On the mount of the Lord, it shall be provided. Why should we focus our attention on this one man who lived 2,000 years before Christ, 4,000 years, roughly, before this present day? The Holy Scriptures present as plain historic fact the great flood through which Noah and his wife, his three sons and their wives, were the only survivors. And in fact, truth be told, we could all trace our family line back to these three men, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. We are told that from these men, many nations are produced even before the Tower of Babel incident. God told Noah and his sons the same thing he had originally told Adam and Eve, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Seems like a pretty easy thing to do, maybe even a bit fun. But, they would not. Indeed, instead of filling the earth, they all joined together as one in the world's first and only one world government in which they worshipped their technology and built a great tower, a great ziggurat or stairway, if you will, into heaven. God was so displeased by their disobedience, by their idolatry, by their turning away from that original promise he had spoken all the way back to Adam and Eve. Namely, that he from heaven would send one born of woman who would redeem the human race. They directly contradicting this and building a tower for themselves to ascend up into heaven. God was so displeased with this that he scattered them in their languages so that they could not understand one another and then scattered them geographically upon the face of the earth. He disinherited the nations, brushing his hands off and saying, I am no longer their God. But then, but a few centuries later, he selects Abraham and calls Abraham forth from his father's house, his father being an idol maker. And God says, as it were, to Abraham, through you I will establish my nation, a nation over which I will be your God. And God promises that Abraham will have a son. And through his son and through that line will come the seed in whom all the families of the earth will be blessed, all the nations of the earth. Indeed, we recognize that seed as Christ Jesus, our Savior, the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation, one for all families, for all nations of the entire earth through him, but received only by some in faith. Abraham believed God's word, believed his promise, left his father's household and went out on his own. Abraham believed the promise that through his son Isaac, through that line of the Messiah, would all the families of the earth be blessed. Abraham is the man of faith. A point which St. Paul takes up in the first century, writing to the Christians in Rome, that Abraham was counted by God to be righteous simply because he believed. He was counted or reckoned by God to be righteous before he was circumcised. And thus Paul's first point is that likewise God reckons us to be justified simply by faith and faith alone before we engage in any of the works of the law. He calls us by grace alone just as he called Abraham by grace alone, and he justifies us on account of faith alone just as Abraham had faith alone. But St. Paul's second point is that because Abraham was reckoned righteous prior to circumcision, that means technically speaking or the way the Jews of Paul's day would have seen it, Abraham was a Gentile. So we see that he is a man of faith and his true offspring are those who share in his faith. Later on in the same letter to the Romans, Paul will say, not all of Israel is Israel. You remember Abraham begets Isaac, Isaac, Jacob. Jacob is called Israel. His 12 sons are the 12 tribes. Paul says not all Israel is Israel. That is to say of Abraham there are those born of the flesh and those who share Abraham's faith. The true sons of Abraham are those who share his faith. So the song you learned in Sunday school is right. Father Abraham had many sons. I am one of them and so are you, so let's all praise the Lord. It's true. But it also means then that the nation state of Israel that got reconstituted in 1947 doesn't have anything whatsoever to do with the scriptures nor are those in any way true Israel if they reject Christ, if they reject that same faith of Abraham who looked for the Messiah and we ourselves look to the same. Abraham is the man of faith and therefore he is the foundation for all of us who share that faith. He is thus also a template, an example for us that as it went for our father, so it will go for us in one way, shape, or form. Abraham, we read in today's Old Testament lesson, was tested by God. It's true that God tempts no one. God does not tempt us to sin. But he does indeed test his people. He had promised to Abraham that specifically through Isaac should all his promises be fulfilled. And then today we hear God challenge that very promise by saying to Abraham, take your son, your only begotten son whom you love. Boy, was God making it easy? No, he was amplifying the challenge, amplifying the test. Take your son, your only begotten son whom you love up to the area of Moriah and sacrifice him upon the mountain that I tell you. God promises and then opposes his promise. It's one of the strangest mysteries of all the Christian faith. Though we are justified by grace through faith apart from all works, that doesn't mean that faith in reality and practice is easy. We have our own sinful flesh opposing us. We have the whole world trying to deceive us with lies, trying to cause us to apostatize. We have the devil himself and all his fallen angels trying to deceive us. And then strangest of all, we have God himself attacking our faith, promising and through that very promise creating faith and then attacking that promise and attacking faith. Why does he do such things? About the closest we can come to explaining this mystery is the same reason maybe you exercise or run or walk or lift weights. In order to build up the body, you must first break down the body. Ironically, by attacking the body as it were, the body rebounds and becomes stronger. That is, at least in part, why God himself makes faith so hard. Why it constantly seems like he is breaking us down. It's not because he despises us. It's rather because this is the paradoxical way in which he builds us up and strengthens our faith. Of course, the faith of a man like Abraham puts us all to shame. Without any grumbling, without any consternation, indeed the very next day, Abraham simply saddles up the donkey and off they ride to the hill of sacrifice. A worthwhile image to keep in mind next week at Palm Sunday when we likewise see Jesus with a donkey riding up to Jerusalem. The faith of Abraham is expressed in two extremely poignant ways. Once they finally arrive, the journey from Beersheba to Moriah being approximately 20.5 hours walking or three days as one scholar calculated. And upon arriving, Abraham says to his two servants, you stay here, the boy and I are going to go up to worship, and here's the key, we will return to you. The author of Hebrews is so taken with that line. He says that Abraham believed that God was even able to raise his son Isaac from the dead. That is to say, even if I have to go through with this, even if I do sacrifice my son because God has promised that it will come through him and none other, God will have no choice but to raise him from the dead. Incredible faith. But Abraham also says as they're walking up, and as his son absolutely tugging at the heartstrings says, father, I see the fire, I see the wood, where's the sacrifice? Abraham says, the Lord will provide the sacrifice, my son. And indeed, that is the very thing that happens. Isaac bears the wood up the hill to the top of the mountain, and there Isaac becomes a willing sacrifice. He allows his father to bind him, he makes no complaint, and he is laid upon the altar. Abraham in his heart has already made his decision. His son is as good as dead, as good as sacrificed. When he reaches for the knife, it's already done. When he raises the knife, he's simply bringing to fulfillment that which was already complete in his own heart. And in that very moment, the angel of the Lord calls out from heaven to Abraham, stay your hand, do not harm your son. And listen to this line, he says, do not lay your hand on your son, or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, seeing that you have not withheld your son, your only son from me. We have, as it were, a blurring between God and the angel of God in such a way that though they are distinct, they are one. What we have is one God and two persons, one person invisible and one visible. We will later know these to be the father and the son. At that moment, after the angel stays his hand, Abraham looks up and we're so familiar with this story, the miraculous nature of it might escape us. Think of all the countless hours collectively that the people in this sanctuary alone have spent in the outdoors. Have any of you seen a ram tangled up in a thicket by his horns? No, nor is this a common occurrence in the least, nor specifically at that moment. It doesn't escape Abraham what has happened. This is a miraculous provision by God. The ram will be slain in place of his beloved son. And Abraham names that place Yahweh Yirah, the Lord will provide. As it is said to this day on the Mount of the Lord, it will be provided. That Mount Moriah has an interesting name. Moriah means the manifestation or revelation of Yah, of Yahweh. We see revealed there the father and the son. But there's more to it than that. This Mount Moriah is the very same place at which God will make a covenant with David. It's the very same place at which God will instruct Solomon to build the temple. That very mountain where Abraham and Isaac stand is the place where Jerusalem will be built, where the temple of God will be established. But most importantly of all, it is that very mountain upon which our Lord Jesus himself will die. Not a ram with his horns caught in the thicket, but a lamb with his head wrapped in the thicket of thorns. Not a ram in place of one son, but the Lamb of God in the place of all of us. That true son of the Father who, as Isaac bore the wood up the mountain, he bears the cross to Golgotha. As Isaac was a willing sacrifice, he allows himself to be bound. He opens not his mouth in protest. And there, what God the Father did not require of Abraham, he requires of himself. He provides his own beloved son as the sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the whole world. In this act, he shows himself to be different from all the gods and all the religions of all the nations of the world, which demand the sacrifice of man to serve God. The one true God inverts and flips this. He provides his own beloved son as the sacrifice for us. As Abraham, the great man of faith, clung to the promise of God, clung to the Messiah, the Savior that God himself provided, may we too cling to the promises of God and to the very same Messiah. May we cling in faith even when our own sinful nature, even when the world, even when the devil, yes, even when God himself opposes us. May we humble ourselves, be filled with the Holy Spirit, and believe. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
