1445 - "The Binding of Isaac, Part 2" 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 1445. Today you're going to listen to part two of the binding of Isaac out of Genesis 22. Remember, this is going back to the 365 Bible reading plan from 2022. As you listen, may God bless your heart as you walk on the way. The Bible says in verse 2, then he, God said, Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, that special love for him, go to the land of Moriah. Now I must stop here and talk about Moriah, Moriah, as we say in English. Moriah is a compound word. This is very important. It is made up really of three words, the best I can research the linguistic roots of this word. No one is certain exactly what it is, and there's all kinds of speculation, but the definition is pretty much the same. Moriah means the place where God shall be seen, or the place where God will show himself, or the place where God will show up. Now, personally, let me just digress here and say I don't like the term at all, so please don't say it around me. God showed up and showed out. That is to me almost vulgar. And let me tell you why. Showing out in the English language has the connotation of showing off. God doesn't have to show off, He just shows up. And when God shows up, that's enough. You don't have to add show out. That seems like slogan Christianity to me, of which I am pretty much sick of. And if I, in my own fleshly self, am sick of it, I'm sure God is. So those of you who know me, if you're around me and you say that and I look away, I'm being kind to you, okay? Because the word Moriah means the place where God will be seen, the place where God will show up, the place where you will see God. This is not the first time that this place has come up. This is a known place. God doesn't start giving Abraham directions here. Abraham knew exactly where this was. And you say, Well, do you know where it is? Well, I have a pretty good idea. And in order to let you in on this, I would encourage you to mark in the margin of your Bible near the word Moriah or Moriah, draw a line to the margin of your Bible, and write in this reference, Genesis 14, 18, 19, and 20. Now that should sound familiar to you because we just went over this in the background material and the backstory for chapter 15 and the commentary and podcast on that. Genesis 14, 18 is the story of Abram's meeting with Melchizedek. Melchiz means king, Zedek means righteousness. Melchizedek, as we would say, means the king of righteousness. Abram had gone to rescue Lot in the ancient city area of Dan, which is in the northernmost part of modern day Israel near the Lebanese border. And so he had made his way back down the patriarchal highway and was now coming to a place that is familiar. It says in verse 18, chapter 14, Genesis, then Melchizedek, king of Salem. Now Salem, S-A-L-E-M, is the word which is the word for peace. Shalom is the modern pronunciation of it, but Salem means peace. And so Melchizedek, the king of righteousness, lived in the city of peace. That later became known as Yerushalem. Yerus Salem. Yerushalem. Jerusalem, that's right. It was the ancient stronghold of the Jebusites during the days of King David, and he took the city from them and made it his own city, or David's city as it's called from then on. That is on an outcropping peninsula just below a threshing floor that was owned by Jebusite that David bought from him by the name of Iruna or Ornan, some of your versions will say in English. But it is the place that David bought, and it was called the place Moriah. It's the same place. And it is a flat level place where later Solomon would build the temple, Zerubbabel would build the second temple, and it will be the place where the third temple will be built, maybe even a fourth, that Jesus one day during the Messianic Age will reign from. Now don't let that third or fourth get you all worked up. We'll talk about that when we get into the New Testament. But Melchizedek was the king of Salem, and no doubt he was ministering from there, because the Bible says that he was the priest of El Elion, the Most High God, the God from above, the God from up. That's really what that means. El Elion, the God from up there, the God that's high, the God that's exalted. And so, as you'll recall, Abraham gave tithes to honor God. He gave tithes to Melchizedek, the priest of the Most High God. And so this all happened. I believe it's clear that it was in the King's Dale or the Valley of Shaba, as it is mentioned earlier in verse 17. I believe, after much research, that that is the Khedron Valley, the eastern valley, also called in the Bible the Valley of Jehoshaphat. That's where, according to the Lord Jesus, when he gave his sermon from on top of the Mount of Olives, overlooking this eastern valley and overlooking Mount Moriah, he said that will be the valley of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat, which means the place where God will judge. That is where all of the leaders of all the world will be brought to the Kedron Valley. Jesus will judge them in that valley, and they will give an account after seven years of unprecedented evil and crushing of the world, called in the Old Testament in the Tanakh, a time of Jacob's trouble. Jesus called it the Megalith Lipsis, the Great Crushing, what we call the Great Tribulation. And it is there that those nations will be judged according to how they treated Israel during the days of the Great Tribulation and prior to that. This is where the saying is that I was in prison and you visited me. I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. And you did this. And they said, Well, where did we do this? We didn't see you, Lord. And he said, When you've done it unto these, the least of my brethren, who's he talking about? The context is the Jewish people. We need to be good to the Jewish people. Why? Because they are the tool, the avenue, the people that God has chosen from Abraham onward to bring the Word of God to us, to bring the Messiah to us, to bring him back to us. Jesus is not coming back to London. He's not coming back to Washington or New York. He's coming back to Yerushalaim. He's coming back to Selim. He's coming back to the Mount of Olives, just east of there, and in that valley of Shaba, according to the Gospel of Matthew, that's where he'll judge the nations. So Abraham is now in Yerushalaim. He knew about it. I believe it was a sacred place from creation. In another podcast, maybe someday I can tell you why I believe. I believe that the foundation stone upon which the Holy of Holies sat in the first temple until it was taken away in the Babylonian captivity, or taken up before the Babylonian captivity, or taken away before the fall of Jerusalem in 586. I believe that's the very spot where God created Adam, and that's why it was sacred from time immemorial and in antiquity. It was already a holy place by the time Melchizedek was there in the 14th chapter of Genesis. The Bible says that God created Adam and then placed him in the garden. There's a lot more I could say here that we're just not ready to go into right now, but I can tell you that what I just said to you is my thoughts, my speculation. What the Bible says in Genesis 14 is not speculation. This is Mount Moriah, Mount Moriah. It is the place that is just above Jerusalem today and part of the city where Solomon would have built the temple. Now, back in Genesis chapter 22, verse 3, so Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, took two of his young men with him, and Yetzuk his son, and he split the wood for the burnt offering, arose and went to the place, the place that's Mount Moriah, according to verse 2. He went to the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day, that's how long it took them to come from Beersheba. Then on the third day, Abraham lifted his eyes and saw that place, there again, a reference to a place, Moriah once, place twice. And Abraham said to his young men, I can tell you within a short distance of where Abraham would have first seen Mount Moriah very clearly. It's where the Temple Mount is today. And there is a place that when you top the patriarchal highway and you look, it is the first place that you can see this plateau very clearly. And I've been there many times, and I believe that is where, historically, geographically, Abraham said to his two young men, You stay here. The boy and I are going to go, and they would have crossed the valley of Gehenna called Gai ben Henom, the valley of the Son of Henam in the Old Testament. It's called Gehenna in the New Testament, and we'll cover that when we get there. And he would have gone perhaps even through the eastern valley once he came to where the central valley and the valley of Gehenna and the Kedron Valley, the Eastern Valley, would come together. I believe he would have more than likely walked up that eastern valley between the Mount of Olives and Moriah. He would have climbed a slope that is accessible there. And when they got there, he began to do what God had told him to do. Now on the way, on the way there, Abraham and Isaac were talking. And Isaac said, Father, something is missing here. We have the wood. You're carrying fire with you. The knife, it's all here, but where's the sacrifice? And Abraham said, My son God will provide his sacrifice. And as Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, laid it on Isaac his son, and he had fire in his hand and a knife, and the two of them went together, and Isaac spoke this. The scripture says that after they got there, that they came to the place, there is that phrase again, they came to the place which God had told him. God had told him exactly where to go. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order. There was a certain way they did this, and he bound Isaac. This is the binding of Isaac. Can you imagine what that was like? I can't even imagine that. And he laid him on the altar upon the wood. There was a certain way he placed the wood, and then he laid Isaac on that wood bound. And the scripture says, Abraham stretched out his hand, took his knife to slay his son. And this is not stab him in the heart. He was going to cut his juggler vein. He was going to cut his throat. And the angel of the Lord called out from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham, and he said, Here am I, he said, Do not lay your hand on the land or do anything to him. For I know now that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. And the scripture says, And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. So God provided a substitute. Now hang with me for three minutes here and I'm finished. I wish I could paint the picture for you, but I cannot. But I must get to verse fourteen. And Abraham called the name of the place Yahweh Yure, Hashem Yure. And it says, The Lord will provide, as it is said to this day in the mouth of the Lord it shall be provided. And there's songs about that. There are poems written about it. But the word, the text, the Hebrew text does not say the Lord will provide. No, no, no, no. It says Hashem, Yahweh, that Y H V H, that tetragrammaton, those four letters for the name of God, the covenant, personal name of God. But the next word is not provide, it's the word Yire. Ra'ah is the root of it. Ra means to see. Abraham did not say the Lord will provide. He said the Lord sees. You say, Well, what's the difference? There's a big difference. God did provide, but the reason he provided is because he saw the need. You see, God had his eye on Abram from the beginning. He had his eye on Abraham from the beginning. He had his eye on Isaac from the beginning. God knew what he was doing. And the moment Abraham started up with Isaac on one side of that hill, God had already sent a ram going up the other side. And just when that ram would have been skittish and ran away, he was trying to nibble on, no doubt, some of the thorn trees that were around there that are still there today, get the green foliage with those little long lips that they have. And those huge shofars were caught in the thicket. And it paralyzed that ram long enough for Abraham to see it. And it was just in time. The Bible says he is the God who sees. And by the way, as far as I know, the King James Version, which always doesn't have the best translation, it's the only one that I know of that actually translates this, the God who sees. Because that's exactly what the Bible says. Now, did he provide? Yes. But even the commentary here, the divine commentary, it says the Lord will provide. It says the Lord will see. And as it is said to this day, in the mountain of the Lord it shall be provided. Again, the word is not provided, it's the word seen. In the mountain of the Lord it shall be seen. You see, the reason God can meet our needs is because he sees the need before it happens. After all, he's God. And so God arranged this whole thing. He had his eye on it the entire time. This is oh, if we could get this, listen to me. Sweet, sweet people, listen to me. This is why the Lord Jesus said in the what we call the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew five, six and seven, he said, Are you not more valuable than a sparrow? Don't you know that there is not one sparrow falls to the ground that God does not what? See it. God knows our needs. Therefore seek ye first the kingdom of heaven. And all these things will be added unto us. God sees our need. God knows our need. You wonder, God do you see? Oh yes, he sees. He sees you hurting now. He sees your heart breaking. He sees your need. He sees your desires. He sees your wants good and bad. And when our needs line up with his plan for our lives, he said, My God shall supply all your needs out of according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. Beloved, God sees you. He sees your need just as he did Abraham, just as he did Isaac, and He'll meet you just when your need is greatest. For On the Way, this is Tony Crisp.

SPEAKER_00 17:51

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.