Bible Study Snippet Where is the Lamb Old Testament Lesson 3
We read in Genesis 21where the heir of the covenant, Isaac, is born. His name literally means laughter because when God promised Abraham in his old age, you will bear a son. That’s wonderful, but Sarah laughed to herself in unbelief. She said, ‘It will never happen.’ God told Abraham to call his name Isaac, and that will be a reminder to the boy and the daddy and the mom regarding the circumstances surrounding his birth as the heir of the covenant.
In Genesis 22, one of the great chapters in the entire Bible, you have the foreshadow of Calvary.
You have Abraham taking his son Isaac up Mount Mariah to offer him as a sacrifice. Isaac knows, of course, they’re going to offer a sacrifice. What he doesn’t know is that he’s going to be the sacrifice. So, about halfway up, he says, ‘You know dad. We’re getting forgetful in our old age. We’ve got the rope. We’ve got the knife. We have the fire, but we forgot the lamb. Where is the lamb?’
Well, I’m sure that broke Abraham’s heart. In verse 8, Abraham said, “My son, God will provide himself a lamb.” You know they got to the top of the mountain, and, of course, there was a ram up there. God said, ‘Don’t kill your son; slay the ram in lieu of your son.’ But notice the question that Isaac asked in verse 7, “Where is the lamb?”
I’m going to tell you that 2,000 years ago, by the Jordan River, John the Baptist would answer Isaac’s question as he pointed to Jesus and said, “Behold the Lamb.” The Bible is a story about the Lamb. Where is the Lamb? Behold the Lamb.
Revelation 5 says someday all believers will gather around the throne of God, and we will not sing, “Where is the Lamb,” or even, “Behold the Lamb,” but we will sing, “Worthy is the Lamb to receive glory, honor and power.”
I’d like to say this. I think there’s a difference between saving faith and sanctifying faith. Saving faith is in Genesis 12 and 15 where God told Abraham to go somewhere — to the land of Canaan. Abraham had never seen it, but he believed God. Saving faith, I think, is believing in something you can’t see. I’ve never seen Hell and never seen Heaven. I’ve never seen Jesus, but I believe.
But, here in Genesis 22, the boy becomes a man. Real faith, sanctifying faith, major league faith, I think is not just believing what you can’t see, but also believing what you can’t understand.
In Chapter 23, you have the death of Sarah. She dies at the age of 127 and is buried in the cave of Machpelah located near the city of Hebron. Later on, Abraham will be buried there, as well as Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, and Joseph. A whole slew of early Israelite patriarchs have been buried there.
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Comments
a great message of a mans love for his son, and his willingness to lay him as the sacrafice . yet christ says no, i have other plans.
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