the greatest freedoms that we have are because of sacrifice. Whether freedom from sin, which is the greatest freedom that we have, freedom from the penalty of sin, or even the freedoms that we have in our nation, the freedoms to be able to do what we are doing today. Have you considered that there are so many around the world that would give so much to be able to freely gather, to worship, to proclaim the word of God. And what we have is truly even because of sacrifice. This is Veterans Day weekend. What I appreciate so much about those who have served And those who serve, and even those who have given their lives, is the fact that it was because of sacrifice. And while all those who have served are sinners, just as we are sinners, saved by grace, and maybe they would even say themselves, I don't know if I went in necessarily looking to be some heroic, sacrificial person. Nevertheless, the willingness to place their lives on the line is something that we rightfully honor because of the freedoms that God has given us. When God gives us gifts, we are thankful to him for those gifts, but we are also thankful through whom those gifts are given. Usually when it comes time for Veterans Day, I re kind of run through the numbers. Today, there are over 18 million living adult veterans. Throughout history, 41 million people have served in some capacity. The largest time was obviously in World War II where 12 million were actively serving during World War II. And we rightfully are thankful. And we also rightfully recognize that that is a sacrifice and is the reason we have the freedoms that we have today. Since the beginning of our nation, 1776, over one million lives have been lost in service to our country. And it is right for us to acknowledge and honor them. I do want to encourage you, this Tuesday night, there'll be a Veterans Day service that our school puts on, and you will be blessed. I don't walk out of there Well, I had some tears just a moment ago, but I don't walk out of there without just tears, being reminded of those who have served. And this morning as we think about sacrifice, I think we rightly should acknowledge those who have been willing to put their lives on the line. So this morning I would ask if you have served in our armed forces and are a veteran, if you would stand please this morning so we can thank you for being willing to be a sacrifice. I know it's Sunday morning, it's hard to stand up, please do. we rightfully say, thank you for your service. I think included in that is thank you for your willingness to be sacrificial. This morning, we look at what you've already heard read, what you've already heard sung about. An opportunity to consider something that took place on Mount Moriah. one of the greatest demonstrations of faith in a faithful God. It is something that Christ often refers to as Abraham. In fact, in one of the key confrontations with Christ and the Pharisees, there is a verse that pops up, a couple of verses that pop up, and Christ here talking to the Pharisees says, your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad. And the Jews said to him, you are not yet 50 years old and you have seen Abraham? Jesus said to them, most assuredly I say to you before Abraham was, I am. And if you know that text, the next thing that they do is they pick up stones to stone him for the blasphemy that they considered that that was, to claim to have been there, to claim to have been the one that Abraham saw, and to claim to be the great I Am. This morning, I would encourage us to consider some questions as we approach a text that possibly is very familiar to us and rightfully is very familiar to us. The first is, how much do you trust the Lord? How much do you really trust the Lord? And I would encourage you, as you consider this question, to not just put it into, oh yeah, I trust the Lord, but where does that narrow down into within your life? because this passage is gonna narrow down into Abraham's life, into his family, into his relationship with his son, even into his reputation. How much do you trust the Lord? And are there areas of your life that you would say, well, I trust the Lord, but maybe this is an area of my life that I would be willing to admit, and you would be willing to admit, I'm not trusting the Lord in this area. And then the second, what are you willing to sacrifice? What are you really willing to sacrifice, truly willing to sacrifice? And we're gonna talk about some of the different stages of this, but there are things that the word of God says we are to sacrifice, that we are to offer up to him, but what are even the things that we might say, these are things that it is okay to have, it's okay to do, it's okay to have a part of our lives, and yet God might even say, but you need to be willing to give that up because I've asked you to give something up. This morning we look at this great, great test. It's a beautiful, beautiful passage. Alexander McLaren did a great job of describing this overall passage. He says, what unsurpassable beauty is in this simple story? It is remarkable, even among the scripture narratives, mainly for the absence of anything but visible facts. There is not one syllable about the feelings of father or son. I'm going to contend there is one. It has prolonged details of the slow process to the dread of the sacrifice, each step told in precisely the same manner. A series of short clauses coupled over and over again with and, and, and. Like strokes of a passing bell or the slow drops of blood heard falling from a fatal wound. Genesis 22, now it came to pass after these things, that God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, and he said, here I am. Then he said, take now your son, your only son, 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. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. Lord, this beautiful narrative telling us what took place so many years ago there in the land of Israel. Lord, it is something that resonates. It cuts deep into our hearts, and Lord, I pray it would resonate more than just our feelings for Abraham or our feelings for Isaac, but that, Lord, it would do what you intended to have done in the life of Abraham, which is that it would resonate toward our trusting you. And we ask this in Jesus' name, amen. It says here in verse one that God tested. Abraham. This was a test. This is a word that talks about proving. In fact, this word is used multiple times in the Old Testament, how it says God tested the Israelites. It says this multiple times in Exodus. The psalmist in Psalm 26 says, examine me, O Lord, which is a prove or test me, O Lord. And this is important at the beginning. I think at least sometimes we have to say some obvious things out loud, but we need to be reminded that God initiates tests for his children. I need to be reminded that God initiates testing and proving Jesus Christ's brother, James, points it out in the New Testament that there is testing and there are trials by which God is going to do something. And we are served right to be reminded that God tests us. This is foreign too much to too many of us. We are forgetting that God does test us. Does God do evil? No. Does God tempt us to evil? No. Does God allow proving and testing and trials? Yes. Does God use those for specific purposes? Yes. Do we like it? No. The only tests we like are the tests that if God blesses me greatly with much material wealth, I will enjoy the test of serving him while I am well off. If God wants to test me with blessings, bring it on. If God wants to test me with difficulty or loss, not so much. It is tried. We do well to dwell here. We're going to dwell a little bit on the nature of this test as we move even into the text. When God tests or proves his children, I think we also do well to be reminded that he does not just stand back and observe. God sustains us in that which he subjects us to. And we can't lose that here because it's like, all right Abraham, do this. And I'm just going to watch. That is not the God that we serve. We serve a God who is always with us. We serve a God who sustains us and walks with us even in the midst of the trial or test or proving that he gives us. And one of the motives, we don't always know all the motives, but one of the motives that the Word of God tells us about testing and proving is this. God uses it to strengthen us. We are made stronger through testing and trials. That is always there. The other one is the bigger one, which we kind of know, but we don't like to dwell on, but should be important to dwell on, which is this. God is always bringing glory to himself through no matter what he brings his children through. God is going to glorify himself and he wants to glorify himself through our tests and trials. God and following him will stretch us to our limits. But that stretching expands our capacity to know God, to love God, to trust God, and to grow in our knowledge of God. It grows. We find out more and more what it means to live by faith. And he is glorified by that, and we are strengthened by that. It is, in some senses, one of the highest tests and degrees in the school of faith. God's testing. This trial is a trial that is required of us. Faith. Part of the point of this trial that you've had the opportunity to hear it and hear a song about, but Abraham doesn't get experience quite yet, is part of the point of this trial is actually Isaac's deliverance. That is where God is going from the beginning. God is going to deliver Isaac and God is going to provide this ram and there is going to be a building of faith that takes place as a result of that. Was it within the divine character of God to require sacrifice at his command so that there is also the opportunity of the revealing of the character to provide? Absolutely. Take an offer. Your only son, Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah. Moriah, and this Mount Moriah, will be this place of sacrifice, obedience, and trust, and we really have, we see Abraham, as he's been struggling to obey, and struggling in his walk, we see Abraham at his best. It actually happens here in verse one, it happens in verse seven, although that's to Isaac, and even in verse 11. Here I am. The ultimate response to anything God asks us to do. Here I am. David, here I am. Abraham, here I am. Put your name in there in terms of, hey, God is getting your attention, and if God brings us to the attention of something in the scriptures, we need to be willing to say, here I am, Lord. It is a term that is used a number of times throughout the Old Testament, even. Here I am. We don't know exactly how much time has passed from chapter 21 to chapter 22. Josephus says there's been 25 years. We really don't get a hint. We know that Isaac could carry a load of wood. We know that he is able to have a clear conversation with Abraham. He's able to process and understand and ask questions about sacrifice. So he's probably possibly at least a teenager getting up at most age 25. It's hard to judge the references there. This is what we know. A number of years have passed and Isaac is a son who is becoming a man. And even the thought process for Abraham and for Sarah about this son eventually getting to the point of marrying and having children, the prospect of grandkids. Am I going to live long enough to see my grandkids is almost the question that might be going on with Abraham and Sarah. God says, take your son whom you love, and maybe as this is being revealed, God is thinking this is going to be, what's God going to do here? Your son Isaac, whom you love. Why does God have to put it that way? I discovered something interesting here in the text. This is the first time in the Bible the word love is used. The very first time in your English and also the Hebrew word that's used here, first time it's used here as well. I was kind of surprised as well. It's like, there's been love before this, sure. But this is the first time this word is used. It's not about loving God. God is very clear here. He hasn't even said, Abraham, I know you love your wife. This is what he said. I want you to take Isaac whom, and God is saying, I know you love him. This one that you love, your son, the son of promise. The one that every time you see him you are reminded of the promises and miraculous power of God. And this connection between Abraham and Isaac gets hammered in in the text. Verse 2, your son, your only son, whom you love. Verse 3, your son. Verse 6, Isaac his son. Verse 7, here I am my son. Verse 8, my son and together. Verse 9, Isaac his son. Verse 10, to slay his son. Verse 12, you have not withheld your son, your only son. Verse 13, instead of his son. Verse 16, your son, your only son. The text keeps, there's a number of things, here I am, Moses rising and looking up, and your son, your son, your son, your son, your son. Does God know what he's asking? This is what the Word of God is saying. God knew exactly what he was asking Abraham. Probably more than we do. Abraham, a friend of God, God knew exactly what he was asking him. God fully understands what he is asking of Abraham. And we may even say that God is even expressing some of his concern and his understanding. God knows how this is going to feel. To Moriah. We'll talk more about this kind of towards the end is when we wrap it up. But this would have been the territory of Melchizedek. the king of Salem, which would eventually be Jerusalem. And Abraham has to face this test. And the test is in the conflict that we kind of automatically realize. God promised the seed through Isaac. God has commanded me to kill Isaac. How do we resolve this problem? There's only a couple of ways you could go, at least early on, which is one, God doesn't know what he's talking about. God is being erratic. He's going from one plan to the next. Or Abraham would have to conclude that he, being finite, he being sinful, is not able to resolve the conflict in his own mind. God would have to be trusted to bring about the resolution. Abraham acts in a manner consistent with how he saw the God that he knew. And the God that he knew, the way that he saw God was this, I trust him. I trust him. God was his friend. Abraham doesn't understand how. We'll get some revelation later about where he at least seems to understand it. The promise could still be fulfilled, but if it's what God said, it will be all right. And Abraham leaves the difficulty with God, which is really the essence of true faith. What do you do when there is something too difficult for you to work out in your head concerning God? Faith is believing God and acting upon it. Abraham believed God and he acts here, even though he could not understand the solution to the difficulty. This divine, unexpected, severe, hard to understand test. And again, we have to remember tests from God are to prove us, to develop us, to strengthen us. I think the other thing that I kind of forgot about it, and then all of a sudden it dawned on me, Abraham had already gone through the trial of losing a son. It had just taken place. As a teen, being told to exile Ishmael, who he very much, we could say he loved. I think that the context tells us they loved him. That word hadn't been used there, but he was very sorrowful about it. So now God has said, send Ishmael away, and he's gone. And then again, we always think these things happen one right after the other. Now you're talking decade plus later, now I want you to sacrifice Isaac. We should ask, are we willing to obey the Lord? And it's always wrapped up in, do we trust him? So Abraham rose early. Got up quickly. He gets everything ready. Saddles the donkey, takes two young men. With him, Isaac, his son, split the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place which God had told him. So at some place along the way here, we don't have in the text, God tells him exactly where he's supposed to be going. But his response is quick. His response is immediate. His response is even in a way that he makes sure he takes care of the details that are supposed to be taken care of by someone who is going somewhere to perform a sacrifice. I asked my wife, do you think he told Sarah? And Jen said, not a chance. We don't know. I think it's probably safe to assume there's a very good chance he did not tell Sarah. But he is prompt. It is this amazing, humble, hurtful obedience that is taking place. He is prompt. He is exact. He knows exactly what needs to be done. He goes out and gets the wood and cuts the wood. Why? Well, in the Word of God, again, we're early on before kind of the Levitical system, but at least for sacrifices in the Word of God, if a time of sacrifice was to be a time of worship, the goal was to not be searching for the wood, at the sacred time of when the sacrifice was supposed to take place. It's a preparation thing. This would be like someone saying, I'm gonna try to make sure I've kind of dealt with everything I need to deal with, maybe lay out my clothes or whatever it is. I wanna try to make sure that I don't have to do a bunch of busy stuff coming into a time of worship on a Sunday morning. to try to make sure that things are set up and ready to go. And Abraham here is doing what is necessary. So this great sacrificial act of worship, there's nothing to keep him from focusing on what he needs to focus on. This journey would be a part of this. Two plus days getting into a third day. It's not a rash act. God is going to let him take time to think about this. to take the time to consider it and maybe have enough time to say, nope, you know what? I'm out. I'm tapping out on this one. I'm not going to be able to do this. And Abraham acts in a way before God that is prompt, exact, sincere, humble, private, we may even say. He has not really revealed this to anyone. It's just him and God and by faith. And on the third day, Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. It's one thing to go, it's another thing to lift up your eyes and see where it's going to happen. Most would put this as about two miles north of Bethlehem, about three miles south of Jerusalem, who at that time would have called, that city would have been called Salem, where Melchizedek would have been the king. God has apparently revealed this place by this time and now we see he's going to take the trip with just Isaac. He says, verse 5, stay here with the donkey, the lad and I will go yonder and worship and we will come back to you. We will go and worship, we will come back. So another one, this is the first time the word worship is used in the Bible. The only two other times before this that this word is used is actually twice it's referred to bowing down, but it was in a situation where we had just seen it with Abraham and Lot, they don't know who the person is, it just says that they bowed down. This is the first time that this word is used talking about doing something to and before God. It's your first worship reference in the word of God. You have love, Isaac whom you loved, sacrifice, we will worship. And this sacrificial connection with worship, I think, is important for us to at least take note. The lad and I will go, and we will come back. And Abraham takes the wood and lays it upon Isaac. So Isaac's going to carry the wood. Abraham takes the torch or the fire in his hand and the knife, and the two of them go together. Now, at this point, Isaac, as far as we know, has not really experienced any major testing of faith either. He's been under probably the teaching and nurturing of Abraham. He's probably heard the stories. But as far as we know, Isaac's never been around any type of testing. And as far as we know, God really hasn't communicated much with Abraham since the birth of Isaac. Isaac's born, everybody's happy, next communication, this. And I think we can agree that At least as he's doing the preparations, or as God is asking, at least up to this point, we could acknowledge that Abraham probably would have been puzzling over this problem. How can God be true to the promise of Isaac? What is God going to do if he is the God of honor that he is, the God who keeps his promises? And maybe it was two and a half days here. that Abraham is working through these things. And these days would have probably been an eternity when embarked on the task of, how do I resolve this and this? I'm not understanding God. I'm not understanding the obedience. And he was probably still working on this through these days. I feel that really when, by the time you get to verse five, I feel that there's, I think Abraham maybe by this point has kind of come up with his own solution. And what he felt was, at least in his own mind, the solution there. And by it saying, we will come back to you, by the text in Hebrews that we'll look at in a little bit, which the book of Hebrews tells us that he believed Isaac would be raised from the dead, it appears that, I think we always say, it appears that Abraham intended to sacrifice Isaac as God had commanded him, but he was also sure that that would not be the end of Isaac. that he and Isaac would come back. The text, if you want to turn there, is in the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 11. There are times where the word of God kind of leaves us asking questions. We have the privilege of scriptures telling us what's going on, giving us the additional behind the scenes that are not in the text in Genesis 22, starting in Hebrews 11 verse 17. 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, in Isaac your seed shall be called. Concluding that God was able to raise him up even from the dead from which he also received him in a figurative sense. That's a whole other message, but a reminder about the resurrected Isaac or the provision for Isaac, there's a figurative aspect. And I believe it is safe, or at least it is pretty safe to say that Abraham believes there's going to be a resurrection. Abraham believes that whatever he does, Isaac's coming back with him. Maybe if we can't get that specific, we would at least say this. Abraham had come to the conclusion that he was going to see a miracle. If this is what God says, I trust him, and God is a God who can do anything, so I'm going to see something miraculous. Was God reliable? Could he trust him? There are times in our lives where we run into, can I trust God? Is God really reliable? And we don't get all of, maybe we'd say there's a benefit, which God is telling him exactly what he's asked him to do. Times in our lives where we're walking through trials and troubles, we don't get God saying, this is a trial, this is what I'm asking you to do. But also, I don't think any of us have been asked to do this trial, at least not to this extent. is responding in obedience. And the reason he is responding in obedience is because he is focusing on God, whether you would say God's integrity, God's power, God's miraculous nature, and his ability to fulfill his promise. Would he raise his son to fulfill the promise? And Abraham still got to figure out, am I willing? Do I trust God? But we haven't even really, we've almost lost Isaac for a little bit here, haven't we? Isaac's just carrying the wood, bobbing along. And the question comes. Isaac spoke to Abraham, his father, his son, his father, his son, his father. God is not letting us lose track of what's going on here with Abraham and Isaac. And he said, Abba. It's one word, Ab, father. He said, here I am, my son. He said, look, definitely a teenager. We got fire and we got wood, but pops, you forgot something. Grandpa, sorry, dad, you forgot something here. You've done pretty good math up to this point. Where's the lamb for the burnt offering? So there's a couple of at least things we get out of here. He understands this burnt offering aspect. Now, here's maybe where we should introduce the reminder of what the burnt offering was. The burnt offering was a complete burning. It is the putting the body of the animal to ashes. Hence the maybe difficulty for Abraham thinking in terms of resurrection. What about the lamb? These are really the first words you get spoken by Isaac. Father. He says, here I am. Now we've seen it verse one, we see it verse 11. There must have been probably at this point, there's been some silence. I'm sure there's been parts of silence. I want to assume there's times where Abraham is trying to reflect and think through these things. Maybe Abraham is just enjoying conversation with his son. And here it's kind of like everything kind of turns over. We've only been thinking about Abraham up to this point, but now we're reminded that Isaac is here and doing this math. And maybe Isaac is referred to possibly at this point there would have been a custom where part of what commerce would have been is if someone is going to do a sacrifice, they would have purchased the lamb for a sacrifice. Maybe Isaac's like, we just walked through Salem. You forgot to stop and buy a lamb. You forgot to stop and make the purchase, dad, because that's kind of the point. You got wood, you got fire, you got nothing to burn. And perhaps some commentators have noted maybe Abraham had bypassed Salem. Maybe they didn't go through the city. And as they begin to go up this mountain, Isaac asks, And what does Abraham do? He points his son toward God. My son, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering. That is a loaded quote. My son, God will provide for himself. Now, if Abraham believes that Isaac is going to be raised from the dead, he acknowledges Isaac is going to burn for God. And God, he is understanding here, pointing out God has provided this for himself. We might even say here, he is talking about Isaac. He will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering. Elohim will provide. Now this is important, especially by the time we get to verse 14, where you have the Lord will provide. This passage goes from Elohim, Jireh, will provide to Jehovah, Jireh. Jehovah will provide. And we get to really kind of the climax of this passage, really. The middle part, at least, of the story that takes place here. It is the climax of faith. Abraham is trusting God absolutely, even when his ways seem contradictory. He is more willing to believe God than to be sidetracked by the apparent impossibilities that will enable him to doubt Him. And he is ready for the hardest part of the obedience. And it says then, so the two of them went together. The questions still are, Probably for Abraham, am I really going to do this? Do I trust God? So they came to the place. Abraham built the altar. He placed the wood. Sometimes the Bible is perfectly cruel. Some of the best parts about narrative sections of the word of God, especially as a pastor, I love this because it's already happening. We read the verse and we already know all the in between the lines, or at least a lot of them. There's really no, the only emotional word has been Isaac, whom you love. There is no, it's not an Abraham thought this and God, it's just, it's cruel. And it makes us think and it makes us consider whether we're in the place of Abraham. I would even say whether we're in the place of Isaac, who is a young man probably old enough to run away from or to overtake his 100 plus year old father. And all of this really lays out. It says in the Word of God, when Christ talked through the Old Testament to the strangers on the road to Emmaus, when He was the stranger on the road to Emmaus, that their hearts burned within them. Can you feel your heart burning in this passage? The song that was... Lauren did such a great job on this one. That's a song that got introduced to me in basically a set of cassette tapes that my parents let me purchase when I was in high school. And that song I probably listened to hundreds of times. It had been a long time. Actually, I remembered the song when I read verse eight and I was re-going through this. And I remember it dawning on me and I remember the tears coming. I remember this chapter just burning my heart. as a son, but also think about that sacrifice. Because as we said at the beginning, sacrifice resonates. When someone is willing to give for us and sacrifice something, it resonates. And here Abraham is willing to sacrifice his son for the Lord. They're at the place, the altar is there, he placed the wood in order. And then there's that stinking little semicolon possibly in your text. And he bound Isaac, his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. Now, we don't know. Did he tell Isaac something? Did he tell Isaac with words? Was there a conversation? If there was, we don't have it. That's between Abraham and Isaac alone, father and son alone. Did he tell him that God was going to raise him from the dead? Did he say, hey, this is what's about to happen, and I believe God's gonna raise you from the dead? How strong was Isaac's faith? How did this go? And scripture basically says, he bound him, he laid him on the wood. How would God raise the ashes to life? Verse 10. stretches out the knife. Isaac would not, at this point, been able to respond if the binding that took place was to assist in this object, in this time of sacrifice, he would have been bound. It made me think of Christ, rightfully, this passage does. Book of Matthew, chapter 27. When the morning came, all the chief priests and elders of the people plotted against Jesus to put him to death. And when they had bound him, they led him away and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor. He's done all of this. He's there. The sacrifice is bound. Why? And someone pointed out that the reason the sacrifice was bound was for the process of the cutting, the process of the killing, and even the process of the burning, that the death would not be marred by struggle, or by the movement of the animal, or the coming off of the altar. Basically, what is happening is the one who is being bound is completely at the will of the one who is performing the sacrifice. submission, this holy sacrifice, the most sacred one that Abraham had ever or would ever offer, that any of us could ever offer, and that God our Father offers us to slay his son. And so he stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. And I remember as a little one watching the flannel graph, always thinking to myself the same thing, hurry up, angel. The knife. That's what happens. So many words. Narrative's not there. He took the knife to slay him. Abraham, Abraham. Here I am. Some commentators have noted this probably would have been very near the time that later on the Passover sacrifice would have taken place. They talk about the direction possibly Abraham would have been and it seems to come to him. It says, there is an almost, the ram is behind him. He says, here I am. And he says, do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him. Isaac, thank you. God gives his approval. Now I know that you fear God since you have not withheld your son, your only son, Now God knew. But the proving and the trial and the testing had taken place and there is this victory, there is this reward, there is this deliverance. And this is what Abraham experienced. And by the way, this is important because I almost lost this a little bit as well. Because it's so much about Abraham and Isaac's here, but this is the other thing that takes place. Isaac gets a front row seat to his father's faith. And that happens in our families. Where when we go through trials, our children get a front row seat to how we walk by faith as we trust our Heavenly Father. There is no more of a front row seat than Isaac bound on the altar with the knife in the air. And he hears this, and for Abraham and for Isaac, his faith has placed him in a place where he is then able to see God, God in his amazing power, his amazing provision, and by the way, God's amazing timing. Again, it just, it kind of, the text is going to flow forward, but at some point here, Abraham gets to loose the ropes that are binding Isaac. Imagine now how much more Abraham's going to see Isaac of this child of wonder, born miraculously, offered up and delivered. And even the next verse here, this provision, these next verses, and Abraham lifted his eyes and look and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its Abraham was willing, he had trusted God, and God here does what he said. Just not the way Abraham thought it was going to be fulfilled. God did provide a male lamb, it is a ram, There's so much typology, for lack of a better term here. You have a ram who is caught in a thicket, which means thorns. The horns of the ram are wrapped in thorns. I don't know if that makes you think about something in the New Testament, like our Heavenly Father. Because of the way that it is caught, there's something else that's important here. That means that this ram is not all cut up and marred or in any way not a spotless perfect type of one. There's no cuts or things wrong with the ram. The only way it is caught, even that has a little bit of a miraculous flavor to it because even this sacrifice has not been marred by the thorns or any of that, just upon its head. And Abraham has lift his eyes and see these things. God has led this ram up the mountain behind Abraham and Isaac, and he says, don't do this, and he looks up and he sees this in place, this, again, typology, ram, a male sheep, which was required for burnt offerings, at least for Moses, who would have been writing this. For the sacrificial system, the burnt offering had to be a male sheep, a male sacrifice. And we would even say here, importantly, a substitute offering. instead of his son. So what does he say? Abraham went and 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, Jehovah-Jireh. As it is said today, in the mount of the Lord it shall be provided. This is really the climax of this. There's even an additional revelation as there have been names of God that are given. Every name of God scripture gives is additional revelation. And because Abraham walked by faith, there's this new revelation God provides. God is the one who provides. He provides salvation. He provided the ramp. He is the one who always provides. And he provided this substitute. I'm led to think about as there's this provision or revelation, I'm led to think that possibly in John chapter 1 where John says in verse 29, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Look, the Lamb. The one who is the sacrifice. It sets forth a type and a way of salvation. Whether or not Abraham fully understands this, we don't know, but we understand that this promised son, Lafter, the child of promise, the one who was to be the seed, is yet condemned to die. And instead of him dying, A ram slash lamb is provided. God provides the substitutionary offering so that the promise could continue in that way. And part of the reason that promise needs to continue is because there would be a lamb of God, Jesus Christ, who would give his life for this. He will provide. And so here this faith again is rewarded by this deeper insight into God's will and God's way. Receiving back a surrendered blessing. God gives him back something that he surrendered, but God has done something with it. God gives us back our sacrifices. And when he does that, they have a new beauty to them. They are purified by God from some earthly clinging where we recognize his eye has given this to God. Look at what God has done with it. Look at what God has done with that. Can you imagine this lesson learned by Abraham and by Isaac? Hopefully at this point, Isaac's a little more understanding. Okay, I see what God was doing here. And Abraham's willingness to trust God and to see this provision and have this revelation even leads to a confirmation. And this confirmation feels like, wait, so if Abraham hadn't done this, that's not the point. What really God is saying here is I've never changed. This promise stays true all the way through. You can kind of read it there. He says, the angel Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven. It says, by myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, blessing I will bless you. I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, as the sand which is on the seashore, and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies in your seed. All the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed my voice. You have done this. By myself I have sworn, as actually Peter will refer to this later when he is telling in Acts, he is talking about God and his promises even to Abraham. He says this, he says, God cannot swear by anyone higher, so he swears by himself. I have sworn, says the Lord. And God reveals, plans haven't changed. This is the confirmation of the blessing, the renewed promises, the specification of the ground. There's a solemn oath that is taking place and God gives this great blessing. So they return. So Abraham returned to his young men and they rose and went together to Beersheba and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba. Really, in a sense, verse 19 is kind of the conclusion for what had happened in verse 6 and 8. They set off together, the two of them went together, and again, just as Abraham had said, we came back together. We both came and we were able to go home. And really, what's going to happen at the rest of this text, it's kind of a setup. It's not separate, it's because Isaac is alive, the promise has been confirmed, Abraham has been faithful, God has shown himself faithful, that this is gonna wrap back to Abraham's family. It's actually gonna wrap, in a sense, it's wrapping all the way back to the genealogies that happened earlier about the family of Terah. Isaac is alive, he is still the promised one, the seed has still been promised through him, and there's a family that is growing from the line of Terah back. In a sense, this is really the very beginning of the last section of Abraham's life, really here through chapter 25. As Abraham has been faithful, as God has shown that he is blessing and even provided in this, we would say the Isaac and even the Jacob narrative will start to take place. So what can we learn from this? I think we can figure out what we can learn from this very well, but I think a number of things are worth noting. First is the certainty of trials. Trials will come. You are either in it, just got through it, or you're coming up on it. There are going to be trials, but there's also the power of faith. and obedience. There are always blessings from obedience, and we need to trust that God is a God who provides, that God is a God who walks through all these things. I think there's some important kind of wrap-ups that there are. First, you have this son, Isaac. who is, as we read, a figure of the resurrection. In fact, it's interesting in that passage in Hebrews, there it says Abraham concluded, or one translation even says accounted, that God was able to raise him up from the dead from which he also received him in a figurative sense. One commentator, Barnhouse, says this about Abraham's accounting. He says the fact that we are told that Abraham accounted that God was able to rise Isaac from the dead has to be the key to this story. Accounting is a mathematical, logical procedure. Abraham came to the calm conclusion he would see a miracle, and Isaac was the one who would be where that miracle went through. In Isaac, we have a suffering son who willingly submits himself to the will of his father. In Abraham, we have a father who, maybe we should quote from Romans, who did not spare his own son. The word spare. In Romans, it's very well connected with he did not withhold that we saw here in Genesis. It is the same term. In fact, withhold is actually used as one translation of a word within Genesis 22. You didn't withhold his son. Now, there's a little bit of a difference here, though. We understand. Abraham was only asked to sacrifice his son. He did not have to do it. If he had, it would have only been physical death involved. But when the time came for our heavenly father to sacrifice his son, No one stopped his hand. God did slay his son because he was to become the sacrifice for the sins of the world. When God offered up his sacrifice, his hand fell. Jesus died. And through that death and resurrection, there was rejoicing. Maybe we would say that's the ram, the substitute. Of course, one other thing here is the place. You're all really good theologians, you all know this. Mount Moriah is a place that is now currently where the Dome of the Rock is there. This would be the site that David would purchase, basically purchase a place in First Chronicles from Ornan to do a sacrifice. This is the place where Ornan says, well, you can have it, and David says, I will not offer anything to God that costs me nothing. And then this will be the place, it tells us in 1 Chronicles 3, on which Solomon builds the temple. The temple construction happens right here. That is where the temple is built. Solomon's temple will last over 400 years until it is destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar. Seventy years later, the temple will be rebuilt. And then there will be an expansion. Herod's temple will kind of expand upon it and turn it into this great temple. This would have been the temple even that Jesus himself cleanses. Then around A.D. 70, the Roman armies led by Titus destroy the temple. And all the remains of this temple is a wall. The Western Wall. The Wailing Wall. And if you want to write down a verse, according to Luke 21-24, Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. That will be a place of the Gentiles until their time is up. And this place that takes place becomes what is arguably the most sacred place on the planet. So are you willing? I don't want to over apply this because there's a lot of things that we unfortunately sometimes say, well, do I have to sacrifice this? And if you're really honest, it's sin. That's not a sacrifice. That's obedience. What are you willing to sacrifice? Or what are the things you say, I'm willing to trust God with this? And we started talking about veterans on Veterans Day. There's been a commercial that's been on, probably some of you have seen it. It's a really great commercial. It's a commercial where a parent is talking to a child about, are you sure you're gonna do this? And they're about to go in the military. And at the end, it basically says, your support now will support them then. And the first thing that I thought of when I saw that was, that would be a great missionary commercial. That would be a great serving the Lord commercial. Our young people need to see our commitments. We are a generation and are seeing generations of people who are saying, I'll follow God, but only this much. And the sad part is, there are times when kids are saying, I will actually follow God this much, and it is their parents telling them, no, I don't think you should follow him that much. This lack of commitment only means this, if you really think about it. All right, I'll look up in the sky. That means you don't trust God. If you say to your son or daughter, you shouldn't serve the Lord, you shouldn't do that thing, you shouldn't go there, you shouldn't go that far away, you shouldn't walk that path, you shouldn't do that thing, that's just you saying, I don't trust God to take care of you. Do you trust Him? What is something that you might say, this is something I have to be willing to give up to serve the Lord? that God's been just burrowing away you, this is something that you gotta be willing to give that up, and maybe the Lord will give it back. I would encourage you, it doesn't matter what age you are, we should all be willing to say, God, if you call me to something, I'll go. Doesn't matter what time of life I'm in, it does not matter, I trust you, and if you choose not to, I'll serve you right here. But to be willing to trust him, and there's only one reason we can be confident in this place. It's because he's faithful. That's the point of this whole text. Well, we wanna say, man, Abraham, and we wanna say, man, Isaac. I believe Abraham would say, no, the reason I did that is because, man, I trusted him, and he's the one who was faithful. Let's pray. Lord, I thank you so much for your word, and Lord, what a powerful reminder of how important it is to trust you. Lord, I want to pray, Lord, there are areas of my life that I don't want to give up. Extra moments of sleep, extra moments of leisure, times where I want to do stuff for myself. Lord, while none of those things may be sinful, Lord, I, we, all of us need to recognize that the more that we hold out before you and say, Lord, take this, the more you can bless it, use it, reveal yourself, and provide. Lord, your word says that we are to offer ourselves as living sacrifices, holy, acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable service. So Lord, first I would say, if there is a person here that maybe for the first time they're starting to put these things together and they're recognizing, wait a minute, Christ was the provision for my salvation so that I do not have to die an eternal death in hell. That, Lord, they would see the picture of the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. They would receive the gift of salvation that has already been provided and made available to them. And, Lord, for those of us that are your children, I would ask that maybe there's a commitment that needs to be made, Lord, as we sing, as we consider, maybe as we get on our knees, maybe as we before you, not with anybody else around, privately, but quickly, immediately say, Lord, I'm yours. Use me as you would. And Lord, maybe there's a specific commitment that needs to be made to follow you, to stop something, to start something. But Lord, most importantly, will trust you. I pray, Lord, that those steps of faith would take place. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen.