WOMEN OF CHRISTMAS - SARAH - BOY TO BE BURNT OFFERING

SARAH – BOY TO BE BURNT OFFERING

A bit of history before the next section of scripture. Sarah became upset that Ishmael, Abraham’s son by her handmaiden Hagar, was present at the weaning celebration and was mocking Isaac. So she asked Abraham to send them away. God reassured Abraham that Ishmael, too, would become a great nation, and instructed him to do as Sarah asked. He sent Hagar and Ishmael away with some provisions, but the provisions wore out. God preserved them, showing Hagar a well of water. God kept his promise to make Ishmael the father of kings and nations as well. But His covenant relationship was with Isaac.

Time passed, and Isaac grew into his teenage years. God tested Abraham by commanding him to journey to Mount Moriah and offer Isaac, the son of promise, as a burnt offering. An animal offered as a burnt offering was first slaughtered and then burned until consumed. It must have been a painful journey walking up that hill. Abraham confidently told his servants to wait while he and the boy went to worship and that THEY would return. It was perplexing for the teenaged Isaac as he carried wood and his dad carried a pot of hot coals to start the fire. He asked his father, “Where is the lamb for the offering?” Abraham’s mind was already in the state of thankful worship, and he assured Isaac that God would provide the lamb.

Genesis 22: 9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

Abraham had to gather large stones and build the altar. All the while, he must have been praying, wondering how the Lord could command him to kill the son of promise, the child of the covenant. It probably made his brain go tilt. Isaac could have overpowered his father, but he was willingly, submissively obedient to his father and to God. Isaac had observed his father’s complete trust in God all his life and had been told the miraculous nature of his birth. Abraham may have had questions but was confident God was in control of the situation.

Genesis 22:10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

Abraham was fully prepared by faith to obey his God and sacrifice the son of promise.

Hebrews 11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,18 Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: 19 Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.

The only other time we see the phrase “only begotten son” is to describe Jesus as the Son of God. The near sacrifice of Isaac is what is called a “type,” a foreshadowing of another event. Abraham’s willingness to offer his only official heir to the Lord foreshadows God’s sending His Son Jesus as our perfect sacrificial Lamb. Abraham had reasoned that even if he slayed his son, God could and would raise him from the dead. I do not recall any account prior to the time of Abraham of God raising someone from the dead, so Abraham was believing that completely by faith rather than past experience.

Genesis 22:11 And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.

Abraham stopped his hand in mid-air and breathlessly awaited the command given by the angel of the Lord. Isaac may have been closing his eyes and holding his breath at this point, waiting for the pain of the knife before death. Then he, also, hears the angel of the Lord. “Angel of the Lord” many times refers to the pre-incarnate Jesus. So Jesus, God Himself, stopped Abraham from actually sacrificing Isaac.

Genesis 22:12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

You can breathe again, Isaac! The Angel of the Lord praised the faithfulness of Abraham in not withholding even the treasured, miraculous son of his old age from God. By faith Abraham knew that God would somehow fulfill His promise of making Isaac into a great nation, and did not hesitate to obey the command to offer him as a burnt offering. God staid his hand at just the right moment. We have to be sensitive to listen to the voice of God. Had Abraham not listened... Perhaps God would have raised Isaac from the dead. There is a tuning that takes place in those who trust and believe in the Father and are listening for direction, insight, and understanding.

Genesis 22:13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. 14 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.

Another foreshadowing seen in this account: God Himself provided the substitute to be sacrificed to Him instead of Isaac. He provided a ram rather than a lamb because the Lamb was yet to come in the fullness of time. We are under the death penalty for our sins, but God has provided the perfect, spotless, sinless Lamb of God, His only begotten son, Jesus, to die in our place as the final sacrifice to provide the only way to right relationship with God for those who believe.

Genesis 22:15 And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: 17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; 18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

The Lord swore an oath upon His own name. There is no greater power to swear by! God reiterated His promise that Isaac’s descendants would be as innumerable stars and endless grains of sand, they would be blessed, and they would overtake their enemies. As stated before, all nations are blessed through the seed, the descendant of Abraham and Sarah, Jesus Christ. Salvation – freedom from sin and freedom to live in right relationship with a holy God – is available not only to the chosen people, Israel, but to any person in the world who by faith trusts in Jesus as the only way to the Father (John 14:6)

But back to our main reason for studying Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac. Sarah’s faith and contribution to the birth of the nation of Israel is of equal importance with that of Abraham. She was the mother of Isaac through whom the Messiah would come. She was another one of the Women of Christmas.

Hebrews 11:11 (KJV) Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.

Therefore, Sarah received a place of recognition in the Faith Hall of Fame found in Hebrews chapter 11.

Ponder this: Christianity is often accused of treating women like second-class citizens. However, as we have seen with Sarah, the Lord went overboard to remind us of her important role in the birth of the nation of Israel. Women are of equal importance in the Lord’s plans.