Hebrews 11:17-19 (Pentecost 10C)

Hebrews 11:17-19 (Pentecost 10C)

St. John, Galveston 8/17/25

Rev. Alan Taylor

+ In Nomine Jesus +

Grace and peace to you, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

The story of Abraham and Isaac is probably one of the most heart wrenching and difficult stories in the Bible for us to understand. God had promised Abraham and Sarah that they would have an heir. Abraham was afraid that his heir would be one of his house servants by the name of Eliezer of Damascus. God assured that wouldn’t be the case. “This man shall not be be your heir (He said); your very own son shall be your heir.” It was an amazing promise God made to Abraham, because Abraham and Sarah were well past the age of conceiving a child. God though brought Abraham outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” “So shall your offspring be.” And with that, “Abraham believed the LORD and it was credited to him as righteousness.” 

When Isaac was born, both Abraham and Sarah rejoiced, because everything was going just as God had promised. In the Old Testament period, the birth of a male child to a Hebrew family was a miraculous and a hopeful event. It brought to the parents, and to the nation, for that matter, a  tremendous sense of excitement and anticipation. You see, long before the birth of Isaac, God had promised that He would “send the seed of the woman to crush the head of the serpent.” That promise was the foundation of the entire Jewish faith, as they looked forward to coming of the Messiah. Ultimately, the Messiah would come into the world, having been born of a woman. The Apostle Matthew, made the connection between Jesus and Abraham quite clear when he gave the genealogy of Jesus in his Gospel. He wrote, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.” 

For Abraham and Sarah, everything was going as God had promised. But then God said, “(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.” Abraham must have been perplexed by God’s command, but he didn’t hesitate to carry it out. “He 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 (he) 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.”

In Hebrews 11, the second reading before us this morning, Abraham is singles out as a hero of faith for his willingness to follow God’s command. “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”

In God calling Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, it seems like He was taking away the promise He made to Abraham, doesn’t it? We know, of course, that God stopped Abraham from sacrificing Isaac, but Abraham didn’t know God was going to do that at the time. What Abraham knew was that God had made him a promise regarding Isaac.

This story of the patriarch and his son draws our attention to the absolute certainty of God’s promises, and to the confidence that Abraham had in God and in His word. Isaac would be the child through whom the Messiah would come into the world! Abraham knew that to be true, because God had told him so. With that promise having been given, we can go back then and piece together a couple of passages to help us better understand what Abraham believed when he took Isaac to the top of Mt. Moriah. 

Earlier, I read a passage from Genesis 22. Abraham told the young men who were with him on the mountain that day to, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” Those words of Abraham are important. Did you catch what he said? “I and the boy (meaning Isaac) will come again to you.” Though Abraham knew why he and Isaac were going to Mt. Moriah, he also knew that he and Isaac would both return from that mountain top. Why? Well, because God had promised that, through Isaac, the Messiah would come into the world. Hebrews 11 tells us what Abraham believed that God would do if He required him to sacrifice Isaac. “He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.
 

And so, the story of Abraham and Isaac on Mt. Moriah is a testimony to the incredible trust that Abraham had in God’s promise. In short, he believed that if God promised something, it would be done. With that in mind, we might take a moment to consider the promises that God has made to us. “I have called you by name (He says). You are mine.” “I am with you always to the very end of the age.” “In this world you will have tribulation. But take courage, for I have overcome the world.” “In Christ Jesus, it is no longer death to die.” “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” When God makes a promise, it is done!

Of course, as important as it is for us to trust God’s promises, there is still more to the story of Abraham and Isaac. When the time came for the sacrifice to made on Mt. Moriah, Isaac said, “”My father!” And (Abraham) 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.”

As you know, the Lamb of the sacrifice would not be Abraham’s son, Isaac. Rather, it would be God’s own Son, Jesus. Indeed, “God provided the Lamb.” One of the names by which Jesus is known, is the Agnus Dei, the Lamb of God. John the Baptist stood one day in the water’s of the Jordan River. He watched as Jesus walked toward him. As he got closer, John pointed at Him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” Thankfully, Abraham’s trial is one that none of us will ever experience because God has provided the Lamb. 

A man was traveling down a road from Jerusalem to Gaza. He was an Ethiopian. He was reading a passage of Scripture from the Book of Isaiah. St. Luke, the writer of the Book of Acts, tells us what the passage was that he was reading. It was verses 7 & 8 of Isaiah 53. “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.”

Having stopped on the side of the road, the man asked Philip, one of our Lord’s disciples, who Isaiah was writing about, was it himself or someone else? From that passage, Philip then preached the Gospel of Jesus to him. From Abraham, to you, and beyond, the message is the same. God has provided for your salvation what you could never provide. The Lamb of the sacrifice, God’s Son, being of infinite majesty and holiness, credits you with the perfection that God demands. And so, baptized into Jesus, you are the beloved of God, His son or daughter, in whom He is well pleased.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.

+ Soli Deo Gloria +