Ep 18. ”The Promised Son” Genesis 18-23

"The Promised Son, Isaac"

Genesis 18-23

 

Introduction:

The Promise: The Child of the Covenant

Abrahamic Covenant (Description)

Genesis 12:1-3 1Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: ²And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: ³And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Abrahamic Covenant “God promised to bless Abraham and his nation and the entire world through his Seed. Jesus Christ is Abraham’s Son and inherits these blessings and bestows them upon those who believe.” – David Cloud

Genesis 17:21 ²¹But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.

• The Covenant was given to three of the Patriarchs
  • Abraham in Chaldea (Genesis 12:3)
  • Isaac in Canaan (Genesis 26:4)
  • Jacob at Bethel Genesis 28:14)
• Isaac was the first to inherit the covenant and received the entire inheritance of Abraham (Genesis 24:35)

The Person: The Character of Isaac

• His Faith
  • A peaceful man who was deeply devoted to God through prayer and faith. He was a man wo lived in fear of His God.
• His Flaws
  • His deceitfulness (lied about his wife to Abimalech)
  • His selfishness (chose Esau despite God’s Word)

The Picture: A type of Jesus Christ

• His Birth
  • Isaac was promised long before he was born
    • Genesis 12:3 3And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
    • 25 years went by after this promise before Isaac was born.
  • Jesus was promise long before He was born
    • Genesis 3:15 15And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
    • 4,000 passed before Christ actually came.
  • Isaac was born at the appointed time
    • Genesis 21:1-2 1And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken. ²For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.
    • Jesus Christ also came in the “fullness of time”
    • Galatians 4:4 4But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
  • There was a supernatural conception
    • Of the Lord Jesus Christ we read;
    • Matthew 1:20-21 20But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. ²¹And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.
    • For Isaac we read:
    • Genesis 17:15-17 15And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. ¹⁶And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her. ¹⁷Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?
  • The birth was foretold and it was miraculous. Isaac, who was supernaturally conceived, is nothing more than a type, a shadow of Jesus Christ and how He would one day come.
• His Obedience
  • Isaac being offered up as a sacrifice in Genesis 22 is one of the clearest types of Jesus Christ in all the Bible

	Isaac	Jesus
The Description	Genesis 22:2 2And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.	John 3:16 16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
The Direction	The exact location of the sacrifice was Mt. Moriah which is where Jerusalem was built.	Mt. Calvary was located in this region
The Days	The journey to Mt. Moriah was 3 days	Jesus was in the tomb three days and three nights
The Distinction	Genesis 22:6 6And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.	John 19:17-18 17And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha: 18Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.
The Deference	Genesis 22:7-8 7And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? 8And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.	John 1:29 KJV: The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

 

In regards to Genesis 22:7,8, let’s observe the words of M.R. DeHaan from his book “Portraits of Christ in Genesis”

“Notice it does not day, ‘God will himself provide a lamb’ but it says, ‘God will provide himself’ translated freely Abraham says God Himself is going to be the Lamb of Sacrifice.”

• His Bride
  • The Father – Abraham is a type of God the Father
  • The Faithful – Unnamed Servant is a type of The Holy Spirit
  • The Flesh - Laban (The Worldly Sinner)
  • The Follower - Rebekah (The Bride, The Church)
  • The Forbearer - Isaac (The Precious Son of God)

 

Outline:

1. There was Laughter with His Coming: This speaks of Christ and our Response

• Abraham’s Response:

Genesis 17:17 KJV: Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall [a child] be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?

This was a laugh of pure joy! (illustration of when a believer finds out about Jesus Christ and how He came, and what He did)

Luke 1:41 41And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:

God had made a promise to Abraham, I’m sure there were times he doubted, but this was a birth that was a true miracle. Only God could have done this. His laugh was of joy and appreciation, I believe.

• Sarah’s Response: Gen 18:12-14

Genesis 18:12-14 12Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my LORD being old also? ¹³And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old? ¹⁴Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.

Sarah’s laughter = Cynical (skeptical)

• Our Response to Christ:

The two responses of Isaac’s miraculous birth (one of joy, one of skepticism) is an illustration of how people react of Christ.

1. There was Loyalty with His Command: This speaks of Christ and our Responsibility: Genesis 22

• Isaacs obedience to his Father as a type of Christ

Genesis 22:7-8 7And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? ⁸And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

 

• Christ obedience to the cross

2 Corinthians 8:9 9For ye know the grace of our LORD Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.

Philippians 2:8 8And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

• Our responsibility to accept Christ sacrifice
• There was Love with His Companion: This speaks of Christ and our Redemption: Genesis 24
  • “There was something about the story of Isaac that kindled a response in her heart. She had never seen him, had come to know him indeed solely by the Word of the servant, but already felt that she knew him. Already gave him her heart.”  - Dr. John Phillips, Exploring Genesis
  • How intently the sinner under conviction of the Holy Spirit listens to the message of God.
  • How much faith the sinner shows when making the decision to walk by Faith and accept the message of God
  • The more Rebekah heard, the more real Isaac became.
  • When she saw him, she covered herself with a vail. As Rebekah was clothed with the vail, we are clothed with the Righteousness of Jesus Christ.
  • Romans 5:8-11 “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our LORD Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.”