“By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
Genesis 22:16-18
This promise, made by a faith-rewarding God to faithfully bless His faith-filled follower is precious even to us today. It reaches across thousands of years of human history to provide hope and blessing right now. God blesses those who by faith will choose the impossibly difficult path of obeying and believing God. He rewards those who love Him. In the case of Abraham, God spared his sacrifice of Isaac and gave a precious picture of what was to come by providing substitutionary atonement. And God re-iterated His purposes for Abraham to bless the entire world through his descendents. His faith is part of the long story of redemptive history that leads to Jesus and the salvation now offered to the entire world.
Jesus is the fullest measure of this blessing given to Abraham. Jesus is the Son Who those sacrificed, was not kept by death, but whom God raised again from the dead so that the nations of the earth are blessed. Abraham obeyed God’s voice and then his offspring, Jesus, was obedient to death on a cross. And now people from among every tribe and nation are blessed in His salvation and will name Him as Lord to the glory of God the Father. Eternity will be filled with the blessed praise of Jesus, always testifying all the way back to the promise that God made to Abraham.
When Abraham obeyed God and led Isaac up Moriah to bind his only Son to a sacrificial altar, he had no idea God would intervene like He did. He could not know that his act of obedience would foreshadow God’s own Son-sacrifice that completed our salvation. Yet Abraham obeyed. And God blessed. And it led to grace being poured on the earth in Jesus!
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ReplyDeleteI find the fulfillment of God's promise to provide a sacrifice so interesting and compelling in this story! Is it true that Jesus crucifixion occurred on the very same mountain (or mountain range)? I've heard other sermons and commentaries which claim this, but I'm never sure if there is actual evidence for this, or if the general vicinity is merely suggested. Regardless of the validity of these claims, the fact that Abraham declares “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided” is enough to excite about the coming Messiah!
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