Genesis 22:1-14
Lent 5 (Historic)
April 1, 2001
On His Holy Mountain, the LORD Provides
What is it with mountains anyway? Last week when our guest Pastor Schmugge was here, he went to see Stone Mt. on Saturday, and then Kennesaw Mt. on Sunday. He had asked me what he should see as a visitor, and since he was a Civil War buff I suggested Lookout Mt. as well. What is it that attracts people to mountains?
The prophets Isaiah and Micah both foretold: IN THE LAST DAYS THE MOUNTAIN OF THE LORD’S TEMPLE WILL BE ESTABLISHED AS CHIEF AMONG THE MOUNTAINS; IT WILL BE RAISED ABOVE THE HILLS, AND ALL NATIONS WILL STREAM TO IT. (Is. 2:2) I heard a Christian archaeologist speak once about the Temple, and he was confused by that passage, since the hill on which the Temple sat in Jerusalem is actually lower than the hills around it, including the Mount of Olives. He shared his belief that when Jesus returns, God will simply go underneath it with his almighty hand and lift it up higher than Mt. Everest.
But THE MOUNTAIN OF THE LORD has been established as chief already, through Jesus Christ. In faith we can go to it. In fact, we must go to it, for there is WHERE THE LORD PROVIDES, ON HIS HOLY MOUNTAIN.
The familiar incident of Abraham’s test of faith teaches us that, and how blessed is everyone who truly believes it. ON HIS HOLY MOUNTAIN, THE LORD PROVIDES. And what is it he provides? He provides what we need to travel through this life and enter heaven. For he PROVIDES:
1. A Deeper Trust
2. A Sinless Substitute
Let us journey there this morning!
1. A Deeper Trust
I marvel at this text; it is loaded with so much to think about. But one of the things that really strikes the reader is the depth of Abraham’s faith. St. Paul, you remember, wrote to the Ephesians that the goal of all teaching and preaching in the church is to bring God’s people to MATURITY in their faith, SO WE WILL NO LONGER BE INFANTS (Eph. 4:13-14). But even in the Bible, rarely do we find believers with a deep, rich, mature faith.
But here is one of them. In fact, he is called “the father of faith.” And I think that epithet is deserved. After all, just stop and think about this test God put him to, a test of his faith in which Abraham was asked to set aside all reason and control all emotion. God asked him to make a journey of faith.
Logic must have screamed at him, “This can’t be right!” Luther made such an insightful observation on this text when he said that to Abraham it must have seemed as if there were only two choices: either God had been lying or this was from the devil. Because what God asked Abraham to do just didn’t make sense. Sacrifice his son, his only son? More than that, God had very specifically said that through Isaac – not some other son – through Isaac the promise of the Savior would go forward. How could this be? Didn’t Abraham stand to lose not only a son, but also his promised salvation? Hadn’t God changed his name from Abram to Abraham, which means “the father of many”? How could the many descendants of Isaac inherit the Promised Land (as God had said) if Isaac now died before he married?
And if this request of God pummeled his brain, what must have it done to Abraham’s emotions? Isaac was his son, his own flesh and blood. Abraham had waited 25 years for that son to be born, and then he was miraculously born to a woman past menopause. God himself had appeared with two angels at Abraham’s tent to announce the impending birth. There was so much joy in his heart that he named him Isaac, “laughter.” Isaac was his only son. Some of you have only one child. But does it really matter if I have four? Who of us could give one of them up?
Yet Abraham did, and he did it in faith, mature faith. HE GOT UP EARLY THE NEXT MORNING; there was no hesitation. Though the journey was THREE DAYS – plenty of time to think – he never turned back. There is no questioning or talking back or complaint, just obedience. He didn’t know why God had asked him to do this nor did he know how God was going to work all this out without breaking his promises. But in confident faith he told his servants “ WAIT HERE… WE WILL WORSHIP, AND WE WILL COME BACK.” And, most beautiful of all, when twenty-something Isaac asked a question that must have knifed into his old father’s heart – “WHERE IS THE LAMB FOR THE SACRIFICE?” – the father of faith replied in a way that showed both his love for his son and his trust in God: “GOD HIMSELF WILL PROVIDE THE LAMB, MY SON.”
I look at my spiritual father, and I am ashamed. Maybe you are too. I hear the words of Jesus, “WHOEVER LOVES FATHER OR MOTHER, WHOEVER LOVES SON OR DAUGHTER MORE THAN ME IS NOT WORTHY OF ME” (Mt. 10:37), and I stumble. We’re so trained to do everything for our kids. We provide for them. We direct and guide them. We save for them. We protect them. We enjoy them. We sign them up for this sports team and that activity. We help them get their first job. And isn’t that what parents are supposed to do?
Yes, but Abraham’s test tests us too. We have all said on occasion, “God is important to me.” But here we are confronted with the truth that God doesn’t want to be just “important”; he wants to be most important – more important than job, more important than school, more important than boyfriend or girlfriend, more important than spouse, more important than even the little bundles of joy we bring home from the hospital. We are each tested to see if we can even keep the First Commandment.
How could Abraham do it? Where did he get this DEEP TRUST in God? Only in one way; by walking closely with the Lord and clinging in faith to his promises. God had trained Abraham to trust his Word, and so deep was that trust that in the book of Hebrews the Holy Spirit tells us that Abraham was going to slay his son, fully believing that God was simply going to raise his son back to life (Heb. 11:17-19). But in the end there was no need to kill Isaac; in God’s eyes the sacrifice had been made. As dear as Isaac was, in Abraham’s heart the LORD was his TREASURE, AND EXCEEDING GREAT REWARD (Gen. 15:1).
God may well, in his infinite wisdom, come and test some of you, brothers and sisters. In fact, some of you are undergoing tests of faith even as we speak. Will you stand? Will you walk with humble yet strong faith in your God as did Abraham? Or will you toss in the towel, angry at God and complaining, “This is too hard!”
I pray it is the first choice, for that is the path of blessing. But to walk it, you must follow in Abraham’s steps. Know your God, and get to know him through his Word. Jesus doesn’t call us to merely have an intellectual relationship with him, but a personal one. So walk with him closely – daily, not occasionally. Come to his HOLY MOUNTAIN, that is, come to his Church to be strengthened with Word and Sacrament. And as you do, IT WILL BE PROVIDED – A DEEPER TRUST that can stand when the day of testing comes, the ARMOR OF FAITH that stands under the all out attacks of Satan (Eph. 6).
2. A Sinless Substitute
But let’s be clear about another thing. God doesn’t invite us to HIS HOLY MOUTAIN only to give us stronger faith; he also provides us with something to put our faith in.
What I mean is this: everybody these days is talking about ‘faith.’ Except these days it’s usually called ‘spirituality.’ But what is that? Are we supposed to have faith in our inner spirit? Other people put faith in knowledge. Still others put faith not in a specific God (the triune God, the only true God), but put faith in the idea that there is a god. And there are those who even put faith in faith; “I really believe!”
But, friends, it is what you put your faith in that matters. And God calls us up HIS HOLY MOUNTAIN to show us what to put our faith in; we put our faith in the SINLESS SUBSTITUTE THAT GOD HAS PROVIDED.
Can it be any clearer? Isaac does not die, but the Lord PROVIDES A SUBSTITUTE. A ram, CAUGHT IN THE THICKET. It would die in Isaac’s place as an offering to the Lord. Can it be any clearer? Abraham’s descendants, the Levites, would offer sacrifices centuries later in the Temple built on this very mountain, sacrifices which foreshadowed the death of the Savior. Can it be any clearer? God led Abraham to Mt. Moriah, the very mountain on which Jerusalem would built, the very mountain on which Jesus Christ would pour out his life-blood for the sins of the world.
Next week we enter again, dear friends, that most Holy Week in our Christian year of worship. We will journey to that mountain in Jerusalem and see our Savior crucified. He died in our place, a SINLESS SUBSTITUTE. Abraham was spared the trauma of slaying his own son. But God wasn’t. Nor did he wish to be. He chose to offer up his one and only Son as a sin-offering, a Son he loves perfectly, so much more than we are able to love our children. He did that so that we would not die as our sins deserve but live, live forever in sinless glory. I can understand father Abraham’s love for Isaac; I have children of my own. But I can’t comprehend the depth of my heavenly Father’s love, who offered his Son as my SINLESS SUBSTITUTE.
But God doesn’t ask us to understand it. He asks us to believe it. And he promises that those who do believe it have the forgiveness of sins and have eternal life.
Jesus once said, ABRAHAM REJOICED TO SEE MY DAY. HE SAW IT, AND WAS GLAD (Jn.8:56). He saw it from THE LORD’S HOLY MOUNTAIN. He was glad because God PROVIDED EVERYTHING – A DEEPER TRUST AND A SUBSTITUTE to die in his son’s place. The Promise would go forward, and the plan of salvation succeed.
God still PROVIDES everything for us ON HIS HOLY HILL, where the cross stands empty as a BANNER FOR THE NATIONS ON THE CHIEF OF THE MOUNTAINS. Visit it again and again, and rejoice every time you do. Amen.
