If you'll look with me please to our text in Genesis 22. And our text goes all the way from verse 8 down through verse 19. So, I can't spend a long time on many of these verses. But it seems to me that verses 8 through 14 too much to break up. So I want us to read this text and then come back and talk about a few things that we find here. So if you'll look with me please in Genesis 22 verse 8. And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So they went both of them together. And they came to the place which God had told them of. And Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven. And said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, Here am I. And he said, that is, God said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold, behind him A ram caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-Jerah. As it is said to this day in the Mount of the Lord, it shall be seen. The sinfulness of sin was and is so egregious to God, no decision and no deed, no profession and no ceremony could or can satisfy Him or His justice. Satisfaction required a lamb, and that's our story. God vividly illustrated this story by means of Abraham and Isaac. This is the fifth promise that God has made to Abraham, and that is that he will provide a lamb. Look with me at verse 8. Abraham said, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering, and so they went both of them together. Now his response is to the question that is raised by Isaac back in verse 7, when Isaac asked, where is the lamb for the burnt offering? You'll notice that in this verse that he called him my father, in verse number 7, and then in verse 8 that he called him my son. Isaac had felt the sting of his older brother's ridicule. And I don't know that he understood all of this, but he understood that he was the chosen son, that all the rights and responsibilities of the family lay with him. So when he calls him my father, he uses a most tender term. It reminds me much of the words of our Lord Jesus, who said often things like this, and all things were delivered unto me of my Father. Flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And then in John 17, on the last evening before he will be taken and tried, he said, Father, the hour is come. And then this is followed by plain conversation between Abraham and with Isaac, and he said, behold, here is the fire and the wood, the two essential elements to having a fire besides the stone. And the other, of course, is the animal for a sacrifice. And so we ask, where is a lamb for a burnt offering? By this we know that he understood the law of God, and that is that there is no sacrifice, there is no forgiveness apart from the shedding of blood. We know that he understands the requirement of innocent blood, because the lamb was an innocent animal, not a very smart animal. And it was an innocent animal requiring nothing wrong with it in itself. And if it were to go astray from the fold, it could never wander this far out into the wilderness because another animal, a ferocious one, would eat the lamb. And by this we know that Abraham was tried as never before. He was to provide a lamb. If God were to provide a lamb for the setting, then of course that would be a miracle. But if he were actually required to sacrifice Isaac, that would be a trial beyond description. And yet it describes the great sacrifice of the Father and the Son in the Lord Jesus Christ in His agony in the garden and then at the cross. But he says to him, My son, My son, as much and as truly as he had loved Ishmael, which he had. He confessed that God had taught him, and he recognized Isaac to be the son of promise, the only son. So Isaac said, My father, and Abraham responded in kind, and he said, My son. What a kind and tender address and feeling is felt between these two men. This points us to the heavenly language between the father and the son. The father said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. The son said at the end of John 17, oh righteous father, and then we continue with Abraham's words and he said, my son, God will provide himself a lamb. Now there are three possible translations to this phrase. It could be God will provide himself as the lamb. It could be God will provide himself a lamb, or it could be God will provide and leave nothing undone by the lamb. That's all wrapped up in that word provide exactly how it is to be understood. I like the last one. God will provide and leave nothing undone by the lamb that he provides. He will provide the lamb. It may be that Abraham thought that Isaac was that lamb, we don't know. But what we do know is that Abraham and Isaac both willingly submitted. And this next verse seems to tell us that he understood that Isaac would be the very one. But notice that Abraham understood all of this to have to do with the gospel, because Jesus had said, your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it and he was glad. So as he looked at Isaac, he looked beyond Isaac, he looked to the greater Isaac, and he looked to what God had told him. God had preached the gospel to him. He had told him that righteousness would come by the Messiah, that justification would be in connection with the Messiah. God had testified in his soul, and Abraham believed it. He was persuaded, and he believed it. So by special revelation, he had come to see this. And of course, that's exactly what the greatest of the prophets, John the Baptist, proclaimed, Behold the Lamb of God. Do you think that he might be familiar with this passage. I believe he was, don't you? So when John the Baptist had thought about his own cousin, only six months younger than him, and had seen and heard about him, he understood in his own heart and mind this passage is talking about this one whose shoes I'm not worthy to unlatch. This is the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world. In other words, not all of the sin of all of the world, but all of the sin of the world that's going to be taken away. He is the only one that will take it away. He is the Lamb of God. Abraham and Isaac displayed, I say to you in all of this, the spirit of those who are sons of God's sovereign grace, because He He binds him, notice what it says here. First of all, they built the altar, so that means that they took stones. These would be large stones, not little bitty rocks. They carried big stones, each of them doing their part, maybe working together to build this altar. And they built it up to where it was up off of the ground. And then they took the wood and they laid that wood up on the altar. And the fire they're keeping smoldering off to the side, waiting for the death of the animal. They had the death of the sacrifice. And then, all of a sudden, he takes Isaac and he binds his hands. I don't know if it means that he bounds his feet, but he binds them. Now I want you to think about this. Abraham is 130 years of age. Isaac is 30, or if you want to go a little further, he's 33 years of age. And that would mean that Abraham is 133 years of age. Which do you think could run the fastest, the old man or the young man? Which do you think was stronger, the young man or the old man? Which do you think could have prevailed had there been a conflict over this? Isaac, of course. But Isaac willingly let him be bound, and he bound his son. And Isaac willingly let Abraham lay him on the altar upon the wood. And there's the fire, and here's the knife, and it's all just before Him. For all of this to take place, they didn't know which was the right way because both of them had gone together. But here is the perfect peace between them. and they come to the place, to this place, the place that God had told them of, the place just outside of Jerusalem, the land of Moriah, the ridge just outside of Jerusalem, no doubt close to, maybe the exact spot where our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, a place where later on would be a place that would be a concourse for men going north and south. from the southern part down into Egypt and then up north. As they would go by, those crosses would be out there. All in the providence of God, the place. Several times you see the word place that is here. The place that I told you of. And so he bound him at this place, and he laid him upon the altar. Reminds me of what we read in Isaiah 53, as a she before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. Look at verse 10. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. So there's nothing left to do but to cut the throat of the sacrifice. I don't know how to describe this or even hardly to think of it. Both men trembled under the weight and the gravity of the moment. They had to. They had to. Jesus sweat so profusely, it's as if he were sweating great drops of blood. Redemption came not only by his body, but also by his soul. And so what took place here, we read through these words as if there's no emotion involved. but the emotion surely was there. Abraham has reached the greatest crisis of his life. And Isaac has reached the greatest crisis of his life. And the Lord Jesus Christ reached the greatest crises of his life. I have a book in my collection of books called, The Crises of the Christ. And it goes through and talks about a number of crises in the life of Christ. And I sort of like the way it puts this. And that is that this event of the cross is the greatest crisis. And this is a picture of this great crisis that has come now to the Son of God. It's the trial above all other trials. And He took the knife to slay His Son. Now verse 11, And the angel, and remember that word angel is the word messenger. This messenger is not a created angel, but I declare to you that this is the very Son of God Himself. This is the Son of God looking down in picture and in type to what is going to take place in Him in reality when He comes to this earth. And the angel, the messenger of the Lord called out to Him. This is a pre-incarnate appearance. which is a pre-incarnate theophany, it's called, or an appearance of God prior to the incarnation. This is the Lord Jesus Christ. And I know that because it goes ahead, the angel and the Lord are the same one. This is the angel of the Lord. This is Christ. And he called unto him out of heaven, above him and out of heaven. And he said, Abraham and Abraham. He called his name twice to announce the gravity of the moment. It's like saying truly, truly, Abraham, Abraham. So he looked and he responded with great haste and humility. Surely he was ready to obey. He wanted to stop. He wanted to lay that knife down. He didn't want to slay his son. Though he received him in a figure that he would be raised from the death. And the voice said, Abraham, Abraham. And Abraham said, Here I am. And now verse 12. He said, Lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thine son, thine only son, from me. Now don't be mistaken to think that God didn't know already. God knew already. He knew what was in His heart. But man must experience. We learn by experience. We learn by the experience both of our sin and of our repentance. When he said that God knows, it is that God has already known, but he says, now I have known that you reverence me. It's been shown that you reverence me. Abraham knew it. Isaac knew it. Now you and I know by the reading of God's inspired word here, for now I know that thou Fearest God. Isn't that exactly what James meant when James said, was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac upon the altar? Because what Abraham did was to prove that he was faithful. So he meant that actions reveal our faith. A man may say he believes without works, but James said, I will show you that I believe or my faith by my works." True faith produces obedience. The word believe comes from an old word that means by live. It means to live by what I believe. By justified, James meant before men. His acts of obedience showed him to be a just and an honest man before God and before others. God already knew, but it's now shown before God. What Abraham did in type and in part, I say to you again, God did in completion and in fullness, because what it tells us in Romans 8 and verse 32, God spared not His Son. He spared Isaac, but He didn't spare His own Son. Now verse 13, And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and he looked, and behold, behind him, so it was out of his vision, A ram caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and caught the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. Well, that verse is loaded, isn't it? Abraham's attention was where? On his son. He's looking square down in the face of his son. He's not thinking about anything to his right or his left or in front or behind him. He's not listening for anything else, but God caused him to lift up his eyes at the sound of a male sheep, a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. I wonder, has that ever actually happened other than God in his providence having a ram caught in the thicket with his horns? Would that ever happen just naturally out here in the natural world? Just doesn't seem hardly possible to me that a ram would be foolish enough to get his horns caught in a thicket. What that tells me is God provided what He was going to provide. That's what it says back up here. He said God will provide. Now the word provide is a word that tells us of God's providence. It's a short word for providence. Providence means the provision of God's will. God provided here a ram in the stead of His Son. Yet I declare to you that a ram is not a lamb. A ram would be an imperfect sacrifice, and it would do as an imperfect sacrifice until God provided the lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a ram, not a lamb. Not just to play on words, these are two different animals. This is a wild ram, providentially having his horns caught in a thicket he can't get away. The more he tried to get away, the tighter it caught around his horns. And all Abraham had to do was go over there and do what he knew to do, catch that old ram, cut his throat, cut him loose, bring him over, take his coat off of him, laying him upon that altar, bring the fire to bear to the wood and burn that sacrifice. What you see here is substitution, do you not? For now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thine Son, thine only Son. But look down at the end of verse 13, for a burnt offering in the stead of thy Son. In the stead of thy Son. In the end, what we have to look at is this. Isaac was not a suitable substitute. Was he? He was not. Rather, he needed a suitable substitute. He had to look to the substitute, Christ Jesus. He must look to the same as Abraham, the same as their forefathers, the same as Moses who would follow them, the same as Joshua who would follow Moses, the same as Samuel who would bring in David, and the prophets who would follow, Isaiah, Jeremiah, all the way down to Malachi. They would all have to look to that same substitute, that same sacrifice, the same one that was preached here to Abraham. So he caught him, removed the coat, laid the meat upon the altar. It was consumed in the smoke, and as it rose toward God, they were able to worship. In verse 14, And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-Jerah. As it is said to this day in the Mount of the Lord, it shall be seen." God's provision was not due to a prayer request of Abraham. Abraham never thought about praying for a ram, did he? He didn't say, what about giving me a ram instead of my son? How about doing that? He didn't say, how about saving my son? How about saving me from this? Has nothing to do with the prayer from Abraham. Just like the saving of a soul has nothing to do with the sinner's prayer. Not one thing. Sinner's prayer is not going to affect the rendering of righteousness, the reconciling of a sinner. Sovereign grace and sovereign grace alone, free grace alone delivered Isaac. Free grace alone delivered God's people. In this, Isaac is a picture of the Lord's people. So here you see this burnt offering in the stead of his son. As that was in place of the son, he was the substitute for sinners. As it is said to this day, in the mouth of the Lord it shall be seen. Moses, the writer of Genesis, believed this account. Jesus is referred to as God manifest in the flesh. The angel called Him Immanuel, God with us. So this entire event is recorded for them and for us to look to Christ. Now in verses 15 through 19, We have some wonderful things, but let me talk with you a minute about this word Jehovah. Jehovah, of course, is the name of God in the Old Testament. It would actually be Yahweh, and then the vowels have been added, so you would actually just have the J and the H, and then a V and an H. That would be it, but these vowels have been added, the E and the O and the A. You see it there? So these vowels have been added so that we can pronounce it because it was really just a sound. It was just Yahweh. It was sort of a grunt from the throat. I can't do it like the Jews would, but it would be a grunt from the throat, Yahweh. But here it is Jehovah. So they've added that in so that it can be a pronounced thing. And then the name Jehovah means to provide. Well, He, yes, is the one who provides for us day by day. He provides our food. He gives us air to breathe. He gives us water to drink. He gives love in our life. He gives us jobs and opportunity. He is the God of provision. But as Jehovah-Jireh, What he's talking about are none of those daily things, but what he's talking about is, He shall provide the Lamb a substitution. That's Jehovah-Jireh. He will provide that Lamb that will be the one who will bear away our sins. But I want to go on into verse 15 and try to finish up through verse 19. And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven a second time. So he wants us to be sure that we know that this is a second time. And he identifies himself as the Lord, the angel of the Lord, the pre-incarnate appearance, the messenger of Jehovah. And he speaks to him the second time. This is the same one who appeared to Adam and Eve after the fall. He is the same one who spoke to Moses out of the burning bush. The same one who spoke to the house of Israel as the Shekinah Glory. And he spoke to Abraham by covenant and promise in the 15th chapter and now he here appears a second time and he speaks to him, the angel of the Lord, out of heaven a second time. In verse 16, he said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord. So here is the Lord, the angel, the angel and the Lord are the same one. By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord. For because thou hast done this thing, thou hast not withheld thy Son, thine only Son." God was pleased with his will being fulfilled, and with him obeying at his pleasure. It's like what it says in Hebrews 11 and 6, that God is not pleased with those who do not have faith, but is pleased with those who do have faith. God is pleased because He's given of the faith and He sees it there. He's pleased with the blood that redeems and He's pleased with the faith that enlightens. So Moses understands and believes this. He has not withheld his son. Now verse 17. that in blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, as the sand which is upon the seashore, and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies." These are both temporal and spiritual blessings. Regarding Isaac, the son of promise, he is the type of God's elect. Then by the true Isaac, Christ Jesus, would come the forgiveness of sin, the redemption from the curse of the law, the justification from condemnation, the blessings of being awakened by the Holy Spirit, the working of providence. the blessing of final glorification. All of this is wound up in this. But notice then he says in verse 18, and in thy seed. Who is thy seed? It's not what is thy seed, it's who is thy seed. And thy seed, of course, is Christ Jesus. I would point you to Galatians 3 and 16, which I've referred to before, now to Abraham and to his seed were the promises made. He saith not into seeds as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. And so thy seed, Christ, shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. In other words, there'll be both Jews and Gentiles that will come to the knowledge of the faith. It will not only be those who are descendants of Abraham, they would become the Jews, but all others, from all others. And so that's the reason you have a Gentile standing before you to preach the gospel to you this morning. Now, one other thing here in verse 19. I'm going to stop. And Abraham returned unto his young men. Do you remember that he told them? that we'll come again. I went away and we'll come again unto you. So Abraham returned unto his young men and they arose up and went together to Beersheba and Abraham and dwelt in Beersheba. This is not the second coming of Christ, but what this is, is the resurrection out of death and the ascension. Abraham returned to the young men. This is resurrection. This is ascension. He was dead and he is now alive again. And he went back to where he came from, that is to Beersheba. That's ascension back to heaven, Beersheba. The place where the beautiful grove is. The place where the seven wells of water are. The place of Abraham's home. The place where he can worship. The place where he can tell others of this God that he knows about. This entire event was recorded for Abraham, for them, and for us to look to Christ. He was accounting that God would raise him up and receive him in a figure. The word receive means to bear to oneself. Abraham bore in his mind and in his actions, and he saw and he understood. That's what is meant by the word received. I'm talking about what it says in Hebrews 11 and 19. He received it. It bore in himself. And then it says a figure. And the word figure is the word parable. And it means a place or alongside of. It's a comparison. It's an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. Let me give you about three or four things that Abraham received Isaac in. First of all, he received him in death. Hebrews 11 and 6, 10, it says that he was tried and he offered up Isaac. Second of all, he received him in resurrection. 22 and 4, then on the third day he lifted up his eyes and he saw the place afar off. And Hebrews 11, 19, accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead. He received him in death, He received him in resurrection, and He received him in ascension. Abraham returned to his young men, and they went to Beersheba. Beersheba is this important place of home, and rest, and worship. Once for all, this is now past him. Once for all, this substitution has done his job. Once for all, the picture has been made.