He Has Provided Salvation on the Mountain :: Genesis 22:1-14

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And Abraham called the name of that place, YHWH will provide (v 14). 

[Introduction]

Scripture was written to tell us about Jesus. As that sign on the wall in the back of the sanctuary says, It’s still all about Jesus! Every word of it. It’s all about how YHWH shows us our salvation. When Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible ... Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, he was writing about Jesus as the promised redeemer who fulfills the Law, who acts as the ultimate sacrifice and completes the story of salvation. It’s all there: His birth, his life, his death, his resurrection. Consider that Genesis 3 promises that the son who crushes sin, death, and the devil will come from the woman (v 15) and that God will cover our sin and shame (v 21). Genesis 37-50 describes his death and resurrection. It tells us that our redeemer will come from Judah, and that there is unconditional forgiveness. Exodus then highlights that God is always with us and that he sets us free by means of the Passover Lamb. Leviticus, which sets up the sacrificial system, points to Jesus as the great high priest and the perfect sacrifice. Numbers reminds us not to rely on ourselves but to lift our eyes to the cross in faith. Deuteronomy teaches us to look for the Prophet like Moses ... that is, Jesus. 

As Jesus told the Jews who rejected his Word ... The One who sent me, the Father himself, has borne witness concerning me (Jn 5:37).

4.

Today’s Old Testament passage from Genesis 22 could not make that more obvious. God reveals with great detail the who, what, where, and how he was going to provide for you and me and Abraham and Isaac and Israel and the world. Our Heavenly Father, the one who gives us the same faith as Abraham, loved you in the most unthinkable way: He took his son, his only son, his beloved son, to the mountain of his choosing, one you can still see today, and provides all you need to save you ... to preserve you ... to grant forgiveness, and therefore, life and salvation. 

Abraham believed that our Heavenly Father, through his everlasting covenant, always provides all we need for our life with him. He believed that the Son of Promise, his son foretold in Genesis 12 and 15 and 17 and 18 ... would bless the world with the righteousness of faith. He believed that ... even though this son of promise would be slaughtered on a tree ... yet shall he live in the resurrection (v 5). He believed that the sacrifice of this only son, the one he loved, would become a pleasing aroma ... a whole burnt offering ... to our heavenly Father (v 12). And he knew it would all take place in three days on a mountain, just east of what would become Jerusalem ... the place of God’s choosing (v 4). 

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, when Abraham saw the ram crowned with a thicket of thorns, he knew that God would provide his only son, who stretched out his hands in our place. As the evangelist in Hebrews preaches, He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back (Hb 11:19). 

And the Angel who is YHWH declared, Now I know that you have the fear of God.

3.

Listen again to our Old Testament reading. 

And it came to pass after these things that God [intensely] tested Abraham, and said to him: ‘Abraham!’ So [Abraham] said: ‘Behold me!’ And [God said], ‘Please take your son, your only one, your beloved one, Isaac, and go forth to the land of Moriah, and offer him up there [as a whole burnt offering] upon one of the mountains which I will tell you (about).’ So Abraham rose in the dawn and saddled his donkey and took two of his lads with him, and his son, Isaac. And he cut the tree of [whole burnt offering], and arose and went to the place that God told him [about]. 

On the Third Day, Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place from a distance. Then Abraham said to the lads: ‘Dwell here [with] the donkey. I and the youth will go until thus, and we will be brought to worship and we will return to y’all.’ And Abraham took the tree of [whole burnt offering] and set it upon Isaac, his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife, and they went, both of them together. 

Then Isaac said to Abraham, his father, ‘My Father!’ And [Abraham] said, ‘Behold me, my son.’ And [Isaac] said, ‘Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for [the whole burnt offering].’ And Abraham said, ‘God will see to the lamb for [whole burnt offering] himself, my son.’ And they went, the two of them together.

When he came to the place that God had said to him, Abraham built an altar there, and he arranged the wood and bound Isaac, his son, and set him upon the altar. Then Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But [the Angel who is YHWH] called to him from heaven, and said, ‘Abraham! Abraham!’ And [Abraham] said, ‘Behold me.’ And [the Angel who is YHWH] said, ‘Do not stretch out your hand to the lad, and do not do to him anything because now I know that you have the fear of God and have not withheld your son, your only one from me.’

And Abraham lifted his eyes and he saw. Behold, a ram was seized behind him in a thicket with his horns, and Abraham went and took the ram, and he lifted up a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place, ‘YHWH will provide,’ which is said to this day, ‘On the mountain, YHWH will be provided.’

2.

How can we understand such love and faith? Abraham was old ... 75 years old ... when he first heard the Word of Promise that all the nations would be blessed through his son. He would wait another 25 years for the fulfillment of God’s promise. His wife, Sarah, was 90 years old when Isaac was born. When our reading begins, Isaac certainly isn’t a baby, or even just a boy, seeing how he’s the one who carried the tree up the mountain! He’s probably 15 years old, given the word that describes him. And now he faces the most intense test: He is asked to slaughter him, to cut the body in pieces, and then to burn the body. That’s what a whole burnt offering requires.

Before he could do that, our father, Abraham, placed a heavy load ... (in the shape of a cross???) ... upon his son’s shoulders. And his son carried that up the mountain. Together they went ... both without complaint ... silently to the slaughter. There is only one innocent question asked by all the parties involved. Where is the Lamb? 

Because faith takes hold of the promises of God and guards them, Abraham and Isaac both trusted that God would indeed provide the Lamb, that God loved them in this way. They both trusted that though they were going to the place of sacrifice, they would actually return together. They both believed God provides forgiveness and the resurrection of the dead. 

And as Jesus told the Jews opposing him, Our father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad (Jn 8:56).

1.

What Abraham and Isaac did is most unthinkable for mothers and fathers. But don’t fret if you don’t think you have enough faith to do what Abraham did ... You actually do. 

That’s why you’re here today. You’ve been brought to worship here, just like Abraham. You know that because your sins are forgiven, you can therefore share the same. You know that because he has baptized you, you can therefore continue to confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe and believe he will therefore do the same for you. As Paul writes, if you are faithless, he remains faithful (2 Tim 2:13). You know that when our Heavenly Father laid all of the sin of the entire world upon his only son ... Jesus has borne our distrust of God’s promise, our doubt that God will fulfill his covenant, our temptation to place our love of family above the fear of God ... that Jesus bled and died on the tree for you. And he has risen! He who did not spare his son but gave him up for us all, how will he not graciously give us all things (Rm 8:32). 

THE LORD SAW TO IT THAT HE PROVIDED THE MEANS OF YOUR SALVATION  ON THE MOUNTAIN OF HIS CHOOSING

[Conclusion]

So now, he enables all of us to live and love in return ... through his means of grace ... through Baptism, Absolution, and the Lord’s Supper. Do that and receive him. He has brought us to his place of worship (v 5) so that ... just like he did with Abraham and Isaac ... he can continue serving us, giving to us. Receive that because you have faith in him. And then love one another, forgive one another, have fellowship with one another because that’s what God calls us to do. Then together, we can all ... go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and ... praise him ... in Jesus’ name. 

Hallelujah! Amen!

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