5.5 Abraham's First Fruits – Isaac

Tom Marxen First Fruits/Unleavened Bread 02 October 2023 Hits: 47

Verse: Genesis 22:2 [God] said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the

region of Moriah; and offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I will tell

you.” AMP

Genesis 22; Hebrews 11

Abraham was 75 years old when YHWH first made a covenant with him to birth a nation as numerous as

the stars and the sand on the shores that would be blessed and be a blessing to the nations. This

nation’s God would be YHWH unlike any other nation on earth. This nation could only be created

through the reliance upon a man and woman believing a promise from God to create a son birthed to a

couple well beyond the years of “natural” fertility. This son was birthed by trusting God in His promise to

Abraham. It was not until 25 years later that Isaac was born. God insisted that only Isaac could inherit

the blessing from Abraham, so all the potential for that promised nation lay in the long-awaited son

Isaac. In those 25 years God repeated and confirmed the original covenant promise and He expanded

the details of it as He went along.

Separate yourself from your natural family. I will bless you, make your name great, and you will be a

blessing.

Genesis 12:1-3

Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house

to the land that I will show you And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and

make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and

him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

ESV

Who will be my heir as I have no son? Your very own son will be your heir.

Your believing me is your right standing with me.

Genesis 15:1-6

After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: "Fear not, Abram, I am your

shield; your reward shall be very great." But Abram said, "O Lord God, what will you give me,

for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?" And Abram said,

"Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir."

And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: "This man shall not be your heir; your very own

son shall be your heir." And he brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven, and

number the stars, if you are able to number them." Then he said to him, "So shall your

offspring be." And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness. ESV

God imparts His name into Abram’s – Abraham now carries the authority of God in him.

Abram (high father) to Abraham (father of many nations).

YHWH will be the God of Abraham’s nations birthed out of Isaac.

Genesis 17:1-8

When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am

God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me

and you, and may multiply you greatly." Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him,

“Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No

longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made

you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make

you into nations, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me

and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting

covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your

offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting

possession, and I will be their God." ESV

God imparts His name into Sarai, Abraham’s wife – Sarah now carries the authority of God with her.

Sarai (my princess) to Sarah (princess of the multitude).

Sarah will bear your son.

Genesis 17:15-17

And God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah

shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her,

and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her." ESV

Isaac is born and marked with the covenant sign of circumcision. Isaac carries the mark of God in his flesh.

Genesis 21:1-6

The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised. And

Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken

to him. Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him,

Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had

commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. ESV

The sacrifice of Isaac.

Genesis 22:1-8

After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I."

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."

The burnt offering “symbolized the entire surrender unto God whether of the individual or the

congregation, and His acceptance thereof” The burnt offering was the only offering non-Israelites were

allowed to bring. It was not a sin offering and it was not presented for any offenses, but its acceptance

did confirm the pleasure of God towards the offerer (p. 93 The Temple and its Ministry and Services by Alfred Edersheim).

Thus Abraham was told to bring every part of the promise given to him up until that moment and

surrender it back to God. He was not being punished for any wrongdoing, Abraham was being tested to

see if he did indeed carry the character of God in his heart. Remember when God imparted a part of His

own name (nature, character, and authority) into Abraham and Sarah? This is the fruit of that

transaction. God was now looking back at the faith of God in the man, Abraham.

Genesis 22:3-5

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."

“I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” Abraham already knew that the

sacrifice of his son Isaac would not negate the validity of the promise of his son’s inheritance (Hebrews 11:7-19)

And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. 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 am I, 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. ESV

On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.

Genesis 22:10-14

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 am I."

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." ESV

The location of the sacrifice of Isaac was the same location where our Messiah Jesus was offered as an

offering for the sins of the world. Abraham and Isaac were both willing participants in the offering on

Mt Moriah. Yeshua surrendered His will to the Father’s will in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Not my will

but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). It was the will of the Father to give His only Son.

John 3:16-18

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should

not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the

world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ESV

Hebrews 11:17-19

By faith, Abraham, at the time of testing, offered Isaac back to God. Acting in faith, he was as

ready to return the promised son, his only son, as he had been to receive him — and this after

he had already been told, "Your descendants shall come from Isaac." Abraham figured that if

God wanted to, he could raise the dead. In a sense, that's what happened when he received

Isaac back, alive from off the altar. (THE MESSAGE)

Abraham prefigures the Father presenting His only Son for the sake of our future with Him. We are the

nation promised to Him whose God is the Lord.

John 10:17-18

For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No