THE LORD PROVIDES THE SUBSTITUTE WE NEED.
In the name + of Jesus.
In his epistle, St. James wrote, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted
by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one”
(James 1:13). God does not promote evil. God does not entice us into evil. Although God may use the evil actions of people
for his own purposes, God does not sponsor them; for evil is abhorrent to
God. And yet, our Old Testament reading
seems to illustrate the exact opposite.
The Lord God commanded Abraham, “Take
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” (Genesis 22:2).
The Lord detests human sacrifice, and he has no desire to be worshiped
in that way. Still, that is exactly what
he commanded Abraham to do. It seems God
is leading Abraham into temptation. What
gives?
It is important
for us to understand this distinction: God does not tempt us to sin, but he
does put our faith to the test. He
presents you with opportunities to demonstrate loving obedience to him. Sometimes it is easy, like holding the
elevator for a stranger; sometimes it is hard, like forgiving your brother-in-law
for cheating on your sister. The Lord does
not want us to choose what is evil. He
wants us to pursue what is good, even if it is painful, costly, or
difficult.
God puts us to
the test to see if we will trust that is word is true and good. Every day offers us opportunities to do
that. Every day, you can be kind to
people who try your patience, or you can respond with yelling and cursing. Every day, you can help someone in need, or
you can ignore them and choose to believe that they deserve their
problems. Every day, you can believe
that people are there for you to love or to use. The Lord presents countless ways to put your
faith into practice. The devil presents them
as ways to satisfy your lusts your ambition, or your pride. The devil makes the evil thing look attractive. That’s the temptation. Or will you turn from evil and do what is
good, even if it is hard? That’s the
test.
The Lord appeared
to Abraham with the command, “Take your
son, your only son Isaac, whom you love…, and offer him … as a burnt offering” (Genesis
22:2). Isaac held a special place in the heart of
Abraham. He was the only begotten son of
his wife, Sarah. He was born in Abraham’s
old age according to God’s promise. He
had waited a long time for this boy to be born.
Most important of all, Isaac was the son through whom the promise of a
Savior would be fulfilled.
Why would God test him like this? It’s not like God told Abraham, “Your son will
die from some illness or accident;” God told Abraham, “You kill him!” Would Abraham trust God’s word to be true and
good? Or would Abraham love his son
more? The devil would tempt Abraham to
believe that the Lord was not good after all, not when he commanded something
this hard. The tests that God puts us
through are nothing compared to this.
Abraham’s response is almost as unbelievable
as the test. “Abraham
rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men
with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut
the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God
had told him” (Genesis 22:3). Abraham wasted no time. He did not wring his hands, wondering what he
should do. I suspect that he did not
tell Sarah about this lest she prevent Abraham from following God’s
instructions. God had told Abraham what
to do, and Abraham immediately set out to do it.
The writer to
the Hebrews gives us a glimpse of Abraham’s faith: “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had
received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it
was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” He considered that God was able even to raise
him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back” (Hebrews
11:17-19). While God’s instructions probably made no
sense to Abraham, God’s promise did.
Abraham believed that God was still good and merciful. Abraham believed that God would be faithful
to his promise. Abraham confessed as much
to his servants: “Stay here with the donkey. The
boy and I will go on over there. We
will worship, and then we will come back to you” (Genesis 22:5, emphasis added). Abraham
was convinced that the Savior would still come through his son, Isaac, even if
it meant God would raise Isaac back from the dead to do it.
Of course, God
did not have to raise Isaac back from the dead.
Although Abraham was ready to slay him in obedience to God’s command,
the Lord stopped him. Instead, the Lord
provided the substitute which was needed.
The angel of the Lord “said, ‘Do not lay your hand on the boy or
do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not
withheld your son, your only son, from me.’
And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a
ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And
Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of
his son” (Genesis 22:12-13).
God had put Abraham’s
faith to the test. Abraham proved
willing to do what was painful and costly in obedience to the Lord. But since the sacrifice of Isaac could not pay
for a single sin—not Abraham’s, not Isaac’s, no one’s—the Lord provided the substitute
so that Abraham’s son would not be slain.
The promise remained intact. God
was faithful, and he upheld his righteousness when it seemed impossible for him
to do it.
The Lord tested Abraham to demonstrate his love and faith in God’s word. This foreshadows a far greater love. Consider the parallels. The one to be sacrificed was the called by the Lord, “your son, your only son …, whom you love” (Genesis 22:2). They went off to Mount Moriah which later is the site of the Lord’s temple. Isaac carried the wood upon which he would be offered. The father, Abraham, willingly offered up his son. And it should not be lost on us that Isaac was a willing sacrifice. At this time, Isaac was about 13 years old, making Abraham 113. Do you think Isaac could have wriggled out of his father’s grasp and avoided being slain? Absolutely! The only way Isaac could have been bound was if he willingly allowed himself to be bound.
But the Lord
provides a better substitute, a perfect substitute. The Lord provides the substitute we need—one whose
death would pay for the sins of the world.
God the Father sent into the world his son, his only Son, whom he
loves. While Jesus could have wriggled
his way out of the sufferings and death, which is what Satan tempted him to do
because suffering and dying for someone else’s sins—everyone else’s sins—would
be hard. Nevertheless, Jesus presented
himself as a willing sacrifice. He carried
the wood up the hill upon which he would be offered. He was consumed in God’s fiery wrath as a
whole burnt offering for our sins. He
suffered and died right next to Mount Moriah.
But at Jesus’ death, the Father did not step in to put an end to
anything. God the Father willingly
offered up his Son to die for our sins so that we would not have to bear God’s righteous
judgment and endless torment for our sins.
What Abraham and Isaac could not do God the Father and God the Son did. The Lord provides the substitute we need.
What’s more,
Jesus brings the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham: “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” (Genesis 22:17-18). The enemies of God’s people are sin, death,
and the devil. The gates provided the
entrance into and exit from the city.
Whoever possesses the gates has total control. The Son of Abraham now possesses the gates of
our enemies—sin, death, and the devil.
He has overcome them by his death and resurrection. Now he holds authority over them. Jesus paid for sin. The Bible promises, “There is … no condemnation for those who
are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). Jesus has conquered
death. He promises, “This is the will
of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should
have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:40). Jesus has snatched you from the devil’s grasp
and has overturned the curse he has brought onto the earth. The Bible reminds us, “The reason the Son
of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). Jesus possesses the gate of the enemies. Jesus has opened the gates to set you free
from them, and he has opened the gates of heaven to you.
You are now the
redeemed children of God. But temptations
will still come to you. The devil cannot
snatch you out of the kingdom, but he will entice you to leave it. What the devil intends for evil, God intends
for good. He puts your faith to the test—not
to watch you trip and fall, but to refine you and purify your faith even
more. The Lord teaches you to say, “No,”
to all wickedness. The Father does not
lead you into temptation; rather we call upon him in the hour of trial to give
us the strength to stand up under it. Even
if you suffer for his sake, he remains your good and merciful Father. Since he is faithful to his promises, he will
remain faithful to you. He will continue
to provide you with all you need.
And if you do trip and fall, then flee back to Jesus. His obedience stands as the substitution for your sins. His death is the substitution for your life. The Lord has provided the substitute you need. Jesus has overcome the devil for you. Jesus has conquered death for you. Jesus has taken away all sin from you. He lived for you. He suffered and died for you. He rose from the dead for you. Now he lives and reigns for you. There is no substitution for Jesus, for there is no salvation found outside of him.
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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