In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because thou hast obeyed my voice. Genesis 22:18
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
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So much of the Old Testament points towards Jesus Christ that upon discovery of this fact, believers and non-believers alike should find it astounding! In this post, I am going to share just one story. However, it is a very important factual story that begins with Abraham's obedience to God. Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son; "his only son" as it is recorded in Scripture. It is a huge test of Abraham's faith, but also a foreshadowing of God's Son, "His only Son," - Jesus Christ - and His willingness to be sacrificed for our sins on the cross!
This fantastic message is based on the book of Hebrews. You can view the entire sermon online at the following link:
http://www.davidjeremiah.org/site/television_player.aspx?id=
[Note: There is also an outline of the Scriptures used in the video message at
this link: http://www.davidjeremiah.org/site/uploadedfiles/080413_Abraham.pdf]
If readers are pressed for time, I recommend watching the introduction (about 2 minutes into the video) and then push the cursor at the bottom of the video over to about 15:30 to start the beginning of the message.
What hit me most was the comparisons shared near the end of the video message. Pastor Jeremiah shares a list of the comparisons between Isaac and Jesus Christ. He states that we can look back at this through our "New Testament eyes" and find the ultimate purpose of this story as it is recorded in Genesis.
1. Both Isaac and Jesus Christ were miraculously born. [Recall that Abraham was over 100 years old and Sarah his wife in her 90's!]
2. Both Isaac and Christ brought joy to their Father.
3. Both Isaac and Christ were born at a set time.
4. Both Isaac and Christ were persecuted by their brothers. [Ishmael who was born of the maidservant Hagar, and Christ's half brothers...like James (who later became a believer after Christ's resurrection from the dead) who later wrote the book of James in the NT.]
5. Both Isaac and Christ were obedient unto death.
6. Two young men went with Isaac; Christ was crucified between two thieves.
7. Isaac carried the wood, Christ carried the cross.
8. Isaac questioned his father [by asking where is the sacrificial ram?] and Christ said, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?"
9. Christ was obedient unto death; Isaac was raised from death in a figure. [This means that a sacrificial ram was caught in the thicket to take Isaac's place for the sacrifice.]
10. Abraham returns but Isaac is not heard from (in the Bible) until he is introduced to his bride; and that is exactly the way it is with the Lord Jesus Christ himself! The Bible tells us that Christ will return for His Bride (all believers) and the dead shall rise first, then all who are alive in Christ shall
meet the Lord in the air.
We can ask, are these all just a bunch of coincidences?
Answer: No!
Every story of the Old Testament is somehow related to THE story of the New Testament - that being the gospel of Jesus Christ!
This is the greatest picture of the love of the Father that you will ever find in the Bible!
One last point. Romans 8:32 tells us of one difference between father Abraham and Father God.
Rom 8:32
He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
Almighty God allowed Abraham to spare his son from death. But God the Father loved us SO MUCH that he would not spare His own Son, Jesus, from taking the penalty for all of humanity's sins. Father God delivered Him up to save us from our sins, and raised him up via the Resurrection to life in order for us to be reconciled back unto God. If Jesus didn't do this, he would have re-entered heaven alone.
The wages of sin is death and the wages have to be paid. If we tried to pay those wages, we could never be with God. And so God sent His Son, Jesus Christ into this world. And the story of Isaac is very much like it until you get to the very end.
That's how much God loves you. That's how much God loves me. For even His own Son was not too high a price to pay that you and I might be saved from our sins, be forgiven, and go to heaven.
[Previous paragraphs paraphrased from end of sermon.]
Isn't this realization absolutely fascinating?
I hope that readers here have found it to be as encouraging and enlightening as it was for me!
~ Christine
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