Christ in the OT - Christ,..

Welcome to Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church. Thank you for using and sharing our resources. What you're about to hear is God's Word from one of our teaching elders. We trust that God's Word will inspire, instruct, and bless you. For further teachings or information on our ministry, please visit us on our website at cornerstonerbc.

com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. We'll be continuing our special series that we started, our brother started for us last week, the series that is entitled Christ in the Old Testament, or Christ and his people in the Old Testament. And as the title suggests, the purpose of our series is to show from the Old Testament how Jesus Christ and the Father's eternal plan of redemption is seen throughout the Old Testament.

As we read the chapters of the Old, we see His plan and we see our Savior in the pages of Old surfacing as we read the unfolding of human history. And it's always pointing to Christ. The trajectory is always pointing to Christ. If you remember on Sunday, the scripture that we read is that the scripture points to Jesus. It all speaks of Jesus Christ.

So our intention through these studies is through events or places or even people that we've chosen through the Old Testament to bring out how Christ and His people are actually the focal point in the Old Testament, how we can see Jesus in the Old Testament. And for the most part, of course, we're going to be using New Testament authors to help us do this. But remembering also that types and shadows are not exact matches. So we're not looking at exact representations, because no one can be an exact representation of our Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ, right? Because if we're looking at people or places, as we said, sinful human beings, they may be a shadow or a type or on a specific thing or a characteristic or speak to a particular point of redemption, but they may not be the exact replica, I should say, but that's not what we're looking for.

But it's they paint a picture. Things in the Old Testament will paint a picture whereby we can look at that with our understanding of the new and say, I can see Jesus. I can see Jesus there. And our brother started for us with the first type last week. And we said we're going to start chronologically because that's the logical thing to do.

And so we started in the book of Genesis and Adam was the first type that we spoke to. If you remember last week, our brother brought up four points. Four points where Adam is a type of Christ. And he said, if you remember Adam, remember these things. And one of those points was Adam's headship.

And a big point that the Apostle Paul brings out in Romans chapter 5 is that Adam, as the federal head of humanity, as the first to be made of human beings by God, he represents humanity. In his fall, all of us have sinned. So Adam has fallen, he has sinned, and we have all inherited sin. We are born in sin. That original sin has affected every part of us.

And so we have not only a propensity to sin, but we are born in sin also. And that has been the devastation of humanity. But in that helpless state, when someone is in the natural state, dead spiritually, they never seek after God. In that helpless state, we see that grace abounds because in Genesis chapter three, verse 15, we're told that God will provide for his people, he'll provide for his people a seed from a woman who will crush the head of the serpent, a redeemer, a Messiah, a savior of the world, someone who will take care of the sin problem, the devastation that Adam brought in with his sin, this seed of the woman will take care of that, reverse things for us. But as history unfolds, it becomes more and more apparent to us that the only hope for humanity is indeed the coming seed.

You see, we see that so clearly in the Old Testament because after Adam sinned evil, abounds. It's rooted in man's heart and it increases more and more as we read through the book of Genesis and Exodus and so forth. We continue to see this evil in man's heart coming to surface in their actions even to the point for the very next generation of Adam and Eve even in the life of their own two sons. And we We know the story. We know Cain and Abel.

And we know that Cain became jealous of Abel and committed that murder, the first murder that was recorded in the Bible. It was a blatant act of the depravity of the heart, which is the cause of the deadly effects. of sin and the corruption it brings to the human being. As one reads these accounts, one must come to the realisation that this promised seed is desperately needed. And we're told that after the death of Abel, we're told then that Eve She became pregnant and gave birth to Seth.

And that's a clue, because the seed of the woman that's been promised in Genesis 3 will come through Seth. And then from there, from Genesis chapter 5 through Genesis chapter 11, where Abraham is then introduced to us, and this evening's theme is Abraham, From that point, we see the corruption increase more and more, and the evil increase more and more, and the manifestations of the evil increase more and more, to the point where we hear these chilling words from the mouth of our Lord. Open our Bibles to Genesis chapter 6. Genesis chapter 6, and we'll be reading from verses 5 through to verse 7. Genesis chapter six from verse five through seven.

Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. These are very scary words. Verse six, and the Lord regretted that he made man on the earth and he grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animal and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them." See, at this point, reading this passage, you would think that the Lord came on the brink of finishing human history.

to take care of humanity once and for all and blot them off the face of the earth. But we must remember who we're dealing with here. We must remember this is the eternal God, the God who is all-knowing. The sin of Adam and humanity and the height that it reached at this point was not a surprise to him. And beloved, the promise he gave in Genesis 3.

15 will be fulfilled because it's not contingent on the goodness or the righteousness of man. It's contingent on the goodness of God. And that's the beauty, that that is the grace of God. And you can hold on to the promises of God because they are gracious. And when God speaks, he always, always fulfills.

And He has, we know He has, but for the Old Testament people reading this, they would know that He will send the seed of the woman to save humanity, to crush the head of the serpent, to take care of the sin problem, to take care of the wretchedness and the evil that abounds within. And so the next words in Genesis chapter six tell us, but Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. In other words, God gave Noah favor because Noah wasn't in and of himself righteous. Noah in and of himself wasn't better than the rest because he somehow found goodness in him. We know the Bible tells us that no one is righteous, not even one.

No one seeks after God. This is God placing his hand on Noah, and choosing to preserve the human race through Noah. And so we read of the account of the flood. And the account of the flood comes and wipes away millions and millions of people off the face of the earth. The only human beings left are eight, Noah, his wife, his three sons, and their three wives.

And they're safe on the ark, which is, by the way, a type of Christ. And you would think, once the waters subside, and Noah and his family come out, and the Lord will preserve the world, the humanity through this family, but has it taken care of the sin problem? No, because then the very next thing we hear is the sin that's dwelling in that family. In fact, Ham, one of Noah's sons, is then cursed. Ham will be known as the father of the Canaanites and he is cursed.

And then we hear that another son of Noah gets a blessing and that name of the son is Shem. That's a clue that the seed of the woman will come through Seth and the seed of the woman will come through And the very next thing, what we see, is over the next 400 years, through the pages of scripture, until we get to Genesis chapter 11, the evil in mankind increases and increases, even to the point where they unite in their evil. to build a tower that reaches high. They want to be equal with God. They think in the audaciousness of their heart that they are worthy to dwell with God.

Instead of exalting the name of God, they choose to exalt their own name and make a name for themselves. And the Lord sees this, and the Lord sees the evil in man's heart and decides that he will confuse their language, break the unity, and scatter them across the earth. Beloved, at this point, it's so clear, unless God divinely intervenes, there is no way for anyone to seek after God. Because man's heart is desperately evil. And so at this point you might be thinking, where's the seed?

If someone didn't know the story and they're reading the narrative, they're saying, where's the seed? He's the only hope. The seed of the woman is the only hope. How patient is God? And it's at this point in the narrative that we hear of a descendant of Shem, Abraham, or as he was known, Abram back then in chapter 11.

The Lord calls Abraham to leave his kindred, to leave his family in Ur of the Chaldeans and to depart and follow God to where God tells him to go. He's not chosen. Remember this. Abraham's not chosen because he has some inherent qualities that God has looked upon him and said, you're good or you're righteous. or you're a noble person.

Because we know from further reading, especially in the Old Testament, we're told that Abraham was from a family who were worshipping foreign gods or false deities. So Abraham himself would have been an idolater. But God calls him nonetheless. Now, He doesn't call him because of his physical qualities either. This man is approaching 75 years of age.

He, and if we keep on reading, we know that the reason why God calls is to bless him and bless his posterity, his descendants. So basically he wants to bless those who come from his loins, his children and his children's children. Big problem, Abraham has no children. And the first we hear of Sarah, his wife, or Sarai, his wife. And the first detail we hear is that she was barren.

He is old. and she is beyond child years, childbearing years, and she's barren. You see how God has chosen Abraham, not because he's the most fitting, because it's almost an impossibility, but God seems to be a God who chooses the impossible so that through the unlikely candidates Candidates that you and I would not choose, he brings out his glory. And that person can only sit back and say, may the Lord be glorified because this is all of God and none of me. Now this evening we can't possibly explore the whole of the life of Abraham or even show all the places that Christ and his church are seen or prefigured in the life of this patriarch.

It's not possible. We see so many similarities of Jesus Christ in Abraham. So many. Even just from the beginning that Abraham was called to depart from his father's home and go to a faraway land to fulfill the will of God. What does that sound like?

Even when we go beyond that and we look at his intercessory prayer on behalf of Sodom. You remember when God said, Lord, if there's 50, if there's 40, if there's 10, if there's 30, if there's 10 righteous, that is an intermediary duty. And we see that he is intermediating like Jesus does, or even the Levitical priesthood, which is in his loins. or the fact that he's deemed as a prophet or deemed as a king, all the things that Jesus is. There are many things that we could unpack about Abraham's life, but my focus this evening will be on the promises of God relating to his offspring.

Because Genesis 12 through the end of the Bible concentrates on this topic. In fact, we could say that the whole Bible really is a story of the offspring of Abraham. And so my concern this evening is to look particularly at the promises given by God to Abraham to show how ultimately they are rooted in Christ and the blessings for Jesus' church. And we'll end our evening by the grace of God with a special event that takes place in the life of Abraham in Genesis chapter 22. So, as I said earlier, Abraham is introduced to us back in Genesis chapter 11.

And we're told of, that's when we're told of the incident of Babel. So humanity is again rebelling against God, evil across the land, God scatters them across the earth and confuses their language. And it's clear to us as we read that unless God divinely intervenes, these people are only going to get worse and worse and no one will follow after him. Adam's sin is so destructive that it's become the plight of humanity. So God turns his attention on but one man, one man, Abraham, who will become the spiritual father of us all.

In chapter 12, we read the call of God, the very first call of God to Abraham in the initial words. So let's open our Bibles to Genesis chapter 12, and we'll start reading from verse one. Chapter 12 from verse 1. Now the Lord said to Abram, go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you and I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse. And in all the families of the earth you shall be blessed.' So Abram went as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. And then if our eyes just go down a little to verse 7, Abraham has made his journey into the land that the Lord was giving him, and he'd look across the land, and this is what the Lord says to him.

He says, to your offspring, I will give this land. Now we know the story of Abraham. As a church, our corporate Bible readings on the Lord's Day, we've gone through Genesis and now we're in Exodus. And Abraham's story goes all the way from chapter 12 through 24-25. So we spent about three months exploring the life of Abraham.

So the stories are fairly familiar in our minds at least. they should be. Now we're in Exodus and we're more than half of the way through in Exodus. And so we realize already that some of the promises that God had given to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12 and reiterated in 13 and the promise that was ratified to Abraham in chapter 15, we see that those promises, many of those promises has actually been fulfilled already, even at the point of Exodus. You see, in particular, look at the promise that the Lord gave in chapter 15.

He says, the Lord says, when he cut a covenant with Abraham, but not before, I'm sorry, when the Lord cut a covenant with Abraham, he told him to go outside and look to the heavens and number the stars. If you're able to number them, he says, so shall your offspring be. Now, the offspring is not that great yet in our study in the book of Exodus, but we know already it's multiplying. Multiplying and multiplying, even to the point where Exodus chapter 1, we're told that the king of Egypt, who did not know Joseph, was threatened by them. Already in our study, we can see that the Lord is blessing these people immensely.

So we need to, as we read the book of Exodus, and my apologies, Genesis, and as we study through the covenants and the promises that God gives, one thing we need to back off and just look at and realize is, at the very least, we can see that the promises God has given to Abraham involves seed, which is offspring or people, involves land, and involves blessing. And it's also clear to us from Abram's name change in Genesis chapter 17, the Lord changes his name from Abram, meaning the exalted or great father, to Abraham, Am on the yin means peoples, so the father of many peoples or multitude, that even just from that name change, we can know that the promises are going to go beyond a single people. This is clear in the passage we read this evening, right? Because one of the verses was, in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. All the families of the earth shall be blessed.

Now, there are different views on these things, but at the very least we must agree it's far more than Israel alone that is in view. Israel is a nation, but the promises specifically mention nations, plural. And one can, at the surface at least, maybe possibly one would conclude in their own mind that nations are the natural people from the loins of Abraham surrounding the different ethnicities around Israel. Though I might say this is where Israel is, the nations that might be blessed are just the ones that are immediately surrounding Israel geographically. But this is the thing, it may be a mistake to think that way.

Because when the Apostle Paul writes in Romans chapter 4, he writes these words, he says, Abraham is the father to us all. He's writing to Jews and Gentiles, but the fatherhood of Abraham is not based on either in that passage. Rather, he says in verse 16 of that passage, that Abraham is the father based on faith. not being Jew and not being Gentile. It's faith.

So it transcends ethnicity. It transcends all these things. It's based on faith. So now we're speaking spiritually. So I believe that it would help us, and the study of the covenants and the promises can sometimes be a little bit complex, but I think it would help us to think this way.

When we read through the promises of God or the covenants in the Old Testament, in particular when we're looking at the first few books of the Bible, we need to understand that the promises given, in particular in our study tonight to Abraham, can be on two levels. Two levels. You can have the physical or the natural on the one hand, and the spiritual on the other. See, Abraham has a natural seed. He has a natural offspring, natural descendants, actual people from him, actual descendants from him, those who share his genetics, yep, on one hand.

And he'll also have spiritual descendants, those who don't share his genetics, but hear this, those who share his faith. I'll explain these a little later, but being able to identify between these two would be very important and will save us some confusion. But now we think on the first level, we're thinking on the natural level, and we think of the Jews, right? The Jews are the natural descendants. of Abraham, and the Jews will claim to be the sons of Abraham.

How many times have we looked in the gospel according to John, even just in our time together, where the Jews say to Christ, we are, who? We are sons of Abraham. Abraham is our father, and rightly so, right? Rightly so, because in the natural sense, the Jews are the sons of Abraham. They were his natural descendants, and the things promised by God to the natural seed were fulfilled through them.

They indeed grew in number just as the promise said they would. They were freed from the bondage under the Egyptians that was promised in Genesis 15. And in the conquest, God gave them victory over the land of Canaan, and they dwelled in the land of Canaan, the land flowing with milk and honey. That happened. Right?

That all happened. But listen to what Joshua says. Joshua says in Joshua 21, 43-45, he says, And the Lord gave them rest on every side, just as He had sworn to their fathers. Not one of their enemies had withstood them, for the Lord had given all the enemies into their hands. Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed.

All came to pass. You see, what the Lord had promised to the natural descendants of Israel was fulfilled. It's been fulfilled. That's what Josh was saying. The land promises, the specific promises that are physical promises have been fulfilled.

And then after this, we know that, for example, in the land, they dwelled in the land and then they had kings in the land. And the other portion of Genesis chapter 17 tells us that Abraham, from his loins, from him, will be nations and kings. And we know that the kings were established in the land of Israel. We see Saul, we see David, we see Solomon, and then we see the kingdom, don't we? We see the kings established.

So these things were fulfilled, but now, because of disobedience to God, they're gone. They lost their land. They were disobedient to God. You see, God had given them some promises whereby it was a promise with stipulation. And those stipulations were obedience.

So there are some promises God had given to the people of Israel where he said, I'll give you these things, but you need to obey. And if they did not obey, then they lose the benefits. There are some things like that. But we have to ask ourselves the question, was God really concerned primarily with giving Abraham short-term blessings? Was God concerned with making a temporary people for himself who will eventually fall away?

No, of course not. This is why when we read the promises, we need to think on those two levels. We need to think to ourselves, is this the natural seed that the Lord's speaking to? Or is it the spiritual seed that the Lord's speaking to? Or could the natural be a type, an actual fulfillment in the natural that points to the spiritual?

See, this is why we read in Genesis 17, it says, and I will establish my covenant between me and you, says the Lord, between him and Abraham, and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and to your offspring after you. You see, if the people of Israel rebelled against the Lord and lost their physical covenant blessing because many were predicated on obedience, as I said earlier, Then, if that was all there is to it, then God has given promises that he will make a people unto himself, which will eventually fall away. But we know, according to God's word, that he is establishing a people with an everlasting covenant, like we read, a people who will be his people forevermore. You see in God's mind these promises, even the natural promises that we read in this book made to Abraham would be a shadow of the true everlasting promises to the spiritual offspring of Abraham. Now of course there are There are promises that are very specific, lands with specific names and so forth, that are fulfilled naturally.

But there are many spoken of that are, for example, you'll be a blessing to the nations. And so we have to see it on two levels. They may be a blessing in the physical sense. In some areas they were. But we also need to think about these things on the spiritual level.

And you see, with the light of Galatians chapter 3, we can go a little bit deeper. And again, we can see that when we see of the offspring promise, which most people would read and say, this is Israel, this is the Jews, this is what God's speaking to, only the Jews. But we're told that it's actually the spiritual offspring that he speaks to also, in the plural. And they are those who trust in Abraham's unique offspring, singular, Jesus Christ. That's what Paul says in Galatians chapter 3.

In other words, the true blessings promised to Abraham are found in his greatest son, Jesus Christ. This is why the Apostle Paul says in Romans 4, Abraham is the father of us all, a father even to the non-Jews who have faith. So Father Abraham can be a father to those who are not from his line insofar as the physical descendants or the natural descendants, but he can be Father Abraham to those who have faith, who have faith. Jesus is imbuing these promises to Abraham, and the blessings are attained not through ethnicity, but faith. Let me explain.

In Genesis 15, when Abraham realized that he's not getting any younger, and neither was his wife Sarah, who was still barren, still without children, he suggested that God bless his servant Eliezer with the promised blessing. After all, how could God make a great nation from this man if there are no people? So Abraham says, bless my servant, bless Eliezer. And then the Lord said, no Abraham, I will give you a biological son, a son that will be from your own body and he'll be the heir of the promise. Now Abraham, knowing full well that his body is not capable and his wife is old in years, he knew that if this was going to happen, it would be the impossible, that God would have to be completely involved in this.

But the beauty is we're told that Abraham heard this and believed in the Lord. He believed that God will fulfill his promise and because he believed in his faith, because of his faith, he was justified. The Bible says he believed and it was counted to him as righteousness. So Abraham believed God, believed that God will produce a seed from his own body, even though in his eyes physically he could not see it happening, and he believed God, and that was counted to him as righteousness. Beloved, the seed, according to the apostle Paul in Galatians 3, is Christ.

Abraham's faith was that God would provide that special, unique, promised seed. The name was unknown to him, but his faith was ultimately in God's provision of Jesus Christ. And that's the faith that justified him. He was counted as righteous, not because of his obedience to the covenant stipulation, which is circumcision, which comes later in chapter 17. No, Abraham was justified in chapter 15 before circumcision in chapter 17.

He was justified because he believed the words of God. He believed the promise of God that he will have a physical seed. In a sense, we could say that ultimately, It is faith in God's provision, which is Jesus Christ, that justifies both Abraham and every one of us who believe. The Apostle Paul makes this point in Romans chapter 4 from verses 9 through 12. If you have your Bibles, let's open them up there.

Romans chapter 4 from 9 through 12. Romans chapter four from verse nine. Is the blessing then only for the circumcised? Now the context here is Paul has already indicted the whole world into sin. He's indicted the Jews and the Gentiles.

Everyone is without excuse. Everyone is a sinner. Everyone is deprived of God. Everyone's worthy of judgment. And then this is the context.

Then he says, is the blessing then only for, and then he speaks to Abraham and speaks then how Abraham was justified by faith. And then this comes in. Is the blessing then only for the circumcised or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him?

Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. I want you to hear this now. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that the righteousness would be counted to them as well.

And to make him the father of the circumcised who not merely are circumcised, but are also walking the footsteps of faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. Do you see this? What Paul is saying? Paul is saying that it was before Abraham observed or was obedient to the stipulation of the promise that God has given him, he was justified because he believed in God. It's not because he did anything.

It's not because of observance or obedience, but because of faith. This is really important. Because of faith. And then he goes on to say, so that he can become the father of all. So that whether you're a Jew or a Gentile, it matters not.

It matters that you have faith. in God, in Christ Jesus. That's what matters. That's what justifies. That's what makes us right with God.

This is how the seed of the woman will take care of the sin problem for those who believe because they believe in Him and He. And that faith is the faith that justifies. You know, yes, Isaac was born to Abraham at age 99. And then Jacob was born also to Isaac. And then to Jacob, the 12 tribes of Israel.

And then multitudes and multitudes of ethnic Israelites were born. But they were not the ends of the promise of God. Many will enjoy the spiritual blessings, not because they're ethnic Jews, but because of faith. Faith in God. Faith in the promised seed.

And for us, that means faith in Jesus Christ. the physical offspring of Abraham were vehicles from which Christ will come. But just like the Gentiles, just like Gentiles like us, their redemption, the redemption of the Jews, is found only if they hope in Jesus Christ. The fact that someone's a Jew now, ethnically, will not make them saved. It will not make them right with God.

They're still sitting under the judgment of God, just like a Gentile who has no faith. But the one who has faith, the one who has faith in Jesus, then Jesus Christ becomes the end of anything works, any law unto righteousness. It is that faith that justifies one in the eyes of God. It's because Jesus Christ is the one who fulfilled all the requirements of the law. He fulfilled all the covenant stipulations.

It's Christ who did that for us on behalf of those who believe. Jesus did it. And then this is what he did. And Galatians 6 tells us this. And then he bore the curse of God.

He bore the curse that is deserving of everyone who has ever broken the law of God. He fulfilled all the stipulations and the law perfectly and then he bore the punishment deserving of those who have not. This is the glory of what Christ has done because it is Jesus, it is Jesus who is worthy of all the blessings of God and he receives all the blessings. of God through his perfect obedience and those who have faith in him are brought into Christ to enjoy those blessings with Christ. Beloved, that includes Abraham.

Abraham enjoys the blessings of God. because of Jesus Christ. He didn't know his name, he didn't know who he was at that point, but he knew that the seed will be given to him, a promised seed, and he believed in God. And the beauty is, as we said earlier, these promises, these blessings that are given are not only for the ethnic Jew, but also for those like us who are Gentiles. Because Paul says in Galatians 3 7 through 8 he says Know then that it is those of faith who are sons of Abraham.

And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, In you shall all the nations be blessed. So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. Do you see it? It means that anyone who will be justified before the Lord, anyone who is to be forgiven before the Lord, anyone, whether you're Jew or Gentile, there are no privileges, There is only faith. Faith in Jesus Christ.

Everyone is saved exactly the same way and the object of our salvation is Christ and Christ alone. This is the glorious truth and you see the blessing that was given to Abraham The blessings and the promises that were given, they were never ultimately about a mass of ethnic people. That wasn't ultimately what they were about. That was a type of what was to come. It was about a spiritual people that will be gathered in Christ Jesus.

It was never ultimately about a parcel of land, which they did receive as flowing with milk and honey. It wasn't about that. It was about a heavenly dwelling. We know this because the author of Hebrews tells us when he speaks of Abraham, he says, by faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called out of the place that he was to receive an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going, but by faith, he went to live in the land of promise.

Now hear this. as in a foreign land. He went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and with Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise, for he was looking forward to the city that had foundations, whose designer and builder is God. even though Abraham received a promise that would be fulfilled in through to his natural seed it'll be fulfilled physically with an actual land given Abraham was looking beyond that because Abraham was looking to the heavenly land This is glorious. This is amazing.

The big picture is not the physical things that are here today and gone tomorrow. The big picture is what is the blessings that are found in Jesus Christ are the eternal blessings. We must see this. We must see that when Abraham was called from Ur of the Chaldeans, that he was called for this purpose, that Christ would be born through his posterity. And this Jesus is the seed of blessing.

who will bless all the nations of the world, all the nations. Every ethnicity will be blessed through Jesus. Those who believe in him, no matter what nationality they are, whether Jew or Gentile, will be blessed through Christ. This is the glorious truth of Romans 2, 28 and 29. Listen to what he says.

He says, For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly. It's not that you become part of the people of God because you were born in that line. Nor is circumcision outward and physical, but a Jew is one inward. And circumcision is the matter of the heart, by the spirit, not by the letter. And then Paul will say in Galatians 3, there is no Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

If you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise. Beloved, if you are in Christ, if you have faith in Jesus, then you are the true Israel of God. Now this doesn't mean that Abraham, who was a man who was justified by faith, doesn't mean that his faith was perfect, because we'll see his actions even after Genesis 15, where he was justified by faith, we see that he acted in many occasions with a lack of faith. God had promised a seed and then Abraham listens. He gets impatient and he listens to his wife Sarah and takes her servant Hagar and has a child.

And the implications of that are devastating. Ishmael, born to Hagar, will always be a perpetual thorn in the side of the promised seed through Isaac. But we're not going to unpack that this evening because we just don't have the time to do so. But we need to know the Lord always fulfills His promises. And He fulfills His promises, but we have to know and understand whether the promises He has given, are they physical or are they spiritual?

Because the physical things point to the spiritual things. They are types of the greater blessing that God has planned for His people. Now we can't wrap up the study before we at least address Genesis 22. This, beloved, is one of, in my opinion, one of the clearest, clearest pictures in the Old Testament of Christ and his work in redemption. In this passage, when Abraham will be tested by God, And he hears these chilling words.

Abraham is now being given Isaac. Isaac is a young boy, probably maybe even a teenager or thereabouts. And then Abraham hears these words. The Lord says, 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 how his heart It must have fallen in that time. Imagine that, waiting for about 25 years to finally receive this child of promise, this seed of promise that God had promised him.

This little Isaac was the apple of his eye. He loved him dearly. The child of his old age, his body could not possibly produce another child. nor could Sarah. And then the Lord said to Abraham, you're to take that child, the one that you love, and you're going to sacrifice him for me.

What must have been running through his mind? Think about it. Think about Abraham's mind at that point in time. He's thinking, but wait a minute, all the promises you've given me, oh God, all the promises you've given me are dependent and contingent on this son of mine, this Isaac being alive. Like all the promises that are fulfilled, whether they're fulfilled naturally, he needs to have children for that to happen, or whether they're fulfilled spiritually, it's through the seed, singular, Jesus, who is a natural child of Isaac.

So if Isaac dies, what happens to God's plan of redemption? what happens to the seed of all the woman who's been promised to come and crush the head of Satan. Beloved, if there is no Isaac, There is no land. There is no promise. There's no great nation.

There's no blessing to the nations. There would be no unique seed. Where would Jesus come from if Isaac was to die? Even though these things must have been running through Abraham's mind, we're told he obeyed. He woke up early one morning.

cut up some wood, he took them with him, he gathered his son and brought with him a knife. And then he brought little Isaac and they made a three day journey towards Mount Moriah. Now, in 2nd Chronicles, we're told that Mount Moriah is the place that the temple will be built in Jerusalem. And if you remember, Jesus was crucified just outside those grounds in Calvary. And it could well be the exact same place that Abraham took his son.

Nonetheless, he walked and walked for three days. And then when they came to the base of the mountain, they started to walk up this hill. Abraham gave Isaac the wood and he put it on his back and Isaac carried the wood up this hill so that he would become the sacrifice. Can we see something similar that we know of? So he goes up this mountain, and as he goes up, little Isaac says to his father, he says, well, I'm carrying the wood, I can see the wood, but where's the lamb?

Where's the sacrifice, dad? And then Abraham tells his son, the Lord will provide. Now, he didn't just say that to keep his mouth closed. I believe Abraham believed really that the Lord will provide, although he's made the journey, and he's prepared to do the sacrifice, you really believe the Lord will provide. Because if we think about what we're told in the book of Hebrews, we're told that in his mind and in Abraham's heart, he knew that even if he did kill his son, That day, even if he did sacrifice his son, he believed that the Lord would be able to resurrect him from the death.

God has given promises and Abraham knew at this point, he's matured in the faith and he knew that God will obey, will, my apologies, will fulfill those promises. So Abraham, they go up the mountain, they set up the altar. Abraham binds his son and places him on that altar and he brings out the knife and he's just about to plunge that knife into Isaac when he hears a voice. The angel of the Lord says to him, do not lay a hand on your son. And then when Abraham looks up, he looks over and in the thicket or in the bushes, he sees a ram with his horn stuck in the bush.

And indeed, God had provided. God had substituted the life of Isaac for a lamb, a ram that he found, that he prepared for him in the bush. God had required that Abraham sacrifice Isaac. And in Isaac is all those who would trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Beloved, that should have been you and I, we are worthy of death.

We are worthy of the condemnation of God. We are worthy to be sitting under the punishment of God because of our sin and our rebellion. Isaac was required of God, but then God provided the substitute, the one who will take his place. So that Isaac would not bear the brunt, but this is the amazing grace of our Lord, that in 2000 years, you see Abraham at that time, and everyone who'd read that story would know in their minds, if God required a sacrifice from this human being, Isaac, there's no way. that a lamb or ram could be the substitute.

Like, how can an animal pay for the life of a human being? If God requires the life of a human being, which is the righteous judgment, if the wages of sin is death, then that would be in the back of their mind always when they read this. Yet in 2,000 years time, it is not a lamb that is a substitute for our life. Beloved, it is the Son of God, the incarnate Son of God, who John the Baptist calls the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, who was crucified on that cross so that those who trust in Him will be saved. That those who trust in Him will be justified Believing upon this Jesus, this unique son, this unique seed of Abraham promised way back in Genesis, believing upon him will make all be accounted to us as righteousness.

This is how anyone is saved. No one can be saved in any other way, for there is no other name under heaven by which anyone can be saved. It is through Jesus Christ and Him alone. By believing in Him and in Him alone, one can be justified before the Lord. Amen.