The Promise to Abraham
In the last episode of “On the Road
to Emmaus”, we saw how God’s creation turned against him. How Adam and Eve was tempted by Satan to eat
from the Tree of Knowledge. Satan was
the fallen angel Lucifer (meaning “Light-bearer”) who was one of the Seraphim,
the highest choir of angels, who see and adore God directly. But in
spite of truly knowing who God was, because of the free will God gave to all of his creation, Lucifer chose pride over obedience to God as he chose to become God’s equal and would no longer
serve Him. The choice of one angel to
sin against God was the beginning of the existence of evil. Satan used his sin of pride as the temptation
he presented to Adam and Eve. He tempted them that if they
would just eat from the forbidden tree they would become like gods themselves, promising
them that “You certainly will not die! No, God knows well that the
moment you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who
know what is good and what is bad.” (Gen 3: 4, 5).
With this sin, God’s plan for us
was rerouted and the beginning of our salvation through his son Jesus was
begun. Throughout the Old Testament, God
works through man to bring about this salvation and finally, with the sacrifice of his only Son, we would be brought back to God.
The beginning of the salvation story starts with a
single man of faith, Abraham, along with his wife Sarah. Abraham proved his faith and obedience to God
by leaving his home and heading to a land that God would give him as a new homeland
where he would become the patriarch of a great nation. Through Abraham, God would establish a holy land and a holy people
who could stand before God without shame—as God intended when he created Adam and
Eve and placed them in the Garden of Paradise. The land would be holy because
God would once again dwell in that land and walk amongst his people.
God begins the process of salvation by making a covenant with Abraham in which his descendants will become a great nation that will bring about the “Light to the World”, the salvation that will bring humankind back to God. It is only in Jesus that the kingdom of God is fully proclaimed and initially realized and its final realization awaits the second coming of Christ.
God begins the process of salvation by making a covenant with Abraham in which his descendants will become a great nation that will bring about the “Light to the World”, the salvation that will bring humankind back to God. It is only in Jesus that the kingdom of God is fully proclaimed and initially realized and its final realization awaits the second coming of Christ.
The foreshadowing of this
redemption can be found in the Old Testament story about the testing of Abraham. (Gen 22: 1-18) After the birth of his long-awaited son Isaac,
Abraham was put to the test to prove the firmness of his faith and trust in God’s promise
that through Isaac all the nations of the earth would find blessing. God told Abraham to take his beloved Isaac to
Mount Moriah where he would sacrifice him to God. Abraham was devastated with the thought of
giving up his son, yet somehow he still believed in God's promise to him,
that through Isaac, his descendants would be as plentiful as the stars in the
sky. Somehow he had that faith and trust, though he couldn’t understand how, that God would fulfill that promise, just
as he had fulfilled the impossible gift of his son in his old age.
“On the third day,”** Abraham reached
Mount Moriah (later to be known as the Temple Mount in Jerusalem). Isaac, the faithful son, carries the wood
for the sacrifice on his back up the mountain (the foreshadowing of Jesus carrying
his cross up Mount Calvary to his sacrifice). As he climbs he asks his
father “where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” And Abraham
answers that “God himself will provide the lamb.” (Gen 22: 7.8) After building
the altar and placing the wood on it, Abraham tied up his son and placed him on
the altar. As he is about to slaughter
his only son with the knife, the Lord’s messenger stops him relating God’s message
that “I know now how devoted you are to God, since you did not withhold from me
your own beloved son.” (Gen 22:12) Abraham looked around and saw a ram caught by
its horns in the thicket and offered it instead of his son. Abraham named the place “YHWH jjreh”–“The Lord will provide” (the latter half of the word is the Hebrew
root word jeru for what will later be
called Jerusalem). God then pronounced a
universal blessing upon Abraham, “in your descendants all the nations of the
earth shall find blessings themselves—all this because you obeyed my command.” (Gen 22: 18)
Abraham’s descendants continued to
wait for the time when God would himself provide the lamb for sacrifice. The first time this seemed to be fulfilled was right
before the Exodus from Egypt. The final
act that allows the Israelites to leave Egypt occurs when the families
celebrate the first Passover meal and sacrifice the Passover lamb. The blood of the lamb is spread on the
doorposts to protect them as the angel of death slays the first born of
Egypt. Israel is saved and in
remembrance of this salvation, they have celebrated the Passover annually from
that time on. Israel was saved through
the blood of a lamb, however they provided the lamb, not God.
In 2 Chronicles, Solomon built the Temple as a dwelling place for the Ark of the Covenant in Jerusalem, on Mount Moriah, and there were many sacrifices on the spot where Abraham had said that God would provide the lamb for the sacrifice. Yet these lambs, over the years of faithful covenant to God, were not provided by God either. And for years Israel continued to wait for the Lamb of God.
Isaiah’s prophecy of the lamb being led to slaughter in the Suffering Servant prophecies (Is 52—53) gave further hope for the long-awaited lamb that would save Israel.
In 2 Chronicles, Solomon built the Temple as a dwelling place for the Ark of the Covenant in Jerusalem, on Mount Moriah, and there were many sacrifices on the spot where Abraham had said that God would provide the lamb for the sacrifice. Yet these lambs, over the years of faithful covenant to God, were not provided by God either. And for years Israel continued to wait for the Lamb of God.
Isaiah’s prophecy of the lamb being led to slaughter in the Suffering Servant prophecies (Is 52—53) gave further hope for the long-awaited lamb that would save Israel.
Finally, in the Gospel of John, John the Baptist looked up and “saw Jesus coming toward him and said. ‘Behold the
Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”’ (Jn 1:29)
On the next day, John was baptizing again with two of his disciples, “and
as he watched Jesus walk by, he proclaimed again ‘Behold the Lamb of God.’ The two disciples of John the Baptist (Andrew and John, son of
Zebedee) heard what he said and (from that moment on) followed Jesus.” (Jn 1:
35-37)
Abraham's statement that God would provide the lamb was finally realized. Jesus, the only son of God, entered the world as the "Lamb of God" who would be sacrificed for our sins and finally bring universal blessings upon all nations just as God had promised Abraham.
Abraham's statement that God would provide the lamb was finally realized. Jesus, the only son of God, entered the world as the "Lamb of God" who would be sacrificed for our sins and finally bring universal blessings upon all nations just as God had promised Abraham.
In
the beginning was the Word,
and
the Word was with God,
and
the Word was God.
He
was in the beginning with God.
All things
came to be through him,
and
without him nothing came to be.
What
came to be through him was life,
and
this life was the light of the human race;
the
light shines in the darkness
and
the darkness has not overcome it.
And
the Word became flesh
and made
his dwelling among us,
and
we saw his glory,
the
glory as of the Father’s only Son,
full
of grace and truth.
Behold,
the Lamb of God!
John 1:1-5, 14, 29
