Hear now God's Word from Genesis chapter 22 verses 15 through 24. 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 that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies. And in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice." So Abraham returned to his young men. They arose and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham lived at Beersheba. After these things it was told to Abraham, Behold, Milcah also has born children to your brother Nahor. Uz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Camul the father of Aram, Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlath, and Bethuel. Bethuel fathered Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham's brother. Moreover, his concubine, whose name was Rauma, bore Teba, Gehem, Tehash, and Ma'akah. Since our reading in God's word, let's ask his blessing now upon it in prayer. Lord, we thank you for your word, and that just as surely as you spoke to Abraham from heaven, you have spoken to us. Help us, Lord, like Abraham, to receive your word with faith, and to receive it not just with faith, but with a living faith that works itself out in love. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, just moments prior to the start of this text, as you know, since we're here this morning, Abraham had experienced one of the most intense emotional swings, I think, that you could probably imagine. He went from thinking that he would have to kill his beloved and only son to being released by the Lord from his obligation and commended for his radical faith. It was a major swing. And we might think for a moment that this was all of the reward that Abraham really needed. What else could he ask for? He now had what he really wanted, which was to receive his son Isaac back from the dead, figuratively speaking. Where could he go? However, on second thought, another moment's reflection, we realize that actually Abraham would have had that, he would have had a living son, even if he had disobeyed the Lord. If he had simply refused the Lord's request, there would have been no risk. Unless the Lord simply chose to strike him dead, there would have been no risk of Isaac dying. If the story ended in verse 14, the patriarch would have had nothing more than he would have had if he had chosen to rebel against the Lord. He has a son, but yes, he had a son before. And so it seems more than fitting, I think, that the Lord would send him away with some sort of blessing for his faith and his obedience. And therefore, tonight, as we draw to close this monumental chapter, we discover that there was one more piece of business to be conducted between Abraham and the Lord as the angel of the Lord calls out to Abraham from heaven a second time. And as the Lord calls out to Abraham from heaven a second time, what comes next is the final and most extravagant of all the covenantal assurances that Abraham receives throughout his life. As the Lord pronounces the plans which he will proceed to execute in future generations. And we may summarize, I think, the contents of verses 15 through 24 by saying that God rewards Abraham's obedient faith by swearing an oath, thereby confirming and extending his covenant with his servant. That's what's happening here in this text. God rewards Abraham's obedient faith by swearing an oath, thereby confirming and extending his covenant with his servant. And that's our central theme. And with that central theme in mind, we want to tonight consider two points which arise from our text which make up that central point. First of all, tonight we see in the text that God rewards Abraham's obedient faith with a promise, verses 15 through 19. And then second, we see that God prepares for the fulfillment of that promise by readying a wife for Isaac. That's verses 20 So the first point tonight is that God rewards Abraham's obedient faith with a promise. We begin here with the angel of the Lord speaking to Abraham. The angel of the Lord is what we might call a theophany figure. Not always, but often, and by way of review that means that Through the angel, the invisible God is making himself visibly known. Theophany is a visible manifestation of the presence of the Lord. And when it comes to the angel of the Lord, we have a somewhat unique theophany in that the angel seems at times to speak for God, on his behalf, while at other times he seems to speak as God, which is what clues us in to the fact that something unique is going on with this figure. For example, if you think about the text that we looked at this morning, and you look at verse 12, you'll see that, first of all, the angel spoke of God in the third person, saying, do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him for now I know that you fear God, But then he identifies himself as the one to whom the boy had been offered. Now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. He speaks for God, and he speaks as God. So we have a theophany, but it's a unique angel of the Lord theophany. And in such, angel of the Lord Theophanies, most theologians throughout church history have felt comfortable getting more specific, arguing that the angel is most likely a manifestation of the pre-incarnate son. This is the second person of the Trinity speaking specifically in a visible form, anticipating and foreshadowing the way in which he would later take on flesh as mediator. And it's that figure that we find in verse 15, calling out to Abraham again after the substitute sacrifice has been offered. And here's what he says, By myself I have sworn to declare as the Lord, because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son. I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is on the seashore. and your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice." Now, since most of you have been here consistently for our study of Abraham's career in the book of Genesis, much of this will sound very familiar. On a number of occasions the patriarch has been promised blessings and land and offspring and these promises have come in different forms, different fashions, but there's been a lot of consistency in what the Lord promises to Abraham. However, the significance of this climactic expression of the covenant promise I think is best grasped not when we consider what's familiar to us, but when we grasp what's new and different here that we have not seen elsewhere. And so that's where I think we ought to focus our attention tonight. And as we look for new things, different things in these verses, there are three important novelties, we might call them, three important novelties to note in the promise of these verses. First, first, God swears an oath by himself. God swears an oath by himself. By myself I have sworn declares the Lord. Now this is a point which is easy to overlook, but it's of maybe unexpected and surprising importance. Why? Because God swears upon himself. He is saying, in essence, as surely as I am God, I will do these things. I'm staking my reputation upon this. If I don't do this, Abraham, I'm a fraud. And later, scripture authors will make a lot out of this swearing which occurs in these verses, talking about when the Lord swore to Abraham and to Israel. And most pointedly, the author of the letter to the Hebrews reflects on this at some length in Hebrews chapter 6. I want to read some of that chapter tonight. So listen to the words of Hebrews 6 verses 13 through 17. We read this, For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, Surely I will bless you and multiply you. And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final. for confirmation. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath. To put the point there succinctly, the writer of Hebrews is saying that in the ancient world at least, and we have some of this still today, the way you guarantee something is you take an oath. And typically you swear an oath on something greater than yourself. Think about the way which will swear into office with their hand on the Bible. They are saying in a sense, as surely as this is true, so my words are true. Swear on something greater than themselves. And since there's nothing greater than God, he swore on himself. He swore by himself in order to give greater conviction, more convincing, more assurance to Abraham. And in this way, we might say that God makes his covenantal promises to Abraham rock solid. He made promises in the past, but now those promises, insofar as they could be fortified, they're fortified with a solemn oath which hinged upon the very existence and character of the Lord. So that's the first novel thing in this particular expression of the promises. God swears an oath by himself. He doesn't do that anywhere else in these promises to Abraham. This is new. He's giving him his final word on the matter. Second, second novelty, is that in these verses God does something different by taking account of Abraham's obedience. God takes account of Abraham's obedience. When God first showed up and called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldeans in Genesis chapter 12 with promises ready at hand, it was an arrangement that seemingly came out of nowhere. Abraham had done nothing to merit anything when God suddenly lit up the world like lightning in the night sky. And so the Lord comes and he gives promises of blessing to Abraham that Abraham had not sought out. And similarly, promises of blessing come to Abraham unearned in, maybe I missed one, but this was my count when I looked at it, Genesis 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, and 21. The Lord makes promises to Abraham in each of those chapters without reference to merit or earning such things. you could potentially quibble with the inclusion of chapter 17. Think about chapter 17, that's where the circumcision covenant, that aspect is included. And the Lord tells Abraham that he's to walk blamelessly as he receives the covenant. But even there, those things, Abraham's actions are presented as the natural consequences of a covenant and a promise which the Lord has freely given. Those are not the conditions upon which he receives the promise. Those are the things that he is to do in his reception of the promise. But in this chapter we observe a different dynamic in these words in the text. According to verse 15, Yahweh swears to Abraham because of what Abraham did in offering Isaac. And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, verse 16, 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. Likewise, at the end of the promise, Abraham's offspring are promised blessing on the basis of Abraham's obedience. We read there, the Lord promises all of this because you have obeyed my voice. And so here, in a unique new way in the book of Genesis, the covenantal promises which have been freely offered in the past now begin to take on the appearance of rewards for obedience rendered. How do these two puzzle pieces fit together? Do they? Yes, they do. And Calvin, in his commentary, he puts them together like this. I think this is helpful, so I'm going to read this section of Calvin's commentary. He says this. For if that promise was before gratuitous, given on the basis of grace, which is now ascribed to a reward, it appears that whatever God grants to good works ought to be received as from grace. Certainly, before Isaac was born, this same promise had already been given, and now it receives nothing more than confirmation. If Abraham deserved a compensation so great on account of his own virtue, the grace of God which anticipated him will be of none effect. Therefore, in order that the truth of God, founded upon his gratuitous kindness, may stand firm, we must of necessity conclude that what is freely given is yet called the reward of good works. In other words Calvin is saying that this is a reward, but it's a reward which was not owed. God was not obligated to give this to Abraham because of what he did. It's a gift, but it's a gift given in part in response to what Abraham has done. He goes on saying, Not that God would obscure the glory of his goodness or in any way diminish it, but only that he may excite his own people to the love of well-doing, when they perceive that their acts of duty are so far pleasing to him as to obtain a reward. While yet he pays nothing as a debt, but gives to his own benefits the title of a reward. And in this, he says, there is no inconsistency. For the Lord here shows himself doubly liberal, in that He, wishing to stimulate us to holy living, transfers to our works what properly belongs to his pure beneficence." In other words, God is being doubly gracious in that he's willing to call a reward that which we have not truly merited. That which is really a gift which takes our acts into account. You see, the point in these verses is not that Abraham has suddenly merited that which he has graciously received in the past. But what we do see is that in the working out of God's promises, God graciously incorporates Abraham's works as one of the means through which he doles out the blessing. God chooses to incorporate Abraham's work into the covenantal economy, rewarding his faithfulness, though he was under no obligation to do so. And if this sounds strange, if this sounds like an unusual way of thinking of things, our confession of faith actually has a category for this sort of rewarding. Listen to Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 16. That's the chapter on good works. Chapter 16, paragraph 6 says this. Notwithstanding the persons of believers being accepted through Christ, their good works also are accepted in Him. not as though they were in this life wholly unblameable and unreprovable in God's sight, but that He, looking upon them in His Son, is pleased to accept and reward that which is sincere, although accompanied with many weaknesses and imperfections." So the confession in there is arguing basically what's happening in this chapter. That the Lord is willing to accept and receive good works that we do not in their own right, but as works offered by faith, as works offered by those who are already in Christ, who have been redeemed by Him. I think all of this helps us to understand what James is getting at in James chapter 2. In that passage, as we saw earlier when we read it, James states provocatively to many of us, that Abraham was justified by his works, justified by his works. And many have judged those words unavoidably, inevitably, absolutely contradictory with the words of the Apostle Paul, since the Apostle Paul argues that Abraham was justified by faith, not works. But there's really not a contradiction here when we consider the context of both authors. When James writes that Abraham was justified by his works, when we look at the way in which he uses this story to make that point, what we find is this. He does not mean to say, contrary to Paul, that Abraham was justified by works in the sense of being made forensically righteous before God. That does occur on the basis of faith alone. And that justification in Abraham's life was described way back in Genesis chapter 15 verse 6. Abraham believed God and it was kind to him and righteous. So if that's not what James is saying when he says that Abraham was justified by works, what is he saying? He's using that word justify, justification, in a different sense from Paul. And I think this maybe comes across when we begin to supply some synonyms. What could we insert in the place of justify if we were going to supply some synonyms in James chapter 2? We might say that James is speaking of Abraham's, the vindication or the authentication of Abraham's faith. We might say Abraham was vindicated by works. which occurred, particularly, he says, as Abraham did the good work of offering up his son to God. According to James 2.22, when Abraham offered up his son to God, faith was active along with his works, and his faith was completed by his works. And so, the same God who graciously gave unmerited promises to Abraham, who did receive them by faith, That same God now rewards the works which have come to accompany Abraham's faith. So, Abraham is justified, made forensically righteous, before God, by faith. And then that faith, and Abraham's profession of faith, is vindicated, it is completed, by his works. In the aftermath of Abraham's obedience to God, God is willing to graciously incorporate Abraham's works into the covenant. As Calvin clarified earlier, God doesn't do so because he was indebted to Abraham, but he freely chooses to confirm his promises as a reward for the sake of the one doing the good work. And thus the reward comes with greater extravagance and greater reason for assurance. So that's the second thing that's new here. When we look at all the promises of God to Abraham, it's new that God, in this instance, takes account of Abraham's obedience. So God swears an oath, He takes account of Abraham's obedience, and the third new thing in this passage is really new in degree. God ups the ante on the covenant's extent. Many of the actual promises here are quite familiar, but they're stated more emphatically than before. The promise to bless and multiply becomes the promise to surely bless and surely multiply. The promise to make Abraham's offspring like the stars of heaven is now accompanied by a promise to make them like the sand of the seashore. The promise that his offspring would be a nation with a land is now made more feasible as the Lord assures Abraham that his offspring will possess the gate of their enemies, conquering the promised land. And at the same time, the conquering of enemies will eventually give way to the blessing of the nations of the earth, which is once again reiterated here. So in all of these ways, God is expanding the horizon on Abraham's understanding of what lies ahead. Now that Isaac has been preserved, God makes clear to Abraham that Isaac will inherit unbelievable blessings. Surely he will receive these things. And only after issuing this climactic covenant promise does the angel of the Lord release Abraham from this trek to Moriah that he might travel back home with Isaac and his servants to Beersheba. So that's the first point which we see tonight in our text. God rewards Abraham's obedient faith with promise. Now the second thing we want to see in this text is that God prepares for the fulfillment of that promise by readying a wife for Isaac. As was the case with Abraham before, these blessings would not come to fruition in Isaac's life immediately. there would be a period of delay as God worked all things for the good of His covenant people. Still, God's apparent slowness was not to be understood as inactivity. And in fact, the fact that God was not being inactive is here insinuated to us in the text. What man counts as slowness is purposeful and deliberate with God. And we catch a glimpse of this in verses 20-24 where we find a short genealogy to round out this chapter. Abraham's brother Nahor, who we've not heard about since we left him behind in Haran in Genesis chapter 11, we find here in these last verses that Nahor has been busy in the years since Abraham has last seen him. Between Nahor's wife Milka and his concubine Rauma, Nahor had fathered 12 children. And at some point, a messenger came to Abraham after the ordeal with Isaac and told him about these children, these Aramean children out there towards Mesopotamia. And this messenger caught Abraham up on the life of his long lost brother. And so we read the names here of those children. Now if the book of Genesis were to end right here, we might think of it as a very anticlimactic conclusion. Why a genealogy after this grand dramatic story about the offering of eyes? It would not be obvious, if this were the end of the book, why this was the place to insert a genealogy. But the book of Genesis doesn't end here. And future chapters develop what we find in these verses in instructive ways. To put the connection plainly, Abraham's brother Nahor fathered a son. We're not going to go through all the names. Here's the names to pay attention to though. Abraham's brother Nahor fathered a son named Bethuel. And Bethuel fathered a daughter named Rebekah. Who will become the wife of Isaac in Genesis chapter 24. So why put this genealogy right here? Well, because in it we find the seed from which this great promised crop of children is going to grow. Even as God is promising so much for Abraham and for his offspring, He is readying the wife with whom Isaac is going to have his own children. And we might even say that in all these children that Nahor had, that God was blessing Nahor, who lived among the nations, as an initial fulfillment of the promises to Abraham because of his connection to Abraham. This is not the first time in the book of Genesis that we have seen families blessed and prospered due to their relation to Abraham. Think of Ishmael's twelve sons. Now Nahor has many sons, and the Lord is going to use the growth of that family for the good of the covenant people and so they'll be blessed in return. And so when we view this genealogy in that light, really this genealogy is here to point us forward to Rebecca and her marriage to Isaac, we find that God was not being slow and he did not immediately fulfill all the promises. He was being deliberate. He was laying the foundation upon which the covenantal structure would be built over many years. We see in these verses that God is not just talk. He doesn't just issue promises and then sit back and do nothing. His talk at the end of this chapter is accompanied by action. He is doing what is necessary for his oath to be fulfilled. And that's why this genealogy is here at the end of chapter 22. God prepares for the fulfillment of his promises by readying a wife for Isaac. So those are our two points. What though do these concluding verses in Genesis 22 teach us? What lessons can we draw from our text? And I want to focus on two primary lessons following the lead of the New Testament authors. First, this passage teaches us to trust the God who is willing to confirm his promises with an oath. This passage teaches us to trust the God who is willing to confirm his promises with an oath. That is precisely the point which the author of Hebrews is making in Hebrews chapter 6. He does not mention this oath to Isaac as a random piece of trivia. He wasn't playing Bible trivia. Let me read for you verses 17 through 20 of that chapter so that you might see this. Here's what those verses say. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of His purpose, He guaranteed it with an oath. So that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. You see, according to Hebrews, God's oath to Abraham is programmatic for understanding how he deals with his people in general. Because we know he doesn't lie, and because we know he swore by himself, all of us who have turned to the Lord for salvation have sufficient encouragement to hold fast to the hope of the gospel. If Abraham could trust God's oath, then we can trust Christ. who is the final fulfillment of that oath. Think about it. Jesus is himself the climactic offspring of Abraham who both takes possession of his enemy's gates and blesses the nations. Those things have partial fulfillment in the Old Testament. This is the final fulfillment though because Jesus takes his enemy's gates, blesses the nations as he judges the unrepentant and redeems Jews and Gentiles alike. And so on the grand stage of redemptive history, God's willingness to swear by himself, to stake his word on his very character, assures us that Christ's cross and his empty tomb and all of the promises are sufficient for the salvation of sinners like us. If only we have faith in him. God has said so in his word, he swears that it is so. And so we have to take from Genesis chapter 22 encouragement. that God will indeed do what he has said he is going to do. So the first lesson here is to take hold of God who swears by himself and trust his word. What he says in the scripture is true and the promises will be fulfilled. God's oath to Abraham shows you that he will not leave you hanging because he's willing to stake his reputation his word on his reputation. So that's the first lesson. Trust the God who's willing to confirm his promises when the... The second thing this passage teaches us, though, is that it is good and right for our faith to be accompanied by good works. It's good and right for our faith to be accompanied by good work. Abraham received God and he received the covenant of grace through faith. God came first to Abraham, making promises and giving gifts. In return, Abraham expressed his faith. Again, as we see in Genesis 15 verse 6, this was counted to him as righteousness. However, while Abraham was justified by faith alone, that faith did not remain alone in Abraham. It grew. And as it grew, Abraham's piety and his godliness grew with his faith. And the ultimate expression of Abraham's piety and godliness is his obedient offer of Isaac in Genesis chapter 22. The epistle of James refers to this good works producing piety, which would even offer up Isaac, as the justification, as the vindication, and the completion of Abraham's faith. This justifies, vindicates Abraham to be the man of faith that he said he was. How tragic it would have been if Abraham's faith was, in Genesis 22, exposed as mere intellectual assent. Something like the demons have, who know there's a God and they're even willing to shudder. How awful it would have been if Abraham's faith was exposed as something less than saving faith in that hour of trial. But thanks be to God, as we've seen over the last two weeks, he was not exposed as a fraud. He was shown, through his works, to be a true believer in whom the Lord had done great things. And consequently, because the Lord had done great things in him, he did great things for the Lord. And the Lord, in his grace, freely condescended to reward him. He rewarded those good works. And so the lesson for us is that if we claim to possess the faith of Abraham, then it ought to be a faith accompanied by good works, because that's the sort of faith that Abraham had. Listen again to the words of James 2.18. But someone will say, you have faith and I have works. Show me your faith apart from your works and I will show you my faith by my works. That's what Abraham did. He showed his faith by his works. Having received salvation by grace through faith, he offered up his son, showing the faith that was in him. And so we ought to, like Abraham, if we have faith, we ought to be quick to repent of our sins. We ought to acquaint ourselves with God's commands in scripture and do them. And we ought to submit ourselves to God with total trust, willing to give up everything to follow him, just as Abraham did so many years ago. And we ought to be willing and ready to serve others, as Abraham did on many occasions, showing hospitality and also giving up his son for the sake of the covenant. To close, I want to put this final point in the language of our confession, because I think it so neatly summarizes what we're driving at here. Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 11, paragraph 2. Faith, thus receiving and resting on Christ and His righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification. Yet it is not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, but worketh by love. And therefore, as you trust the God who's willing to swear by himself, and as you rest upon the gospel promises, work out your faith by love. Loving God, loving others, doing good. Those are the lessons of our text. Let's pray.