Lamb on The Mountain
Genesis 22:1-14
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Genesis 22:8 – And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering.”
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ our Lord… In the Garden of Eden, in the shade of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, God cursed Satan who had taken the form of a serpent, and said, “I put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel” (Gen 3:15). Satan had reason to tremble, for from that day on his days of walking to and fro on the earth were numbered. But Adam and Eve had reason to hope; and Eve thought her firstborn son, Cain, would be the fulfillment of God’s promise.
But Cain was not the promised One; far from it. In fact, he went on to become the world’s first murderer, killing his brother Abel out of jealousy and unbelief. And after that, many generations would come and go.
Many years later, on a starlit night, Abraham heard the good news from God: “I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly… As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations” (Gen 17:2, 4). Abraham was told that he carried the seed of the promise in him. It would be through Abraham that all nations of the earth would be blessed.
The years rolled on, and Sarah, Abraham’s wife, had borne him no children. So, in weakness and uncertainty, they took things into their own hands and arranged for Abraham to have a child through Hagar, Sarah’s maidservant. And a child was born to Hagar, and Abraham was reassured, for the possibility of the Seed from his own body was now a reality. He had indeed fathered a son. This is what God must have been talking about! But this son was not the Son of the promise.
Now Abraham was 100 years old. The promise of God still hung in the balance. Time was running out. All earthly possibilities of having children were gone. And Yahweh spoke to Abraham again: “As for Sarai your wife… I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her” (Gen 17:15-16). Once more a child was promised through whom the Seed would be passed on. But this was ridiculous! Abraham was 100 years old, and Sarah was 90. Surely their time of childbearing was long passed! But nothing is ever too hard for Yahweh.
Sarah conceived, and they named the child Isaac, which means “laughter.” Sarah’s heart was full of joy, and Abraham’s heart brimmed with gratitude. At least if Isaac was not the promised one, then surely through him the Seed would pass to another generation. God was again keeping His promise.
Then came the test. God came to Abraham with a terrifying, non-sensical request: “Take now 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.” Had God gone mad? Was Abraham really supposed to sacrifice his son, his ONLY son, the very son through whom God’s promise was to be continued? This made no sense, and it amounted to a choice: God was saying, “Me or Isaac; who will you trust?”
But Abraham made that decision long before this; he would serve God. The next morning, he slipped quietly out of bed without waking Sarah. He beckoned Isaac silently, and they both tip-toed out of the tent. Abraham saddled the donkey and got the wood, and they both headed for Moriah.
There is, of course, no record of the possible conversation that father and son had on their three-day journey, but we certainly can imagine that Isaac wondered at his father’s silence… for three days! And Abraham had his own soul-searching to do. He might have wondered, “Where have I offended God? He demands of me a burnt offering for sin. What have I not done to please Him? He has given me this son, this miracle; and now He expects me to kill him?” We can imagine how agonizingly long those three days were. But Abraham did not turn back. Not once did this man of faith and obedience hesitate along the way.
They arrived at the mountain. Abraham asked Isaac to carry the wood – the wood for his own sacrifice. Isaac spoke: “My father, look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” He had not yet been told that it was his own life that would be required that day. Abraham answered softly, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering.”
Gently but firmly, Abraham bound his son as an animal about to be sacrificed. Isaac offered no resistance; he said nothing. Abraham knew, as he raised his knife to take Isaac’s life, that God would somehow see the promise come to fulfillment. The writer to the Hebrews says this: “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18 of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,” 19 concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead” (Heb 11:17-19).
And remember what Abraham said to the young men traveling with them? “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.” Abraham knew that even if he would kill his only son, God would give him back to him, for he believed in God who had to keep His promises. Even though it made no sense, Abraham trusted in God’s Word. It was God’s problem to figure out.
What if…? What if Abraham had not been so obedient? What if he had denied his Lord and told Isaac that it was his idea instead of God’s? That way at least Isaac would not have thought of God as a monster, and maybe he would not lose his faith over it. Better that his father was mean than God. But would Abraham forgive himself?
What if Abraham, seeing the ram caught in the thicket, had made a substitution of his own? Well, then he would have disobeyed. What if Abraham thought it was a sin to offer his own beloved son? Then he would live out his days in doubt, for he would have failed. Or what if Isaac saw his father’s hand tremble and hesitate for the slightest second? It would have been enough, in that fate-filled moment, for Isaac to lose his faith.
But there are no “what-ifs” even remotely suggested in the Scriptures. Aware of all the impending loneliness without his son, aware of all the potential problems, aware of the fact that he would have a very difficult time explaining this to his dear bride, “Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.”
“But the angel of Yahweh called to him from heaven and said, ‘Abraham, Abraham…Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.’”
Imagine the relief! Isaac would not die! The testing time was over. In spite of how impossible the situation appeared, Abraham had believed God; he believed Him in spite of the fact that he himself could not figure out what God was doing. “Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.” God had indeed provided a substitutionary animal which Abraham untangled from the bush, then bound it on the altar, and offered it to God.
“And Abraham called the name of the place, Yahweh Will Provide, as it is to this day.” Indeed God had provided, in a moment of dire need, exactly what was needed.
God had placed a lamb in the history of His people. And as often as this story is told, the presence of the lamb is never missed: the lamb – given by God who Provides – given as a substitute sacrifice.
We now move on from Abraham’s lamb caught in the thicket to the other Lamb provided by the same God – the Lamb offered up not on Mount Moriah but on Calvary’s holy mountain. The one is the shadow of the other. The one points forward to the other. One is the “coming attraction,” the other is the “feature presentation.”
In a very real way we are Isaacs, for we are on the altar of sacrifice by reason of our sins. We deserve to be bound up and cast into eternal destruction forever. We should have been sacrificed on the altar, on the cross. We too, because of our sinful disobedience, should have been there instead of the Lamb of God.
But, as it was in Genesis 22, a substitute was offered up in our place as well. And Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, has been sacrificed for us. By God-given faith in this Lamb, we who believe in Jesus have all of our sins laid on Him.
God has provided the Lamb – Jesus – to take away your sins, to take them into Himself, up to Mount Calvary, to the tree of the cross. This Lamb has suffered and died in your place. And in exchange for His suffering, you receive forgiveness and eternal life.
This Lamb stands before you this day, on this altar, in the bread and the wine which is His real, true, and physical body and blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. He comes to you here, no longer as a sacrifice, but as your living Lord and Savior, a pure Gospel gift, given and shed for you, to forgive you, to strengthen you, and to give you of Himself.
This Lamb, Jesus, is the ultimate Seed of the woman from Genesis 3, and the very fulfillment of God’s promise to Eve and to Abraham. God keeps His promises – always. Even when your life situation looks, feels, and seems hopeless – as hopeless as Abraham felt what he could not see how God was going to given him a son, and especially when God asked his very son from him – even when things look that bad, your God is faithful, and He will always keep His promises to you.
He will never leave you. He will never forsake you. “Cast all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (I Pet 5:7). “I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Mt 28:20).
God has provided His Lamb for you. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
