Christ Lutheran Church of the Deaf
Silver Spring, Maryland
Children of the Bible
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#2
Isaac
Part 2 - The Child of Sacrifice
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Old Testament Lesson: Genesis 22:1-18
1. Later God tested ABRAHAM. God called: "ABRAHAM!" and he answered, "Here I am."
2. God said, "Bring your son, your only son ISAAC -- you love him very much; bring him and go to the country MORIAH. Then offer him same-as a burnt gift on the mountain I choose."
3. The next morning ABRAHAM awoke early-in-the-morning, chopped wood for the ALTAR fire and rode on his donkey. Then with ISAAC and two young servants, ABRAHAM began his journey to the place God showed him.
4. On the third day ABRAHAM looked-up and saw the place far-away.
5. ABRAHAM told the servants, "Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go-there and worship and come here again."
6. Abraham brought the wood for the burnt gift and gave the wood to ISAAC. ABRAHAM brought the knife and the fire. Then the father and son departed.
7. ISAAC asked, "Father!" ABRAHAM said, "Yes, my son?" "We have the wood and the fire, but where is the lamb for the burnt gift?"
8. ABRAHAM answered, "God HIMSELF will give the lamb for the burnt gift." The two continued walking.
9. They arrived at the place God chose for them and ABRAHAM built an ALTAR and arranged the wood. Then he tied-the-hands of ISAAC and laid-him on the ALTAR.
10. ABRAHAM took-the-knife for killing his son.
11. But the Angel of the Lord called from heaven and said, "ABRAHAM! ABRAHAM!" And he answered, "Yes, Lord?"
12. The Angel said, "Don't raise-your-hand-against-the-boy. Don't hurt him, because now I know you honor God. You don't refuse to give ME your son, your only son."
13. Then ABRAHAM noticed a RAM stuck in the bush its horns. ABRAHAM went and brought the RAM and offered it same-as a burnt gift instead-of his son.
14. Now ABRAHAM named that place, "The Lord gives help", and today people still say, "On the mountain the Lord gives help."
15. Again the Angel of the Lord said to ABRAHAM from heaven,
16. "I make a promise because you didn't refuse to give-ME your son,
17. I will bless you with riches and give-you many future children same-as many stars in the sky and SAND on the BEACH, and your family will defeat the enemy cities.
18. Because you, Abraham, obeyed God, all nations on earth will get blessed through your son.
2. God said, "Bring your son, your only son ISAAC -- you love him very much; bring him and go to the country MORIAH. Then offer him same-as a burnt gift on the mountain I choose."
3. The next morning ABRAHAM awoke early-in-the-morning, chopped wood for the ALTAR fire and rode on his donkey. Then with ISAAC and two young servants, ABRAHAM began his journey to the place God showed him.
4. On the third day ABRAHAM looked-up and saw the place far-away.
5. ABRAHAM told the servants, "Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go-there and worship and come here again."
6. Abraham brought the wood for the burnt gift and gave the wood to ISAAC. ABRAHAM brought the knife and the fire. Then the father and son departed.
7. ISAAC asked, "Father!" ABRAHAM said, "Yes, my son?" "We have the wood and the fire, but where is the lamb for the burnt gift?"
8. ABRAHAM answered, "God HIMSELF will give the lamb for the burnt gift." The two continued walking.
9. They arrived at the place God chose for them and ABRAHAM built an ALTAR and arranged the wood. Then he tied-the-hands of ISAAC and laid-him on the ALTAR.
10. ABRAHAM took-the-knife for killing his son.
11. But the Angel of the Lord called from heaven and said, "ABRAHAM! ABRAHAM!" And he answered, "Yes, Lord?"
12. The Angel said, "Don't raise-your-hand-against-the-boy. Don't hurt him, because now I know you honor God. You don't refuse to give ME your son, your only son."
13. Then ABRAHAM noticed a RAM stuck in the bush its horns. ABRAHAM went and brought the RAM and offered it same-as a burnt gift instead-of his son.
14. Now ABRAHAM named that place, "The Lord gives help", and today people still say, "On the mountain the Lord gives help."
15. Again the Angel of the Lord said to ABRAHAM from heaven,
16. "I make a promise because you didn't refuse to give-ME your son,
17. I will bless you with riches and give-you many future children same-as many stars in the sky and SAND on the BEACH, and your family will defeat the enemy cities.
18. Because you, Abraham, obeyed God, all nations on earth will get blessed through your son.
Epistle Lesson: Hebrews 11:1-2, 13-19
1. Faith is knowing sure about the things we hope, and believing the things we can't see.
2. The great people that lived a long time ago -- we remember them for their faith.
13. All these people died in their faith. They did not receive receiving the things that God promised. But they saw the future promise and they were-happy about that. They said that they lived like visitors on earth.
14. Those that speak that way show that they are searching for their true home country.
15. If their hearts still hungered for the country where they lived in the past, and that they left [leave], they could [can] go back again to that country.
16. But they searched for a better country; I mean heaven. That is the reason God is not ashamed that they name Him their God, because God prepared a home city for them.
17. When God test Abraham, Abraham offered his son ISAAC as a sacrifice. God made the promises to Abraham, but Abraham was-ready to offer his own son as a sacrifice.
18. God said, “The descendants I promised you will come from Isaac.”
19. Abraham believed that God could raise the dead. And really, Abraham felt like he got ISAAC back from death.
2. The great people that lived a long time ago -- we remember them for their faith.
13. All these people died in their faith. They did not receive receiving the things that God promised. But they saw the future promise and they were-happy about that. They said that they lived like visitors on earth.
14. Those that speak that way show that they are searching for their true home country.
15. If their hearts still hungered for the country where they lived in the past, and that they left [leave], they could [can] go back again to that country.
16. But they searched for a better country; I mean heaven. That is the reason God is not ashamed that they name Him their God, because God prepared a home city for them.
17. When God test Abraham, Abraham offered his son ISAAC as a sacrifice. God made the promises to Abraham, but Abraham was-ready to offer his own son as a sacrifice.
18. God said, “The descendants I promised you will come from Isaac.”
19. Abraham believed that God could raise the dead. And really, Abraham felt like he got ISAAC back from death.
Gospel Lesson: John 3:16-17
16
God loved the world. He gave HIS only Son. Anyone
believing-in HIM will not become lost, but will have eternal life.
17 God did not send HIS Son into the world for judging the world. God sent HIS Son for saving the world.
17 God did not send HIS Son into the world for judging the world. God sent HIS Son for saving the world.
Abraham's story
Isaac's story
First Abraham's story -- the father.
Last week we learned that God had promised to give old Abraham and old Sarah a son. They waited a long time for God to keep that promise. But finally -- they had their son. And they laughed!!
But now Abraham's joy turns to sadness.
He loved his boy dearly.
But now God asked him to give that boy back to God.
We can ask --
How could Abraham actually kill his son
in an act of worship for God?
Remember Abraham had left from a pagan religion,
that accepted child abuse, and child sacrifice.
And this is not the first time that God had asked Abraham to give up something that he cherish -- something important.
God had already called Abraham to leave his home, and leave his family, and go to a country... where? God won't tell him, until they arrived. [Genesis 21:1]
That was hard, enough.
But now, give up his son?
Isaac was the most precious thing Abraham had.
Isaac was God's gift to Abraham.
Now Isaac must become Abraham's gift back to God.
Abraham trusted God.
And the proof for trust is, what? Obedience.
So Abraham obeyed.
Abraham surrendered.
That is the first lesson we learn in this story.
Abraham laying his son on the altar
becomes for us a picture,
that we must follow, also.
In our lives with God, while we grow in our relationship with Him,
God also calls us sometimes calls us surrender our greatest treasures to Him.
Sometimes God gives those treasures back.
Sometimes not.
The things we must give up,
He know that those will interfere with our service for Him.
And He replaces those things with something more precious.
Joni Earickson -- a smart, pretty, athletic, and a new Christian,broke her neck in a diving accident,
leaving her paralyzed from the neck down.
But that great loss has become a powerful ministry.
She is doing more for God today in her wheelchair
that she could ever do standing up,
or from the saddle of a horse,
or on the tennis court.
What is most painful, most difficult, for us to give up to God?
Not THINGS.
What really hurts, what is really hard, is giving up
our plans
our future
our dreams
our hopes
our careers
Those, also, must go on the altar.
Anything that we hold back,
anything that we just can't give up,
that becomes our idol, our false god.
And while we hold on and won't let go,
a wall arises between us and God,
a wall that we build
with bricks called "pride" and "bitterness."
Often God's command and personal feelings...
(I should say "personal desire")
those two conflict.
The world says,
"When you don't like God's commands,
follow your feelings!"
But the Bible says,
"There is a way that seems right to people,
but that way leads to death." (Proverbs 14:12)
When we are willing to give up the things
that are precious to us
but we can never keep them,
He replaces those things with true treasures.
that we can never lose.
That is one lesson we can learn from Abraham in this story.
What can we learn from Isaac?
Isaac is a picture for what Christ did.
Just as Abraham laid the wood for the sacrifice on his son's shoulders, for Isaac to carry up a hill to the place where he would become the sacrifice, as proof of his father's love for God,
2000 years later, God our heavenly Father laid on His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, a cross, to carry up that same hill, to the place he would become our sacrifice, as proof of His Father's love for us.
God stopped Abrahams hand.
"Abraham! Don't hurt your son."
The old Jewish rabbis teach that the lesson for Israel in this story is that God never permits human sacrifice -- ANY human sacrifice, but most especially child sacrifice.
And that is true...
But that did not stop God from sacrificing Himself for us.
While Abraham and Isaac climbed that hill, Isaac asked his father,
"We have the wood and the fire for the sacrifice, but where is the lamb?"
What was Abraham's answer?
"God will give the lamb."
And He did.
Christ is that lamb. Our substitute.
for the death that we deserve.
The Bible says that Abraham believed
that God would raise Isaac from the dead,
because God still had a promise that He had to keep.
That is a picture of what Christ really did.
Because God had a promise He had to keep.
But Isaac also has a lesson to teach to us.
Abraham teaches us to surrender our precious things to God.
Isaac teaches us to surrender ourselves and our lives to God.
Romans 12:1-2
Galatians 2:20
Colossians 3:1-17
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Matthew 10:37-39
Matthew 16:24-26
Matthew 20:25-27
Luke 16:13
1 John 2:12-17
1 Peter 1:18-21