Lent 1 Old Testament, Genesis 22:1-18                             

Genesis 22:1-18

There are certain accounts in the Old Testament that are clearer than others. Our separation in language, culture and timeline set so much of the Old Testament in another world. And in many ways it is. But one of the beauties of the Old Testament, indeed of the whole of Scripture, is that there are enough “universals” that some things addressed make themselves understandable at once. This Sunday’s Old Testament reading actual highlights a bit of both.

Abraham has received grand promises from the mouth of the Lord. Some he will never see during his earthly life. One such promise is that his descendants will be more numerous than the sands on the seashore. A great lesson was learned in discerning just how to read God’s promises. The conclusion? Take God at his Word. At face value. When God says “in your seed,” he means through the wife I gave you, in the normal way. As the story unfolded, patience wore thin, bodies grew old and an alternative route was embarked upon. The promise was not to come through Abraham and Sarah’s ingenuity, but by God’s limitless power. 

The aged patriarch was given a promise and after the son of promise was born and lived a season in the tents of his parents, he himself was to become the victim of sacrifice. At the hands of his father. So much for the promise. Or so it seems. Now, so many parallels adorn Genesis 22:1-18 and the crucifixion of our Lord that each one would warrant great comment. The sacrifice of an only son through whom was promised a new race, the carrying of wood by the victim (the wood used as part of the deadly weaponry), the father as the one sacrificing and the true sacrifice provided clustered by thorns. The account is thick with indicators. To what end?

As an aside, may I comment that the longer I engage with the Bible, the more I see these kinds of connections in the book of the Old Covenant nation. And not surface, out-on-the-periphery connections, but deep allusions that nearly scream what’s coming centuries, perhaps millennia down the road. Again, to what end? It’s simple, really. God wants all the focus of all the scripture to be the saving work of his dear Son. Mankind has no hope without it and mankind has absolutely no purpose if that work isn’t embraced. And Genesis 22 is not the only example of the type of “advertising” in which our Heavenly Father is involved. Before the message can be embraced, before the Savior-God can be loved and adored, the message has to be made clear so that there are no mistakes in the understanding or pursuit of the truth.

We begin our Lenten walk this year hearing once again about a loving father making a harrowing sacrifice. His sacrifice points to the sacrifice of another, greater Father and Son. Granting clarity is God’s work in this account. Make no mistake. God certainly won’t.