The Death of the Messiah (Continued)

Sacrifices and Offerings

Abraham

We finished the last blog by suggesting that God was moving toward constituting one nation as 'a kingdom of priests'. That nation was to be the Hebrew people. He would begin this particular element of the process by educating one man who was to be the Father of the nation - Abraham.

So God called Abram (his name had not been changed at that point) out of Babylon. He was a man that could hear the voice of God. This suggests he already understood the principle of blood sacrifice and had all the qualifications of a priest. He was chosen, called and gifted for high office. Every High Priest of the order of Aaron would be a descendent of Abram. Unsurprisingly he often erected an altar and called on the Name of the Lord.

The call of Abram in chapter 12 of Genesis spells out something of God’s purposes in providing a nation of priests to intercede for the world. “Now the Lord had said to Abram: ‘Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you’” (Gen. 12:1). The phrase ‘go to’ (“lekh-lekha”) occurs only here an

d in Genesis 22 when he was again called, the second occasion to offer his son, Isaac. These two events are connected as we shall see. His first call has a very wide-ranging reward attached to it. “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:2-3). So Abram travelled to the land that God had identified, the place where the kingdom of priests was to be located: “Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your descendants I will give this land.’ And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him” (Gen. 12:7).

Journeying in the land, he continued to build altars and offer blood sacrifices: “And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord” (Gen. 12:8). Although he took a detour down into Egypt, which would be a place of slavery for his descendents, with the Lord’s help he recovered his moral compass. “And he went on his journey from the South as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, to the place of the altar which he had made there at first. And there Abram called on the name of the Lord” (Gen. 13:3-4). When finally he separated from Lot, and fulfilled in total, the pre-conditions attached to the promise of blessing, the Lord confirmed the possession of the Land and the multiplication of his posterity; “... for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever. And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered. Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you” (Gen. 13:15-17). Abram, now in possession of a further confirmation of the promise of God, journeyed to Hebron, where he built an altar and continued in his priestly function.

Up to this point there had been no mention of his seed as the stars of heaven, only as the dust of the earth. The ‘stars of heaven’ promise only came after the promise of Isaac (which will take on added meaning later). Since his call Abram had been building altars and acting as a priest and although he did not know it at the time, he was carrying in his loins (in the will of God) the Aaronic priesthood. This takes on greater importance when we view it in the light of Genesis chapter 14. There it is recorded that, after a great victory when he rescued his nephew Lot, he had a visit from a mysterious High Priest by the name of Melchizedek, who was also king of Salem (later known as Jerusalem). Using emblems of bread and wine, this priest blessed Abram in the name of ‘the most High God’. The significance of this was not lost on the writer of the letter to Hebrew Christians. It was a pointer to a higher priesthood, of a different order, whose intercession will be for Israel and the nations.

It is in Genesis chapter 15 that the promise of God takes on covenant status. The covenant ritual was preceded by a time of conversation and fellowship between God and His friend Abram. Because the birth of Isaac seemed a long time coming, Abram had asked for some reassurance from the LORD. He got it: “ … one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.” Then He brought him outside and said, ‘Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness” (Gen. 15:4-6). It is this promise of Isaac and those that will be born of his line that Abram believed and was imputed righteous; and it is in this encounter where Paul finds authority for the doctrine of imputed righteousness, and significantly this is the place where the heavenly seed is promised, the seed that will especially benefit from the imputation of the righteousness of Christ.

The Lord continued the conversation by promising a homeland for the nation yet to be born: “I am the Lord (YHWH), who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it” (Gen. 15:7). Abram, having had one reassurance regarding his posterity has the confidence to ask for a similar reassurance regarding their place of inheritance: “And he said, ‘Lord God, how shall I know that I will inherit it?’” (Gen. 15:8) The Midrash on the passage states that Abram asked for a sign because he feared that as soon as his descendants sinned they would not be allowed to enter into, or be in, the Promised Land. This was a real possibility considering the events that took place in the wilderness after the exodus, when Israel gave themselves over to calf-worship while Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the Law of God. To settle the mind of his servant and friend, God gave Abram instructions to prepare animals for a covenant ritual. Abram, who has been performing the duties of priest for some years, was called upon by the Lord to take up those duties again and make a blood sacrifice. Genesis 15:9–11 deals with the division of the animals as the prelude to the signing of the covenant. In verse 9, God commanded to set aside five things: first, a heifer three years old; second, a she-goat, a female goat that is three years old; third, a ram that is three years old; fourth, a turtle-dove; and fifth, a young pigeon. The LORD’s calling for this group of offerings has been interpreted as God’s answer to Abram’s fear, that even if his descendants sinned, atonement had been provided for them. The nature of these animals as having atoning value was recognized by the rabbis, and they called these the korbanot, meaning “sacrifices.” If this is correct, then it demonstrates the representational nature of the priesthood of Abram. Though Abram was initially the priest for his family, his family was to become a nation, so here, as head of the family, and recipient of a covenant promise for the nation, he is acting as priest and interceding for Israel, the nation that will come through his loins. But all nations are to be blessed through this nation, so he is acting a priest for them too, for the blessings of the New Covenant are founded on this covenant here. The expositor of justification by faith, Paul, recognises the inclusion of the Gentiles in the covenant: “Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all” (Rom. 4:16). Paul’s wide application of the faith of Abraham is in harmony with the original statement that said, “in you all families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen.12:3). The use of the personal name of God is the guarantee of the covenant, for YHWH is presented as the covenant-keeping God.

Already we are beginning to see that Abram’s intercession for his progeny must, of necessity, impact on all nations, for the blessing of all the families of the earth cannot take place without blood sacrifice, and that sacrifice could only be made by Christ, the One chosen, called and gifted for such a ministry. And He can only arise from the nation that was chosen, called and gifted for that purpose. And that nation can only arise from the patriarch who was chosen, called and gifted for that purpose. Certainly, the character of the covenant being a blood-covenant is established in Genesis chapter15.

Another dimension is visible at the ‘cutting’ of the covenant. While Abram was used to bring the animals and actively offer them on the altar, his participation in the ceremony was curtailed. The LORD put him to sleep while He (the LORD) passed between the separated pieces of the sacrifice thus indicating that He was the only guarantor of the covenant. Abram was there as beneficiary only. Since the principle of cutting a covenant in this way called for the death of the one to break it, the only conclusion available is that it has been made never to be broken. It was unconditionally made by One who could never break His promise and who could never die. This means that Israel has a permanent place in the purposes of God. This is emphasised in Romans chapter 11 where we are told, “… the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Rom. 11:29).

In Genesis, chapter 17 the covenant was again confirmed and Abraham (his name now changed to reflect his high calling) was given the commandment of circumcision, a further blood covenant sign for his descendents. This means the covenant passes from father to son throughout all generations. As Abraham’s physical descendents continue to enter the covenant, they will form a distinctive ethnic, national people. This is, of course, restricted to those that meet the further qualifications placed by God, that is, the line that comes through Isaac and Jacob. Moreover, they will be identified by their connection to a specific location, a piece of land where they will live out their calling. The promise of this specific territory to Abraham’s descendants, the land of Canaan, is repeated in each passage that reaffirms the covenant. Somehow, being a distinct people in this land is part of God’s plan for using Abraham’s descendants to bring blessing to all the nations of the earth.

The great puzzle is that Abraham and Sarah have no children. Sarai has had her name changed to Sarah to reflect that she will be mother to nations, a further identification that the purposes of God would be much wider than just the Hebrew nation. But if Sarah is barren, how can the covenant promises be fulfilled? Abraham and Sarah take it upon themselves to produce a child from Hagar, but God again comes to him and makes it clear that only a son from Sarah would be the elect heir. In a rejuvenating miracle, Abraham and Sarah are able to have a child when both are well beyond their child producing years and the child of promise, Isaac, is born.

Some ten to twenty years later an event takes place that illuminates Israel’s irrevocable call. “Now it came to pass … that God tested Abraham, and said to him, ‘Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’” (‘Hineni’; which has the sense, ‘here I am Lord, attentive and ready to do anything you ask!’) “Then He said, ‘Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you’” (Gen. 22:1-2). At this point we can observe again that the phrase “lekh-lekha” (go to) connects this passage with the original call of Abram in Genesis, chapter 12. If Abraham was chosen, called and gifted, it was for this event. God does not demand an animal blood sacrifice this time, but Isaac, the miracle child, in whose loins resides the seed that will bless the world and save humanity. The description of Isaac is illuminating: your son – your favoured one – the one whom you love. Just as the Father testified of Jesus, Abraham could have said, ‘This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased’. Abraham rose early in obedience and travelled to Mount Moriah, later to be known as Mount Zion, the site of the Temple. As the narrative unfolds, the parallels with the crucifixion of Jesus, the event to which it points, are recognisable. It is a journey taken by a father and son, at the end of which is to be an offering of the greatest magnitude that a father could make, and compliance by the son which would reflect a total co-operation in the purposes of the father. Even such little touches as Isaac carrying the wood for the sacrifice seems to pre-shadow the requirement that Jesus carry the wood for His own crucifixion stake. The Jewish Study Bible remarks on the parallel quoting as it does a midrash on this episode which, referring to a Roman execution, says ‘it is like a person who carries his cross on his own person’. When Isaac asked the question, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” he received the reply, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering” (Gen. 22:7,8). At Calvary God provided for Himself a lamb for an offering.

Throughout Abraham’s lifetime occupation of being a priest standing before an altar, he has never been faced with making such an important, demanding, or more costly sacrifice than this. When they came to the place of which God had told him, “Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood” (Gen. 22:9). Abraham was fully prepared to fulfil the will of God and sacrifice his son. But God did not require human sacrifice, only knowledge of the submission of Abraham. So the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” He replied, “Here I am” (‘Hineni’ – ‘still listening and ready to fulfill your perfect will’) (Gen. 22:11). His son was spared, and with the ram to hand, Abraham had a substitute to offer instead of Isaac. Abraham, the priest, stood before the altar and offered a substitutionary blood sacrifice confirming once again the ‘life for a life’ principle. This test of faith and obedience is followed by a re-affirmation of the blessing of God upon the nations. “Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, 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 — 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. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice’” (Gen. 22:15-18). To establish it beyond question, God had confirmed it with an oath: “By Myself I have sworn”. This is the most forceful declaration yet, that all the nations of the earth will be blessed through the seed of Abraham. “For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, ‘Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you’” (Heb. 6:13-14). “For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, 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. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek” (Heb 6:16-20). This is an all encompassing reaffirmation of all that Abraham could have hoped for:

(a) the assurance of a lasting earthly seed (the sand on the seashore) and

(b) a lasting heavenly seed (the stars of heaven); and

(c) a blessing on all nations of the earth.

But note: in both these two incredibly important encounters, Abraham was standing at an altar in the office of a priest, an office he had been occupying all his life. What we are saying is this: that the sacrifice of Isaac pre-figured the sacrifice of Christ. Abraham gave that which was most precious to him, the life of his Son, to demonstrate His confidence in the God of the covenant and the covenant of God, just as God gave his only Son, a child of miraculous birth, to die for our sins to honor the covenant and to demonstrate He is the covenant-keeping God.

Like Isaac, Jesus is the Son of the promise through whom blessing comes to the whole world. The action of Abraham offering up Isaac was the capstone of the Abrahamic covenant. Clearly, the offering of the Son of Abraham and the offering of the Son of God are linked. That the event took place on Mount Moriah, the place where the Temple would stand and where the Aaronic priesthood would function for a thousand years, is illuminating. The strong implication is this: that the sacrifice could not have taken place anywhere else and the Temple could not have been built in any other place.

Abraham powerfully demonstrates here that he is the father of the priestly line. As the book of Hebrews says, the priests were in the loins of Abraham and when the patriarch presented offerings to God through King Melchizedek, a priest-king whose titles prefigure Jesus Messiah. Abraham was actually giving offerings to the higher priesthood of Christ (Hebrews 7).

The sacrifice of Isaac is a priestly repudiation of the sin of Adam and Eve and a representative act for the whole human race. When Adam and Eve fell into sin, they were attempting to assert their autonomy from God. The serpent claimed that in knowing good and evil, that is by determining good and evil for themselves through experience, they would become gods. The root of sin is found in this rebellion, self-sufficiency and quest for autonomy. Desiring to be gods themselves, Adam and Eve made a fateful decision to believe Satan and to act on the premise that they could live apart from their Father-Creator. Abraham walked a different road – his reaction was ‘Hineni’ – I am ready and willing to do your bidding.

Noah had stood at the head of humanity and acted as priest, and received promises which, while incredibly wide ranging, were nevertheless, of a material nature. It was Abraham, Father of the Hebrew people, who performed a corporate priestly act, in representation for Israel but reaching the whole human race. It was Abraham who obtained the promise that, as a result of the sacrifice that his offering pre-figured, all nations would be blessed. So it is Abraham who most clearly establishes the principle of substitution in his act of human sacrifice. It was only symbolical inasmuch as the Angel of the Lord stopped him before the sacrifice could be completed; nevertheless, the act most perfectly points to the sacrifice of God’s son on Golgotha, who gave His life for our sins.

What we have seen so far is that because of the solidarity of the human race,

– when Adam fell we all fell, and suffered the consequences.

– when Noah acted as priest, the benefits were felt not by him alone but by us all.

– when Abraham believed God and offered Isaac on the altar, the benefits of the substitutionary sacrifice would be felt by ‘all nations’.