1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. 2 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:15,000 Like any good Jew, Jesus was steeped in Scripture. 3 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:24,000 Ever since He was a little boy, He had spent His life reading, marking, learning, and inwardly digesting the words of Scripture. 4 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:34,000 So it got to the point where even if He hadn't been the incarnate Word of God, even then all the words of Scripture would have become a part of who He was. 5 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:48,000 So that the world of Jesus, that the world that He saw was the world of Scripture, and the stories of Scripture were the lens through which He saw all the stories of his life. 6 00:00:48,000 --> 00:01:06,000 And so I don't think it's a stretch of the imagination then to suppose that when He was hanging on the cross for those long six hours, He would have been thinking of the stories of Scripture. 7 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:17,000 Like the stories we've been talking about throughout the sermon series, the stories of Adam, of Noah, of Moses, of Joshua, David, Jonah, even Melchizedek. 8 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:23,000 And surely too He was thinking about how all these stories found their fulfillment in Him. 9 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:29,000 How he had come so that all these stories might finally be about Him. 10 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:43,000 But I also think that all these stories cross His mind, but finally when the end drew near, can you see it? 11 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:51,000 He shuts his eyes as He hangs on that cross and He starts to mutter words to Himself. 12 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:55,000 Words He had heard ever since He was a little boy. 13 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:59,000 Words that had become part of who He is. 14 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:05,000 Vayahi akhar ha-davarim ha-eyla v'ha'elohim nesat avraham. 15 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:11,000 After these things, God tested Abraham. 16 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:17,000 And now the narrative unfolds before His eyes. 17 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:25,000 He watches Abraham receive this word from God, fight with it, argue with it, doubt it, but finally accept it. 18 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:32,000 He sees Abraham tell Sarah, his wife, that he and the boy must go do something important, a sacrifice they have to offer. 19 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:36,000 He sees Abraham kiss Sarah on the cheek and say goodbye to her. 20 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:42,000 He sees Abraham lead his little boy out the front door. 21 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:48,000 He sees Abraham journey with Isaac and the servants to the mountain. 22 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:52,000 He sees Abraham wave goodbye to the servants as they go up alone. 23 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:56,000 He sees Abraham set his eye on the top of the mountain to where he must go. 24 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:01,000 He sees Abraham praying for strength and courage as he faces this trial. 25 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:09,000 But in all these things, I don't think Jesus sees Himself in Abraham. 26 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:16,000 Now I think when we read this story, we tend to see ourselves as Abraham, the hero of faith. 27 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:19,000 I mean, this is what the book of Hebrews encourages us to do. 28 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:25,000 It encourages us to look at Abraham and his model of faith here and imitate that. 29 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:32,000 Because what Abraham does here, there's something heroic about it, isn't there? 30 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:35,000 Something dramatic, romantic. 31 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:41,000 He gets this command from God, this thing that he must do that no one else will understand, 32 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:46,000 but he knows it must be done, that no one will forgive him for, but still he does this thing. 33 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:50,000 And because of that, he's inspiring and heroic. 34 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:57,000 And maybe in other times, Jesus looked at Abraham's model and he saw Himself in Abraham. 35 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:01,000 He saw himself as some great hero of faith. 36 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:12,000 But in this hour, as He hangs on the cross and He feels the nails in His hands, 37 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:17,000 he sees Himself in Isaac. 38 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:24,000 Isaac who carries the wood of the sacrifice on his back as they go up the mountain. 39 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:30,000 Isaac as he asks his dad where the sacrifice is, what's going on. 40 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:36,000 Isaac who becomes more and more concerned as he begins to more and more understand what is about to transpire. 41 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:42,000 As Jesus hangs on the cross and the fire fills His lungs, he sees Himself in Isaac. 42 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:45,000 Isaac who is seized by his father. 43 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:47,000 Isaac who is bound and laid helpless on the altar. 44 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:53,000 Isaac who looks up and sees his father who he thought loved him, 45 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:57,000 now whose eyes won't meet his, who holds a knife over his heart. 46 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:04,000 Isaac who is filled with terror and pain and heartbreak as the knife begins to bear down upon him. 47 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:07,000 And Jesus' eyes fly open. 48 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:15,000 He is jarred from His remembrance because this terror and pain and heartbreak 49 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:18,000 He feels it too. 50 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:26,000 And I don't think it would have escaped Jesus that this pain and terror and heartbreak is not unique to Isaac or Him, 51 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:29,000 but rather the story of Isaac. 52 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:33,000 It's not just the story of Isaac, nor is it just the story of Isaac and Jesus, 53 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:38,000 but the story of Isaac is the story of all of us. 54 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:46,000 Because who here doesn't know that pain and terror and heartbreak? 55 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:55,000 Who here hasn't felt at times what it feels like to be betrayed by God? 56 00:05:56,000 --> 00:06:01,000 When your life is full of anxiety because of the uncertainty of your future, 57 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:03,000 or maybe the certainty of it. 58 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:08,000 When loved ones are taken from you unexpectedly, or maybe expectedly. 59 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:15,000 When your health fails, when chronic pain or mental illness never seem to let you get a break. 60 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:22,000 When everything seems to be going wrong and all these things we, like Isaac, we look up. 61 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:28,000 And we don't see our loving, gentle Father. 62 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:35,000 We don't see our God who is like a shepherd who leads us like little sheep by quiet streams. 63 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:46,000 But rather in all these things and these times, we are confronted with a deus absconditus, 64 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:54,000 the hidden God, the one whose eyes won't meet ours, the one who binds us and lays us upon an altar, 65 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:59,000 the one who holds a knife over our heart. This is the God that Jesus faces on the cross. 66 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:02,000 This is his trial. 67 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:06,000 And it is a trial, isn't it? 68 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:14,000 I mean, sometimes we talk about the testing of Abraham, the trial of Abraham, but what about the trial of Isaac? 69 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:17,000 Because my brothers and sisters, here is a trial. 70 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:26,000 To lay there helpless on the altar, to hang there on the cross, to hold in your hand the phone and hear the news, 71 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:33,000 to lay back and feel the pain roll over you again, and in all these things somehow to trust that beyond all appearances, 72 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:38,000 in the back of all this, somehow there is still a God who provides. 73 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:46,000 This is the trial that Jesus faces on the cross. 74 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:58,000 And He closes His eyes and watches His lips because these words roll over Him again. 75 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:07,000 Vayahia, kar ha-davarim, ha-eyla, ha-vah, Elohim, nesahid, Avraham, after these things God said to Abraham. 76 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:14,000 And again He remembers this story that is a part of who He is. 77 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:20,000 But he also remembers how this story ends. 78 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:29,000 And the ending of this story, He remembers why it is that He came here in the first place. 79 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:42,000 He came here. He lays on that cross to face this trial so that the knife might come upon Him, but He might come out the other side. 80 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:54,000 He hangs on this cross so that the story of Isaac and thus the story of all of us might be fulfilled and completed and find its center finally in Him. 81 00:08:55,000 --> 00:09:07,000 Jesus hangs on that cross for Isaac so that the knife that descends upon Isaac might finally stop, 82 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:15,000 so that Isaac might be able to face his trial because he has a God who provides. 83 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:25,000 Jesus hangs on that cross so that even if Abraham were not to hear the word of the angel and were to slay his son, to cut him to pieces, even then Isaac would be preserved. 84 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:34,000 Because Isaac's story, because of this, doesn't end in death, but in life, in resurrection with God providing. 85 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:41,000 Jesus hangs on that cross for you. 86 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:49,000 He hangs on that cross so that the knife that descends upon you might also stop, 87 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:56,000 so that you may face the trials of your life because you have a God who provides. 88 00:09:56,000 --> 00:10:05,000 Jesus hangs on the cross so that in the midst of your trials you may go to this story and see that this is the God we have, a God who provides, 89 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:18,000 so that even if the knife is to tear you to pieces, even then you will be preserved because your story ends just like Isaac's, not with death, but with life, with God providing. 90 00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:27,000 Jesus hangs on that cross. He closes His eyes for the last time. 91 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:40,000 He cries out. He gives up His spirit. He faces His trial because He has not only that, 92 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:50,000 He faces His trial so that He might be a God who provides. 93 00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:58,000 Out of a thorny bush on Moriah, life for Isaac. 94 00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:08,000 And out of His own suffering and death on Golgotha, life for the world. Amen. 95 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:18,000 Now may the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus, now and always. Amen.