The Gospel According to Genesis
Introduction
We often think of the Gospel as found only in the New Testament. After all, we often call it the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But listen to what the Apostle Peter has to say about the Gospel.
1 Peter 1:17-20 (NLT)
And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time as “foreigners in the land.” For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but he has now revealed him to you in these last days.
The first thing that Peter does in this passage of Scripture is to define for us what the Gospel is. We were lost in an empty, dead end way of life. But God paid the price to give us a better, enteral life. And that price was the sinless, spotless Lamb of God—Jesus Christ.
Next Peter tells us that the Gospel began before the creation of the world. Therefore, we should not be surprised to find the Gospel in the book of Genesis.
Jesus Christ is the central figure of world history. Not only do we see Jesus in the pages of the New Testament, but we can also see Jesus all over the pages of the Old Testament as well. This is especially true of Genesis chapter 22. Genesis chapter 22 is a prophecy of Christ and the Gospel that He would establish.
In Abraham, the father of the nation of Israel, we see God the Father. In Isaac, the son of Abraham, we see Jesus Christ, the Son of God. But we are not left out of this living illustration, this prophecy, that looks forward to the New Testament Gospel. In both, Abraham and Isaac we see ourselves. We see our calling. We see our failures. And we see the hope that is ours because of our faith in God.
I. Our Faith Journey.
First, let’s look at our story in the story of Abraham. The New Testament tells us many times to look back at Abraham as our example of faith. In the passage from 1st Peter that we just read, Peter is referring to Abraham when he says:
1 Peter 1:17 (NLT)
So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time as “foreigners in the land.”
“Foreigners in the land” is in quotation marks for a reason. Because it is a reference back to Abraham. No Jewish person, in Peter’s day, would have missed this fact. If you want to learn how to live a life of faith, then look back to Abraham. After all the book of Genesis says:
Genesis 15:6 (NLT)
And Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD counted him as righteous because of his faith.
Because of his faith God promised Abraham many things. He promised him an inheritance to pass down to his children. He promised a land of his very own. Still today we all refer to that land as the “Promised Land.” God promised that Abraham would be a blessing to the world. And God promised Abraham a future.
Those same promises are given to us. God promises us an inheritance.
Ephesians 1:11 (NLT)
Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God…
God promised us a land.
2 Peter 3:13 (NLT)
But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.
God promised that we would be a blessing to the world.
Acts 1:8 (NLT)
And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
And God promised us a future because of our faith in Christ.
Ephesians 4:4 (NLT)
For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future.
So you see. All the promises given to Abraham are given to us as well. Abraham represents us.
He also represents our weaknesses. Twice Abraham doubted God’s ability to protect him.
Genesis 12:12-13 (NLT)
When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife. Let’s kill him; then we can have her!’ So please tell them you are my sister. Then they will spare my life and treat me well because of their interest in you.”
He thought that people would kill him because his wife was so attractive. So he lied. Twice he told people that she was his sister and that caused a lot of trouble. But his biggest failure was in not believing that God would provide an heir—a son for him. Years and years went by and no son. So he left God’s plan for his life and took matters into his own hands.
Genesis 16:1-2 (NLT)
Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not been able to bear children for him. But she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, “The LORD has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.” And Abram agreed with Sarai’s proposal.
Abraham had a son through Hagar, Sarah’s servant. This was not in God’s plan. Abraham sinned and went outside of God’s will. And the world has paid the price. God gave a prophecy in Genesis that this child would be constantly at war with Abraham’s true son. And through the Muslims today we are still seeing the impact of Abraham’s sin and doubt.
Now what do these sins of Abraham tell us. They tell us that God continues to forgive and use us even after we have sinned. God went on to give Abraham a son, a true son through Sarah. And God will forgive and use us even after we mess up. That is why we are told all the flaws of the Biblical heroes. God wanted to show us that we can mess up and still be loved and used by God for great things.
II. Abraham Represent God.
So Abraham represents us. But in chapter 22 of Genesis he also represents God.
Genesis 22:1-12 (NLT)
Some time later, God tested Abraham’s faith. “Abraham!” God called.
“Yes,” he replied. “Here I am.”
“Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”
The next morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son, Isaac. Then he chopped wood for a fire for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day of their journey, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. “Stay here with the donkey,” Abraham told the servants. “The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back.”
So Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac’s shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them walked on together, Isaac turned to Abraham and said, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
“We have the fire and the wood,” the boy said, “but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?”
“God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham answered. And they both walked on together.
When they arrived at the place where God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice. At that moment the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Yes,” Abraham replied. “Here I am!”
“Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.”
Abraham was tested. To save the nation, to save the promises of God, he had to offer his only son as a sacrifice, just as God was tested and offered His Only Begotten Son to save us.
John 3:16-17 (NLT)
For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
So Abraham also shows us the turmoil and pain that God had to go through to save us. Imagine waiting a 100 years to receive a promised son and then being told to go out and kill him. Could you do it? I am not sure that I could pass that test. I would like to think that I would obey God no matter what. But that would be a tough, tough thing to do. Yet, God did that for us. He allowed His son to be tortured to death so that we might be saved.
III. Jesus – the willing Sacrifice.
So we see us in this story. And we see God the Father in this story. But what about Jesus? Isaac represents Jesus in this story. He is the son. And like the Son of God he willingly gave up his life because the father asked him to. Now understand—Abraham by this point is more than 100 years old. He is an old man. Isaac is in his mid-teens. He is a young and strong man.
Genesis 22:9 (NLT)
When they arrived at the place where God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood.
Abraham, a 100+ year old man, tied up a teenager? Do you think that Abraham could have done that if Isaac had fought back? I don’t think so. But Isaac trusted his father so much that he willingly allowed his father to tie him and place him on the wood.
Jesus did the same. Jesus allowed the soldiers to bind him and take him to the cross. When they came to arrest him Jesus knocked all those soldiers from their feet with two words, “I am.” Jesus could have commanded armies of angels to fight for Him. But He didn’t. He allowed them to take him to His trial. He allowed them to whip him with that cat-of-nine-tales. He allowed them to force him to carry His own cross. Which, by the way, Isaac did as well.
Genesis 22:6 (NLT)
So Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac’s shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife.
Isaac carried the wood for his death on his own shoulders. Jesus carried the wood, the cross, on His own shoulders to Calvary.
IV. Back to Us.
So we see God and we see Jesus in this story. But ultimately this story is about us. Now I want you to put yourself in Isaac’s place. You are bound and on the altar. Your father has his knife raised over you. His arm is tensed ready to plunge down into your chest. And then you hear the voice of the Lord.
Genesis 22:12-13 (NLT)
“Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.”
Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son.
God, our Father, took a Lamb—a perfect Lamb—Jesus Christ, and offered Him in our place. We deserved to be on the altar. But God offered His Son in our place. That is the Gospel. The Gospel plan of salvation created before the world even began. A plan revealed to us in the very first book of the Bible. And we will see, as we continue this study, that God hints at the Gospel over and over again in the pages of the Old Testament.
The whole Bible is preparing us for the Gospel. The whole Bible is preparing us to accept God’s sacrifice for us. But to have the Lamb of God take your place you first have to put your life on the altar. As Jesus said:
Matthew 16:24-25 (NLT)
If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.
We must be willing to be bound and buried to be saved. That is what baptism represents. It represents that we are willing to put our lives in God’s hands. We are willing to lose our lives to God. And because we are willing to lose our lives to God, God saves us. He provides the Lamb to take our place. Have you given your life to God?
