Genesis 22:1-14 God. Will. Provide.

You are listening to the podcast of Recast Church in Mattawan, Michigan.

Reading Genesis 22 and the Question of God’s Command

All right, well, hey, would you guys do something for me here, do me a favor? This is a little calisthenics. Would you mind just standing as I read the word of God just so we can honor and reverence God's word here?

And what I'm gonna ask is that, this is something that I sort of tend to. I become so familiar with a passage, with a relationship that I'll just sort of go on autopilot and may miss something. Don't do that this morning.

Don't be like me. Listen with new ears and God will speak a fresh message to you from his word, okay? So Genesis chapter 22, verses one through 14. After these things, God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham.

And he said, here I am. He said, take 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.

So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him and his son, Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.

On the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. Then Abraham said to his young men, stay here with the donkey. I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.

And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son, Isaac. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. And Isaac said to his father, Abraham, my father.

And he said, here I am, my son. He said, behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? Abraham said, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son. So they went both of them together.

When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac, his son, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.

But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, here I am. He said, do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.

And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.

So Abraham called the name of that place, the Lord will provide, as it is said to this day, on the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.

This is the word of the Lord.

You may be seated.

Faith, Trial, and the Promise to Abraham

All right, church, Genesis 22. Genesis 22 brings, it begins with a very hard command, right, which has caused many people to pose a very hard question.

How? How?

How can I believe and love and obey a God who would command a father to slit his own son's throat? See, that's the question that places us in Abraham's shoes. Abraham hears a familiar voice, one that has called him many times before, one that has asked for the impossible and produced the incredible.

And here is that voice again, asking for everything, requiring that Abraham return to God, that which he has received from God. And even though much has been required from him in the past, this time, this time will Abraham be able to believe his ears.

See, God speaks, breaking the silence of the night, and he says this, take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering. With those questions, with those words, questions abound for us and for Abraham.

See, we, the reader, ask, why? Why, God? After all they've been through, is this really happening? Would God really ask Abraham to sacrifice his son? A quarter of a century of waiting on God's promise had finally concluded with the incredible.

When Abraham and Sarah were too old to produce children on their own, God had given them a miracle. God had provided a son. And remember, their whole future is tied up in this child. Through this child of promise, covenant blessings will be fulfilled.

God's covenant blessing to Abraham through this child. Through this child of promise, Abraham will become a great nation, and all the earth will be blessed through him. And now, God is asking him to burn this son on an altar.

His only son, whom he loves. Impossible, makes no sense. We imagine Abraham echoing our own concerns by saying, how, God, can you ask me to do this? Why, God, would you ask me to do this? And so the question becomes, will Abraham obey?

Can he obey? Obedience to God and love for his son are set to tear him apart. This is a monumental command, and the immensity of God's decree will be highlighted throughout our account this morning. You see, we will hear over and over and over and over again that this is Abraham's son, his only son.

A fact which makes this obedience that much more dangerous. But Abraham can't escape the words of his Lord. They ring in his ears, reminding him of what must be done. He must obey in faith. And you see, that's what we have here, a story of anguished faith.

Abraham's belief in God being acted upon. You see, that is faith, belief put into action. And so early the next morning, we find Abraham making preparations for this agonizing journey to offer his only son.

But right here, we need to slow down just a bit, okay, because such faith requires an examination. How has Abraham arrived at a place where he is able to so readily obey God? Well, that's the point of verse one.

Okay, look at verse one. Our story this morning begins with three little words, all right? After these things, after these things. What things? Well, we arrive at Genesis 22 after everything that's happened to Abraham since God first appeared to him.

You see, Abraham made his way to this point through much trial and tribulation. And friend, the same thing goes for us. That's our story as well. We are being perfected through the daily course of life, through much trial and tribulation.

Our faith, our obedience, our love is being grown day by day through our trials. God uses them to remind us of our dependence on him and our need to be transformed into the image of our savior, Jesus Christ, the perfect image of our savior.

Now listen, this side of glory, we will never be perfect, okay? We won't be perfect. But our lives aren't defined by our imperfection or our pain. We are defined by grace, the marvelous grace God has lavished upon us in Jesus Christ.

And so in this process of sanctification that we are all going through together, we must cling to grace. We must become people of grace. So church, be ready to give and receive grace in your home, in your workplace, in your church, to your friends and family, to your enemies.

We are people of grace. God came to Abraham in Genesis 12 in grace and with a promise. God promised him offspring, descendants, a legacy. God promised that through this one man all the families of the earth would be blessed.

Abraham's specific election would have universal benefits. And the significance of the entire Genesis narrative is in its introduction of God's promise, okay? Which is first seen all the way back in Genesis chapter three.

After the tragic fall of Adam and Eve, we get our first glimpse of how God will save man.

From his sin.

Chapter three, verse 15 says this. I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers. He will crush your head and you will strike his heel. You see, that promise right there prophesies that someone out of the human race, namely the woman's offspring or seed, who although fatally wounded in that conflict will destroy the serpent and his reign of evil.

And in his great grace, God determines that his plan to destroy Satan will be achieved through Abraham, through his covenant with Abraham. The one who will destroy Satan will be Abraham's descendant. And so what that means is all recorded biblical history prior to Genesis 12 stands as an introduction to God's covenant with Abraham.

While everything that follows that Abrahamic covenant is the outworking of God's promise given to him and his offspring. And what we see revealed throughout the rest of the Bible, the rest of scripture, is that God's promise is ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ, our Lord.

He is the offspring of Abraham. The conquering lamb, the conquering lion, the eternal lamb slain as an atonement for sin. You see, but there's a bit of a problem here early on in Genesis. There's a tension that exists between God's promise and the lack of an heir.

See, Abraham and Sarah are getting old, too old.

Way too old.

And it seems like God's promise will go unfulfilled. And this tension produces a series of crises brought on by human initiatives. Initiatives meant to help God's plan along. And friends, isn't that like us?

When things appear to be going wrong or taking longer than we anticipated, our faith begins to waver a bit. And we try to add our work to the plan of God in order to rescue God, or to save God from embarrassment.

In Abraham's case, in order to save his own hide, to save his own skin, he lies about his relationship with Sarah, passing her off as his sister. Then, growing impatient with God's plan, Abraham decides to choose Eleazar as his heir by adoption.

Then, growing even more impatient with God, Abraham and Sarah try to produce an heir through Hagar. And even though Abraham and Hagar succeed at producing a child, they're unable to produce an heir. You see, what we have in Genesis 12 through 20 is a theme running through Abraham's story.

Abraham and Sarah begin to see the promises of God not as a privilege, but as an obligation. Instead of saying, God will provide a child, they say, we must produce a child. And that seemingly minor difference causes many problems and much heartache for them.

You see, whenever we view the fruit of God's promise as something that we must achieve, rather than something that we receive from God, we have misunderstood the word of our Lord, and we begin down a very dangerous path.

But listen, here's the grace of God in action, okay? Because despite all of their missteps, despite all of their failures, their stumbles, God doesn't abandon them. God doesn't abandon them because of their mistakes and their stumbles.

And friends, he won't abandon you either. He meets each crisis with an affirmation of his promise. And at the beginning of chapter 21, the tension appears to be resolved. The promised child has been born.

God has kept his word. God did what he said he would do. Through these 10 chapters outlining Abraham's journey, God has been graciously saving Abraham from himself. Abraham has tried and failed to produce the results of God's promise, which serves as a reminder for us, okay?

Listen, despite our greatest efforts, God's people will only exist through divine intervention.

Okay?

God must intervene into our lives, into our world and rescue us. Friends, the point of this story this morning isn't that Abraham performed, okay? And he showed much faith, much perseverance, much hope, much love.

There's a lot of things that we can learn from Abraham, but the point of this story specifically isn't that Abraham performed, but that God has provided. And that fact is seen no more clearly than in Genesis 22.

You see, many approach Genesis 22 exalting Abraham, praising Abraham, but that misses the focus. And that's because this verse, these verses don't look to praise an obedient creature. They look to praise a faithful God.

You see, in the end, and listen, this right here, this is it, this wraps up the whole story. In the end, Abraham couldn't give the fruit of his body for the sin of his soul, right? Isaac wouldn't do. This imperfect sacrifice could never pay the price for man's sin.

God would have to provide that. And so what we have in this story isn't a call for infanticide, okay? But an illustration of what it will cost God to rescue his people. And what we'll see is the cost to God will be infinite.

It will cost God everything to rescue his people. And so church, as he is throughout all of scripture, God is the hero of this story. God is the protagonist. God is the focus of these verses. And that focus on God begins with God giving a command.

Okay, turn to verse two with me. In verse two, God says to Abraham, take 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.

And so there it is again, God's seemingly dark command. One that seems contradictory to God's character. And even more so in this instance since Isaac was the son of promise. You see, when God first called Abraham to leave behind his past, he was asking Abraham to leave behind everything and move forward with God's promise into a blessed future.

After 10 years of waiting, 10 years of waiting on God to fulfill that promise, the cries of baby Ishmael seemed to herald the fulfillment of God's promise. See, but God had other plans. It would take another 15 years of waiting before Abraham and Sarah would receive Isaac.

And upon Isaac's birth, there was finally laughter in Abraham's household. But that laughter was tempered a bit when Abraham was commanded to send away his other son. You see, Abraham had another son.

And as heartbreaking as it is, Ishmael had to go. Isaac was the son of promise, and Isaac must be the only son. God wanted to impress upon Abraham that it was God and God alone who would provide. You see, through Isaac, Abraham would become a great nation.

Without Isaac, it would not come true. Through Isaac, Abraham would become a blessing to all the families of the earth. Without Isaac, it would not come true. See, Isaac was the embodiment of all of God's promises.

In him, all the blessings of God were guaranteed, which meant Isaac was the tangible focal point of every hope that Abraham ever had. And now, God asks Abraham to offer Isaac on an altar as a burnt offering.

And this excruciating reality is pounded home in the slowly building request that we just saw in verse two. It says, take your son, who because I've had you send Ishmael away, is now your only son. Take this son Isaac, whom you love, and kill him.

Offer him to me as a burnt offering. That God had previously asked Abraham to burn the bridges behind him, walking alone with God, relying on God alone. And now, God is asking him to burn the bridge to his future.

You see, the nature of a burnt offering was such that the entire sacrifice would be totally consumed, meaning if Abraham is to obey God here, there would be nothing left of his son. It would be as if Sarah had never given birth to Isaac.

Abraham's costly and lengthy journey with God would come to naught, and his future would go up in smoke. But as unbearable as the thought of a father being asked to sacrifice his son, even more was at stake here, since through this son, Abraham was to become a blessing to all the families of the earth.

You see, at its deepest level here, the trial is that in the death of Isaac, the whole salvation of the world seems to be extinguished. God is asking for the impossible, right, the impossible. Now, I'm sure many of us have experienced moments in our lives where our Lord asked us to do something we thought was impossible.

Maybe He's asked you to end a sinful relationship, or to remain faithful in a covenant relationship, or to give away a significant portion of your finances, or to move away from friends and family halfway around the world to serve Him.

Those are all monumental requests undertaken only by the grace of God. But you know what, God asks each and every one of us every day to do the impossible. He asks His children to do the impossible. To take up their cross and follow Him in faith and obedience.

To follow Him throughout the course of just ordinary life, right, in which we face a mountain of little things. Little things that sometimes conspire to bring us to our knees, that work together to pull us away from God and God's people.

Friends, are you being found faithful in the little things of life? I know it's hard. It's hard sometimes to be patient with your children. Believe me, I know that. It's hard sometimes to not seek getting the last word in an argument with someone.

It's hard sometimes to stay and not run away. It's hard sometimes to say, forgive me. To bring yourself, to muster the courage to say, forgive me. The daily grind can sometimes seem impossible. It can cause us to look to alternatives to God.

To romanticize our sinful past. It can tempt us to walk away from the faith entirely. And so let me say this to you this morning. Don't give up. Don't give up. You can do it. You can live a life of faith and hope and obedience and repentance, but you can only do it in the grace God has given you to endure.

And he is generous in that grace. That's the same exact grace that Abraham would look to in order to obey God here in Genesis. I mean, just think with me for a minute. Close your eyes and imagine the emotional and spiritual warfare that must have transpired on that night.

What must have gone through Abraham's mind that night. He would have called into question his own sanity. The authenticity of that voice. He would have spoken volumes of words without ever hearing a response.

And yet there was no denying that that was the voice of God. And so in verse three, exhausted from a night full of noise, we see Abraham's quiet obedience here. So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac.

And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. Now friends, just four chapters earlier, this brash character Abraham is seen arguing with God over the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Strangers to him. He says, suppose there are 50 righteous within the city. 45, 40, 30, 20, 10. But here, Abraham doesn't say a word to God. He simply obeys. And the narrator meticulously highlights for us a very important little detail.

Okay, don't miss this. Despite having servants with him, present and available, this old man Abraham is the one who saddles his donkey and the one who splits the wood. You see, it's almost as if in the face of such a horrible task, Abraham attempts to postpone the inevitable for as long as possible.

He knows that he must obey, but he's willing to do the work of his servants if that gives him just a little bit more time with his boy. And in his grace, God appears to give him that. There's a long distance that has to be traveled before Abraham can perform this obedience.

And so this three-day journey is a means by which obedience will be tested and love will be proven. Friends, sometimes it's easy to obey, all right? It's easy to obey in the moment when obedience becomes nothing more than just a sudden impulse.

But for three days, Abraham's obedience paced on while Isaac walked beside him. And with every sunrise, Abraham obeyed and he believed. He believed that God would keep his promise. He believed that God would provide.

And as Abraham put one foot in front of the other, God was growing him in faith and love. He was transforming Abraham into a worshiper of God alone. And church, I want you to trust that is what God is doing for you as well.

As you follow God, putting one foot in front of the other, God is growing you in faith and in love. God is transforming you into a worshiper of God alone. And that's what we see in verse five. And I actually prefer the NIV here, okay?

So this is ESV so far. NIV gets this just a little bit closer to what I want you to hear. Upon arriving at their destination, Abraham prepares to worship and he tells his servants this. Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there to worship.

We will worship and then we will come back to you. Friends, it's just like our brother Dave said, we have been created for the purpose of worshiping God.

You see?

Our purpose on this earth isn't to make the most money. It's not to have the biggest house, the most cars, to fulfill the American dream. We have been created for the purpose of worshiping our God. That's the reason that you exist.

That's the reason that I exist. Our worship puts the glory of God on display for all to see. And here we see the true price of worship, okay, in this story. What does God require from us in our worship of him?

He requires everything. Our whole heart, our entire life, all our hopes and dreams engaged steadfastly for God, submitted to his Lordship. And so what will true worship cost Abraham here? It'll cost him everything.

He must not spare his own beloved son. But here we see the true measure of Abraham's faith. You see, Abraham knew that in this instance, worship involves sacrificing his son. But he also knew that God was faithful.

And so he tells his servants, we will come back to you. We will come back to you. You see, now some have suggested that this is nothing but a little white lie that he's telling to keep Isaac and his servants in the dark, right?

But what the reality is, what this really is, is an expression of resurrection faith. Abraham believes that the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. But he also believes that the Lord gives back. And so he declares through his obedience that God will give Isaac back to him, either by raising him from the dead or providing a substitute to take Isaac's place.

And that's just what the New Testament tells us, right? In Hebrews 11, verse 19, God says this. He, Abraham, considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.

Hebrews confirms this. For three days, as they journeyed to the mountain, Isaac was as good as dead. Isaac was the walking dead. But now, Abraham says, with profound faith, we will come back to you. We will come back to you.

My friends, let me just interject this for a moment, okay? Because sometimes when we preach, sometimes when we teach, we make it seem so easy, right? Just kill your kid, it's fine, it's easy, right? But listen to me.

Even the most profound faith, even the most profound faith doesn't necessarily eliminate the presence of pain, right? Trusting God at times can be easy, but more often than not, trusting God will happen as we stumble through a gauntlet of heartache.

And that's because it hurts to lay ourselves aside in favor of God.

That hurts.

It hurts to give up control. It hurts to open up that clenched fist and release those things we've come to love more than God. It hurts to obey sometimes. As they scaled the side of the mountain, Abraham himself was releasing Isaac into the hands of God, and it hurt.

He had experienced heartache before when he obediently placed the bread and water on Hagar's shoulders, exiling her and Ishmael into the wilderness. And now his heart is being torn out again as he obediently places the wood for the burnt offering on the shoulders of his only son.

But if all that wasn't difficult enough, right? If everything we've heard wasn't difficult enough, it gets even better. This scene gets even harder when Isaac finally speaks. Look at verse seven with me.

The Son, the Lamb, and God Will Provide

In verse seven, we hear the words of the only son. It says, and Isaac said to his father Abraham, my father, and he said, here I am, my son. He said, behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?

You see, Isaac is no dummy, and he's also not just an infant. This is a boy old enough to carry a load of wood up the side of a mountain, and a boy old enough to realize that in order to worship, we need a sacrifice.

And so he asks his dad, where is the lamb? A question that reverberates throughout the whole of scripture, church. That's the big question of the Bible. Where is the lamb? Where is the lamb that will save us?

This is a question that cuts through Abraham's heart like a knife. Isaac says, where is the lamb, father? And so how will Abraham respond to that question? What can he possibly say to his son? Well, he answers in the only way that he knows how.

He speaks out of 40 years of walking with a faithful God. He speaks from 40 years of experiencing God's mercy and grace. He tells his son what God has been showing him since the first day he was called out of the land of Haran, that God and no other is the source of all life, and that God will provide everything that's ever needed for his creatures.

Isaac says, father, where is the lamb? Abraham replies, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son. And friends, listen to me. That is an amazing statement, okay? Don't sleep on that one there, all right?

What we witness, we have a firsthand account of Abraham's deepest fear being put to rest by his boldest claim. God will provide. Friends, fear will try to rule you. It'll try to enslave you. It will paralyze you in hopes of keeping you too scared to ever do anything with your life, anything with your gifting.

What we learn from Abraham's bold claim here is that fear is only ever put to death by faith. So this is the turning point of our story. This right here, this point, everything changes. But not only that, it's the very heart of the message meant for Israel, okay?

These verses were first written for Israel. And when they first saw this story, heard this narrative of Isaac being marched to the altar, they heard the story of their very existence hanging in the balance.

If Isaac dies, Israel will not live. And so they ask, what will God do? How will God keep his promise? The rest of this story is written to assure Israel that no matter what circumstance they ever find themselves facing, their faithful covenant God can be trusted to provide their redemption.

And friends, we have that same assurance as well. Listen, despite whatever circumstance you find yourself in, you can trust God. You can believe God. He will not fail you. He will not walk away from you.

You can trust God. Verse eight concludes with father and son continuing their difficult journey together, which brings us to the climax of our conflict, okay, this is the climax here. Abraham and Isaac arrive at the place where the offering is to be made.

And here, the narrator slows down and very deliberately records every action of Abraham. It's in the verse nine. Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac, his son, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood.

With every painful next step, we see obedience and faith working together. And in fact, the faith of the father has now been emulated by the son and we see the faith of the son on display. You see, if Isaac is big enough and strong enough to carry wood for a sacrifice, presumably he's big enough and strong enough to resist or even subdue his father, but instead, he allows himself to be bound without uttering another word.

See, Isaac is displaying the same quiet faith and obedience of his father, an obedience empowered by a faith that trusts that God will provide. And now, Isaac is only a knife thrust removed from death.

This is the moment of truth. Does Abraham trust God so much that he'll offer not just his son but his entire future as well? Will he go through with this obedience? Verse 10 provides our answer. It says, "'Then Abraham reached out his hand "'and took the knife to slaughter his son.'".

Friends, this is faith.

This is belief put into action, faith that's visible through works of obedience. Not works that merit or earn salvation but works as a mark of living, breathing faith. See, God has been calling Abraham to obedience for over 40 years.

And now, Abraham demonstrates that he's ready to obey, that he loves God even more than his only son. And it's at that moment when the knife is at its highest point on the verge of being plunged into the flesh of the child of promise that God speaks again.

See, God has been silent since the beginning but now God speaks. He had spoken the word of death, takes away life. Now God will speak a redemptive word which gives life. Listen to verses 11 through 13.

They begin, "'But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven "'and said, Abraham, Abraham.'. "'And he said, here I am.'. "'He said, do not lay your hand on the boy "'or do anything to him. "'For now I know that you fear God, "'seeing you have not withheld your son, "'your only son from me.'.

"'And Abraham lifted up his eyes "'and looked and behold, behind him was a ram "'caught in a thicket by his horns. "'And Abraham went and took the ram "'and offered it up as a burnt offering "'instead of Isaac.'".

Friends, Abraham's bold claim of faith has come to pass right here. Our text shows God is faithful in his provision, that God is our provider. But it's also shown us something else, something that is very important, something that we all need to see.

Okay, so listen. God's provision often comes in ways that we could never imagine, ways that we would have never chosen, ways that we would reject, ways that seem weak and foolish, and yet are perfectly designed, perfectly timed, perfectly accomplishing what God intends for us,.

For our good.

Friends, God has your good in mind with all of these trials, all of this provision, all of his grace, all of your faith. God has your good in mind. God's gracious, beautiful provision shows us our deep need for God's ways.

Abraham's journey, like our journey, was one filled with many stumbles, but Abraham's obedience demonstrated his living faith. But listen to me. Abraham's works were not the ground of grace. Understand that?

Abraham's obedience was not the reason for God's grace. Absolutely not. Abraham's works were ground in the grace of God. God's grace comes first. First, Abraham believed God, and because his faith was real, he couldn't help but express that living faith through his works of obedience.

But remember, our obedience is always subordinated to God's faithfulness.

God's faithfulness.

Verse 14 says, so Abraham called the name of that place, the Lord will provide. As it is said to this day, on the mount of the Lord it shall be provided. That's very important because the name of the place isn't Abraham obeyed, right?

The name of that mountain isn't Abraham obeyed. It's called Yahweh-Yirik, or as we might say, Jehovah-Jireh. God will provide. God had provided a substitute, a thorn-crowned male sheep, a ram that would die in place of Isaac.

Isaac was given to Abraham a second time. He was now his by birth and by redemption. Because the ram dies, Isaac can live. And because Isaac can live, Israel can eventually become a nation. The ram instead of Isaac.

The ram instead of Israel. Now many of you might be saying, okay, that's great for Israel, okay? But what about me?

What about us?

Well, here's the good news, my friends. The promises of God don't end here in Genesis. The promises of God extend to all the families of the earth. God had provided the ram, but God's covenant with Abraham tells us what else God will provide.

An offspring or a seed. That seed was first of all Isaac and then Jacob, but ultimately this seed refers to one man. This is the seed of Genesis chapter three, who will crush the serpent's head. This is the seed of Matthew one, the son of David, the son of Abraham, Jesus Christ, our Lord, through whom all the nations of the earth will be blessed.

Because Jesus is the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And this lamb, Jesus, our lamb, would also be quietly led to the slaughter. He would become our thorn-crowned substitute sent to die in our place, absorbing the wrath of God meant for us and our sin.

And just like Isaac, Jesus himself was an only son. But listen, Isaac wasn't a sufficient sacrifice. And so the sacrifice which God prevented Abraham from making, God offered. God made the supreme sacrifice.

God paid the infinite cost. And the cost was his beloved son hanging bloodied and brutalized on the cross. The cost of our salvation was infinite to God. It cost him everything. It cost him his own beloved son.

The Cross, Romans 8, and the Assurance That God Will Provide

Friends, believe me when I tell you this, okay? I understand firsthand that sometimes life doesn't turn out the way we imagined it would. We wonder, why, God?

Why haven't you?

Why won't you?

Why would you?

We question his provision. We question his love for us sometimes. But when times like that come, I wanna give you some encouragement. Don't hide. Don't run away. Don't give up. Look to the cross of Jesus Christ.

Turn your eyes to the cross of Jesus Christ. As John Piper says, occasionally weep deeply over the life you hoped would be. Grieve the losses, then wash your face, trust God, and embrace the life that you have.

And friends, in Christ, the life you have is eternal life. Resurrection life. A life in which you have been saved by the power of the cross and are now sons and daughters of God. And so remember the price God paid when you question if he really loves you.