Jesus: Son of Abraham

The Obedience and Faith of Christ

This entailed taking a walk like Isaac, in company with His Father, who the Bible says, “was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself’”   (2 Cor.5:19). They took the journey to Golgotha together, where Jesus was to die as a sin offering, because for Him there would be no ram caught in a thicket. As Isaac was laid on the wood, so He was laid on the cross. As Isaac was bound on the altar Jesus was nailed to it. The writer of the Hebrew letter tells us Abraham had faith that God could raise his son from the dead (Heb.11:19); whereas Jesus was exercising faith in the promise of God that He had the power to raise Himself from the dead, as per John 10:18 “No one takes it (i.e. My life) from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”

Of course there was much more involved in the obedience of Christ as THE true son of Abraham. It required that all the conditions and regulations revealed in the Law and the Prophets should be fulfilled. It had to include all that the Pentateuch designated for the expiation and propitiation of sin; and all that was designated for the cleansing and purification of the sinner. When   Jesus said it was laid on Him to ‘fulfill the Law’ ‘fulfill’ was used in its fullest sense. So His death had to be accomplished in such a way that the prophecies and types laid down in the T’nach, which relate to the designated sacrifices, were  satisfied.

He had to die in the 483^rd year after the edict to rebuild Jerusalem as per Daniel’s prophecy (9:25). He had to be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver (Zech. 11:12,13). He had to die on the 14^th Nisan, the day of the Passover (Exod.12:6). He had to leave the Temple going out through the Shushan Gate just as the scapegoat did on the Day of Atonement. Like the Scapegoat He left the Sanctuary going east   bearing the sins of the world.    Jesus had to die by being ‘lifted up’ to satisfy Gen.3:15 and not only lifted up but crucified to satisfy Psalm 22 “They pierced my hands and my feet”. He had to die as a felon in company with other felons (Isa.53:12). No bone of His could be broken (Ps.34:20). He had to suffer the fire of the wrath of God at the location where the carcasses of the sin offerings from the day of atonement were burned. He had to be buried for the feast of unleavened bread, just as the leaven was buried. His body had to be protected from decomposition in accordance with Ps. 16:10: “Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption”. He would have to rise at the feast of Firstfruits, as the firstfruit from the dead (cf.1 Cor.15:20). To complete all this He would have to be transformed (put on incorruption at His resurrection (cf. 1 Cor.15:42)): and return to  heaven to present His own blood in the heavenly Holiest of All (Heb.9:12).

Of course, some of these fulfillments were simply occurrences of events that were prophesied through the fore-knowledge of God. However, much was also deliberately accomplished by the Lord Jesus (an example of which is John 19:28 “After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, said, ‘I thirst’”. And even the soldiers of the Roman execution party were directed by the unseen hand of God to choose the correct site, directly to the east of the Temple and on a sight line to the veil separating the Holy Place from the Holiest of All (see my booklet ‘Why I Believe Jesus was crucified on the Mount of Olives’).

Abraham’s Son deals with Israel’s Curse

Of course, another major purpose of the Messiah being a true son of Abraham and a law abiding Jew was to deal with the curse that    resulted from the Hebrew nation breaking the Mosaic covenant. When the Lord, through Jeremiah, promised a New Covenant He   indicated it was to replace the Mosaic Covenant “which they broke’” (Jer. 31.32 ).

The death of Jesus brought to an end the Mosaic economy and initiated the New Covenant which in turn activated the blessing element of the Abrahamic covenant. This greatly improved the prospects of both Jew and Gentile and should have been received  joyously especially by the Hebrew nation, because while they remained under the Mosaic covenant they were under the curse.

The Mosaic Covenant did not introduce the curse, that took place in the Garden of Eden as a result of Adam’s disobedience, but the Mosaic Covenant was designed identify it: “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed  is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them” (Gal. 3:10).

Here then, is one reason, why the death of the Messiah had to be by crucifixion. Paul wrote: “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of   the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is   everyone who hangs on a tree” (Gal. 3:13) It was through His execution by crucifixion that the Messiah dealt a  fatal blow to the Law: “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way” (Col.2.14).

So, for those who have put their faith in a crucified Messiah, the curse of the Law is negated by the action of the cross.

Conclusion:

What we are saying is that Jesus was a true Son of  Abraham who gladly embraced and performed the complete will of God.

Free from the law, O happy condition,

Jesus has bled and there is remission,

Cursed by the law and bruised by the fall,

Grace hath redeemed us once for all.

Now we are free--there's no condemnation,

Jesus provides a perfect salvation.

"Come unto Me," O hear His sweet call,

Come, and He saves us once for all.

(Philip P. Bliss)