Nothing but the Blood - 9. Preview for One

     From Nothing but the Blood Audio
[God] said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”  —Genesis 22

Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like we’ve been burning through this material. Out of 1,189 chapters in Scripture, we're 22 chapters in and the Gospel has been revealed except for one crucial point.

Through this series, we have seen how:

1. blood is the way back, but
2. there’s a heart piece, except that
3. even the righteous fall short, so
4. God will stand in the gap because
5. One, the right One, can cover for all.

Any idea where the land of Moriah is? A three day journey, many (including me) believe that Moriah is the site of modern day . . .

Jerusalem. That’s right. So it doesn’t take much of a stretch, since God was directing Abraham where to go, that He sends him to one of two places in Jerusalem.

Before we go there, let me catch you up in the story. After a VERY dicey encounter in Sodom (Genesis 19:1-11), angels instruct Lot to get out of town (Genesis 19:12-14). In the morning, God destroys Sodom & Gomorrah (Genesis 19:15-23) and Abraham’s question—the one he didn’t get a chance to ask—is sort of answered (Genesis 19:29). But despite Abraham’s sin (Genesis 20), God holds true on his promise and Isaac is born (Genesis 21:1-8). Sarah turns against Hagar and sends Ishmael away (Genesis 19:9-21) and Abraham makes peace with his neighbors, so everything is going great until God instructs Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac (Genesis 22:2)

We’re told that this was a test (Genesis 22:1), but Abraham didn’t know that.

Instead, Abraham walks up the mountain to sacrifice his son (likely) either to the place where the Temple would be built or (I think) to Golgotha (Matthew 27:33-37). Isaac laden with wood is the picture of Jesus (Genesis 22:6 & John 19:17). But to Abraham, this isn’t God’s sacrifice of His only Son (John 3:16-17), it’s Isaac bound (Genesis 22:9) on the altar.

If you don’t know the story, Abraham is stopped and the words he spoke to Isaac, the sixth piece of the list above is revealed. “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” –Genesis 22:8

While God requires us to give up our lives (Matthew 16:25), He provides the sacrifice (Genesis 22:13). I believe Genesis 22:14 gives additional evidence that this place, where Isaac and Abraham climbed, where Abraham built the altar, where they found the ram, was the last station of the cross of Jesus Christ (Mark 15:22).

We can draw comfort from this today in knowing that even in the midst of sin, God is leading us to a place. Like Abraham (here), Adam & Eve, Noah and others, it can look terrible, but today, in these circumstances [carpool, work, contracts, phone calls, kids, pain, loss, accomplishment, blessing, sunrise, sunset] we are in the midst of the Gospel Story. It is a story that has been told, is retold and is happening around us all.

In the midst of the mess in Sodom [or my own mess] or Abraham & Sarah’s big mistakes [or our own dumb mistakes] God stands in the gap AND HAS PROVIDED THE SACRIFICE.

And He’s about to reveal what, exactly, that means. We’ve got one more lesson in the Old Testament and then we’re going to bridge and move over to the New Testament and look, specifically, at the six things that the blood of Jesus did to overcome my non-negotiables with God. Stick around. As Darryl once told me: Jesus always livens up the party. He’s coming. Trust me. The minute humanity is ready, Jesus comes.

I love you.                                                                                  

This is the ninth part in a multi-part post expanding on an exceptional talk Billy Graham gave at the University of Cambridge in 1955 with influences from Tim Keller's sermon series Christ: Our Treasury (The Book of Hebrews). To hear an overview of this material, consider listening to the original Nothing but the Blood audio, linked here (it'll stream from a mobile device), read all the posts to date by clicking #nothingbuttheblood, or hear the most recent version of the Nothing but the Blood talk by streaming it on the player, below. If you'd like to get these posts sent to you via email (and you're not already), click here to register and make sure to tell us that you're a Back Porch Friend.

The next in this series, Part 10. Before I Pass Over is available by clicking here.

If you'd like to see more on the concept of the minute humanity is ready, Jesus comes, consider reading Chapter 6-The Wait of the Gospel in A Rooster Once Crowed or other posts partaining to that chapter at #thewaitofthegospel.