See the Moriah/Calvary Connection!

1st Sunday in Lent, 2/21/21 Genesis 22:1-18 See the Moriah/Calvary Connection! I. A father sacrifices his son. II. A son willingly obeys. III. A substitute is provided. Most children are taught their numbers, colors, and letters of the alphabet at a rather young age, usually about 2 or 3. And soon after that, they begin to learn connections between objects. Which ones go together, and which ones don’t belong? And that’s a critical mental process to master. It’s important to make connections as you navigate your way into relationships with others. You need to become aware quickly of where you fit in and where you don’t, and what you can do about it, if that’s your desire. You make connections constantly during your day at work, whether it’s with fellow employees or it involves an employment process that is part of your duties to perform. Making connections here at church is vital to the fellowship that we enjoy as a congregation of Christian people. It should come as no surprise, then, that Scripture makes use of connections in countless ways. For instance, there’s a connection between the blood of the lamb painted on the doorposts of the homes of the Jews in slavery in Egypt, and the blood of the Lamb of God which was shed for all sinners. There’s a connection between the Old Testament Jews finally entering the Promised Land after 40 years of wandering in the wilderness and you and me entering the Promised Land of heaven after our pilgrimage here on earth. There’s a connection between the Jews celebrating the harvest of their crops at Pentecost and the Holy Spirit gathering in the harvest of souls into the kingdom of God. And there are connections all over the landscape in this account before us in Genesis 22. The Lord spoke to Abraham and instructed him to go to the region of Moriah. We know it better as the area of Jerusalem. Outside of Jerusalem, during the time Jesus was on this earth, there was a hill called Calvary. And there are tremendous spiritual connections for us to make between the two, Moriah and Calvary. Perhaps you’re already aware of them. But even so, I invite you to make them with me this morning. See the Moriah/Calvary connection! Your eternal salvation is built on it! Part I. Any time a murder occurs, we’re shocked, at least we should be. A life has been taken, often violently so. No longer will that person experience the blessings of this life or be a blessing to others. But when a parent murders their own child, we’re filled with dismay, grief, and anger, even if we don’t know the victim. The act is so horrific, it’s beyond our comprehension. So, the holy, all-loving Lord God gives this directive to Abraham, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” Let me repeat, “Sacrifice your son.” Abraham must have immediately wondered if he had heard the Lord correctly. Sacrifice my son?? My only son?? Kill him?? That can’t be! But that’s what the Lord had said. Sacrifice your son. And early the next morning, Abraham, Isaac, and two of his servants began Isaac’s death march to Moriah. Why would the Lord make such a demand? The Bible states it clearly. God was testing Abraham’s faith. Was the Lord number one in Abraham’s life or not? Would he do everything the Lord told him, even sacrifice his son? Of course, the Lord who knows all things, even the outcome of future events, knew that Abraham would follow through on this unimaginable directive. You see, the test wasn’t for God’s benefit; it was for Abraham’s. And you know how Abraham passed the test with flying colors. The knife was raised in his hand. Imagine Abraham looking into the eyes of his only son, eyes that would soon be lifeless. And that’s when the angel of the Lord, who was the Son of God coming to Abraham in visible form, stepped in. “Do not lay a hand on the boy. Do not do anything to him.” The ordeal was over. Abraham had come within a second or two of sacrificing his son to prove his devotion to the Lord his God. Abraham almost sacrificed his son. God the Father did sacrifice his Son. And while Abraham’s sacrificial intent was to demonstrate his love for the Lord, God’s sacrifice of his Son was a demonstration of his love for us. What makes that love so astounding is that it’s a love for the people whom he created to love and serve him, but every last human being has failed to do that a single day of their lives. The human story is the story of sin and rebellion against God, and yet that does not diminish his love for us. The Father sacrificed his Son on Calvary’s cross. See the Moriah/Calvary connection. Part II. Hollywood annually presents awards not only for the main actors and actresses, but for supporting actors and actresses as well. And that’s appropriate. The main character’s story is enhanced by the supporting characters. There’s a supporting character in this event at Moriah that often gets overlooked as this event is read and re-read. And that’s the role that Isaac, the son, played. It’s safe to say that Isaac was likely in his late teens when his father announced that they would be making this unexpected trip together. In the next chapter of Genesis, we know that Abraham was 137 years old. In other words, Abraham was near the end of his life, and Isaac was just entering his prime, physically speaking. So, at any point of this three-day journey, and especially after Abraham and Isaac separated from the two servants, Isaac could have run away from Abraham with ease, and Abraham would have been unable to catch him. But even more so, Isaac surely could have overpowered his aged father when Isaac realized what they had come to Moriah to do. The text states that Abraham bound Isaac and laid him on the altar. We hear nothing about a struggle on Isaac’s part. Instead, we’re left only to conclude that Isaac participated fully. Abraham, at some point, must have shared with Isaac what the Lord had commanded him to do and Isaac complied. In fact, he cooperated fully. He willingly obeyed his father, and, in doing so, he also obeyed his God. Unlike Isaac, Jesus was fully aware what would happen to him at Calvary. His Father was going to sacrifice him there for the sins of the world. But we never hear that Jesus resisted that plan. In fact, he embraced it. He made sure everything happened just as his Father wanted so that he would be sacrificed on Calvary’s cross. When his own disciples tried to prevent him from going to Calvary, he sharply rebuked them and set his face like flint. He was thoroughly determined to go. See the Moriah/Calvary connection. A son willingly obeys. Part III. There’s one more connection I’d like you to ponder. It’s the one in the closing scene of this incredible ordeal. “Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, ‘On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.’” Abraham realized this was no coincidence. They had come to make a sacrifice. Abraham had told Isaac as they trudged to Moriah that God would provide the animal for the sacrifice, and Abraham’s faith wasn’t disappointed. Imagine the gratitude that filled Abraham’s heart as he bound that animal, laid it on the altar where, minutes earlier, his son lay bound, and then plunged his knife into it. A substitution was made. Abraham was eternally grateful. Isaac was alive! There are times in our lives when someone offers to do something wonderful for us that we never expected. And our response to this wonderful offer is usually something like, “Really?! You would do that for me?! They are offering to do something in our place, as our substitute, if you will. Our rescue from eternal hell depends on a substitution. That's our worship focus for this Sunday. The saving truth that God has revealed to us is that Jesus willingly obeyed his Father all the time, every day of his life here on this earth. That wasn’t a happen coincidence. That was absolutely necessary for our rescue from hell. Jesus needed to obey his Father perfectly because we can’t and don’t. He served as our substitute. And then he completed that work as our substitute when he sacrificed himself on Calvary’s cross. I should have suffered the punishment of hell for my sins. So should you. But we have a substitute. Jesus did it for us. What amazing love! The Creator dies for his creatures! But I’m going to guess that this isn’t the first time you’ve heard these saving truths of the Moriah/Calvary connection. A father sacrifices his son. A son willingly obeys. And a substitute is provided. You know these truths. You believe these truths. You celebrate these truths. But we never tire of hearing them again. Because we struggle with them. Either guilt over past sins begins to paralyze our hearts once again, or sinful pride causes us to diminish our need for a Substitute named Jesus. We believe the lie for a time that we’re OK with God on our own. That’s why we need to see the Moriah/Calvary connection every day of our lives. We need to live in the certainty of the forgiveness this connection gives us. We need to live in the confidence this connection generates in us—that we are God’s children by faith in Jesus and destined to eternal life with him. See the Moriah/Calvary connection! Amen.