, Now we know that you have a demon.

Abraham is dead. They're saying, Look, Abraham was a good man. He kept God's word, and he's dead. So you're contradicting yourself. You must have a demon. They said, Abraham is dead, and the prophets, and you say, If anyone keeps my word, he shall never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets, who, by the way, are dead? When do you make yourself out to be? And Jesus answered, If I honor myself, my honor is nothing. It is my father who honors me, of whom you say that he is your God. Yet you have not known him, but I have known him.

And if I say I do not know him, I shall be a liar like you. But I do know him and keep his word. And here's what I want to focus on in verse 56. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it. In his life, he looked forward 1900 years, and he saw what I am all about.

Jesus Christ said, He saw it and he was glad. I'd like to read verse 56 from the translation God's word for today. It says, Your father Abraham was pleased to see that my day was coming, and he saw it and he was happy. Was happy about what he saw. Well, what could Jesus possibly be talking about here? Well, he's mentioning the fact that Abraham, through an experience, had a glimpse of Christ's future incarnation on earth. And through this glimpse, this experience that Abraham had, he was able to see the life and the mission and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

This statement completely went over the heads of the Jews who were listening to him, because again, they're thinking about physical death. They're thinking about physical earthy things, and Jesus is talking about spiritual things. In verse 57, let's go there. And the Jews said to him, You were not yet 50 years old. Actually, he was in his early 30s. I don't know if that was intended to be an insult to him or not, but they said, You were not yet 50 years old, and you have seen Abraham?

Jesus said to them, Most assuredly I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. And of course, that statement struck them, because they were all well versed in the Bible, in the Scriptures, in the Old Testament. And God revealed himself to Moses as I am. When he says, Who shall I tell sent me?

When the people ask me, God, Moses said, Who sent me? Who shall I tell them? And he says, Tell them I am has sent you. So this obviously shocked them. And we see the result, verse 59, and they took up stones to throw at him. But Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. So this experience was going on, this conversation in the temple, going through the midst of them. And so we passed by. So the phrase, Before Abraham was born, I am, implied to them absolute eternal existence, not simply living prior to Abraham. Jesus was saying to them that I am the Yahweh, the Jehovah, the Lord God of the Old Testament.

That before Abraham was, I am, saying I was there. I have always been there. I'm present now. I will be present in the future. I am the past. I am the future. I am the alpha. I am the omega, is what Jesus is saying. It's a claim to be the Yahweh, the Old Testament, and the Jews, his audience, understood the significance of this claim. And that's why they perceived it as blasphemy. And they all looked for stones and attempted to stone Jesus.

So let us find out when this event occurred with Abraham, what occurred that made him rejoice to see the time when Christ would walk on the earth and when Christ would offer his life as a living sacrifice and when Christ would be resurrected from the dead for the benefit of all mankind. Let's find out when this occurred and why it made him glad. Let's begin in Genesis chapter 22. If you have one of those little ribbons in your Bible or something to hold your place in Genesis 22, I encourage you to do it because we'll be going back there, back and forth from Genesis 22 to a few other scriptures for the rest of the sermon.

By the time we come to Genesis 22, a lot has occurred in the relationship between Abraham and his God. Abraham obeyed God's command to leave his family. He had left. Lot got himself in trouble. By this time Abraham went and though Lot had been kidnapped, he brought Lot back from the kings in which they had had a battle. He spared Lot's life and restored Lot to where he needed to be. At this time Isaac had been born. Isaac had been circumcised.

Isaac had grown up to be a young man. By this time in Genesis chapter 22, he had sent Hagar away with Ishmael. Ishmael was his son, but God said he's not going to be considered your firstborn son. Isaac is to be the son of promise. Through particular circumstances, Abraham sent away Hagar and Ishmael. It was Isaac, though he wasn't truly the firstborn, Abraham was considered the son of promise. Now Genesis 22, beginning in verse 1, it says, Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham. And you know, God often tests us to see what we're made of, to see if we are getting it, to see if we're using his Spirit when we go through various challenges and trials.

Now none of us have been through a test like Abraham's going to go through here, but we are all tested because that's part of God's plan for us. As long as we draw breath, we will be challenged and tested and refined and improved by God's Holy Spirit. So after these things, God tested Abraham and he said to him, Abraham, and he said, Here I am. And he said, Now 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.

So out of the clear blue, Abraham is given a command that is completely contrary to the character of the God that Abraham knew. This is not something that God would normally request of anyone. He knew God. He had a relationship with God. He was God's friend. And this came out of the blue. He was told to take his only son, the son in which all the promises rested regarding Abraham and his descendants, and go on a journey and slay him. This request had to appear to be a contradiction in Abraham's mind regarding the God whom he was friend to, the God that he intimately knew, and the God that he loved.

He had waited so long for a son, that promised son, as he grew older and his wife grew older, and nothing happened. He had waited so long for his son. There was even a point in his life where he didn't have enough faith, and he tried to take matters into his own hands and went into his wife's handmade hagar and produced a son that wasn't part of God's plan for him, because he lacked faith at that point in his life.

He thought, I'm too old. My wife is too old. It's not going to happen. This must mean what God intended. And of course, the physical attraction didn't help between a red-blooded man and a healthy male and a beautiful handmade. That certainly played its part as well. But this was Isaac, his son, a promise. He had waited so long for this son, and now he was being told to go and kill the very son that he loved.

Of course, these events occur around 1900 B.C. And at the moment that God said, I want you to go and take your son whom you love and offer him there as a burnt offering, Isaac was as good as debt. Because Abraham knew that he did not worship a frivolous God. He worshipped a God who rarely changes his mind. He worshipped a God who had very strong values and had asked Abraham to do something that was very difficult.

From this moment on, as I just said, Isaac was as good as debt. From this point on, until they reached the land of Moriah, Abraham would have to agonize and think about his son and what it would mean to lose him. Every step there was his son whom he loved, the son of promise, knowing that he's about to die. Step by step, as they continued on to the land of Moriah.

I'd like to read to you a statement from the reary Bible notes regarding Genesis chapter 22 and verse 1. It says, quote, human sacrifice was practiced though not by the godly in Old Testament times and Abraham would have been acquainted with it in Mesopotamia. God's intention here was to see if Abraham loved him more than he loved Isaac and to try Abraham's faith in his promise concerning his descendants.

Moriah was a general area that included the hills in which Solomon later built his temple in Jerusalem. The journey was about 50 miles. So while keeping your place in Genesis 22, turn with me to 2 Chronicles chapter 3 and verse 1. So, in contrast and parallel to Jesus Christ, who was God's only beloved son, and Isaac, who is Abraham's only son, we know, of course, that Jesus died in the confines of the city of Jerusalem. Let's see in 2 Chronicles chapter 3 and verse 1 what it says here. It says, now Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah.

What a coincidence! Or is it? It's not a coincidence at all. On Mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared to his father David at the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Oran and the Jebusite. So here we see that Abraham and his party would travel about 50 miles to the very area where the temple would later be built. And the very area where daily sacrifices in the future would be offered to God.

Now today there's a mosque at that location called the Mosque of Omar that occupies the prominent place that was once the court of the temple complex. But 1900 years before Jesus Christ would walk on the earth, Abraham is told to take his son Isaac to the very spot where Jesus Christ himself would conduct his ministry and would eventually die.

Now let's go back to Genesis chapter 22 and take a look at verse 3. It says, So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son, and he split the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place which God had told him. I want you to notice here that Abraham doesn't argue with God. I would have. He doesn't try to reason with God. I can tell you that I sure would have. It says he rose up early in the morning to do what God had asked him to do.

Now personally, I would have lingered. Well, God, we got church at noon and then after that we're going to have a potluck. How about if I do it tomorrow rather than today? But Abraham doesn't do these things. As a matter of fact, he doesn't linger. He doesn't delay the journey. It states he even rose up early to do what God had asked him to do. In other words, he had resigned himself that if this must be, then it must be. And he started the 50-mile trip. Verse 4, And on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes, and he saw the place afar off. So it's the third day, and from his vantage point he can look and he can see the location. He's not there yet, but he can see the location, the place, where God has asked him to sacrifice his son. So he's told to go and kill his only son there. He could see it, but it was still far off in the distance.

He would complete the third day by the time he traveled from that spot and arrived at Moriah. Now holding your place in Genesis chapter 22, let's go to Luke chapter 24. Luke chapter 24, Jesus Christ is dead. His body had been in the tomb. The women came with spices early on Sunday morning. Luke chapter 22 verse 4, they looked into the tomb and it's empty.

And here's what the Scripture says, and it happened as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. Then as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to him, Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen. Remember how he spoke to you when he was still in Galilee, saying, The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise again.

What day was it that Abraham lifted his eyes and he saw the place afar off? It says, The Third Day.

You see, this phraseology means three complete 24-hour days or three days and three nights, just like Jesus said in Matthew 10. He said, Like Jonah was in the belly of the whale, I will be dead three days and three nights. So we see a parallel here between Genesis 22 from the time when the death sentence was spoken to Isaac and he was as good as dead to the time that Jesus was dead and in the tomb.

Let's now go back to Genesis 22, verse 5. Again, I want you to notice how Abraham had took two young men with him on the journey and the women at the tomb had observed two angels after Jesus was resurrected. But Genesis 22, verse 5, And Abraham said to his young men, Stay here with the donkey, and the lad and I will go yonder and worship. We will come back to you.

So Abraham is saying, I appreciate your help, but what my son and I must do, we have to do alone. What we must do, what has been planned, we have to do together, just us, father and son.

And we will come back to you. Abraham shows his confidence that Isaac would return with him from the place of sacrifice. Abraham demonstrates his faith and his belief in the resurrection.

Now, he thought that he literally would have to slay his son because that's what God said is going to happen. But he also believed that his dead son through the intervention of God would be raised from the dead because he was, after all, the son of promise. And God does not break his promises.

But I want you to think about how hard this much that have been.

The good patriarch rises early and he begins his sad journey. Every step, every yard, every mile, there's his son, his beloved son whom he loved, his only son, looking at him, innocently walking along with Abraham, just dutifully doing what his father asked him to do.

He travels three days and Isaac is still in his sight. There's his beloved son. His mental anguish must have made it worse as the days continued and he got closer to doing what God had commanded him to do. The mental anguish must have been very difficult. The expression, we will come to you again to you, shows that Abraham expected Isaac to be raised from the dead and that after this event he would return with him back to the two young men who were waiting. Let's go now, hold your place in Genesis 22 to Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 17 and see if Paul understood what Abraham understood. Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 17. It says, by faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. Meaning he was fully ready to do it. He was prepared to do it.

Symbolically, however you want to look at it, he had mentally given up his son. His son was as good as dead. Offered up Isaac and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, in Isaac your seed shall be called, concluding that God was able to raise him up. So Abraham fully believed in his heart of hearts that he would be required to slay his son and offer him as a sacrifice. But he also believed that God would raise him up, continuing even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense. And we'll talk about what that figurative sense was in just a few minutes. So now let's go back to Genesis chapter 22 and verse 6 and continue the story. Continue the analogies. Continue the symbolism.

Genesis chapter 22 and verse 6. So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son and took the fire in his hand and a knife. And the two of them went together. But as Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, my father. And he said, here I am, my son. Then he said, look, the fire in the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? Do you realize how very gut-wrenching this question must have been when Isaac said this to his dad as they were walking together?

My father, he says. It had to be a sound, this question, that tore at his heart. And as Abraham was advancing up the slope where Solomon's temple later would stand, he had to feel the agony of what our heavenly father would someday feel when he had to allow his own precious son to literally be lacerated and crucified and die for the sins of all mankind and be the ultimate sacrifice. Here's what it says in the Scofield Bible notes about this verse.

Abraham placed it on his son Isaac, laid it on his son Isaac, that's speaking of wood. It says, Isaac was not a child but a young man. Observe his loving submission to his father. Notice how docile Isaac is. He's not arguing, he's not complaining, he's not resisting, he's not struggling, he is fully accepted to do what his father asked him to do.

Verse 8, and Abraham said, my son, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering. So the two of them went together, and when they came to the place, again this is where the temple, the area where the very temple itself would be standing someday, to the place of which God had told him, and Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order, and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar upon the wood, and Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

You notice the beginning there in verse 8, and Abraham said, my son, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering. In this statement, Abraham prophesies that God would someday provide the true Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world.

Abraham is getting it, he's understanding it, and he builds an altar and places the wood on top of it, and finally he uses a type of rope to tie up Isaac, and he places him upon the wood. And here's what it says in Holman's Bible dictionary under the article crucifixion. A person crucified in Jesus' day was, first of all, scourged, beaten with a whip consisting of thongs and pieces of metal or bone attached to the end, or at least flogged until the blood flowed.

After the beating, the victim was forced to bear the cross beam to the execution site in order to signify that life was already over and to break the will to live. A tablet detailing the crimes was often placed around the criminal's neck and then fastened to the cross. At the site, the prisoner was often tied to normal method, nailed, if it was desired, to a cross beam. The nail would be driven through the wrist rather than the palm since the smaller bones of the hand could not support the weight of the body.

The beam with the body was then lifted and tied to the already affixed upright pole. Pens or a wooden block were placed halfway up to provide a seat for the body, lest the nails tear open the wounds or the ropes. Force the arms from their sockets. Finally, the feet were tied or nailed to the post. Death was caused by the loss of blood, circulation, and coronary failure. So what was the typical method of crucifixion? You were laid on wood, you were tied. What did Abraham do to his son Isaac? He bounds him, he ties him up, and he lays him on the wood, which was symbolic of the stake that Jesus Christ would die on.

The symbolism is very rich, brethren, and very clear. And again, notice that after Isaac asks the question, which is, where is the lamb for the burnt offering? From this point on, he's quiet, he's silent, he's compliant, he doesn't struggle or resist, he doesn't become angry, he accepts his fate because it's something that his father wants him to do. Holding your place there, let's go to Matthew chapter 26 and verse 59.

Matthew chapter 26 and verse 59. Matthew records, now the chief priest, the elders, and all the council sought false testimony against Jesus to put him to death. By now, this time he's been arrested, he's in front of a kangaroo court who are looking for any frivolous reason at all to try to condemn Jesus to death. It says, verse 60, but they found none.

Even though many witnesses came forward, they found none. But the last two false witnesses came forward and said, this fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple and to build it in three days. And the high priest arose and said to him, do you answer nothing? But what is it that these men testify against you? But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest answered and said to him, I put you under oath by the living God, tell us that you are Christ, the Son of God. And then Jesus speaks. But Jesus said very little. He wasn't angry. He didn't resist. He didn't try to justify himself. That's one of the things that confused Pilate so much. Jesus did not act like a typical criminal who was brought before Pilate. You know, the typical criminal who was brought before Pilate was angry. But Jesus was quiet and meek. Said very little. When he was asked a question, he would often say, well, that's what you say. He was just so unlike the typical criminals that existed at that time in Rome that were about to be crucified. Like the earlier typology of Isaac, Jesus Christ doesn't resist or struggle, but humbly, willingly allows himself to become a sacrifice and to give up his life for the salvation of the world, as was pictured by the very actions of Isaac.

Now let's go to Genesis chapter 22 and verse 11. Genesis chapter 22 and verse 11. It says, But the angel the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham, and he said, here I am, and he said, do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God. And this word fear doesn't mean necessarily trembling. God has not given us the spirit of fear. And this isn't the kind of relationship that friends have of fear. The meaning means now I know that you hold an awesome belief in your God, that you're willing to do whatever he asks you to do. You're faithful, you're obedient, you're willing, you're submissive. Now I know that you believe that God is an awesome friend and a God to you, since you have not withheld your son, your only son from me. So God knew Abraham's heart and was deeply impressed that Abraham trusted him enough to have the faith and the courage to offer his own son if that's what he was asked to do. If that's what would be required and necessary, he was willing to do it. And now it had been three days and three nights since Abraham was told to go and sacrifice his son, who was at that time as good as dead. And now when Isaac arose from that altar and his father had to be extremely joyful when he heard an angel say, don't do it! You know how joyful he must have been? Think how joyful you would be under that kind of circumstance. He was joyful and as he took that son off of that altar that had almost become a burnt offering, when he took him off that altar, that represented and symbolized the resurrection of Jesus Christ after three days and three nights.

And Abraham, verse 13, and Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by the horns. So Abraham went and he took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place the Lord will provide, as it is said to this day, in the mount of the Lord it shall be provided. And again, like the other verses, this one has more than first meets the eye. This is a prophecy that the father would sometime in the future be providing his only son as a burnt offering. That's how the Lord will provide. He will send Jesus Christ, who will become the ultimate sacrifice, the ultimate burnt offering, the Lamb of God, in the same mountainous region as this sacrifice that had almost occurred.

Brother, God didn't leave Abraham in the dark about the symbolism of this emotional event.

God grants Abraham a dramatic vision of the future role of Christ as our Passover Lamb. And when we read it closely, it's obvious that God is revealing exactly the mission, and the death, and the resurrection of the future Jesus Christ that would occur almost 2000 years later. Abraham got it. And when he took his son off of that wood pile, you can be sure that it made him glad. And as he realized that what he had been through was for a purpose to teach him something and to show him something that would someday occur, to teach him an example of the kind of love that his spiritual father had for his own begotten son, Jesus Christ, it made Abraham glad. Let's continue now in verse 15, Genesis 22.15. And the angel of the Lord called Abraham a second time out of heaven and said, By myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing and not withheld your only son. Blessing, I will bless you in multiplying. I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore, and your descendants shall possess the gates of their enemies. That's one blessing. Notice that it's plural. I will multiply your descendants, plural. Right? Your descendants shall possess the gates of their enemies. That's one promise to Abraham. That's one blessing. And as Americans, we are favored to receive the blessings that were given to Abraham regarding his physical descendants. But verse 18 is a different promise. It's a different blessing. It's singular. Verse 18, And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice. That, my friends, my brethren, is talking about Jesus Christ. Because you have obeyed my voice, so Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to Beersheba, and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba. Now turn to Galatians chapter 3 and verse 13. The Hebrew word that we just saw in Genesis, verse 18, is singular, meaning specifically Jesus Christ. Abraham's physical descendants indeed have become great and powerful nations. But the other promise, beginning in verse 18, is even more powerful. Through Christ alone, all nations of the earth are blessed with an opportunity with forgiveness and reconciliation with God. Jews and Gentiles, people of all skin colors, people everywhere on this earth of all backgrounds and heritages, would have the opportunity for forgiveness and reconciliation because of what Jesus Christ would do. Because Abraham obeyed God, he could now grasp the purpose of it all. Galatians chapter 3 and verse 13. This is Paul writing, and he says, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. And that's exactly what Jesus Christ did. He was crucified on the stake on that cross. He became our curse.

He took all of our sins and the punishments for our sins upon him. He became the curse in our stead. Verse 14, that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Verse 15, Brethren, I speak in the manner of men, though it is only a man's covenant, the covenant between Abraham and God, only a man's covenant, yet it is confirmed no one annuls or adds to it. This was a covenant between God and this man, and no one can change it. Verse 16, now to Abraham and his seed, Paul is quoting from Genesis 22 that we just read, now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He does not say, and to seeds, which are plural, as of many, but of one, and to your seed, who is Christ. So there were two promises given to Abraham. One, his physical descendants, blessings to plural, his seeds, his descendants. Verse 18 in Genesis 22, a special promise about one seed who would become Jesus Christ. This confirms that Abraham understood the promise of Genesis chapter 22 and verse 18 regarding his seed, and that it was a single descendant who would be offered as the Savior for all mankind. Abraham understood it because he and Isaac had just successfully completed their symbolic roles as God the Father and Jesus Christ, Abraham and Isaac, and it all came together in his mind. I'd like to review some of the symbolism and the analogy now between these events in Genesis chapter 22 and what God the Father and Jesus Christ would later do. First, I'd like to talk about how Abraham represents the role of God the Father and how he would fulfill the future sacrifice, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Begin with Abraham. He was resigned to do what must be done without questioning, and when God said, I want you to go and sacrifice your son, he didn't argue. He didn't try to talk out out of it because he knew that if God said it, it's something that must be done. He just did it. Not only did he do it, it says he rose up early to begin his journey. In the same way, brethren, the same is true of our spiritual father. He knew from the foundation of the world that it would require the shed blood of his son to forgive all the sins in the world, and he was resigned that that's something that had to be done. Even Jesus, when he was in the garden, he sweat like blood coming out of his forehead, and he said, if there's any way this can pass for me, but even Jesus himself knew that, Father, your will be done. This is in the cards. This has been written in the annals of spiritual history since the foundation of the world. It must be done. It has to be done. Father, your will be done, not mine. So Abraham was resigned to do what must be done.

The same is true of our spiritual father. Abraham willingly allowed his son to be symbolically sacrificed, and he makes no attempt to stop it. Well, the same was true of our father. As painful as it was our spiritual father, he allowed his son to be brutally beaten, to be scourged, to be nailed to that stake or that cross, to bleed to death and to die a horrible death, and he did not intervene. He allowed it, as painful as it was to see, he allowed it to happen.

Abraham had a long time to think about the death of his firstborn son Isaac. He was a human being, and he had three days. And I can tell you that in that kind of a situation, it must have seemed like an eternity in his mind. Three days after he said, you're going to go and you're going to sacrifice this boy. Every step must have been agonizing. Every step must have been difficult, but it was overcome by the understanding that this must be done because this is the way that God intends it. And the same is true of our spiritual father. From the foundation of the world, from the very first human sin that occurred when Adam and Eve were created, he knew what had to be done. He knew for a long time that his son would have to empty himself of his divinity in Godhead and walk into earth as a man and be willing to be sacrificed so that all mankind could be reconciled to its creator and to its God. Abraham starts his journey with two servants, but when all was said and done at the end of the journey, he and Isaac alone had to deal with this situation together. And sure enough, the same was with Jesus Christ, even though the Father, our spiritual father, has many heavenly hosts and angels and archangels to comfort and to encourage him. But in the end, it was between the Father and Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ even looked up from the stake. He looked up from the cross and said, My God, My Father, why have you forsaken me as for momentarily the stink and the curse of all mankind being on his son had the Father literally turned his look and his gaze away from his son because he epitomized all sin and filth of humankind for all mankind.

But in the end, it was something that had to be dealt with by the Father and by the Son.

Abraham was asked to sacrifice his only son of promise, and the entire future of Abraham's family rested upon this only son. The same is true of our spiritual father. He had one beloved son, and that was Jesus Christ. And the entire future of the God family rested on him doing what he had to do, sacrificing and giving up his life so that we could be reconciled and the door would open and God's family could grow and expand through the called out ones.

Finally, regarding what Abraham represented, he knows that his son will be resurrected from the dead after the sacrifice. And of course, there's no question that God the Father knew that Jesus would be resurrected from the dead after the sacrifice because that was part of his plan.

Now I'd like to make a few comments regarding how Isaac represents the role that Jesus would fulfill in his, that is Jesus's future sacrifice, death and resurrection. Isaac was Abraham's only son of promise, and the future generations depended on him. In the same way Jesus Christ too was the son of promise for the forgiveness of sin and reconciliation and all future generations and salvation depended on Jesus Christ. Isaac is taken near the site of the future temple and Jerusalem to die. The same was true for Jesus. He died at Golgotha. Isaac agrees to be placed on the altar willingly and without resistance, without hate, without anger. The same was true for Jesus Christ who, like the Lamb of God meekly and humbly, accepted his fate. Isaac was intended to be a bird offering with fire and wood. Thankfully that request was stopped and ended and it wasn't necessary. But Jesus was the ultimate and final bird offering. He atoned for all sins and made it possible for mankind to be reconciled to our God. Isaac is bound, tied, and placed on a pile of wood as a sacrifice. Jesus Christ was tied to a wooden stake or cross by ropes and nails were also driven into his hands as he became a sacrifice. From the time of Isaac's death sentence until Abraham is stopped, Isaac is symbolically dead for a total of three days and three nights. And so Jesus was in the tomb three days and three nights. Isaac is symbolically resurrected from the altar when God stops the command to slay his son to Abraham and he fulfills his role to expand Abraham's family. And in a similar way, Christ was resurrected. He walked out of that tomb and he continues to fulfill his role to expand God's family. Brethren, we have seen here that the Passover and the death and the resurrection of Christ and its deep meaning were on God's mind long before we read about the original Old Testament Passover in Exodus 12 with Moses.

But actually, this event and what God had in mind goes far earlier than even what we've read in Genesis chapter 22. If you'll turn with me to Ephesians chapter 1 beginning in verse 2, Ephesians chapter 1 beginning in verse 2. This event was in God's mind longer than we may appreciate. And as we prepare this year for the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread, I'd like you to think about something as we prepare for the Passover this year. And what I would like you to think about is your unique and personal relationship with God because here it's spoken of in Ephesians chapter 1 beginning in verse 2. Paul says, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. That we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined, planned ahead, predestined us to adoption as sons by Christ Jesus to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will. Have you ever considered the fact that God thought about you and that He loved you before you were even born? As God spans the eternity of time and as He spans history from its beginning to its end, you have been part of His plan since the beginning of the world. Long before the earth had land and see, God planned your existence and the opportunities you would have.

He decided that you would be one of the firstfruits that He would choose and someone who could be adopted into His family earlier than most others. You are very special and precious in the eyes of God. Before you were born, He anticipated your birth and He longed for the day when He would begin to call you to have a relationship with Him. You have always been part of His plan and everything that has happened in your life has occurred for a purpose. Yes, we are free moral agents and we can do everything the hard way or we can do things the easy way, but God will still work out any decision we make to have us conform to His will and to have us end up exactly where He wants us to be. Again, we can either do it the hard way or we can do it the easy way, but God allows us to make decisions to teach us and help change us for the better. He's proud to call you His children in spite of our flaws and weaknesses because He's helping us to grow up and helping us to begin to resemble our Father. You are God's jewel and the apple of His eye, not because of who you are, but because of whose you are. You are a son of the living God. You are a child of the living Creator God you've been adopted into His family and that's very special.

That's a calling that is so unique and so precious. Our final scripture, John chapter 3 in verse 16.

And as I think about what Abraham experienced in Genesis chapter 22 and all the symbolism and the typology between what he did with his son Isaac and what God the Father would do with Jesus Christ, I am reminded of John chapter 3 in verse 16. John wrote, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not have sent his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. And when Abraham understood that in his event in Genesis 22, when he understood it and he got it and he did, he rejoiced and he was glad.

Verse 18, He who believes in him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Until we repent of our sins, until we accept Christ as our living Savior and reflect the fruits of that through baptism and through living a changed life, until we do that, every human being on earth is still under that curse, still under the law, still defined with the penalty of death. It's only by that acceptance of Jesus Christ and all that that means that he takes that curse from us. So, brethren, I want you to remember this one fact as we prepare for Passover this year. And that fact is this. If you were the only person who had ever been born, Jesus Christ would have been willing to experience the same torturous death and he would have been willing to shed his blood for you alone. That's how much you've mean to him. I encourage you to prepare for the Passover this year like none other in your life.

Begin to make this the richest and most meaningful Passover ever. Take an honest and forward-looking analysis of your life to prepare for a whole new level of growth because that's what God wants us to do. Remember what Jesus Christ did for us. Remember our calling. Remember that we are not just his disciples. We are his friends. And we'll continue to study that theme as we humbly prepare for the Passover of 2011 and the Festival of Unleavened Bread.