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14 And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, "In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided." 15 Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, 16 and said: "By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— 17 blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice." 19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba. ~ Genesis 22:14-19
Today, we return to our study of Genesis 22 where God called Abraham to sacrifice his Son and the Angel of the Lord, who was the Lord Jesus Christ in His pre-incarnate state, prevented the sacrifice from happening. The point of this true story was that which we love is that which we worship and that which we worship is that which we love. And, as this story spells out, proper respect of God is key to our love and worship of Him. According to Psalm 130:4 our healthy fear of God is bolstered by our proper understanding of His grace and forgiveness.
In v.14 of today's passage we read, "And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, 'In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.'"
Just as Abraham was about to sacrifice Isaac his son, he looked behind him and saw a ram caught in a thicket. But what he saw with his physical eyes was less wonderful than what he saw with his spiritual eyes. Abraham looked into the future and saw the mystery that he had wondered about from his first call into the Promised Land and through every promise of God since then. He saw Christ, our Substitute and he noted where Christ’s work would be accomplished. He saw the cross and He saw the resurrection.
The mystery revealed before his eyes was more wonderful than the thought of not losing Isaac. Having Isaac for a few more years of his life was inconsequential to having Isaac for all eternity. As a result of this experience, Abraham named that place "In the Mountain of the Lord He will appear." The verb that Abraham employed here doesn’t mean "provide" but rather it means "appear."
In v.15 of today's passage we read, "Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven."
The Lord waited until after the ram was offered to call a second time out of heaven. This story of Abraham and his son provided a picture of the salvation that was provided for us through the cross of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. God called out to Abraham this second time in the aftermath of the growth of his faith in God. Only after receiving this Substitute can we expect what comes after the Substitute which is the ever increasing denial of our ability to save ourselves.
In v.16-18 of today's passage we read, "16 and said: 'By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— 17 blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.'"
The Angel of the Lord was the Lord Jesus Christ who swore by Himself. In Hebrews 10:13-18 we read, "13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, 14 saying, 'Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.' 15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. 16 For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. 17 Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, 18 that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us."
It must be noted also that the Lord made this oath "by Himself" never occurs again in this manner and so, time and again, we will see repeated references to this very oath by Abraham, by Isaac, by Joseph, by Moses, by David and others in the Psalms, by Zechariah the father of John the Baptist, and even by the Lord Himself. In making this oath upon Himself with repetition reveals the nations of the earth will willingly come to be blessed through Abraham and his son.
The promise that God made to Abraham came before the giving of the law of Moses. In doing so, God promised through His Seed to bless all the nations of the earth apart from the Law. The only way this was possible was for the Law to be fulfilled on our behalf and thus it required the work of a Man born free of sin and who would also fulfill the Law without sinning; the Seed was and will always be the Lord Jesus Christ.
In the Bible, there's four ways the term "seed" is defined. The first is natural seed of descendants. Physical descendants of Abraham, i.e., the Jewish people, that's the seed of Abraham. The second is natural dash spiritual seed. These are believers in Christ who are Jewish people. As opposed to those who believe not. The seed of Abraham. The third is the spiritual non-physical descendants of Abraham. That is anybody who by faith believes in Christ and is justified by faith like Abraham was, the Gentiles. The fourth and ultimate seed is the Lord Jesus Christ. All of those are used in various applicational forms in the Bible. Physical or natural, natural spiritual, spiritual, and the ultimate seed is the Lord Jesus Christ.
In Galatians 3:16 we read, "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made."
All of the world was to be blessed through Abraham's seed and that means physical descendants of Abraham, spiritual descendants of Abraham, as well as the ultimate seed, Christ. Think of what we would be missing if there were no Jewish people on the earth today. We would have no Savior for He came through the lineage of the Jewish nation. And without a Jewish Jesus, we would have no Christianity and no salvation. He's the ultimate seed.
The very first occurrence of the word "obey" in the Bible is found here in Genesis 22:18. Here was God, from heaven, noticing and rewarding Abraham, not for how he felt, not for how he thought, but for what Abraham did; He obeyed God. True faith is faith that obeys the object of the faith. All of Abraham's life required obedience. Now he believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness and that faith that he had yielded obedience to God.
In v.19 of today's passage we read, "So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba."
Interestingly, there is no mention of Isaac from the time of the almost sacrifice until we see him in a couple chapters when he reappears with his Gentile bride. There's an absence and then he appears again as he meets his bride, as he comes again with his bride, and with his bride we see them. Since what happened on Mt. Moriah obviously points us to the sacrifice of Christ at the same place, the fact that the son of the beloved father married a Gentile points us to Christ and the those who believe in Him.
The greatest test of faith recorded in the entire Old Testament was over and Abraham had proven faithful to God and God favored him. From this foundational account God’s plan of redemption continues, and yet the story for today ends quietly. He returned to the servants at the foot of Mount Moriah and together they returned to Beersheba, the Well of the Perfect Promise. And, even their return to life as normal pictures the work of the Lord Jesus Christ who prevailed over His own trial of Moriah and after doing so, He returned to the Well of the Perfect Promise.
