Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / It Will Be Provided

Transcript

It Will Be Provided · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio. Good morning, friends and faithful listeners, thank you
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  Speaker 1: for tuning into the Bible Explain podcast on this special
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  Speaker 1: Good Friday episode. Good Friday is one of the most
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  Speaker 1: important dates in the Christian calendar, other than Easter. Of course,
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  Speaker 1: I would say Good Friday is probably second to Easter,
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  Speaker 1: and then Christmas is probably third. So Good Friday is
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  Speaker 1: a very, very important holiday because this is the day
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  Speaker 1: that we celebrate. Well, celebrate is probably a bad word,
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  Speaker 1: but this is the day we reflect on Jesus's death,
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  Speaker 1: not his resurrection that comes on Sunday, but his death,
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  Speaker 1: the punishment that he suffered on our behalf. But instead
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  Speaker 1: of reading about the suffering of Jesus in one of
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  Speaker 1: the Gospels today, I thought I might do something a
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  Speaker 1: little bit different. I decided I'd like to go back
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  Speaker 1: to Genesis chapter twenty two and discuss the parallels between
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  Speaker 1: the testing of Abraham and Jesus up on the cross,
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  Speaker 1: because the testing of Abraham with his son Isaac is
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  Speaker 1: probably the best picture we get in the Old Testament
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  Speaker 1: of what Jesus was going to suffer. But before I
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  Speaker 1: get into this episode, here, of course, is a word
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  Speaker 1: from a sponsor. While you are listening to this. Go
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  Speaker 1: ahead and grab your Bible out of the version that
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  Speaker 1: you prefer, and also your cup of coffee this morning
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  Speaker 1: to share with me. I've got my coffee right here.
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  Speaker 1: It is getting cold, so maybe while this ad plays,
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  Speaker 1: I will go and heat it up. All right, now
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  Speaker 1: that your coffee is nice and warm and your Bible
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  Speaker 1: is in front of you, let's read Genesis twenty two
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  Speaker 1: one through fourteen together. But as we're reading through this,
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  Speaker 1: I have a little exercise for you, guys. I want
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  Speaker 1: you all, as I'm reading, to pick out each individual
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  Speaker 1: thing that Abraham or Isaac does that is a picture
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  Speaker 1: of how Jesus went to the cross. And we'll see
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  Speaker 1: how many you get right at the end, and maybe
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  Speaker 1: you might get some that I didn't even think of.
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  Speaker 1: So if you do, actually contact me and tell me, hey,
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  Speaker 1: Jen I thought of this one that you didn't even
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  Speaker 1: say on your podcast, I'd like to hear about that.
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  Speaker 1: All right, let's start in verse one of Genesis twenty two.
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  Speaker 1: After these things, God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham,
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  Speaker 1: he said, here I am. He said, Now take your son,
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  Speaker 1: your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go into
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  Speaker 1: the land of Mariah. Offer him there as a burnt
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  Speaker 1: offering on one of the mountains, which I will tell
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  Speaker 1: you of. Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled
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  Speaker 1: his donkey and took two of his young men with him,
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  Speaker 1: and Isaac his son. He split the wood for the
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  Speaker 1: burnt offering and rose up and went to the place
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  Speaker 1: of which God had told him. On the third day,
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  Speaker 1: Abraham lifted up his eyes and he saw the place
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  Speaker 1: far off. Abraham said to his young men, stay here
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  Speaker 1: with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there.
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  Speaker 1: We will worship and then come back to you. Abraham
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  Speaker 1: took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it
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  Speaker 1: on Isaac his son. He took in his hand the
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  Speaker 1: fire and the knife. They both went together. Isaac spoke
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  Speaker 1: to Abraham his father, and said, my father, he said,
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  Speaker 1: here I am my son. He said, here is the
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  Speaker 1: fire and the wood, But where is the lamb for
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  Speaker 1: the burnt offering. Abraham said, God will provide himself the
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  Speaker 1: lamb for a burnt offering, my son. So they both
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  Speaker 1: went together. They came to the place which God had
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  Speaker 1: told him of. Abraham built the altar there and laid
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  Speaker 1: the wood in order bound Isaac, his son and laid
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  Speaker 1: him on the altar on the wood. Abraham stretched out
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  Speaker 1: his hand and took the knife to kill his son.
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  Speaker 1: Yahwe's angel called to him out of the sky and said, Abraham, Abraham,
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  Speaker 1: he said, here I am. He said, don't lay your
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  Speaker 1: hand on the boy or do anything to him. For
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  Speaker 1: now I know that you fear God, since you have
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  Speaker 1: not withheld your son, your only son, from me. Abraham
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  Speaker 1: lifted up his eyes and looked and saw that behind
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  Speaker 1: him was a ram, caught in the thicket by its horns.
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  Speaker 1: Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up
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  Speaker 1: for a burnt offering instead of his son. Abraham called
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  Speaker 1: the name of that place, Yahweh will provide, as it
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  Speaker 1: is said to this day on Yahwai's mountain. It will
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  Speaker 1: be provided. Okay, So now that you read through it,
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  Speaker 1: do you see any parallels of how this story relates
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  Speaker 1: to Jesus suffering on the cross. But before we get
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  Speaker 1: into all those similarities, let's first talk about God asking
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  Speaker 1: Abraham to sacrifice his son, because it seems almost out
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  Speaker 1: of God's character, right, because we've been learning in the
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  Speaker 1: Kings and the prophets how much God hates human sacrifice,
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  Speaker 1: So then why would he ask Abraham to sacrifice his
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  Speaker 1: son Isaac? Seems almost out of God's character and not
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  Speaker 1: to mention, what was the point of all of this
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  Speaker 1: to begin with. Well, starting in verse one, it says
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  Speaker 1: after these things, God tested Abraham and said to him Abraham.
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  Speaker 1: So that's the first thing that we have to know here.
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  Speaker 1: God was doing this to test Abraham. And that might
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  Speaker 1: also seem very confusing to you guys, because you're probably like,
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  Speaker 1: why would an all knowing God have to test Abraham
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  Speaker 1: if he already knows exactly what Abraham's going to do. Well,
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  Speaker 1: there's actually a few reasons why God tests people, and
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  Speaker 1: it's not for himself, though that's what a lot of
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  Speaker 1: people think. Obviously, God knows the future, he knows what's
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  Speaker 1: going to happen. He knows Abraham's heart, he knows your heart,
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  Speaker 1: my heart, he knows everybody's heart. The reason he tested
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  Speaker 1: Abraham was for several reasons. Firstly, for all of us,
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  Speaker 1: all of us reading this passage of scripture. God knew
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  Speaker 1: that this would be included in the canon of Scripture,
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  Speaker 1: and God wanted this story to be relayed to all
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  Speaker 1: of us so that we can learn something through it.
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  Speaker 1: That's the first reason he tested Abraham. The second reason
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  Speaker 1: he tested able Abraham was to obviously show the parallels
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  Speaker 1: of what Abraham and Isaac do here as to what
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  Speaker 1: Jesus was going to do on the cross, so that
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  Speaker 1: we get a better understanding of the heart of God.
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  Speaker 1: All of scripture points to Jesus, and this story, of course,
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  Speaker 1: is without question that it points to Jesus. You can
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  Speaker 1: absolutely tell that it does. So that's the second reason
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  Speaker 1: why God would test Abraham. The third reason was to
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  Speaker 1: teach Abraham and Isaac something. And the fourth reason was
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  Speaker 1: to show everybody, you and I and everybody that's going
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  Speaker 1: to read this passage throughout all of history that Abraham
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  Speaker 1: deserved to be blessed, because you know, God knows what's
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  Speaker 1: going on in someone's heart, and God might have chosen
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  Speaker 1: not to ever test Abraham and just heap blessings on him,
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  Speaker 1: But then we'd go back in the older portions of
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  Speaker 1: scripture and be like, why would God bless this guy?
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  Speaker 1: This guy kind of sucked, honestly, like he sorted in.
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  Speaker 1: I don't mean to be flippant with God's friends and
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  Speaker 1: the father of the Israelite nation, but he really was
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  Speaker 1: not a great guy. I mean, think about all the
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  Speaker 1: stuff Abraham did before this. He essentially gave his wife
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  Speaker 1: away to another man on two different occasions that he
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  Speaker 1: could save himself. He slept with another woman, He laughed
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  Speaker 1: at God's promises. Hence why Isaac was named Isaac, actually
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  Speaker 1: because the name Isaac means he laughs. So Abraham didn't
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  Speaker 1: trust in God's promises before. And if that's all we
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  Speaker 1: knew of Abraham, the majority of us would be like,
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  Speaker 1: why in the world would God bless this man. So
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  Speaker 1: God wanted to show that there was something else to
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  Speaker 1: Abraham for the rest of us, that there was a
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  Speaker 1: reason God was blessing this man. And lastly, another point
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  Speaker 1: that a lot of people don't think about is that
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  Speaker 1: it's not just about you and I here on earth
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  Speaker 1: when it comes to the stories in the Bible. God
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  Speaker 1: also does things for the angels as well, and we
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  Speaker 1: forget about that because we don't know a lot about
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  Speaker 1: angels and we don't really know what their situation is.
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  Speaker 1: When it comes to the whole salvation story. There's very
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  Speaker 1: little information about that when it comes to scripture, but
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  Speaker 1: we do know that God shows things to the angels
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  Speaker 1: in a very different way. And so sometimes when God
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  Speaker 1: tests us or does things in scripture that we might
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  Speaker 1: not understand, he might actually be doing it also for
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  Speaker 1: the angels, interestingly enough, and we just don't think about that.
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  Speaker 1: So there's many reasons why God would test Abraham. But
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  Speaker 1: going back to the whole human sacrifice thing, let's read
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  Speaker 1: about that. In verse two, God said, now take your son,
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  Speaker 1: your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go into
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  Speaker 1: the land of Mariah. Offer him there as a burnt
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  Speaker 1: offering on one of the mountains, which I will tell
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  Speaker 1: you of. Now, obviously, when Abraham hears this, he immediately
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  Speaker 1: thinks child sacrifice, right, because that is what the nations
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  Speaker 1: around him all did. Human sacrifice was prevalent, very very
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  Speaker 1: common in the days of Abraham, and so Abraham hears
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  Speaker 1: God say this, and he immediately thinks human sacrifice. But
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  Speaker 1: I would argue here that God never specifically says to
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  Speaker 1: kill Isaac. He says, offer him there as a burnt
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  Speaker 1: offering on one of the mountains, which I will tell
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  Speaker 1: you of. They might be like, well, jen he says
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  Speaker 1: the word burnt offering, you would think that that means fire,
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  Speaker 1: like being burnt to a crisp, But I don't know
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  Speaker 1: if you guys remember us talking about the different offerings
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  Speaker 1: when we were going through the Book of Leviticus. First
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  Speaker 1: and foremost, the burnt offering specifically means to offer something
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  Speaker 1: fully to God. If you go back to the Hebrew
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  Speaker 1: word for burnt, which I forgot what it was. I
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  Speaker 1: did look it up, but I completely forgot it. So
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  Speaker 1: I apologize for that. It means to offer fully, and
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  Speaker 1: that was the point of a burnt offering, was to
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  Speaker 1: give the entire thing up to God. And then the
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  Speaker 1: word offer right here, which I think the Hebrew word
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  Speaker 1: was allah, It means to offer something up, to raise
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  Speaker 1: something up, not necessarily the word sacrifice like you and
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  Speaker 1: I would think, you know, when we think of a sacrifice,
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  Speaker 1: that means like killing something essentially, But again the Hebrew
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  Speaker 1: word means something more like offering it up fully. So
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  Speaker 1: when God tells Abraham to offer Isaac, his only son
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  Speaker 1: and the son that he loves, as an offering to him,
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  Speaker 1: a burnt offering to him, what God is essentially saying
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  Speaker 1: is offer Isaac up fully to me. Now once again,
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  Speaker 1: Abraham would have taken that to mean a child sacrifice
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  Speaker 1: to God. Now likely Isaac at this point in time
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  Speaker 1: was a young man, maybe not necessarily a child child,
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  Speaker 1: probably like a teenager. I would guess around this time,
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  Speaker 1: because we do know that sometime has passed since Isaac
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  Speaker 1: was born, and he was also old enough, it says,
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  Speaker 1: to carry his own wood at this time. And I
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  Speaker 1: don't know if you guys know anything about wood, but
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  Speaker 1: it is very heavy. My husband and I have a
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  Speaker 1: woodfire heater, and I despise bringing the wood in because
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  Speaker 1: it is so heavy, and it's full of bugs too.
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  Speaker 1: I just don't really like it all that much. But
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  Speaker 1: the point is that Isaac was old enough to carry
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  Speaker 1: his own wood, and a young child would not be
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  Speaker 1: able to carry the amount of wood needed for a
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  Speaker 1: sacrifice to God. So likely Isaac was a teenage boy,
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  Speaker 1: a young man essentially. But even if Isaac was younger
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  Speaker 1: than that, if Isaac was a child, you can tell
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  Speaker 1: based upon this story that God had zero intention for
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  Speaker 1: Abraham to actually kill Isaac. You can see this because
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  Speaker 1: God stops Abraham from doing the deed. This was all
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  Speaker 1: a test to see where Abraham's heart was, so that
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  Speaker 1: we could see where Abraham's heart was, and Abraham himself
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  Speaker 1: could see it was Abraham going to be the old
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  Speaker 1: Abraham that disobeyed God, that didn't believe in God, because
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  Speaker 1: there are more multiple times where Abraham disobeyed God. That's
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  Speaker 1: something that I've been hounding a lot on the podcast recently,
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  Speaker 1: is that truly following God means to obey him. And
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  Speaker 1: this was a test of Abraham's obedience. So Abraham in
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  Speaker 1: fact obeys, which is slightly out of character for him.
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  Speaker 1: It says Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled
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  Speaker 1: his donkey and took two of his young men with him,
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  Speaker 1: and Isaac, his son. He split the wood for the
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  Speaker 1: burnt offering, and rose up and went to the place
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  Speaker 1: of which God had told him. On the third day,
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  Speaker 1: Abraham lifted up his eyes and he saw the place
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  Speaker 1: afar off. Abraham said to his young men, stay here
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  Speaker 1: with the donkey the boy, and I will go over there.
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  Speaker 1: We will worship and then come back to you. Now,
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  Speaker 1: at this point in time, you might be like, Wow,
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  Speaker 1: Abraham really didn't seem to care about his son, because
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  Speaker 1: God had just told him to offer him up, and
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  Speaker 1: Abraham doesn't really seem to care all that much. Like
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  Speaker 1: he's splitting the wood, he's takeing it to this place
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  Speaker 1: like he's just obeying without asking God any questions. So
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  Speaker 1: how can this be? Well? Actually, verse five shows Abraham's
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  Speaker 1: heart before we see anything else that Abraham does. We
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  Speaker 1: see Abraham's heart right here when he talks to the
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  Speaker 1: young men that were with him. He says, stay here
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  Speaker 1: with the donkey the boy, and I will go over there.
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  Speaker 1: We will worship and come back to you. That shows
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  Speaker 1: that Abraham had full confidence that both he and Isaac
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  Speaker 1: would be returning back home, because he says, we're going
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  Speaker 1: to worship and we're going to come back. Abraham doesn't
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  Speaker 1: quite know what God's plan is here, but he knows
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  Speaker 1: that God is not going to take Isaac from him
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  Speaker 1: because Abraham trusted and believed in the promises that God
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  Speaker 1: gave him. And what was the promise that God gave
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  Speaker 1: to Abraham. He said, through Isaac, you will be the
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  Speaker 1: father of many nations. Abraham had full trust in that
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  Speaker 1: promise beforehand. In Abraham's life, he didn't trust in God's promises.
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  Speaker 1: He didn't trust that Sarah in her old age, could
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  Speaker 1: bear a son for him. He didn't trust that he
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  Speaker 1: would be safe in the land God told him to
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  Speaker 1: go he didn't even trust in God's promise initially because
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  Speaker 1: he was laughing at God's promise. He trusted some things
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  Speaker 1: about God, but not everything. And maybe at this point
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  Speaker 1: in time of Abraham's life, he is done with not
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  Speaker 1: trusting in God. He says, you know what, I've seen
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  Speaker 1: God's goodness in my life through all of these years,
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  Speaker 1: how He's taken care of me, how all of his
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  Speaker 1: promises have come to fruition in the past. And I
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  Speaker 1: believe wholeheartedly that even if I offer my son on
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  Speaker 1: this altar, my only son, the son that I love
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  Speaker 1: so much, on this altar, that God will bring this
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  Speaker 1: child back from the dead. And that is what Hebrews
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  Speaker 1: eleven actually says about Abraham. So if you flip over
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  Speaker 1: to Hebrews eleven seventeen through nineteen, it talks more about
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  Speaker 1: Abraham's faith. It says by faith, Abraham being tested offered
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  Speaker 1: up Isaac. Yes, he who had gladly received the promises,
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  Speaker 1: was offering up his only born son, to whom it
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  Speaker 1: was said, your offspring will be accounted as from Isaac
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  Speaker 1: concluding that God is able to raise up even from
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  Speaker 1: the dead. Figuratively speaking, he also did receive him back
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  Speaker 1: from the dead. Abraham had full confidence, full confidence that
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  Speaker 1: God was going to raise Isaac back from the dead,
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  Speaker 1: that even if Abraham went through the process of sacrificing Isaac,
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  Speaker 1: killing his own son, that God would raise Isaac back
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  Speaker 1: from the dead and everything would be okay. And this
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  Speaker 1: point is shown even further with Abraham's faith because Isaac
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  Speaker 1: and Abraham are now walking to this place together, and
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  Speaker 1: it says Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering
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  Speaker 1: and laid it on Isaac, his son. He took in
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  Speaker 1: his hand the fire and the knife. They both went together.
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  Speaker 1: Isaac spoke to Abraham his father, and said, my father,
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  Speaker 1: He said, here I am my son. He said, here
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  Speaker 1: is the fire in the wood, but where's the lamb
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  Speaker 1: for the burnt offering. Abraham said, God will provide himself
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  Speaker 1: the lamb for a burnt offering, my son. So they
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  Speaker 1: both went together. So that right there is the next point.
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  Speaker 1: Abraham again had full confidence that he would be returning
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  Speaker 1: with Isaac. Maybe he didn't quite know what that was
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  Speaker 1: going to look like. Maybe he thought that God would
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  Speaker 1: stop him from sacrificing Isaac by the time he got there,
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  Speaker 1: and God would give him a lamb. Maybe he thought
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  Speaker 1: that Isaac would be raised from the dead and then
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  Speaker 1: they'd offer a lamb. It could also just be that
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  Speaker 1: Abraham was trying to quell the fears of his son,
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  Speaker 1: or it could have been a little bit of both,
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  Speaker 1: where Abraham has full confidence in God's provision but also
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  Speaker 1: is trying to quell the fears of his young boy.
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  Speaker 1: When the boy realizes that Abraham might offer him as
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  Speaker 1: a sacrifice at any minute, so Abraham and Isaac continue on,
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  Speaker 1: it says in verse eight, and then in verse nine,
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  Speaker 1: they came to the place which God had told him of.
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  Speaker 1: Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in
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  Speaker 1: order bound Isaac, his son, and laid him on the altar.
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  Speaker 1: On the wood, Abraham stretched out his hand and took
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  Speaker 1: the knife to kill his son. You know, that's the
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  Speaker 1: one thing about the Book of Genesis. Actually, if you
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  Speaker 1: read through it, you'll see that the author, who is
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  Speaker 1: credited to Moses, doesn't give a lot of thoughts and
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  Speaker 1: feelings to the characters. The author just gives more of
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  Speaker 1: the overall view, like what the people did, not necessarily
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  Speaker 1: what they were thinking or feeling. So even though Abraham,
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  Speaker 1: it doesn't give him a lot of feeling. In this story,
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  Speaker 1: I am sure that he didn't want to kill his son.
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  Speaker 1: It says specifically in verse two that Abraham loved Isaac.
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  Speaker 1: He loved Isaac and not to mention the fact that
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  Speaker 1: Isaac was going along willingly with This shows how much
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  Speaker 1: that boy trusted his father. That boy probably did not
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  Speaker 1: believe that his father would do anything to hurt him,
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  Speaker 1: and that shows even more how Abraham treated his son.
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  Speaker 1: He loved Isaac and didn't want to do anything to
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  Speaker 1: hurt him. And there's one last thing in this passage
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  Speaker 1: where we can see how much Abraham loves Isaac. So
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  Speaker 1: moving forward in the story, in verse ten, it says
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  Speaker 1: Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to
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  Speaker 1: kill his son. Y always angel called to him out
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  Speaker 1: of the sky and said, Abraham, Abraham, he said, here
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  Speaker 1: I am. He said, don't lay your hand on the
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  Speaker 1: boy or do anything to him. For now I know
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son,
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: your only son, from me. Abraham lifted up his eyes
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: and looked and saw that behind him was a ram,
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: caught in the thicket by his horns. Abraham went and
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: took the ram and offered him up for a burnt
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: offering instead of his son. Abraham called the name of
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: that place, Yahweh will provide, As it is said to
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: this day, on Yahwei's mountain, it will be provided. So
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: Jesus actually talks about this story in John chapter eight,
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: and he mentions again how much Abraham loved his son.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: John eight fifty six, it says, your father Abraham rejoiced
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: to see my day. He saw it and was glad.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: So what Jesus is saying right there is that Abraham
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: saw the Ram and was glad. Now why would Abraham
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: be glad about this? Well, because he didn't have to
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: offer his son as a burnt offering. There was one
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: provided to him. And when Abraham sees that Ram and
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: sacrifices the instead of Isaac, he calls this mountain the
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: place where Yahweh will provide, as it is said to
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: this day in verse fourteen, on Yahwei's mountain, it will
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: be provided. So it's a really beautiful story of Abraham's
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: faith that he had in God. But the main reason
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: why God asked this was so that you and I
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: could benefit from this story. And what do we benefit
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: from this? We obviously see the parallels of Jesus going
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: to the cross through this story. And how many parallels
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: did you guys count, Because there's a ton of them.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: Let's go back to the beginning. It says in verse one,
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: after these things, God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham,
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: that's the first thing. Abraham in this story is obviously
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: signifying God the Father. As we know, Abraham was the
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: father of many nations. He was the first patriarch of Israel,
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: so he in this story signifies God the Father. Abraham says,
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: here I am, and God says, take your son, your
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: only son, Isaac, whom you love. That's the second parallel.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: God the Father has one son, that son being Jesus Christ.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: And Jesus says in the most famous verse in the
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: entire Bible, John three point sixteen, for God so loved
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: the world that he gave his one and only son,
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: everlasting life. And then later on, God himself, when Jesus
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: was being baptized, said from the heavens, this is my son,
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: who I am well pleased with. So God loves his
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: one and only son, and Abraham here in this story
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: loves Isaac, his one and only son. Now, I'm not
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: going to go down the rabbit trail of how Abraham
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: did in fact have other sons. He did, but Isaac
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: was the one and only chosen son that Abraham had,
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: and Abraham deeply loved Isaac. But in the same verse,
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: God continues, Abraham go into the land of Mariah. That's
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: the third parallel we see in this story. Mount Mariah
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: was an area that consisted of three very small mountains.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: One of those mountains ended up being where the temple
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: was built. In Second Chronicles three, verse one, here's what
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: it says. Solomon began to build Yahwai's house at Jerusalem
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: on Mount Mariah, where Yahweh appeared to David, his father,
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: which he prepared in the place that David had appointed
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: on the threshing floor of Ornan, the Jebusite. So there
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: you go. Mount Mariah was one of the mountains where
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: the temple was built, but Jesus himself was offered on
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: one of the other mountains of Mariah, and I would
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: guess it's the same place where Isaac was going to
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: be offered as well. It's really amazing the significance of
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: that Jesus himself was offered on one of the mountains
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: of Mariah. But going back to Genesis twenty two, it
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: says offer him there as a burnt offering on one
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: of the mountains, which I will tell you of now,
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: as we know, Jesus himself became the sacrifice. So that's
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: another parallel that we see here in this story between
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: Isaac and Jesus. It says in verse three that Abraham
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: rose early in the morning, he settled his donkey. There's
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: another parallel. On Passion week, the week before Jesus was sacrificed,
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: he rode the donkey into Jerusalem. It says Abraham took
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: He split the wood for the burnt offering, and rose
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: up and went to the place which God had told
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: him on the third day. There's another parallel. How many
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: days was Jesus in the tomb? Three days? Abraham lifted
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: up his eyes and saw the place afar off. Abraham
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: said to his young men, stay here with the donkey.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: The boy and I will go over there. We will
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: worship and then come back to you. Abraham took the
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac,
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: his son. There's another symbolism. Jesus had to carry the
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: wood of his own cross to the place where he
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: was going to be crucified on Mount Mariah. Isaac had
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: to carry his own wood to the place that he
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: was going to be sacrificed on Mount Mariah. It says
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: Abraham took in his hand the fire and the knife.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: They both went together. Isaac spoke to Abraham his father,
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: and said, my father, He said, here, I am my son.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: He said, here is the fire in the wood, but
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Abraham said,
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: God will provide himself the lamb for the burnt offering,
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: my son. If that is not prophecy that Abraham was
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: speaking there, I don't know what is. Jesus was the
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: lamb that was going to take away the sins of
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: the world. And it also says that God will provide
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: for himself a lamb for the burnt offering. God himself
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: had to be that lamb, and we've talked about that
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: so many times, how no other human being or animal
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: or anything could be the perfect sacrifice. Only God himself
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: could be that perfect sacrifice. So God obviously was providing
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: himself as the perfect sacrifice. Something that a lot of
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: people don't understand is that because God the Father and
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: Jesus are one, they have the exact same goals in mind.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: So God did not force his son to be put
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: to death. Jesus had the same exact goal in mind.
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: Jesus went willingly. He did it for you and for me.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: Jesus and God the Father are exactly the same with
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: their goals. It wasn't God the Father forcing Jesus to die.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: offering my son. So they both went on together. In
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: verse eight, they came to the place which God had
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: told him of, Mount Mariah. Abraham built the altar there
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: and laid the wood in order bound Isaac, his son,
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: and laid him on the altar. On the wood, Abraham
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: stretched out his hand and took the knife to kill
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: his son. And right as Abraham does that, Yahwei's angel
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: calls to him out of the sky and says Abraham, Abraham,
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: he says, here, I am God said, don't lay your
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: hand on the boy or do anything to him. That
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: right there is another significant part of the story Abraham
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: and Isaac were free from this type of punishment. God
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: placed that kind of suffering on himself. So he tells Abraham,
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: don't lay a hand on that boy, don't do anything
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: to him. Then he says, for now I know that
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: you fear God, since you have not withheld your son,
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: your only son, from me. And there's another parallel to
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: the story of Jesus. We just read in Hebrews not
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: too long ago that Jesus was made perfect through his suffering.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: And I talked about how that doesn't mean that Jesus
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: wasn't perfect before he went to the cross. He was,
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: obviously because he's God and he was without sin. But
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: what that verse means is that Jesus showed his obedience
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: to God and proved his perfection. He proved that he
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: was perfect by being obedient. Abraham, he was not a
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: perfect man, but because he obeyed God in this matter
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: and offered Isaac up fully to God, it says that
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: Abraham feared God. And later on I believe. In Romans
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: chapter four, Paul goes into a lot more depth about
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: the faith of Abraham and how Abraham was counted righteous
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: because of his obedience to God. So faith and obedience
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: go hand in hand. And I've been covering that topic
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: a lot recently. I don't know why it keeps coming up.
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: And when something like that in scripture keeps coming up,
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: it's probably for myself and also for you faithful listeners.
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: So there might be somebody out there that needs to
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: hear that, that needs to hear that obedience and faith
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: go hand in hand. And now continuing in verse thirteen,
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: it says Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked and
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: saw that behind him was a ram, caught in the
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: thicket by its horns. Now, that, of course, is the
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: biggest picture of Jesus in all of this. A lot
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: of people think that Isaac signifies Jesus, and in some
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: ways he does obviously, But the ram here, that is
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: the true picture of Jesus in all of this. And
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: you can see this because it's a ram. Okay, a
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: ram had these big horns, and in the Old Testament,
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: horns signified power and signified kingliness, which is why a
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: lot of times when you look at an ancient crown
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: that the kings would wear, a lot of them had
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: horns because it signified kingliness and power. So this ram
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: that has these horns have them stuck in a thicket.
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: And a thicket is obviously like a bramble bush, something
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: that has a lot of thorns, something that tangles up easily.
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: And we know that Jesus, who is the king, had
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: a crown of thorns placed on his head before he
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: was sacrificed on that cross. And what is this ram,
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: this male sheep caught in It's caught in a thorn bush. Now,
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: don't forget. We already read John chapter eight where Jesus
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: called himself this ram. Essentially going back to John eight,
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: reading verse fifty seven, it says, your father Abraham rejoiced
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: to see my day. He saw it and was glad.
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: Now we know that Abraham was not alive in the
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: days of Jesus, which means that Jesus was referring to
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: something else. Jesus is calling himself that ram. Abraham saw
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: that ram in the thorn bush and rejoiced. So that's
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: the parallel. Jesus even calls himself that ram that was
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: stuck in the thorns. Abraham went and took the ram
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: and offered him up for a burnt offering instead of
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: his son. And that's the part where I get a
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: little teary eyed, because that signifies Jesus obviously taking our place.
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: The punishment of Jesus was meant for you and I,
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: but Jesus said, no, I'm going to take that on myself.
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to let these people I love suffer
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: in that way. So I will take the punishment that
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: they deserve, that they caused for themselves. I'm going to
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: take that. So the Ram becomes the burnt offering in
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: place of Isaac. Abraham called the name of that place,
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: Yahweh will provide, and as it is said to this day,
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: on Yahweh's mountain, it will be provided, that same mountain
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: that Jesus was crucified on. That's the mountain where it
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: was provided. So you can see the parallels between this
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: story and the story of Jesus. How Jesus was so
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: loving that he didn't want Abraham and Isaac to go
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: through the pain that the father and the son would experience.
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: When Jesus became the sacrifice for all humanity. Jesus was
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: that Ram that took the place for each and every
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: one of us. And that's what we remember on Good Friday.
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: We remember Jesus's sacrifice and his love for each of us.
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: So that's the story of Abraham sacrificing his son in
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: a nutshell. And obviously we know that God blesses Abraham
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: immensely for this kind of faith. And also this is
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: a teaching moment for each and every one of us,
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: not just looking at the pictures of Jesus here, which
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: is very very important, but also seeing that we can
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: have the same kind of faith that Abraham had. When
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: God asks us to do something that we don't understand
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: or that seems very contradictory to what we think God
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: would want for us, can we still step out in
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: obedience and do what God asks us to do like
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: Abraham did. And that is something else that we should
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: remember on Good Friday. You know, sometimes we act as
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: if what Jesus did for us we deserve that, you know,
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: we deserve him doing all that for us because we're
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: so lovable. Absolutely not, we are not lovable. We did
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: not deserve what Jesus did for us, but he did
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: it anyway because He loves us in spite of our problems.
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: So to bring all this home, we should step out
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: in faith and obedience the way Abraham did. Jesus was
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: willing to make that sacrifice on our behalf. Can we
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: obey Jesus when he calls us to do something we
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: don't want to do, because I can guarantee that the
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: things Jesus calls us to do aren't nearly as painful
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: and awful and miserable as to what he did on
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: our behalf. So I don't know who needed to hear
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: this today, but whoever you are, step out in faith
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: and obedience and trust that God loves you and has
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: a plan for you that is going to bring him
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: glory and also be beneficial for you as well, for
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: his glory and your good All right, faithful listeners. Before
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: I say goodbye to everybody, here is one last word
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: from a sponsor. Well, faithful listeners. I hope you enjoyed
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: today's episode, And if you have any questions about this,
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: about how to follow Jesus, or even questions about the
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: passage we read today or about Jesus's sacrifice, or you
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: don't understand something about that, I'd love for you to
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: reach out to me and I will do my best
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: to answer your questions. And also if you have a
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: prayer request, also reach out. You'll find my contact information.
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: Listed in the description of this episode. Well, faithful listeners.
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: On that note, I forgot to tell all you guys
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to have an episode on Monday. I
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: probably should have told you all that earlier in the episode.
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: I completely forgot, but I was thinking about it yesterday
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: and I was like, I truly don't know when this
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: weekend I can get an episode done. I honestly don't
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: think I'll have time to record an episode for Monday.
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: So I apologize for that. If I would have thought
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: about it earlier in the week I would I have
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: tried to get an episode done for Monday, but I
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: did not, So I apologize that there won't be an
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: episode on Monday, most likely. So I'll see all of
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: you guys on Tuesday for an episode from Hebrews. So
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: faithful listeners until Tuesday, Happy Easter, happy listening, and God bless.
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: I just want to take a second to thank the
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: team at Life Audio for their partnership with me on
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: the Bible Explain podcast. In fact, if you go to
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: life audio dot com, you will find dozens of other
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: faith centered podcasts in their network. They've got shows about prayer,
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: Bible study, parenting, and more.