We have been studying Genesis during our Friday night Bible studies, and a Father's day message came to me when I was least expecting it, in Genesis chapter 22.
Most of us probably know the story, Abraham is tested by God and the Lord asks him to sacrifice Isaac as a burnt offering. The spot the Lord picks is Mount Moriah. Hebrews tells us that by faith Abraham offered up Isaac, believing God could raise him up from the dead. The whole chapter is a picture of Christ and the atonement that is his sacrifice on the cross. What a picture of Christ we see in Isaac, a willfully obedient son to the point of death. He even carried the wood for the fire on his back up the mount, and of course Mount Moriah, the spot that the Lord picked, which later in this exact spot would be Calvary. The whole chapter is full of Christ.
One really interesting thing to me was one of the "first's" in this chapter. We see the first use of the word "love" in the Old Testament. In verse 2, God tells Abraham, "take now your son, your only son, whom you love." The first use of love in the Bible is a love between a father and a son. What's really interesting is that the first use of love in the New Testament is in Matthew 3, verse 17, when a the Lord speaks from heaven declaring that Jesus is his "beloved son in whom I am well pleased." Also the love between a father and a son. The same goes for the gospels of Mark and Luke as well. The first use of Love in the gospel of John is John 3:16, which declares "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." And this brings us back to Genesis 22, in which Abraham was willing to give his only begotten son, and we see how this love is obediant, sacrificial, and a foreshadow of just how much our father loves us. What greater love is there than a father for his children? None. The Lord "provided himself a lamb," the love of a father for his son, for his children, is the ultimate act of love ever shown. Amazing.
Most of us probably know the story, Abraham is tested by God and the Lord asks him to sacrifice Isaac as a burnt offering. The spot the Lord picks is Mount Moriah. Hebrews tells us that by faith Abraham offered up Isaac, believing God could raise him up from the dead. The whole chapter is a picture of Christ and the atonement that is his sacrifice on the cross. What a picture of Christ we see in Isaac, a willfully obedient son to the point of death. He even carried the wood for the fire on his back up the mount, and of course Mount Moriah, the spot that the Lord picked, which later in this exact spot would be Calvary. The whole chapter is full of Christ.
One really interesting thing to me was one of the "first's" in this chapter. We see the first use of the word "love" in the Old Testament. In verse 2, God tells Abraham, "take now your son, your only son, whom you love." The first use of love in the Bible is a love between a father and a son. What's really interesting is that the first use of love in the New Testament is in Matthew 3, verse 17, when a the Lord speaks from heaven declaring that Jesus is his "beloved son in whom I am well pleased." Also the love between a father and a son. The same goes for the gospels of Mark and Luke as well. The first use of Love in the gospel of John is John 3:16, which declares "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." And this brings us back to Genesis 22, in which Abraham was willing to give his only begotten son, and we see how this love is obediant, sacrificial, and a foreshadow of just how much our father loves us. What greater love is there than a father for his children? None. The Lord "provided himself a lamb," the love of a father for his son, for his children, is the ultimate act of love ever shown. Amazing.
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