Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

God’s long term planning

Genesis 22v18 “Through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed because you have obeyed me.”  (NIV)

What are you currently planning for? Many of us like to plan ahead.

As we approach Easter, it is worth reminding ourselves that God’s plan for Easter was a mighty long time in the preparation. It was on the evening of the day that human beings first sinned that we get the first inkling of God’s plan to resolve the sin problem (Genesis 3v15). The decision to act was quick, but the execution took time. And so, the Old Testament becomes the forward-marching-history to the sacrifice of Jesus. We will look at a couple of key episodes in the next weeks leading up to Easter.

One of the most dramatic prophetic episodes is found in Abraham offering up his son Isaac (Genesis 22). God said to him, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” Of course, we struggle with the morality of this story, but it probably helps to know that it is likely that Abraham was over 120 and Isaac in his 20’s – any strength was in Isaac’s favour; so we learn more about the submission of Isaac than a forcing by Abraham. And by the end of the story, we see that God is only testing Abraham’s relative loyalty: God does not let him actually carry out the killing but intervenes with an angel and the provision of a ram (22v11-13). The result of that intervention is that Abraham names the place “The LORD will provide,” and the writer (Moses) narrates, “and to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.” Though God has provided for Abraham, the action and name is prophetic – it looks forward to God will provide.

This prophetic viewpoint in the account itself is brought into focus when we consider:

• This is clearly an image of God taking his only son, whom he loved, and sacrificing him as an offering.
• The location “Moriah” and “the mountain of the Lord” was where the Jewish temple was built (2 Chronicles 3v1, Isaiah 2v3). An outcrop of rock in today’s “Dome of the Rock” is the traditional site for this event. And it is on the same mountain that the Son of God was crucified some 2000 years later.
• The account ends with God telling Abraham, “because you have done this and have not withheld your son … through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed because you have obeyed me.” (Genesis 22v18). This is remarkable: the blessing of the nations is in the coming sacrifice of Christ, and so our salvation depended on Abraham’s obedience to God. I wonder what is depending on our obedience today?

Let’s give thanks that God is not a God who acts on a whim, but whose actions always align with his long-term strategic plans of love and justice. He brings us salvation now and he will bring about our full salvation in the New Creation.

With love and blessing,

Roland