Well, it is good to see you tonight. I'm always encouraged if anyone comes back. And we're grateful you are here with us, and we look forward to our time together. It has already been an encouraging time with you, and we look forward to our time here for these next few minutes. Turn with me to the book of Genesis, Genesis chapter Genesis chapter 22. We're going to look at this passage. I trust it will become helpful to us in our reflections together this evening. I understand that Sunday night is somewhat of a teaching time, and that's encouraging because that's what I plan to do, is to do a little bit of focusing on the passage that is before us. Let's look at another passage as well. Genesis chapter 22. We begin reading in verse 1 and we will read down through verse 19. Hear the word of the Lord. After these things, God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, and he said, Here I am. He said, that is the Lord, 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 Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. Then Abraham said to his young men, Stay here with the donkey. I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together And Isaac said to his father, or to his father Abraham, my father. And he said, here I am, my son. He said, behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? Abraham said, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son. So they went, both of them, together. When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac, his son, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. The angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, here I am. He said, do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him For now I know that you fear God, seeing that you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me." And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked. And behold, behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering in the stead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place, The Lord Will Provide. As it is said to this day, on the mount of the Lord it will be provided. And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, 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 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. So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham lived at Beersheba. And may Jesus Christ, who is the living word, speak to us from this passage, which is his written word. Genesis 22 is one of the most significant chapters in all of scripture. It concerns an event that brings a certain dis-ease to us, a certain unsettledness. God commands Abraham to offer his son as a sacrifice. Now, child sacrifice was not unknown in the world at this time, and the command to Abraham was not as strange to him as it would be to us. Child sacrifice was prohibited in Israel because it was a pagan action, a pagan act of worship. And yet God tells Abraham, I want you to offer your son to me as a sacrifice. And Abraham follows through on that direction. We'll come back to that in just a moment. We gain some understanding of the significance of this in Jewish literature, in Jewish reading of the Old Testament. This passage is a central passage in Jewish thinking, and it's called the Akedah of Isaac, the binding of Isaac. And here it says to us, he bound Isaac, his son. And so this binding of Isaac takes place as Abraham places him on this altar that he has built and prepares to offer him as a sacrifice unto the Lord. Now, what stands out most significantly in this passage is the response that the Lord has. But he sends his angel and the angel says, Abraham, Abraham, and we have this familiar statement, here I am, it's occurred now three times in the passage. And he said, do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him. And then we get this phrase, for now I know that you fear God. That's the center of the passage. That's the heart of the message in this chapter. Now I know that you fear God. It's not that God himself had not known it and he's got to see certain things unfold. It is rather a statement that God has gathered up his obedience, Abraham's obedience, and he utilizes it to know him at a level that he had that Abraham himself had not known in his own life. Now I know that you fear God. The fear of the Lord is one of the key themes particularly in the Old Testament. It is at the heart of Hebrew piety. What does it mean to know God or to walk with God? It means to fear the Lord. We find that over and over in the Old Testament. We find it particularly in the book of Proverbs. You're familiar with Proverbs chapter 1 verse 7. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. And then in chapter 9 we have the phrase again. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. And we find that phrase used over and over in the book of Proverbs because the fear of the Lord is the key to wisdom, to growing in wisdom and discernment. We also find it used in the Psalms. It's a key phrase in the Psalms. In Psalms 19, one of my favorite passages because I learned to sing it when I was in We find this statement, the law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. If you want me to, I'll sing it to you. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. And then you get this anomaly in this statement. All of these refer to the character of the Word of God as law, testimony, precepts, commandment, then rules. But then it says in verse 9, the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. Why is, in these references to the Word of God in Psalm 19, is the phrase, the fear of the Lord inserted? Because it is through the Word of God that we learn to fear the Lord. And the question becomes for us, what does it mean to fear the Lord. Psalm 34 says, come, O children, listen to me, and I will teach you the fear of the Lord. I want you to do this with me. Turn and keep your Bible open to Genesis 22, but turn with me to the last book of the Old Testament in our English Bible, the book of Malachi. The book of Malachi. Now, Malachi is not the last book in the Hebrew Bible. The last book in the Hebrew Bible is 2 Chronicles or the books of Chronicles. They were a one-volume work. But in our English Bible, the book of Malachi is the last of what we have typically called the Minor Prophets, the 12 Shorter Prophets. Now, we find in this book, and I was reading this this week just as a part of my daily reading. I noticed something that I had never noticed before in going through the book of Malachi. There is an emphasis in the book of Malachi on the fear of the Lord. And I had never discovered that before. Look with me at chapter 1, verse 14. God says, Cursed be the chief who has a male in his flock and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. Now one of the problems that was developing in Israel at this point was the people were offering unto God sacrifices that they themselves would not keep because they were blemished. There might have been some type of skin ailment or might have been a broken bone. And they were bringing that to the Lord to offer to Him. It's no good to us anyway, so let's give it to the Lord. It's like the people in the church one time sent to the missionaries, use tea bags. Well, we can't use them anymore. Send them to the missionaries. They can use them. So they brought these lame and diseased animals. And the Lord says this, For I am a great king, says the Lord of hosts. and my name will be feared among the nations. Turn to chapter 2. In chapter 2, we have a statement concerning the priest. God is talking about Levi and their calling and their original ministry. And it says in verse 5, My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him God gave the covenant of life and peace to the Levites. But then he says this, it was a covenant of fear and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. True instruction was in his mouth and no wrong was found in his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness and turned many from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and the people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts." Malachi says, God gave to Levi a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. Look over to chapter 3, verse 5. God is again announcing judgment against the people. He said, then I will draw near to you for judgment, chapter 3, verse 5. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker and his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner and do not fear me. In other words, God says, I'm coming in judgment. against those who do not fear me." And their sins that he enumerates here are sins that grow out of their lack of fear of the Lord. And then we find it again in verse 16, a marvelous text of chapter 3. Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. the Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed His name." The fear of the Lord here is bound up with esteeming the name of God. Earlier it spoke of standing in awe of God's name. But here a different term is used that speaks of esteeming the name of the Lord. And then we find the last reference in chapter 4, verse 1 says, Behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my name, the Son of Righteousness shall rise with healing in His wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall, and you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act, says the Lord." Notice this promise is given to those who fear His name. What's interesting is the book of Malachi, this final word from the prophet, focuses on five times the fear of the Lord. Now that tells us that it's very significant in Israel, it's very significant in spiritual formation or spiritual development, and it's very significant in understanding the message of the Old Testament. And we do not find it near as often as we do in the New Testament. Near as often as we find, in the New Testament we do not find it, the term the fear of the Lord, near as often as we do in the Old Testament. It is used from time to time, but it is not used as prominently or as many times as we find it in the Old Testament. Has something changed? I don't think so. I think there's a connection between the two. And we'll close with that this evening. I'll tell you that because when I get to that, you know it's about time to close. OK? Just want to give you some hope down the road. OK. Genesis 22, God says, now I know that you fear me, or now I know that you fear God. What does it mean to fear the Lord? I think Genesis 22 gives us some insight into what it means to fear the Lord. And I want to list them for you. and unpack every one of them in quite the detail that we might would, but I think it's significant enough for us to enumerate or to list these things. First of all, the fear of the Lord means to obey immediately what God has commanded us in our lives. It means to obey immediately what God has commanded us in our lives. God's Word came to Abraham and says, Take your son, your only son, the 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. And we read the next verse, So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac. There is no reference here to his discussion of the subject with Sarah. Now, I happen to believe that this would of course have been mentioned to Sarah. But Sarah has learned not to interfere in the Lord's direction. She has learned somewhat what it means to fear the Lord. Remember when the Lord told her she would have a son? It was interesting to hear this passage from Kings tonight. When Sarah was told she would have a son, she laughed. That was hilarious to her that she, who had been barren all her life, and is now past the age of childbearing is going to have a child. She finds that not only hilarious but almost ridiculous. This is not something that's going to happen and yet God fulfills His promise and she has a child. What is interesting is Isaac is the child of promise. And it is in Isaac and through Isaac that God's covenant promises to Abraham will be fulfilled. In your seed shall all of the nations of the earth be blessed. That is reiterated here at the end of chapter 22. in your offspring or in your seed, shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." But God had already promised him that through Isaac, through this child, not through Ishmael who had been born to Hagar, but through Isaac, the child of promise, God would fulfill His Word. And now everything is at stake for God says, I want you to offer your son to me as a burnt offering. And the question then becomes, how will God fulfill His promise? If Isaac is to die in a sacrifice, how will God fulfill His promise? And yet, Abraham obeyed immediately what the Lord had commanded him. He did not wait for several weeks or even several days to sort out what he has heard the Lord say. I imagine it may have been a temptation or it would have been for me to say, wait a minute, maybe I misunderstood that. We need to get this thing clear here. The Lord told me to go and offer Isaac as a sacrifice. No, it says, So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac. He obeys immediately. And the question becomes this in our lives. In all of our lives, in my life, your life, What is the one thing God continues to speak to you about or to me about in the matter of obedience? Oftentimes, we become aware that God has put His finger on something in our lives and we have to yield it to Him. by obeying immediately what is commanded. And yet, one of the things that oftentimes characterizes the people of God is they delay obedience. They delay obedience. You remember what was said about Lot just a couple of chapters earlier? When God warned Lot through the angels that they were going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, They said, up, get out of here, make haste. And the passage says, and I like the King James language, it says, but Lot lingered. Lot lingered. There was no immediate obedience on his part. They had to grab him by the collar and drag him out of Sodom and Gomorrah and send him and his wife on their way. And when they were going, the Lord had said, do not turn back, do not look back. And it's more than just catch a glance over the shoulder. Because what happened was Lot's wife turned back. And she was overcome in the fire and brimstone that fell in judgment upon those cities of the plain. He didn't just catch a little glimpse. She turned back to go back into the city. Lot lingered. But Abraham becomes the exact counterpart. He immediately obeyed what the Lord had commanded. And that's what God calls us to do in fearing Him. Obey immediately what He has directed us to do in our lives. The doctor who delivered our first two children was a marvelous Christian. Dr. Ormond Simmons is his name. He and his wife headed up the pro-life movement in the state of Arkansas when we were living there. And they had a marvelous clinic called Cornerstone Clinic. At Cornerstone Clinic, when you walked in, there was a big carved-in rock statement that says, Jesus Christ himself, the chief cornerstone. And he made his witness known very clear. He had not only the largest growing obstetrics practice in Arkansas, but the fastest growing. We made a decision that we would not use an OBGYN who performed abortions. And so we had to drop the current doctor that we had. And I'd heard of Cornerstone Clinic, and I called the office there, and I said, my name's Raymond Coffey, and we would like to become a patient of your clinic. And the woman said, we're not taking any patients for several, for about nine months. Well, when you're about four or five months along, it's a little what late to think about one down the road. So I mentioned several things to him and Dr. Simmons came to the phone and he said, he said, Raymond, we'll be glad to take you and your wife on as our patient. And we developed a very strong relationship with him and his staff. He had several other doctors on staff. They were all believers in Jesus Christ. Dr. Simmons told me the story of how he started Cornerstone Clinic. He decided that the clinic that he was working with was one that caused him to compromise some of his own convictions. Not in the area of abortion, but in other areas. And he was not easy with it. He was not settled. And he said the Lord directed him in a very real way internally in his own thinking. It wasn't a spooky kind of way. It was just a subtle conviction. You need to step out and open your own clinic. And he said, I began to wrestle with the Lord and decided I could not do it. And another situation arose and he realized that the Lord was saying to him, as it were, when are you going to trust me? Step out and open your own clinic and I will bless you. And this again was not an audible voice, this was just his thinking as he waited before the Lord in seeking direction. He said, I realized it was time to obey the Lord and move out of this area which would create compromise for me. And he opened Cornerstone Clinic and it became a marvelous testimony. to God's blessing in the state of Arkansas. They were one of the first states to pass certain laws that limited abortion and it was because of the influence of Dr. Ormond Simmons. What I found most significant was that he said I had to learn to obey immediately what the Lord was telling me, what he was directing in my life. That becomes critical in our lives because to fear the Lord means to obey immediately what He has commanded. Secondly, to fear the Lord means to wait and walk in silence until further direction is given. On the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. Then Abraham said to the young men, stay here with the donkey. I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac, his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went, both of them together. And we get the only time of dialogue that takes place between father and son in this story. Abraham, my father, and Abraham said, here I am, my son. He said, behold the fire and the wood. But where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son. And then we have this statement, so they went on both of them together. No other word passes between them. No other dialogue is recorded. Just silence. Because Abraham was learning to wait upon the Lord and walk with the Lord to the place of sacrifice. The hardest thing in our lives to do next to suffering is to wait on the Lord. Suffering is, of course, the most difficult thing we face when we have to suffer. And suffering taxes us in ways that we cannot even imagine. But the other area that really is difficult for us is learning to wait. Waiting on the Lord and continuing to walk with Him is what it means to fear the Lord. It's not easy to wait. We want things accomplished immediately. We want things to happen now. We want things to develop for us in ways that minimizes the waiting period. But the waiting period and the period of silence is a period in which we're learning to fear the Lord. Abraham and his son walk on in silence. One writer put it this way. He said, this is the most pregnant moment of silence in all of Scripture. father and son, and Isaac's not eight years of age. He is no doubt a young man at this time. Some would say between the ages of 16, 18, and 24. But they walk on together in silence as they move to the place of God's appointment. God wants us to learn what it means to wait before Him without complaint, without frustration, without being in such a manner that we are fretting or anxious, we wait before the Lord. And the Lord teaches us in that waiting, in that silent period, in that time of walking, that He will give further direction at His time. And he does so with Abraham here. And when they get to the place, Abraham builds the altar there. But this didn't take just three or four minutes. This would have meant working, sifting through rocks, getting the right rocks, and then building an altar there. And then he takes his son and binds him. I wonder what went through Isaac's mind at this moment. His son realizes that this is going to occur and he is the sacrifice. Phyllis Tribble called this one of the texts of terror in Scripture. Absolute terror that Isaac is going to be offered. But Abraham had learned all ready to fear the Lord as he moves along this journey. And he had said when Isaac had said, here's the fire, here's the wood, where's the lamb? And Abraham said, which became the key to the place, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son. God will provide it for himself. The word provide is a pun on the word see. God will see to it, we could translate it, God will see to it that a sacrifice is provided. God will make sure, for He is going to see to it that this is accomplished according to His purposes. We do not read of anything that Isaac did to resist this or to fight back in this particular manner. Abraham learned to fear the Lord and what it meant was offering and sacrifice what God has required of him. God says, I want you to take the most precious thing in your life, your son, your only son, the son that you love. and I want you to offer Him as a sacrifice. Now this becomes the test. To fear the Lord means to give to Him in sacrifice what He has already given to us. You see, We find this over and over in the scriptures. One of the most prominent examples is David. David is in battle with the Philistines. And he's with his men and he says, I'd give anything to have some water from the well of Bethlehem. I'd love to have some of that water. So three of David's mighty men slip through the forces of the Philistines They went to the well at Bethlehem and they drew water and they brought it back to David. And do you remember what David did? David took that water and he poured it out. Why would he do that? Why didn't he drink it? These men had risked their own lives and their well-being to go get him this water. But David pours it out because David had learned the principle that what God gives to me, I must give back to Him. I offer it back to Him in sacrifice. David offered it as a libation. a drink offering that is poured out unto the Lord where He said it represents the blood of these men and He offers it back as a sacrifice to God. God wants you to take, God wants me to take the most precious things in our lives and give them back to Him. And that is not easy to do. Because what God offers us as a blessing can only remain a blessing if we give it back to Him in sacrifice. See, if we hold to it for ourselves, the blessing is lost. But when we give it back to God, the blessing is fulfilled. The most precious thing to Abraham was his son Isaac. And God says, I want you to give him back to me. That's what we did when we baptized our children. In a sacramental manner, we offer our children back to God in sacrifice. This is what Abraham learned. You see, the great danger in our lives is to make idols out of the things that God has blessed us with. We don't make idols out of the things we despise. We make idols out of the things we love, the things that we enjoy most. That's where the real danger comes. We love this thing and we delight in it, And it becomes a temptation to idolatry. But God says, give it back to me and I will fulfill it in your life. Abraham learned that sacrifice is the key. The sacrificial worship is the key to retaining the blessing. Martin Luther, the great reformer, said, God kills in order to make alive. God kills in order to make alive. And what we have here is a pattern of death and resurrection. Abraham believed that God would do whatever was necessary to fulfill the promise. So he offers his son. We read in Hebrews chapter 11. Turn with me there. I want you to see this real quick. Hebrews chapter 11. You find here in Hebrews chapter 11 this statement about what is taking place. By faith Abraham, verse 17 of Hebrews chapter 11, by faith Abraham when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, through Isaac shall your offspring be named. Now notice verse 19. He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. What we have here is this pattern of death and resurrection. Abraham believed that God could literally raise Isaac from the dead if He put him to death. But God did not require him to be put to death. God instead intervened and said, Do not kill the child, for now I know that you fear God. And what He does is, He gives him back to him. But in this figurative way or in this typological way, what we have here is death and resurrection. Isaac is as good as dead, but Abraham has now offered him. He's ready to slay him. And what does he do? He receives him back alive. Because God is a God who raises the dead. We got the hint of that in Genesis 22. Turn back with me there. We get the hint of that in the phrase, verse 4, on the third day. There it is again. This phrase occurs over and over in Scripture and it refers to the fact that there's going to be a turn in the plot, a major turn in which God reveals His intervention on the third day. They come to the land of Moriah. And during that time, Abraham offers Isaac and receives him back in a figure, in a type, as one who's been raised from the dead. And the final thing, Abraham learned to trust that God will provide even when no visible resources are available. What's he going to do? He's going to offer Isaac. Now, he had said earlier in a statement of tremendous faith, my son, God will provide. Abraham, what's God going to provide? I have no idea. He would have said, how's he going to provide? I have no idea. If he has to, he'll raise Isaac from the dead. But God will provide. He had learned to trust the Lord so that God's promise would be fulfilled in a manner of God's provision even when there were no visible resources available. The hardest thing to do is to trust the Lord when nothing's happening. When there's no visible sign of God's intervention. Abraham pulls out the knife. He is prepared to kill Isaac. And the angel says to him twice, Abraham, Abraham, do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son from me. Now Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him as a burnt offering instead of his son. God makes a substitute and that substitute is in the form of a sacrificial animal which ultimately portrays the death of Jesus Christ who is offered as a substitute in our place. Abraham realized that though there were no visible resources God would provide. I want to say this to you, because I don't know your situation, but sometimes at various points in your life you may face a circumstance in which you seem to be on the brink of not making it financially. Not making it materially. And that's a tough place to be. That's a hard place to trust the Lord when we don't know how things are going to turn out. And yet God, even when there are no visible resources available, will provide. The man who understood this more than any man, I think, in history was George Mueller. George Mueller had opened several orphanages in England And he had decided by his own determination or what he believed the Lord wanted him to do that he would not appeal for funds ever for his orphanage. He would learn to pray and ask God for those funds and for the means necessary to meet the needs in that orphanage. One night there was no food for the next day and he knew it. And children have to be fed. It doesn't do any good to get up the next morning and say, children, we're not having breakfast today. And we may not have lunch either. So he went to the Lord in prayer that night and the next morning, sitting on the steps, where bags of groceries feed the children. The Lord provided. even when there were no visible resources available. Now, let me say this to you. God does not always provide in ways we think he's going to provide through what we would say a unique act of intervention or a miracle. God sometimes delays his answer. And in so doing, He teaches us to trust that He will still provide. He has promised. Paul gives us that promise in Philippians. My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. God will supply. And in trusting Him, We learn to see that He is the God who provides. So we call the name of the place Yahweh-Yirah. Sometimes we hear it pronounced Jehovah-Jireh, and there was a little song built around that. But it's literally, the Hebrew says, Yahweh-Yirah, the Lord will see to it. The Lord will provide. Because the Lord has already seen your circumstances. He already knows what you're facing and He will provide according to His purposes. Abraham learned what it was that day to fear the Lord. This is the culmination of his life. What's very interesting, and I find this to be so significant, though I still do not know the ultimate reason why, Abraham had said, we're going up to the mountain We're going to worship and we're going to come again to you. But no mention is made of Isaac's returning in the passage. It says, so Abraham returned to his young men. It doesn't say Abraham and Isaac. It says Abraham. Now, Jewish scholars thought that Abraham indeed had killed Isaac. And you of course know that Muslims believe that this was not Isaac but Ishmael that Abraham took to the top of the mountain. Whatever the case, and you know it's Isaac, Abraham returned alone. Where's Isaac? I think he stayed behind and lingered in the presence of God. soaking in everything that has now happened that day and over this three-day period. It is a transformation, life-transforming event. And he learned to internalize it. He learned to wait upon the Lord. May God bless His Word to our hearts. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.