Sermon Transcript – On Mt. Moriah it WAS Provided!

Series B – First Sunday in Lent – Sunday, February 18, 2018 | Pr. Chris Rosebrough

Welcome to the Teaching Ministry of Kongsvinger Lutheran Church. Kongsvinger is a beacon for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of Northwestern Minnesota.
We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone, and now, here’s a message from Pastor Chris Rosebrough:
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Time StampTranscript
0:28his first reading is from Genesis chapter 22 verses 1 through 18. after
0:34these things God tested Abraham and said to him Abraham and he said here I am he
0:39said take your son your only son Isaac whom you love and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt
0:46offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you so Abraham Rose early in the morning
0:52saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac
0:57and he cut wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him
1:02on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar
1:07then Abraham said to his young men stay here with a donkey I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to
1:13you and Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his on Isaac his
1:19son and he took in his hand the fire and the knife so they went both of them together
1:25and Isaac said to his father Abraham my father and he said here I am my son
1:31he said behold the fire and the wood but where is the Lamb for a burnt offering
1:37Abraham said God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering my son
1:42so they went both of them together when they came to the place of which God had told him Abraham built the altar there
1:48and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar on top of the wood
1:55then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son but the angel of the Lord called to him
2:01from heaven and said Abraham Abraham and he said here I am he said do not lay
2:06your hand on the boy or do anything to him for now I know that you fear God seeing you have not withheld your son
2:13your only son from me and Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked and behold behind him was a ram
2:20caught in a Thicket by its horns and Abraham went and took the RAM and
2:25offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son so Abraham called the name of that place the Lord will provide
2:32as it is said to this day on the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided and the angel of the Lord called to
2:38Abraham a second time from heaven and said by myself I have sworn declares the Lord because you have
2:45done this and have not withheld your son your only son I will surely bless you and I will
2:52surely multiply your Offspring as the stars of Heaven as the sand that is on the seashore
2:57and your Offspring shall possess the Gate of his enemies and then your Offspring shall all the
3:02nations of the earth be blessed because you have obeyed my voice this is the word of the Lord in the name of Jesus
3:10so what are we to make of this Old Testament text have any of you ever read that text and go what is God up to
3:16asking Abraham to offer and sacrifice his own son what kind of God are we
3:23believing in it’s a little bit troubling in the loop wee bit disturbing if you think about it but the reality is is
3:29that there’s a lot more going on in our Old Testament text than meets the eye and in order to understand what’s going
3:36on in our Old Testament text we need to do a little bit of a Bible study if you would on Mount Moriah itself and so I’m
3:45going to have you turn with me to First Chronicles chapter 21 in your Pew Bibles
3:51and we’re going to read an account that may not appear at first to be related to
3:57Genesis 22 but it has everything to do with Genesis 22 and I think you’ll see it as the story unfolds let me give you
4:05a little bit of the context here in first Chronicles 21 King David is now
4:10well advanced in years in fact he’s getting ready to wind up his life and
4:16sleep with his fathers in shayol as the way the Hebrews would discuss it and talk about it and he wants things to be
4:23properly in order for his son Solomon to take the throne and unfortunately David
4:29in getting ready for the handoff isn’t really thinking in faith that the Lord
4:34is the one who’s going to sustain the kingdom he’s now wanting to count up and
4:40do a census and figure out how many soldiers and how big the military is at the time as if somehow military might is
4:49the thing that ensures the longevity of a kingdom at least the Kingdom of Israel no it does not and so David is sinning
4:57greatly we’re going to see in this text chapter 21 verse 1 begins then then
5:03Satan I’d like to correct that it’s the Satan it’s the Devil Himself stood
5:08against Israel and he and incited David to number Israel now granted there’s no
5:15command in the Old Testament that says you can’t take a census it’s not like every 10 years here in the United States
5:21when we do a census we’re somehow sinning against God that’s not the issue the issue is who is he trusting in so
5:27David said to joab and the commanders of the army go number Israel from barashiba
5:34to Dan and bring me a report that I might know their number but joab said
5:39May Yahweh add to his people a hundred times as many as they are are they not
5:44my Lord the king and all of them my Lord servants why then should my Lord require
5:50this why should it be a cause of guilt for Israel joab who’s known David all
5:57his life is pushing back and rightly so he can see that this request isn’t
6:03coming from faith in God but it’s coming from something different but the king’s
6:08word prevailed against joab so Joe I’ve departed went throughout all
6:14of Israel came back to Jerusalem joab gave the sum of the numbering of the people to David in all of Israel and
6:21you’re going to note he rounds the numbers up here which means he’s not interested in giving a specific number joab is actually incensed and really
6:28upset by this whole thing so in all of Israel there were one million one
6:35hundred thousand men who drew the sword and in Judah 470
6:40000 who drew the sword but joab did not include Levi and Benjamin in the numbering for the King’s Command was
6:47abhorrent to joab a little bit of passive aggressive behavior on the part of joab he’s really upset by this and
6:54not only was he displeased but verse 7 says but God was displeased with this
6:59thing and he struck Israel and you’re going to note God God’s punishment here is severe even
7:09more severe than well the sin that David committed with Bathsheba and Uriah the
7:16hittite you’re going to note that this is ramped up as far as consequences so David said to God
7:22and here he confess he confesses I have sinned greatly in that I have done this
7:29thing but now please take away the iniquity of your servant for I have acted very foolishly and Yahweh spoke to
7:38God David’s Seer that’s another name for a prophet saying go and say to David thus says Yahweh three things I offer
7:45you choose one of them that I may do it to you so God came to David and said to
7:51him thus says Yahweh choose what you will either three years of famine
7:58three months of Devastation by your foes while the sword of your enemies overtakes you or else three days of the
8:05sword of Yahweh pestilence on the land with the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the territory of Israel
8:13now a little bit of a note here you’re going to note the phrase Angel of the Lord over and again
8:18when the angel of the Lord shows up it is a pre-incarnate visitation of none
8:25other than the Son of God himself think of it as Jesus pre-incarnate and I’m
8:30pretty convinced that if you could take a camera crew back in time whenever the angel of the Lord shows up he’s going to
8:37look exactly the same as Jesus looks I’m just saying and over and again he is
8:42referred to as God he receives worship and sacrifices as God so this is God and
8:48you’re going to note that here it’s the sword of the Lord that is being offered as option number three for three days
8:57those three days things big stuff in scripture always pay attention to that so then David said to God by the way
9:04none of these seems like a great option I am in great distress let me fall into
9:10the hand of the Lord for his Mercy is very great but do not let me fall into
9:15the hand of men you see the Lord didn’t offer Dave David forgiveness at this point there’s no
9:21Absolution that has been spoken he’s only offered him judgment but David goes with option number three he wants to
9:28fall into the hand of the Lord because he knows just like we learned last week that the glory of the Lord is to forgive
9:35sins and so even though all three options seem like it’s only about
9:40judgment he understands that the third option he sees in it gospel which is a
9:47strange thing to see so Yahweh sent a pestilence on Israel and listen to this seventy thousand men
9:54of Israel fell you think about the American Civil War that was the worst war as far as total casualties for our
10:01armies and you know like the Battle of Gettysburg 50 000 men fell in the course of the
10:09three-day battle in Gettysburg now when we say 50 000 men fell not all of them died that is fifty thousand men who
10:16either died or were seriously wounded and they were out of the fight the war
10:21was over for them one way or the other but here seventy thousand men of Israel fell that’s 70 000 Men actually Dying by
10:29the hand of God by his judgment now I want you to think about this what did these seventy thousand men do to deserve
10:38this from God you’re going to note that David’s sin now is taking on the same
10:43characteristics as Adam’s sin the one man has sinned
10:50and all are impacted by the sin sin don’t think for a second that sin is
10:57A Private Matter it is not your sins even your secret sins impact everybody
11:04the whole world the entire universe and that’s the idea that in Adam we have all
11:10fallen and we are all held accountable for Adam’s then and this is why we confess at the beginning of the service
11:16we confess that we are by Nature sinful and unclean and that each and every one of us has
11:22been impacted by Adam’s sin and the solution then that we need is a solution that impacts all of us that gives us
11:31hope for all of us so you’re going to see in here some of the major themes of how the sin universally works because
11:38the solution that’s going to be given is a universal one will watch so the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel
11:45seventy thousand of the men of Israel fell God sent the angel to Jerusalem to destroy it but as he was about to
11:51destroy it Yahweh saw and he relented from the Calamity and pay attention to
11:57the place and he said to the angel who was working destruction it is enough now stay your
12:06hand in the angel of the Lord was standing by the threshing floor of ornon the
12:12jebusite David lifted his eyes saw the angel of the Lord and listen to these words
12:18standing between Earth and Heaven that’s an interesting place to stand and that
12:24detail is not a throwaway detail and you’ll see why in a little bit standing between Earth and Heaven and in his hand
12:30a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem and this picture of the Angel
12:36of the Lord with a drawn sword literally swinging it literally engaging in
12:41judgment literally people falling hearkens to what we see at the very end of the Bible in the Book of Revelation
12:48where Jesus on his white Steed marches and swings his sword to the point where
12:55at the battle of Armageddon the blood of the Nations is spilled so badly that the
13:00blood is risen up to the level of pool height and it’s coming up high up on his
13:06horse that’s the picture of him you sit there and go well that’s how can Jesus do that
13:11you see that you’ll note this is not Precious Moments Jesus remember God
13:17is most merciful and he is also wrathful and it’s his wrath that we must fear
13:25and it’s because of his great Mercy that we are saved from the wrath of God and
13:30so Jesus also has that same wrath so if you’re picturing Jesus as the one standing between Heaven and Earth with a
13:37drawn sword you got the right picture in your mind and this is important so the story then continues it is enough
13:45David lifted up his eyes he saw the angel of the Lord standing between Heaven and Earth with a drawn sword then
13:53David and the elders clothed in sackcloth they fell on their faces David said to God
14:00was it not I who gave command to number the people it is I who have sinned and
14:06done great evil but these sheep what have they done please let your hand o Yahweh my God be against me and against
14:13my father’s house but do not let the plague be on your people and here’s the rub
14:19David is offering himself as sacrifice but David is the one who has committed
14:24the sin he is not capable of being the sacrifice his life being spared or being
14:30taken so that the others can live won’t do God has to provide the sacrifice a
14:36spotless lamb if you would so the angel of the Lord had commanded God to say to
14:42David that David should go up and raise an altar to Yahweh on the threshing floor of ornon the jebusite and by the
14:49way the place is the most important part here so David went up at God’s word which he had spoken in the name of
14:55Yahweh now ornan was threshing wheat it’s so appropriate that this is a
15:01threshing floor it is so important here because on this threshing floor what is
15:07taking place wheat and chaff are being separated from each other and this is a
15:12major theme of scripture where Jesus describes the day of judgment itself as a separating of the wheat in the staff
15:20so important we’ll fix we’ll pick this up in just a little bit more so he was threshing wheat he turned and saw the
15:26angel and His Four sons who were with him they hid themselves Angel four Sons
15:32Matthew Mark Luke John just saying it’s weird the details how they line up so as
15:37David came to oronoornan looked and saw David and he went out from the threshing floor paid homage to David with his face
15:43to the ground and David said to ornan give me the sight of the threshing floor that I may build on it and altar to the
15:50Lord give it to me at its full price that the plague may be averted from the people then ornan said to David take it
15:58let my Lord the king do with it what seems to him see I give the oxen for the burnt offerings the threshing sledges
16:04for the wood the wheat for the grain offering I give it all and David said to Orna no but I will buy them for the full
16:12price I will not take for Yahweh what is yours nor offer burnt offerings that
16:18cost me nothing so David paid ornan 600 shekels of gold
16:24by weight for the site David built there an altar to the Lord and presented burnt
16:29offerings and peace offerings and called on Yahweh and Yahweh answered him with
16:34fire from heaven upon the altar of burnt offering and you’re going to note what needs to happen at this place at
16:41this point this is the Old Testament this is the time when everything’s in
16:47type and Shadow the animal sacrifice is prefigure the sacrifice of Jesus and as
16:53the book of Hebrews say that the blood of oxen and sheep cannot atone for sin
16:59but our sin is atoned for by Jesus Christ himself but following the
17:05instructions of the Mosaic Covenant now there’s a sacrifice for sins and you’re
17:10going to note that God answers the sacrifice with fire from heaven
17:17the Absolution shows up then as a cleansing fire
17:23that’s the idea God lets David know he has accepted the sacrifice
17:28he has responded with fire there’s no doubt so the Absolution comes from action
17:35then and only then Yahweh commanded the angel and he put
17:41his sword back into its sheath great picture the wrath of God is the Angel of
17:48the Lord with a drawn sword killing rightly those who have sinned
17:53against him and when the sacrifice is made the sword is sheathed
17:59beautiful picture of forgiveness so at that time when David saw that Yahweh had
18:04answered him at the threshing floor of ornam the jebusite he sacrificed there for the Tabernacle of the Lord which
18:11Moses had made in the wilderness and the altar of burnt offering were at that time in the high places of gibeon but
18:17David could not go before it to inquire of God for he was afraid of the sword of the Angel of the Lord and then David
18:23said here shall be the house of Yahweh Elohim and hear the altar of burnt
18:29offering for Israel so the threshing floor of ornan the
18:35jebusite will become the holy of holies
18:41in the temple Now flip forward just a few pages to Second Chronicles chapter 3
18:47and you’ll see it Second Chronicles chapter three we’ll just pick up a few verses then Solomon
18:54began to build the house of Yahweh in Jerusalem and watch the place on Mount
19:03Moriah where the Lord where Yahweh had appeared to David his father at the place that
19:09David had appointed on the threshing floor of ornan the jebusite
19:14Mount Moriah itself that is significant so now moving
19:21forward we’ve gone forward just a little bit and we can see okay this is an important
19:28site this is the place where the holy of holies is where the sacrifices are made
19:34the threshing floor this is where the wheat and the chaff are separated fast
19:40forward just a little bit and on the slopes of this exact same Mountain
19:45on a Friday afternoon there’s Jesus Christ King of Kings Lord
19:52of lords the true Angel of the Lord the son of God standing between Heaven and Earth and
20:00this time the sword is in the ground and he’s nailed to it and he’s bleeding and dying for the sins
20:07of the world and just like the work of a threshing floor the wheat is separated
20:13from the chaff on one side one of the thieves that he’s crucified between believes
20:19and on the other side the chaff the fellow disbeliefs and scoffs and mocks
20:24Jesus you can begin to see how it all works out now what does this then have to do with Genesis 22. well let’s turn
20:32back to Genesis 22 and work through the details and then you’ll really see what God is up to In this passage because it
20:40doesn’t make sense unless you have the right sacrifice in mind unless you’re
20:46paying attention to what all of this is pointing to Genesis 22 verse 1 reads
20:51after these things God tested Abram and said to him Abraham and he said here I
20:56am he said take your son your only son Isaac whom you love and go to the land
21:03of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you
21:11only son by Genesis 22 Abraham had two sons
21:17Ishmael was born first to the slave woman
21:22and Isaac has now been born as son of promise to Sarah how is it that God is saying take your
21:29son your only son and sacrifice him
21:34the answer God really is kind of looking through Isaac
21:39looking all the way through all of the men who would be born as direct descendants of Isaac and seeing through
21:47him in that lineage the one to come who is none other than the only begotten son
21:55of God what we’re going to see here in type and Shadow is like a dress rehearsal for
22:03Jesus being taken to the slopes of Mount Moriah you’ll see it as it develops
22:10so take your son your only son offer him as a burnt offering on the mountains of which I shall tell you so Abraham Rose
22:17early in the morning saddled his donkey took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac he cut the wood for the
22:24burnt offering arose and went to the place of which God had told him and on the third day pay attention to that
22:30Third Day stuff isn’t it strange how it always seems to show up Abraham lifted up his eyes saw
22:36the place from afar then Abraham said to his young men stay here with the donkey I and the boy will go over there and
22:43worship and come again to you you’ll note that they had a donkey Isaac comes
22:50close to Mount Moriah while riding a donkey I seem to remember Jesus writing a donkey too when he comes into
22:57Jerusalem so stay here I and the boy will go over and worship and come to you again Abraham took the wood
23:03of the burnt offering laid it on Isaac his son and this hearkens then to when Christ
23:10after having been beaten scourged punched in the face had a crown of thorns pressed into his head then was
23:17forced to carry his cross to the slopes of Mount Moriah which is Golgotha
23:23but he buckled under the load because of the beating but here Isaac is carrying
23:29the very wood on which he is supposed to be sacrificed so he laid it on Isaac and
23:34he took his hand the fire and the knife so they went both of them together and
23:40Isaac said to his father Abraham my father he said here I am my son
23:45he said behold the fire in the wood but where is the Lamb for a burnt offering
23:51Abraham said God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering my
23:57son so they went both of them together and no truer words could have been spoken
24:03God himself truly was going to provide the lamb for the burnt offering
24:09but it’s not Isaac remember Isaac is a sinner like you and I he cannot be the
24:14sacrifice for our sins he cannot even be the sacrifice for his own so when they came to the place of which
24:21God had told him Abraham built the altar there laid the wood in order bound Isaac
24:27his son laid him on the altar on top of the wood hmm
24:33to see pictures of Christ being laid on the cross and being nailed to the wood
24:40of the Cross before he was suspended Between Heaven and Earth
24:45so Abraham reached out his hand took the knife to slaughter his son but the angel
24:50of the Lord yeah the same one who had the sword out in first Chronicles 21
24:56that same Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said Abraham Abraham
25:01and he said here I am he said do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him for now I know
25:09that you fear God seeing that you have not withheld your son your only son
25:15from me and Abraham lifted up his eyes looked and behold
25:21behind him was a ram caught in a Thicket by his horns this type of plant by the
25:28way when you look it up in the Hebrew is a thorn-bearing Thicket this Ram is
25:34literally caught by its horns by thorns and this is a great picture of
25:43the crown of thorns that Jesus was to wear when he later would be at this
25:49exact same spot on this same Mountain so there was the ram caught in the thicket
25:56by its horns and Abraham went and took the RAM and offered it up as a burnt
26:01offering and listened to these words instead of his son
26:07now a couple of notes Here if you remember when David sinned a he
26:13ended up buying the site of the threshing floor of ornan the jebusite and his point was I have to
26:21buy these things because the sacrifice can’t cost me nothing it has to cost me
26:27something and here in this sacrifice what did this sacrifice cost Abraham
26:33zero this was a free sacrifice but see this is the sacrifice that
26:41points to the ultimate sacrifice and this is where it’s important that we pay attention
26:46the sacrifice that was given for your sins and mine cost us nothing
26:53just like this sacrifice cost Abraham nothing but the sacrifice for our sins
27:00cost God the Father everything everything because God the Father did
27:09not withhold his son his only son so that he can bleed and die for your
27:17sins and mine it cost us and Abraham nothing
27:22it cost God everything and it cost Jesus everything
27:28but see that’s the thing in order to save us God and Christ himself
27:36they were not only willing but they did literally lay down everything in order
27:43to redeem you and I and you can see this beautiful picture of it right there
27:49and then Focus again on these words instead of his son and this then
27:55hearkens to that wonderful Biblical teaching that we are saved because
28:01Christ is our substitute that what we deserved Christ took for himself
28:09Jesus was sacrificed and he suffered for your sins and mine instead of you and so
28:18the words instead of his son so important because that then helps us
28:23understand that when we’re talking about what Jesus was doing on the cross it was a substitutionary work for your sins and
28:31for mine so Abraham called the name of that place and here’s the name
28:37Yahweh will provide as it is said to this day on the Mount of Yahweh it shall
28:45be provided now back when Moses penned these words
28:50Jesus’s crucifixion on the slopes of Mount Moriah was still something that
28:55would take place in the future but we now looking back to the finished and accomplished work of Christ we can
29:03say that on the Mount of Yahweh it has been provided
29:08it has God himself has provided the lamb God himself has provided the sacrifice
29:15and this is absolutely good news
29:20so if you just read Genesis 22 on a cold reading and you don’t consider its
29:26significance in light of what the rest of scripture reveals then God looks like a monster
29:31but if you read what scripture reveals regarding this place and what was going to take place on it now all of a sudden
29:39God no longer looks like a monster he looks like somebody who truly loves
29:44us who demonstrates his love for us in that while we were yet sinners
29:50Christ died for us and you can see that going all the way back in human history
29:55that this was God’s intention all along to save Sinners Like Me and like you
30:02and so I think it fitting inappropriate then to con to close our meditation on
30:08this text with the words of Christ from our gospel text this morning Jesus said the time is fulfilled the
30:15kingdom of God is at hand repent and believe in the gospel
30:21consider again the fact that you have deserved God’s Wrath that the sword of
30:27the Lord rightly should be pointed at your chest and there’s nothing that you can offer that would keep God from
30:33executing the Judgment upon you that you have deserved for your sins same with me
30:38but see the thing is is that God himself has provided the sacrifice the angel of
30:43the Lord stood Between Heaven and Earth in order to reconcile us to the father
30:49so this being lent is a time to reflect on our lives and to repent over and
30:54again to say that we are not worthy that we should do better and we have incurred
30:59God’s Wrath but Jesus assures us with these words believe in the gospel
31:05the gospel is the good news that Christ on a Friday afternoon on the slopes of
31:10Mount Moriah was the Lamb of God that he provided so that you can be reconciled
31:16to the father and because of this great Act of Mercy on the part of God that
31:22God’s sword the sword of God’s Wrath has been sheathed and you are made right
31:28with God in the name of Jesus amen
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