The Two Sons of Promise

Thank you, Mr. Andredi. You know, in the prophet Abraham's life, God made some incredible promises. And God promised him that, in fact, through his family, through his family, that the entire world would be blessed both physically and spiritually. It's amazing to think about that, that God made those pronouncements to him, of course, when he was in Ur of the Chaldees, and before he was told to get out of the country where he was, where his family was, and to travel to another place before he actually did that.

God made those promises to him. Let's go over to Genesis 12 and see these monumental promises that, in fact, impact you and me today, whether we realize it or not. In Genesis 12 and verse 1, beginning here, it says, Now the Lord had said to Abram, Get out of your country from your family and from your father's house to a land that I will show you, and I'll make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing.

And I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. And in you, notice what it says here, brethren, All the families of the earth shall be blessed. In you, all the families, all the nations that are going to come, all the tribes are going to be blessed upon the earth, both physically and spiritually. You know, I think that, in fact, we can show very clearly, without the descendants of Abraham, this world, indeed, would be a very, very dark place.

You know, we could go and show the nations and the peoples of Abraham that are scattered throughout the globe today, which, in fact, number into the millions, you know, around this globe that have impacted this world economically in a major, major way. You know, one only has to mention, in fact, the United States and Britain, to realize the impact that the descendants of Abraham have had upon the world. It was back in 1950, in fact, that, you know, the United States and Britain possessed two-thirds of the entire world's wealth.

And the advancement of this world, in fact, was very much impacted by Britain before the United States, and, of course, now the United States. And we, of course, are coming to the point where we're going to be demising, going down, spiraling down, as a nation.

So we have these two major themes, in fact, the physical blessings that would come through Abraham, and the spiritual blessings that would come as a result of the promises that God made to Abraham long ago. Remember, he was about 75 years of age when God made these promises.

Long past, of course, the time when childbearing would take place, and in hopes, quite frankly, for someone having children, because Sarah wasn't too far behind him. I think Sarah would have been about 65. So she was up in years as well, and, in fact, was not able to have any children by the time they got to the land of Canaan. That was quite apparent. But I want to go over, let's go over to Genesis 22.

There's a purpose why I set that as a stage, brethren, for the message today. But in Genesis 22 over here is a remarkable story that is inset in the Bible about the life of Abraham. But it begins this way, in Genesis 22, it says, Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham. Now, by this time, of course, God had changed his name from Abram to Abraham. And he said to him, Abraham, and he said, Here I am.

And so that signified that Abraham, you know, would readily obey God, would listen to what God had to say. But in Genesis 22 verse 2, and 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 is a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. There are mountains, of course, there in the environs of Moriah. But it's almost like, brethren, you read verse 2 here, Take your son, your only son Isaac, and if that's not enough, whom you love, whom you love, and you go and you offer him not as a sacrifice but a burnt off rate at Moriah.

Incredible! But this was a test for Abraham, and after he had been following God, perhaps in fact, 50 years by this time, he had been following God a long, long time. And, you know, God had called on Abraham to offer his own son for which he had waited for 25 years.

25 years for this child to come along, and God says, go offer him as a burnt off rate. But verse 3, let's notice here. And so Abraham rose early in the morning, doesn't say he rose at the crack of noon, but he 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. And then on the third day, Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off.

Now, I want you to think about this, brethren, because Abraham knew what was going to happen. This horrible thing, you know, that he was going to have to do. And in the mind of Abraham, Isaac was as good as dead for three days. Now, think about that. How much sleep do you think Abraham got that night, before he rose up in the morning to take off? I don't think he probably slept at all. He got up early, and for three days, Isaac was just as good as dead to him.

Because he knew what he was going to have to do. Now, the question I have, brethren, why do we have this account in the Bible? Why has God spent so much time talking about this in the Bible?

Let me tell you why, brethren. In the Bible, there are two sons of promise.

Two sons of promise upon which the physical and the spiritual world is to be built.

And, of course, that world is being built even right now.

You and I are part of the world that is being built for the future, the world tomorrow.

And the title of this message, in fact, is that two sons of promise are Isaac and Jesus Christ. They were sons of promise. And Isaac was a forerunner and a type of Jesus Christ.

In all the promises that God had made to Abraham depended upon Isaac and also the arrival of the second son of promise.

And this event that we're seeing right here in Genesis 22 was pivotal, in fact, in history.

You know, of those promises that God made to Abraham, and he repeated, in fact, leading up to this time, that he was going to make Abraham's descendants as the stars in the heavens and as the grains of sand on the seashore, that God was going to bless him remarkably, and not only was going to bless him in that way, but the entire world would be blessed physically by what would happen here with this son of promise and, of course, spiritually by what was going to happen by the next son of promise that would come along.

You know, all the promises of being a blessing to the nation of the world, brethren, hinged upon Isaac being, in fact, alive after this took place.

Isaac had to be alive after this. There was no question he had to be alive, because if, in fact, Isaac was going to be the seed by which all the descendants of Abraham were going to come about, he would have to be alive after this situation where God was asking to offer him as a burnt offering.

You know, when Jesus Christ came, all the promises for us, brethren, of having eternal life, of having salvation, of being in the kingdom of God depended on that Greek sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for us.

Without Christ, there would be no eternal life.

Without Jesus Christ, there would be no world tomorrow.

There could be no kingdom of God, as it were, that would rule upon the earth, would be here upon the earth, because, of course, he is the one who's going to be the king of kings and the Lord of lords is going to do that.

So Abraham journeyed for three days in the mind of Abraham. Isaac was dead.

Interestingly, Christ was dead to the Father in heaven for three days.

He was dead for three days in the heart of the earth, as we know.

But Abraham, let me tell you, Abraham, brethren, believed, even though Isaac would be sacrificed, God would raise him up.

He would raise him up because the promise had to be fulfilled, had to be accomplished.

And this, obviously, was a type of what would happen to Christ. That Christ would be raised up after three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, as he was, we know.

Let's go over to Hebrews 11.

Hebrews 11, over here.

In Hebrews 11, verse 19, we see what the apostle Paul writes about this.

He reflects back again on one of the great patriarchs of the Bible, and that is Abraham.

And, of course, Sarah as well, and Isaac, and others that are mentioned here in Hebrews 11, which is the faith chapter, showing the incredible faith that God's servants have had.

But notice here, verse 17, it says, By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac.

And he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten Son, of whom it was said, And Isaac, your seed shall be called. Today, by the way, we're called what? The Anglo-Saxons.

And, of course, the word Saxon comes from the...what it means, basically, are the sons of Isaac.

And so we are Anglo-Saxons. We're descendants of Isaac. And it says, concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.

And so he thought, he believed, even though he might have to carry through with sacrificing Isaac, that Isaac would be alive after it was over, that God would raise him up. And so Abraham traveled to this place that God chose on Mount Moriah. And on this mountain, interestingly, that God chose for him to make the sacrifice of Isaac, this was also where the temple was built. The Temple of Solomon was built on Mount Moriah, by the way. You see the connections, brethren, here with all the things that happened? There are other things that also happened there as well during the time of David on this Mount Moriah. I'm not going to go over to 2 Chronicles 3, verse 1, but that's where it talks about the temple being on Mount Moriah.

And this is, again, where today, modern day times, the Dome of the Rock is, and where the Alaska Mosque is located today. In fact, some of them say that maybe the temple was located a little bit off from where the Dome of the Rock is, but it's the same mountain there. But it was also near, by the way, this area, the Temple Mount, that Christ was crucified. If you ever go to Jerusalem and you go through the Old City, of course, they talk about the Via Delorosa, where the steps that Christ took. But, you know, it's commonly understood that Golgotha is located outside the walls. In fact, it's outside Damascus Gate. Right below Golgotha today is a bus station. It's kind of amazing that they put a bus station right below Golgotha. But this was the area where Christ was crucified. Remember, he was crucified outside the camp, according to what the prophecies would say. And Golgotha is located outside of the walls of Jerusalem. And, you know, God the Father sent His only begotten Son, His beloved Son, whom He was well pleased, the Bible says.

The Son promised to die for our sins in Golgotha, where He would then die a cruel death and be placed in a tomb for three days and three nights. But we know He would rise triumphantly over the grave.

Perhaps God allowed, by the way, Abraham, who was going to be the Father, the progenitor of all the descendants that would emanate from Him, that would be a blessing to the entire earth, He wanted Abraham to experience the emotions that, in fact, the Father in Heaven would be having when Jesus Christ Himself would be crucified. You know, in the time that was ahead, that He would have that experience, but with Isaac. That He would, in fact, through that experience that few people have ever gone through, vicariously be witnessing the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the sacrifice of the Son of God. Looking forward to that time, you know, in terms of the future, but seeing it happen through His own Son, Isaac. Like I said, as far as Abraham was concerned, Isaac was as good as dead for three days. Now, let's go back here, Genesis 22, down in verse 5.

And it says, Abraham said to his young men, Stay here with the donkey, the lad and I will go yonder and worship. So they were going to go up to Mount Moriah. But notice what he says here, And we will come back to you. We will come back to you. And so Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it on Isaac, his son, And he took the fire in his hand and a knife, and the two of them went together.

Abraham, by the way, wasn't sure what was going to happen on Mount Moriah, Where God had told him to take Isaac. But, brethren, one thing is very clear when you read this. He knew that Isaac would return with him. He knew that. Because it says it right here. You know, you stay here and we will come back. We will come back. Not I will come back, but we will come back. You know, that took faith, didn't it? To believe that? To know that? From the depths of his being, that that was what was going to happen?

And interestingly, in this account as well, let's look, notice here, brethren, What it says here, it says, Stay here, the lad and I will be back. So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, Remember, he had chopped up the wood himself, prepared it, and elated on Isaac.

He laid it on Isaac, his son. You see the analogies here, brethren, with what was going to happen in the future with Jesus Christ. He would bear his own stake, his own cross, part of the cross, probably, as we understand it. Up to the Golgotha, we know, of course, he was so weakened by being beaten with a cab of nine tails, being up all night long as he was prior to the crucifixion. But in type, we see this happening with, you know, Isaac, burying his own wood, you know, for the sacrifice, on his own shoulders. And, you know, the indications are, by the way, that Isaac is a young man here.

He may have been 18 or 19 or 20 years of age. He may have been older than that. We really don't know how old he was, but he was a young man. And he was not, you know, a child. He was a young man.

And so Abraham, again, put the wood on the back of Isaac, and he bore his own wood for the sacrifice. Over in John—hold your place there—over in John 19. Let's go to John 19.

John 19, down here, verse 17, speaking of Christ, and it says, And he, bearing his cross, went out to a place called the place of the skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, where they crucified him, and two others with him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center. And so Christ, again, bore his own stake. Some places translated staarous, or stake. And this is why we say stake, but in other places, in fact, it is translated stake. But anyway, we find, again, this analogy between Isaac and what Jesus Christ was going to experience. He said, here, Abraham is witnessing this. He's seeing this. And interestingly, the only ones on Mount Moriah, when Isaac was to be sacrificed, was Isaac and Abraham. Those two. No one else. It is interesting, the only ones who could see what would happen upon that mountain would be Abraham and Isaac, the Father and the Son. Much like what happened when Christ was crucified on Golgotha that day, when darkness was over the land for three hours, and it hid the eyes of man from what was happening on that mountain.

When Jesus Christ was the Savior, and proved to be the Savior, bearing the sins of all mankind upon Himself at that time. Let's go to Matthew, Chapter 27. You just hold your place there. We could be coming back again to some of these scriptures and Genesis.

But in Matthew, Chapter 27, in verse 45, let's notice over here. Matthew 27, in verse 45, Matthew 27, verse 45 here, it says, And we know what, in fact, happened. It seems that the Father himself was the Savior. And he said, And saying, And we know what, in fact, happened. It seems that the Father himself could not bear looking upon his Son when all the sins of the world were laid upon his shoulders. It's as though God the Father walked off into the universe, and Christ was alone as he bore mankind's sins. But, you know, here, the darkness was over the land from the sixth hour to the ninth hour. And we know it mentions after this that Jesus Christ yielded up the Spirit, or he died. Verse 50 talks about that. Let's go back to Genesis 22. Genesis 22. And notice here, verse 7 and 8.

So the two of them went together. Interesting here. Notice the faith of Abraham once again here with this. Not only did he believe that Isaac would survive, you know, this ordeal that he would have to go through, and, you know, he was told again to offer him as a burnt offering. But he said God will provide a lamb here. Notice the word lamb is used here? Because it looked forward, brethren, to the coming of the Messiah. It looked forward to the coming of Jesus Christ over in Revelation 13, verse 8. I'm not going to go over there, but it talks about how Jesus Christ is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And so, you know, Jesus Christ would be that lamb later that would be supplied. But let's go to verse 9 on down through here. There's more to the account. It says, Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order. So he got all the things in order. And he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

And so here we see, you know, Abram or Abraham getting everything in order, preparing the altar. But you notice here that his son willingly laid down his life here. You don't see that Isaac resisted him. And, you know, surely he was able to resist Abraham if he had wanted to do that for his father. But he had always trusted his father, had confidence in his father. But we see Isaac as a type willingly, cooperating with his father willingly, as it were, laying down his life for this sacrifice. Maybe he didn't know fully, in fact, what was happening.

Of course, later he would come to understand it. He would grasp it. But he willingly laid his life down, much like Christ, brethren, himself, willingly laid his life down for you and me. What possible benefit would it have been, brethren, for Jesus Christ to give his life for you and me? What are we anyway? But we're like the flowers of the field, as Solomon said. We're here today and gone tomorrow. We have a lifespan of a housefly. When, in fact, I went to, I believe it was... Well, I guess it was over in Hawaii. We saw a movie about... Sometimes I like to watch cartoons, by the way.

Call me Childish. I was watching a cartoon, and I can't even remember what it was about. But in the cartoon, a fly was depicted. And was being able to talk and all that stuff. But the fly was a common housefly. Anyway, in the movie, houseflies don't live very long. And somebody asked the fly a question. What's it like to have such a short lifespan? And in the course of conversing with this fly, the fly becomes old and has a cane, and gray hair, and whiskers, and all the rest. And he dies right there in front of him.

In a way, we're like that, brethren. Except we have 70 years. We're like the fly. We're young today, and we're gone tomorrow. And one day, you and I come out, somebody slaps us on our bow hunkus, as they say. South end of the posterior, we start crying, and we'd be like the fly. What's it like to have such a short lifespan? And our life, again, goes so rapidly. You know, it's like those are 95. The question they always have is, where did all the time go?

We don't live very long, do we? And so we'd better make hay while the sun shines. We would take an opportunity, while we can, as God's people, to apply ourselves. Well, you know, what possible benefit, though, would it have been for Christ to offer Himself for you and me?

An eternal being giving up eternity for you and me. And yet, He was willing to do that. And He was dead for three days, as we understand the Bible. And then, of course, He was brought back to life. Let's go to John 10. Hold your place there, and we'll come back. John 10, over here. John 10. John 10, in verse 17. Here, notice what Jesus is saying. This is in red, if you have a red-letter type Bible.

Therefore, my Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. This command I have received from my Father. Remember Jesus Christ? Also, the night before He was crucified, He said, Father, if there's any way this cup can pass from me.

But nevertheless, He said, not my will, but Your will. So He willingly laid His life down, brethren, for you and me. Christ also later was instructing His disciples, and He said, Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Christ laid His life down for you and me, brethren, because He cares for us.

He loves us, very much so. And the fact He laid His life down, brethren, for you and me is proof of that love. He can't give us any more of a proof than that, than to lay His entire life on the line for us. And He did do that. Let's go back to again, Chapter 22 over here. Chapter 22, verse 10. And Abraham stretched out his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

You know, dying by having your throat slit is a very violent thing, isn't it? Sort of a violent thing. Thankfully, I've never seen anybody that has been stuck with a knife. The closest I ever came to it was one of my uncles. We were picking tomatoes, not tomatoes, but we were picking grapes down in the San Joaquin Valley one time. And you know, they would give us these real sharp little tools, and you'd get up under the vines, you'd cut the grapes, you know.

And you had to get up under the vines, because it was so hot. In bakers-filled areas, so hot down there, you couldn't make it otherwise. Well, my uncle, by the way, he and I, we're about the same age, but my uncle slipped, and he stuck his arm with this blade.

And Ronnie acted like it. No big deal. He acted like he was from New Jersey. Oh, no big deal. Blood was coming out. So anyway, Ronnie said, no big deal. That's the way it is in New York and in New Jersey. Get hit by a Buick. Didn't even hurt. Rub a little mud on it, you know, and it'll be all right. Don't worry. Well, anyway, Ronnie acted like he was really brave and tough, and then he looked down at his arm and he goes, he killed over. He went back. He went back like a rock. But I've never seen anybody again. That's the closest I ever came, and that was accidental. But here we see again Abraham stretching out his hands, about ready to cut his own son's throat to slay his son. And Abraham didn't waver in his commitment to God. And that example, brethren, is written down right here as an example to us, not to waver. You know, here Abraham is willing to do this, brethren. Are we willing to pull the trigger if need be if somebody wants us to work on the Sabbath, you know, or get fired? You know, and sometimes you get put in that position, don't you? I remember, you know, I was put in that position when I was one of my first jobs I ever had at the illustrious company called Tucker Duck and Rubber Company. It's where I, by the way, I got all the culture I have. But I joke about that. But, you know, I had not been working very long. I needed the job to go to college. And so anyway, the foreman comes up and says, we'll be seeing you on Saturday. And I said, I'm sorry. I won't be able to come in on Saturday. He said, well, if you're not here, you're fired. So, I was a little disappointed in that. And I prayed about it all week long, all weekend long. You know, what I decided to do, I was going to go in anyway on Monday morning. See what would happen. I asked God for his intervention. I went to where I usually worked. Started working like I had never been fired. And you know what? He paced back and forth. I can remember he was a little guy with sort of bald-headed... He was a foreman. He used to steal people's boiled eggs, by the way, from their lunch pail. Don't get me talking about this. But anyway, he walked by me like, what are you doing here? You didn't show up Saturday. You're fired! Then finally, he pulled me aside and he said, hey, don't worry about the Saturday business anymore. And so God worked it out. And I worked there a couple of summers as a student. In fact, I was working there when I was... before I was 18. I don't know if I've told you the story about that, but that's another story of how God intervenes. And God certainly does. But are we willing to pull the trigger, if need be, when it comes to somebody threatening us over the Sabbath? Whether you have a job or whatever. Do we have the faith that God will take care of us? That God will watch after us?

You know, we see here also in the life of Abraham another thing that we learn about how God works. God loves cliffhangers. You and I like to know well in advance, don't we? What's going to happen? How things are going to transpire? But God loves cliffhangers. Abraham's got the knife in his hand. He's about ready to bring it down. You know, how far did he get? I don't know. You know, how far did he get in preparing to slay his son? You know, God intervened. Let's listen to verse 11. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, here I am.

I think this is another example, brethren. Abraham was always Johnny on the spot. Here I am. He was ready to answer God and to do what God wanted him to do. You know, Abraham couldn't have been like you and me. Abraham, you know, was the kind of a man that said, here I am. Yes, Lord, I'm here. Sometimes, brethren, we are not like Abraham, are we?

But we say, well, okay, God, I'll get to it. You know, or do we have an attitude of here I am? God says, I want you to keep, you know, do this. Do we say, here I am? In this case, you see, saying, here I am right away made a big difference. Right? A vast difference. There's, I think, a lot here, a lot more than we realize in terms of what we learn.

And going on, it says, 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. You know, when we go off to the feast, you know what we are to learn? What is the main, one of the major things we're to learn when we go to the feast of God?

Brethren, what comes to your mind? Is it a good quality wine we have to learn about? No. Not so much, huh? Is it, you know, how to choose a good accommodation? No, brethren. Is it we learn to fear God always? And Abraham said, now I know. You know, is God still testing you and me, brethren, as to where we stand on all these things?

Can God say, now I know you fear me, and you'll do what I command you to do? And so we again see here in this explained example of Abraham, to have a here I am Lord attitude and to fear God. He says, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.

And so God knew then Abraham was an honest man, that he was an honorable man. He was obedient man. He was a righteous man. And he found something more in him than he knew before the test that he gave to him. Then God knew he could bring about all the things that he had promised Abraham through this man. And of course, for all time, Abraham is the father of the faithful. You know, the Hall of Fame in Hebrews 11 can go right back to Abraham, the father of the faithful.

You know, when I read the Hebrews 11, it's like I envisioned myself sort of walking down this corridor, on either side, of portraits of great patriarchs like Noah and Abel and Enoch and Elijah and all these patriarchs. People had faith in Abraham and Sarah, you know, Deborah and others that were incredible people. The patriarchs and matriarchs of, in fact, the Old Testament Church and the New Testament Church as well. We could add right in there as well.

You know, the Bible tells us in Genesis 15 verse 6, I'm not going to go over there for that, but you want to write it down. Abraham believed in the eternal, and God counted it to him for righteousness. This is what somebody does, by the way, who believes in Jesus Christ as well. They actually carry through and they do what God commands to be done. Abraham didn't doubt. He did not doubt. He had faith.

Thomas, by the way, in the New Testament, who was an apostle, will be an eternal example of someone not to mimic, to not doubt. Well, brethren, are you doubting? Are you a doubting Thomas, or are you a believing Abraham? Are you like faithful Abraham? Do you believe? Abraham was justified by God by acting on his faith and his belief. It was counted to him for righteousness.

And you know, brethren, the proof of our faith is proven by what we do with what we know and what we believe. Does your faith produce anything in your life and in the lives of other people? The fact that you believe, brethren, however long you have believed that the truth of God, brethren, what difference has it made in your own personal life? And what difference has it made in the lives of people who know you, who have seen your light and your example? I think sometimes, you know, if we certainly have been living God's way of life, our impact is far greater than maybe we realize.

Sometimes we don't always see the impact we're having on other people, but we can certainly know whether or not God is working in us and we're changing, can't we? How different are you from the time that you first received the call and now? How different are you? How have you changed in your life? What have you been doing differently in your life? I guess is another question to be asked.

Let's go back here to Genesis 22 down to verse 13. Then Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. And so here was a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and he took the ram and offered it up for a burn offering instead of his son.

And so here Abraham offered this ram. But remember, Abraham had told Isaac—what did he tell him? What did he tell Isaac?

He said, you know, God will provide a lamb, didn't he? But this is a ram and not a lamb.

Maybe it was just the letter was bad there. But no, this is accurate, by the way. It was a ram and not a lamb.

God provided a ram here for a reason.

Abraham said God would provide a lamb, but this is a ram because the lamb of God was yet to come in the future. This was not the lamb of God. This was the ram.

So you have the ram of God and you have the lamb of God. Christ was the lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world. Over in John 1—John 1—I'm going to have to hurry for the sake of time—but here in John 1, in verse 29, let's notice here quickly, verse 29, And the next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. This is he of whom I said, After me comes a man who is preferred before me. For he was before me. I did not know him, but that he should be revealed to Israel. Therefore I came baptizing with water. Of course, we see that the Spirit descends upon Christ like a dove at that time. But he sees him and he says, Behold, the lamb of God, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. You know, we understand, brethren, when we read the account in Genesis 22, these important parallels that are there, that Abraham offered a ram because the lamb was yet to come. You know, when we understand these parallels also, brethren, the words of Jesus carry a new meaning, don't they?

Let's go over to Genesis, I mean, John 8. John 8. And we'll come back to Genesis one more time. But in John 8, over here, verse 56. John 8 and verse 56.

Notice what Jesus Christ says here. He's talking to the Pharisees, the Jews, the scribes, and the Pharisees. He says, Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. Now, let this sink in a little bit, brethren. It would have sounded very foreign to the Jews to hear this. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. Now, wait a minute. Abraham saw the day of Jesus Christ. And then the Jews said to him, You are not yet fifty years old. Have you seen Abraham?

And Jesus said to them, Most assuredly I say to you, Before Abraham was, I am. And he says, Then they took up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it, and he was happy. He was glad.

In other words, Abraham, brethren, looked to the days of the Messiah, and he saw it and typed through Isaac. He saw it.

He felt it in a way, an emotional way, brethren, unlike any of us could ever even remotely imagine what this was going to be.

You see the connection here, brethren, of how important it is?

Let's go back to chapter 22, verse 14.

It says in verse 14 of Genesis 22, When 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, you know, interestingly, this means, by the way, the Lord will see and provide.

The Lord will see and provide.

And, in fact, there are some translations that indicate, and I think even in the King James, the wording as such is what will be seen there on Mount Moriah.

And, of course, this very much looked forward to the time of what was going to happen on Golgoth, that when Christ would be sacrificed for the sins of the world.

The Father, of course, also sees and He provides. The Father saw the need for salvation for mankind, and then He provided the second Son of promise, so that we would have opportunity to have salvation. He became the Savior, our Savior, as God's people.

And the place is called Jehovah-Jera, by the way. And, you know, it mentions in the Mount of the Lord, it shall be seen.

I believe that's in the King James Version. It says it will be seen. It shall be seen.

This is a great sacrifice that, again, looked forward to the time when the second Son of promise was going to come along, Jesus Christ, and He would become our Savior. And so, brethren, through Isaac, all the promises of God made for Abraham's blessings, of the birthright promises, would come about through Isaac and the seed of Isaac.

Of course, after Isaac, you have Jacob and the twelve sons of Jacob and the tribes and the nations, and the seed that is indeed, you know, become like the stars of heaven, just as God had promised to Abraham.

And it's through, again, the descendants of Abraham that the world has been propelled forward in these modern times.

You know, of course, we've been propelled forward in wickedness as well, as we know, and that's what God is going to punish Israel for in the future.

And many will repent as a result of what God will allow to happen in the future when He begins to withhold those blessings.

But it will be those that are the seed of Abraham, by the way, that will form the basis for the world tomorrow.

I gave a sermon, by the way, in Honolulu on the subject of the restoration of Israel. And now, Israel is very pivotal in the future for the establishment of the kingdom of God.

And Abraham's seed, obviously, is what is meant by that.

And, of course, the second son of a promise, Jesus Christ, made salvation possible, and through Him, the kingdom and the world tomorrow will be established and be immensely successful for all mankind, all humanity.

And in this remarkable account, brethren, here, in Genesis 22, we have the promise that is, in fact, that is acted out, that is a precursor for the final one that occurred when Jesus Christ Himself came and gave His life for all mankind. And so, embodied in Isaac and in Jesus Christ are the two sons of promise.