ON THE ROAD TO EMMAUS -- Jesus explains the Scriptures Episode 2

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.

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.

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.

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

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**“On the third day” Whenever you see this phrase on the “third day” in the Bible, take careful notice. It is an indication of something important that is about to happen in the the Bible story.  For example: On the third day, there was a wedding in Cana…” (Jn 2: 1)  See the previous blog posting: "A MEDITATION ON THE WEDDING FEAST AT CANA"