Thank God for a Substitute!

1st Sunday in Lent, 2/26/12
Genesis 22:1-18


Thank God for a Substitute!


I’m all for a father and son spending quality time together. And as my father and I set out for a three day trip, I was sure that’s what would occur, but I had no idea when we started out, how true that would be. What was 3 days of mental, emotional and spiritual agony for my father and a few minutes of the same for me, turned out to be the most spiritually rewarding experience a father and son could have.

We were up before daybreak. I was completely surprised my dad and I were going to make this trip. He had said nothing about it the day before. I recall him saying that the Lord had come to him in a dream just hours earlier and had commanded the two of us to make this trip.

What I found out later is that this was actually a test of faith from the Lord. Of course the Lord knew how much my father loved him and of course the Lord knew the outcome of this test exactly, but he put my father through it for his benefit, for his blessing. My father came out of it with a stronger trust in the Lord and that’s always a great blessing.

In announcing this test, the Lord reminded my father that I was his son, his only son. It’s true that my father had another son, my half-brother Ishmael, but God had made it clear to my father that Ishmael was no longer in the picture regarding God’s plans for my father and me and our descendants.

You see, I was the son of the promise. The Lord had made some tremendous promises to my father, chiefly the promise that the Savior would be one of our descendants, and that Savior was going to come through me. God had made that perfectly clear.

But here’s what God told my father to do, “Take your son, you’re 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.” God told him to kill me and then to burn my body completely on an altar. But weren’t all God’s promises to my father tied up with me? Didn’t the fulfillment of those promises depend on me remaining alive, finding a wife and having a son so that the promise of the Savior could be fulfilled? Indeed they did and my father knew it. As I learned later, and as the writer to the Hebrews in the New Testament would state, my father was absolutely certain that if he killed me and burned my body, God would then raise me to life from those ashes. You talk about an amazing faith!

As I look back on it, I join you in being amazed at my father’s faith. When the Lord commanded him to sacrifice me, his only son whom he loved, my father didn’t object, didn’t try to bargain with God, and didn’t hesitate. He didn’t stew over his predicament and make the Lord re-issue his command. “Early the next morning he got up and saddled his donkey.” I don’t recall what he told my mom, but I don’t think he shared all the details of what he was about to do.

And off we went. Two servants came with us. We travelled to the region of Moriah. Maybe that name isn’t familiar to you. It’s a region with a series of low mountains, you might even call them high hills. God had in mind one certain hill. More than a thousand years later God would use King David to select this hill as the site of the Temple that Solomon would build. Don’t we have an awesome God! This is the hill where God wanted my father to sacrifice me. Ten centuries later my descendants would come to this very hill with their animals of sacrifice and offer them to the Lord. Each one of them pointed forward to the great sacrifice that the Savior would make.

As I look back on it now, my father’s words were full of meaning when he told the two servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” My father called it worship and that’s exactly what it was. He was ready and willing to sacrifice me as a declaration of what the Lord meant to him. That’s worship—putting the Lord first.

But listen also to the astounding faith in his words. “We will worship and then we will come back.” He wasn’t trying to avoid telling the servants what he was about to do. He was telling them what he firmly believed. God was going to miraculously raise me from the dead and I would come back with him.

So the two of us walked on. Did you notice the astounding detail that the Holy Spirit caused Moses to include in this account? “Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac.” I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but I’ll bet it’s full of meaning for you as New Testament Christians. Carrying the very wood on which you’ll be sacrificed! Does that sound familiar?

At this point, all I knew was that we were going to worship the Lord by making a sacrifice, but one thing was missing. And so I asked my father, “The fire and wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Little did I know what was in store for me. The lamb happened to be carrying the wood.

My father provided an honest answer, an answer that again displayed his tremendous trust in the Lord. He said, “God himself will provide a lamb for the burnt offering.” And that was it. I didn’t ask him any more questions. However, I could tell he was agonizing over something. But I figured if he wanted to talk about it with me, he would bring it up. We walked on in silence.

When we arrived at the place, my father built the altar. I had seen him do this before, but never so slowly. It seemed as if each stone caused him more and more agony. At one point I thought I noticed a tear in his eye.

And then he broke the silence. His voice trembled as he explained what the Lord had commanded him to do and his intention to carry it out to the letter. I was the sacrifice! Imagine trying to get your mind around that! The Lord had commanded my father to kill the son of the promise, the one through whom his promise of a Savior would be fulfilled.

As irrational as it sounds, I submitted. I was about 20 years old at the time. My father was 6 times older. In the height of my youth I could have easily resisted. But I didn’t. As I look back on it now, it was a response of the faith that the Lord had given me, just as my father’s actions were a response to the faith that the Lord had given him. So I willingly let him bind me and lay me on the altar.

I recall looking up into his eyes, eyes full of pain and agony. He slowly raised his knife. My mind was racing. I saw my life pass before my eyes in an instant. I spoke some hasty, silent prayers.

And then God intervened. “The angel of the Lord called out from heaven, ‘Abraham! Abraham! Do not lay a hand on the boy. Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.’” The test of faith was over and my father had passed it with flying colors.

The Lord then did what my father had trusted him to do. He provided a lamb for the burnt offering. Actually, it was a ram, caught in a thicket just a short distance away. As my father killed that ram and laid it on the altar, I couldn’t help but thank God for providing this ram for me. This ram was my substitute.

Thank God for a Substitute!

I’ve been told that the Jews today—my own descendants—regard this event as the greatest one in all their sacred writings. It pains me that they completely miss the point. A sacrifice is necessary. God should punish us for our sins. But he has provided a Substitute. That Substitute is none other than your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

See him as he serves as your perfect, holy Substitute! Did you catch his substitution for you in the selection from Mark’s Gospel which we read earlier? Where we fail repeatedly, daily, countlessly, he succeeded. He used his powerful word to defeat every one of Satan’s temptations. He did that for you and me. What God demands of us—holiness before his law—Jesus provided for us.

And then see him making his way to a dreadful cross punched into the crust of a hill called Calvary. In bitter anguish of soul he cries out, wondering why his Father had forsaken him. We know why. He was suffering our hell, our punishment, for our sins. He is your perfect Substitute.

Thank God for a Substitute!

But don’t let that statement be another trite expression of your thankfulness. Instead, ask yourself, “How will I show my thankfulness for my Substitute?” Isn’t worship the best answer? The Lord wants your heart, a heart that worships him as the God of your salvation who deserves your best. What better time than now to devote yourself to him? We’re at the beginning of Lent when we see so clearly what our Savior was willing to do for us to rescue us from hell. Worship him! Express your thanks to him in word, in song, in prayers, in offerings. May your entire life be an offering of thanks to the One who served as your perfect Substitute! Thank God for a Substitute! Amen.