Genesis 22; Matthew 21
Genesis 22
Ready:
The last chapter covered the birth of Isaac and the sending off of Hagar and Ishmael. Now Abraham and Sarah are settled and their promised child is weaned and life seems to be just as they expected.
Reading thoughts:
I see the story of Abraham obeying the command of God to sacrifice his Son as a burnt offering to the Lord and God interrupting to provide a substitute offering. In the end God declares that he has sworn against himself that he will keep this covenant to bless him, multiply his offspring, and grant them the land of their enemies, and that all the nations of the earth will be blessed. He does this, however, tied distinctively to this action of obedience. He does this tied to the sacrifice of a son against a clear alternative to withhold the son since it is the only son and he is deeply loved. God says “because you have obeyed my voice”. Abraham heard God, trusted God, and acted upon it with the obedience of faith. Hebrew 11:17-19 says that Abraham was tested and that he believed God would resurrect Isaac because Abraham trusted that God would indeed bring a nation from this boy even though he didn’t understand why then he would need to sacrifice him.
Key Verses:
“1 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”” (Genesis 22:1–2, ESV)
“7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.” (Genesis 22:7–8, ESV)
“10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”” (Genesis 22:10–11, ESV)
“12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.” (Genesis 22:12–13, ESV)
“16 and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,” (Genesis 22:16, ESV)
I see the theme as- God tests Abraham and in doing he also reveals to him how it is that God will swear an everlasting covenant by the obedience and the sacrifice of his own Son in place of his people.
Rumination thoughts:
v1. Immediately Moses tells us that this was a test. Interesting that God tests Abraham. Certainly God knew his heart and knew the certainty that Abraham was to obey but perhaps the test was more for a revealing to Abraham and to us. Tests show what something is made of and if it is true. Tests give us confidence in something. Perhaps God wanted to give Abraham confidence.
v2. Ouch! God calls Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. The son that they have waited 25 years for God to give them. The son that God has promised to bring a nation from and a multitude that cannot really be counted. The son who will bring the promised offspring to crush the head of the serpent. Sacrifice this son? How does that accomplish the purpose? How can giving up life gain life? How can obeying God in this case result in the purpose of God being fulfilled? What is God thinking? Why have you brought me through all of this to now tell me to kill the boy?
v3. He didn’t flinch. Obviously the record doesn’t indicate everything but there is no mention by Moses here that Abraham asked a single question or had any hesitation. Off they went.
v4-8. So they head off and Abraham prophetically (albeit unknowingly) tells Isaac that God will provide a sacrifice for the offering when Isaac inquires why they did not bring a lamb.
v9-11. Here it is. Abraham goes through with it, no doubt painfully and with tears and who knows what kind of interaction occurred between him and Isaac as he tied him to the altar. How can this be? How can God want this promised offspring to be sacrificed when he is the one that all the promises of God are supposed to come through? Abraham believes the God must intend to resurrect him and so he reaches for the knife, having made the mental and emotional decision to go ahead with the the sacrifice.
v12-14. But God stops him in the moment that Abraham made the final commitment to carry it out. He says “seeing that you have not withheld your son, your only son”…compare this to Rom 8:3 and 32. Then Abraham spots a substitute in the bushes, provided by God. He sacrifices the substitute in place of Isaac. This is as plain of a foreshadowing as can be made to show us how Jesus is the sacrifice that is made in substitution for us. God reveals the plan of a substitutionary atonement to Abraham like he did to Adam when he clothed him in animal skin (killing an animal instead of Adam himself). So this test did more than just prove Abraham lives out the obedience of faith. It has taught him and us more of how God will accomplish our salvation.
v15-18. Here God speaks again and announces that it is by his own name or again himself that he has sworn that he will keep the covenant he had already given to Abraham and he ties it to this act of obedient sacrifice of the only son. So I see at least two things being necessary here. 1. Obedience of faith (trust in God to do precisely as he says that leads to action) that is true when tested to the extreme and 2. A substitute sacrifice actually being made by a greater father of a greater Son in order to bring about the promise that God has made to Adam and to Noah and to Abraham. Remembering the already-not yet paradigm presented in chapter 17 it seems that this sacrifice of the Son is the very thing that makes the obedience of faith possible as Jesus is called the founder and perfecter of our faith in Hebrews 12:2 (even Abraham’s I suggest). This verse in Hebrews says how he founded and perfected our faith…go read it.
v19-24. Then Abraham and Isaac return and Abraham seems to get filled in on some details regarding his brother Nahor, who it seems Abraham has been out of touch with since he just ow learns of not only Nahor's children but also a grandchild (unless the narrator is not trying to give chronology to us and is merely letting us know some future details- which is quite possible).
Meaning, Implications, and Significance
1. God expects Abraham to have and to demonstrate obedience of faith in the most extreme circumstances. The implication today is that God expects this kind of faith from me and this can only come by the power of God through the cross of Christ and ultimately by his Spirit gifting me this kind of faith. This takes a circumcised heart by the Spirit of God (Deut 30:6, Jer 31:31-33, Ezek 36:26-27, Eph 2:8-9). So this asking of Abraham to sacrifice his son was something special in the big story of God revealing his plan of salvation to mankind and I should consider that today I must comply with God’s revealed will in his Word and I am told to test any spirit to be sure that I am not ever listening to something other than the Spirit of God (1 John 4:1-3). So I should never go jump off a bridge or do something clearly against the Word of God because I felt a “sense” or heard a “voice” that tells me to act against what I know God has said…just like Jesus in the desert. The significance for me today is that I am to trust God and I am to trust primarily in the sacrifice of Jesus to accomplish my salvation and to be my standing with God. I am to step forward in faith that because of Christ and his work I am right with God and he is at work in me. I have the power to live with the obedience of faith in all aspects of my life because of Jesus and his Spirit that dwells in me!
2. A sacrifice was necessary but God was pleased to offer it himself and he has swore to deliver us on his name and it is a unilateral covenant that even secures our obedience (already- not yet). The implication is that God determined that Abraham would pass this test when he passed through the broken carcasses in chapter 15 by himself. “By myself I have sworn”. Abraham was walking forward in faith but it was God who secured this. The significance for me is that I have a dance of obedience of faith to engage in and I can do it knowing that Jesus is praying for and has died for the securing of my faith (Rom 8:34, Luke 21:31-32). I can see the manifesting of Jesus in my life when I walk in this victory (John 14:21) that is mine for the taking, guaranteed by the blood of the lamb (Heb 6:17, Rom 4:16). I have responsibility but he empowers and sets his name upon the guarantee that I will fulfill this responsibility (1 Thess 5:23-24)!
Response:
“Private”
Reaction:
“Private”
Matthew 21
Ready:
I pick up after Jesus told the parable of the Vineyard and I realize I left out the last paragraph about him healing two blind men.
Reading thoughts:
Here I see right away that he is drawing near Jerusalem and he stops at the Mount of Olives. The ministry of Jesus lasted three years and this point marks the beginning of the last week of his life (before the cross). I see Jesus enter Jerusalem as prophesied and many people are crying out for him to save them with “hosannah!” and they recognize him as the Son of David (promised heir…the Messiah). Jesus cleanses the temple next (although Matthew is likely following a thematic description and not chronological). Then Jesus curses the fig tree, returns a question for a question to the Pharisees who want to know on what authority he removes people from the temple or teaches in the temple. Then Jesus teaches about true faith that includes repentance and Matthew finishes the chapter with Jesus teaching a devastating parable of the tenants that completely obliterates the Pharisees and no doubt pushes them harder toward their determination to kill him. In this chapter Jesus clearly intends to present himself as the Messiah and there is no holding back…the time has come to go to the cross! This triumphal entry at the beginning of this chapter occurs on what we call Palm Sunday and it marks what is called Passion Week (or Holy Week), which culminates with his resurrection the following Sunday. Page 1866 in the ESV Study Bible gives a good timeline of events for Holy Week that harmonizes the gospel accounts into one.
Key Verses:
“8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”” (Matthew 21:8–9, ESV)
“13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”” (Matthew 21:13, ESV)
“15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, 16 and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, “ ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?”” (Matthew 21:15–16, ESV)
“15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, 16 and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, “ ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?”” (Matthew 21:15–16, ESV)
I see the theme as- Jesus enters the City of David claiming his authority as the Messiah and sets himself against any that will not surrender in true faith to the Son of God.
Rumination thoughts:
v1-11. Jesus fulfills prophecy and enters the City as was promised by God about 400-500 years earlier by Zechariah (Zech 9:9). The crowds are praising him and asking that he save them but in only five days the crowd will shout “Let him be crucified!” (Matt 27:22-23). Little did they know that they were saying the same thing, for it was only in this death that the Jews or anyone else would ever be saved from the wrath of God. Jesus came to conquer through suffering.
v12-17. Here Jesus clears the temple and shows that the house of God is a place of worship and is to be honored. He also shows that he welcomes the lame, the blind, and the children. The proud teachers and religious leaders are not the ones he came for. He came to reveal the truth to a people who will rely upon him and who will trust him and who understand their need for him. Of course many Jews followed Jesus (like the disciples) but the Pharisees are set apart as the religious establishment that did not accept Jesus. Here Jesus lets the children worship him and declare him as the Christ and the Pharisees simply ask him “Do you hear what they are saying?”. Of course he does…maybe the Pharisees should listen a little harder themselves. Then Jesus leaves and spends the night in Bethany (outside of Jerusalem).
v18-22. Returning to the Jerusalem Matthew records a compressed account of his withering of the fig tree. He works a miracle that is also interpreted by many to be a judgement upon this unbelieving generation of Israel. He teaches them about faith in this lesson and tells that that pray offered in faith is answered. There are, of course, other teachings on prayer that help us to take this in context and know that we must have right motives (kingdom motives) (James 4:3), and that we must be praying with faith that is in the right thing (namely Jesus and his work on the cross- John 16:23-24) and this faith is only true when it evidences itself in obedience (repentance- Matt 21:28-32, James 2:26, 1 John 2:3-6). Jesus says that it will be done if we have faith and if we do not doubt. I certainly do not take this to be not doubting in that the request will be granted but in not doubting in the authority of the name of Jesus. So he doesn’t mean really really believe that the mountain will be thrown into the ocean. He means really really believe that Jesus can do whatever he wills and he always does what glorifies the Father in Heaven. This unwavering belief that God can do what he says is the faith that saved Abraham (Rom 4:20-22). Do not doubt the identity or authority of the one in whom’s name you pray. I think this is why this passage comes right before the next one…
v23-27. Here Jesus declares (without saying it) that he exercises the authority of heaven when he acts to rule over the things that happen in the temple. The Pharisees are scared to answer his question and he knows they would not believe that his authority is from heaven so he does not waste the breath in them and prefers to point out to them their own cowardice.
v28-32. Here Jesus clearly teaches that ultimate repentance and action is the marker of faith and not an empty confession. This speaks volumes to us if we rely on a prayer or an event in our past as our evidence to our conscience that we are “saved”. J.D. Grear wrote a book called Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart and he tackles this concept by asking the reader to not look backward to a ceremony of prayer of anything else that they have done but to only look back to the cross of Christ. We should consider the present day if we want to know if we have saving faith. Are we currently showing trust and repentance? This is the question, not did I get baptized or did I pray the right prayer? If I look at my life and can’t say that I am living in trust and repentance…then I just need to repent of that failure and ask God for strength and will to do it. Who knows exactly when I was saved…and who cares.
v33-44. This is a big long story to make the point that the Jews have been stiff-necked and they have killed prophet after prophet and even now they will kill the Son of God himself in their unbelief and for this reason the Gentiles will receive the Kingdom “first” to relate it to yesterday’s discussion. But we know in the end this rejection is actually going to turn around and be the source of Israel’s salvation (Rom 11).
v45-46. The chief priests (the "Sanhedrin" or Jewish council) and the Pharisees heard these parables of the two sons and of the tenants and they knew what Jesus was saying. They heard this on Tuesday and on Wednesday the council would settle on a plan to kill this supposed Messiah (Matt 26:3-5).
Meaning, Implications, and Significance
No time!
Response:
“Private”
Reaction:
“Private”
Soli Deo Gloria!
