1444 - "The Binding of Isaac, Part 1" Genesis 22

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to On the Way with Tony Crisp. Each weekday, Dr. Crisp will be discussing biblical passages, people, places, and prophecies. Tune in daily to start your day right and deepen your understanding of how to better walk the way and enjoy the journey. Here's your host, Dr. Tony Chris.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

Welcome to On the Way. This is Tony Crisp, and this is Podcast 1444. We are looking at the great story of the Crimson River. And in doing so, both today and tomorrow, we're going to go back in time to 2022 to the 365 Bible reading plan and Genesis 22. Today you will hear part one. Tomorrow you will hear part two. Because I want to let you hear what I recorded in 2022 on January 13th and 14th when I went over chapter 22 and the binding of Isaac. It is so very important because it is the continuing story of the Crimson River. And it is referenced so many times in the scriptures and in Jewish teaching that I wanted to do a couple of podcasts in the 365 Bible reading plan, and I'm going to share those with you. It has been one of the most popular of all of the podcasts out of almost 1,500 that I have done. So I want you to listen for the next two days and let's go back in time and let's continue the story of the Crimson River and God's great story of redemption. Chapter 22 is known as the chapter of the binding of Isaac. Now, this is what it's called in Jewish life. It is what it is called in ancient literature, the binding of Isaac. Not the sacrifice of Isaac, because Isaac was not sacrificed, because God provided a substitute. And we'll come to that at the close of the chapter. But what I want to do is just begin to read. And I hope that you can take your Bible at home or when you get home or at the office or wherever you are, maybe in a hotel room, where you can have a copy of the Word of God and follow along because what I want to do is as I go through these podcasts, I want to not just give you commentary, but I want you to understand how these thoughts come about. What are the linguistic keys that we look for? What are the historical, cultural, geographical items that we look for? Because geography is important as we'll see. Historical notes are important as we will see in this text. And so we're going to begin with chapter 22 and verse 1. Now it came to pass after these things. After these things is a reference back to God's promise that he was going to give a son to Abraham and Sarah miraculously, even in their old age. And after God fulfilled that promise in chapter 21, you'll recall that Abraham began to wander around again and he went all the way down to Beersheba. Now, where Beersheba, or Beersheba, as we call it, is, is south of this patriarchal highway that begins at Shem in the north and runs along the mountain passes and through the mountain passes, along the tops of the ridges, much like the great Blue Ridge Highway that runs into North Carolina and into Virginia and so forth. It runs along the tops of the ridges. This is what the patriarchal route was in the center of the country called Israel. And so it started as Shim. It went to, of course, Shiloh, Bethel, Yerushalaim, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, then Hebron, all the way down south to Beersheba. And so Abram would make that route up and down through there. And so he was at Beersheba, as you remember, and he had a confrontation with Abimelech, Abimelech. And so that's where the name Beersheba came from. And it became the center of the Negev or the dry land, the desert in southern Israel, where it's called wilderness. The children of Israel wandered in this area just south of here in that 40 years of wandering. And it is the capital of the Negev today. It's the main city in the Negev of modern day Israel. It is a tremendous city. And the old city and the old well that Abraham dwelt in and Isaac his son dwelt in, it is still there, the ruins of it. Fascinating, fascinating place. And so it came to pass after all of this that God tested Abraham and said unto Abraham, Abraham, and he said, Here am I. He said, Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you. Now I want us to go back to verse one and begin to work through this text. Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham. Now, as you read commentaries from time to time, you're going to hear liberal commentators and those who are of the neo-orthodox persuasion telling you through a critical method of understanding of the Bible, many times not believing in the miraculous of the Bible, not believing in the miracles of the Bible at all, and always trying to explain away God's supernatural acts, they will tell you that Abraham was doing this because he was in the land of the Canaanites, and the Canaanites practiced child sacrifice, and he was just following along with the rituals of the ancient Canaanites. That's not what the text says. The Bible says God tested him, and God put this before him. Some will tell you that this was Satan, that Satan was tempting him to sacrifice his son. That's not what the text says. The text says that God tested Abraham. Now it's interesting in the Hebrew language and certainly in the Greek text, you have the same word for testing and temptation. Testing and temptation in the New Testament is the word parasmas, paridzo, and it is the word which can mean test or temptation. But the two are diametrically opposite. And so many people over the years have asked me, what is the difference between testing and temptation? So here we go. I hope you can write these down. Testing is from God to his children, to his people, in order to bring out the good in them. The apostle Peter said in 1 Peter chapter 1 and verses 6 through 9, he was talking about the great faith that God has given us and what he's done for us in giving us assurance and hope, and that he's reserved a place for us, he's called us, he's elected us, all of those terms that we associate with assurance and confidence. And then Peter comes to verse 6 in that long litany of blessings of God that we have in Christ Jesus. And he says that for a time we may be tested, that the testing of our faith may prove something that is determined no other way, that is through fire. He talks about the fire of purification of testing. And it's like metal. It is like that dross that comes off of the silver pot. You see, the ancient silversmiths had the method of taking ore right out of the ground, filled with dirt and dross and everything you can imagine. And what they would do is they would put this silver ore into a kettle or a pot, and they would heat the fire. And as the fire got hot and the silver settled to the bottom, the dross, the filth, the subsidies from that would rise to the top, and they would take a ladle and they would uh skim it off, and then they would heat the fire more and more dross would come out. This process continued until it was pure silver. You say, Well, how did they know when it was pure silver? That is determined by them skimming off the last of the dross, looking into the pot, and when they see the reflection of themselves, they know that it's pure. This is what God does for us. God skims away, he turns on the heat, he puts a test before us, and he turns up the heat, he skims off the draws, he turns up the heat, he skims off the draws. I am so grateful to God that he has his hand on the control of the fire. He knows what we can take, he knows how hot to get it, he is the God of love and mercy, and he is wanting the best. Why? Because when he's ready to pour us into his mold, and after all, he's the silversmith. He's the one that is in control. He knows what we need to look like, he knows the mold that we need to go into, he knows our purpose and why he made us and what is best for us, whether we will be this or that. He has a mold for every one of our lives, and we are to be like Jesus in whatever mold that is. And so when he is finished with the testing, for the point and season and time of the testing, he knows when it is right, when he looks into our faces, into our hearts, into our eyes, and he sees his beloved son, and he sees now they are ready. And God is gracious to do that. You understand that this makes it easy. We become pliable, we become moldable. This is what God was doing to Abraham. And so it came to pass that after God had shown him this great miracle, and by the way, testing usually comes after a great miracle. Ask Elijah, ask Jonah, ask Moses. You see, it is there when we're riding high that we have to be very careful and hunker down very low and close to the ground and be humbled. Because God says, Humble yourself that I may exalt you. When we start taking glory and exalting ourselves, look out, a test is coming. Because God always wants to keep us moldable, pliable, and not allow the dross and the impurities to come into our lives. And so God said to Abraham, I've got something for you to do. And so he says, Take now your son, your only son Isaac. Now Abraham had other son, but this was the only son like him. This was his monogenace. This was his one-of-a-kind son. In other words, that had Sarah as his mother and he as his father. He had children. He would have more after this. All you have to do is read through Genesis to see that. But this was the special son. It was the son of promise. It was an anointed son. It was the son that was going to carry on the messianic seed. This is the one that he had promised. And a year before he had come, remember, to the tent in the preceding chapters, and he told Abraham that he was going to have a son. And Sarah laughed. She couldn't believe it. Remember, God said, Is anything too hard for me? So he supernaturally and appointed time in the coming year put the virility and the life back in her womb. And the seed of Abraham miraculously, God miraculously brought forth Isaac. Isaac is a miracle child. And Israel, that is, the lineage and line that later became Jacob and Israel and the sons of Israel, that was a supernatural birth. And so after all of this, God tested Abraham. And he said, You take that boy that I gave you, that the Messiah is going to come through, that your lineage is going to go through, that all the blessings are going to come through. You take him to Moriah. Because I've got something I want to do, yes, with Isaac, but God didn't want Isaac. He already had Isaac. What he wanted was Abraham. What he wanted was Abraham's heart, Abraham's undivided loyalty. Not just for God to see, but for Abraham to see. He was willing to give it all up and to trust God. And let me say this to you at the outset, and then we'll finish this first podcast because it's so important that you understand that the writer of the book of Hebrews in this great Hall of Fame of faith in Hebrews chapter 11 marks this as a point of faith in Abraham's life that has to be shared. As you know, it begins in verse 8 of chapter 11 of the book of Hebrews, talking about that Abraham obeyed God and he went out and followed him to the land of Canaan, and then he made a covenant with him and all of those things, all the way down through verse 16. But in verse 17 of Hebrews chapter 11, this is the inspired record of God. This is the continuing story of Abraham that started in chapter 12. Remember what I told you yesterday? That this is the great story of God. And so many times we get caught up in the details and forget God's going somewhere. God really is in control of history. It's his story. And Hebrews chapter 11 says in verse 17, by faith, by trust, by committing everything to God, not even believing his circumstances around him. When he was tested, here's that point back to chapter 22 of Genesis, by faith. Abraham, when he was tested by God, that's the word paradzo, which can mean good or bad. He was tested, he offered up Isaac, and when he had received the promises, he offered up his only begotten son, his monogana son, of whom it was said, In Isaac your seed will be called. Here is the kicker. Abraham knew that God had promised that it was going to be in Isaac, not another substitute if he took Isaac's life, but indeed it was in Isaac, and Abraham so believed God that the Bible says he concluded when he was tested to offer up Isaac. This is why it says, verse 19, concluded that God was able to raise him up even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense. In other words, it was as good as dead because Abraham was willing to slit the throat of his own son, because he knew God was so faithful to his promise that even if he had to take Isaac's life, God was so faithful that he would raise him from the dead. Now that's the kind of testing that Abraham underwent. And so you say, What's the difference between testing and temptation? As testing is always designed by God and given by God, a test is always from the Lord to his children, to his people, to his beloved, in order to bring out the good in us. But parazzo also means the word temptation, which according to James chapter one, is a solicitation to do evil when we're drawn away by Satan, his demons, by the world's thinking, by our own flesh, according to James chapter one, verses twelve and following. Now listen, Satan's design, our flesh's design, the world's design, is to bring out the bad in us. It is to lead us away from God, not to him, to make us be less like Jesus, not more like him. So testing and temptation, even though they are the same word, they have different designs with different destinies. For on the way, this is Sony Chris.

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Thanks for listening to On the Way with Tony Crisp. Tune in every weekday for information on biblical passages, people, places, and prophecies. Fridays are for your questions. Email your questions to questions at TonyCrisp.org. Then just listen for your question to be answered on Friday's podcast. That's Questions at TonyC R I S P dot org. Thanks for listening and have a blessed day on the way.