Dogs are pretty amazing.
We have two dogs. Cobi and Shadow. We've had Cobi for a while. She's an Aussie Shepherd mix and I'm pretty sure she's smarter than I am. She's high energy and will play fetch for hours. She's a great watchdog and you can't come on our property without Cobi barking a warning that someone is there.
Shadow is fairly new to our house. We've had him for about a year. He's a Black Labrador mix and he's huge. He started out as a cute little puppy, but we should have known by the size of his bear-like paws that things were going to change. He's now bigger than Cobi and if he jumps up to greet you, you're pretty much going to fall over. His tail is a weapon. When he wags it, he can take out cups on the coffee table and any small children in close proximity.
Our dogs are a big part of family and they teach me one thing in particular everyday.
They are the most faithful creatures I know.
Cobi is a herding dog and instead of watching over a flock of sheep, she watches over us. We're her herd. A family member will get greeted upon arrival home with a bark or two and then Cobi will settle down. That person belongs. They should be here. But visitors take much longer for Cobi to accept. If you come to our house, Cobi will bark for 5 minutes and then take another 20 minutes to really settle down. She's keeping guard, and until she knows that she can trust you, she's on watch.
Shadow is my son's dog. He'll curl up beside Troy on the carpet and lay for hours close to him. He loves visitors more than Cobi, but even then, he wants to jump up and sniff you to make sure that you are a friend. I'm fairly certain that if anyone wanted to do harm to one of us, Troy in particular, Shadow would make sure that person knew how he felt about that.
These dogs love us and watch out for us and are glad when we're around.
They're faithful. Their love never changes.
Of course we talk about God being faithful too, but sometimes we need to be reminded how much more faithful he is than even a couple of really good dogs.
In Genesis 22, we get this really amazing story of God's faithfulness to Abraham. Abraham has been given an incredible gift of a son in his old age. Isaac is God's unexpected fulfillment of His promises to Abraham and Sarah. Then, after Isaac has grown, God asks Abraham to do the unthinkable.
He asks Abraham to sacrifice Isaac as an act of worship and trust in God.
Oh my. That doesn't seem right does it? Abraham and Sarah have been waiting decades for God to give them a child. He does and then God asks them to give him back. Whoa.
Now the story of course, has a happy ending. Just when Abraham is about to sacrifice Isaac, the angel of the Lord steps in and says, "Do not lay a hand on the boy. Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only Son." Genesis 22:12
Thank goodness. Isaac lives and Abraham has passed the test. God is good.
But this story is much broader in the whole scheme of scripture. This will take a minute, but bear with me because it's worth it.
God shows up and saves Isaac and God's promises to Abraham continue as the nation of Israel grows, but the story of Genesis 22 becomes much more powerful when we understand one particular thing about it.
This story grows when we understand WHERE it happened.
Huh?
Yep.
"Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, whom you love -- Isaac -- and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you" Genesis 22:2
Okay. What's so important about Moriah?
Moriah changes names over the history of scripture, but we do know where it is.
It's the region of Jerusalem. Yes that Jerusalem.
So Abraham is called to go to region of Jerusalem to sacrifice his son. Are you beginning to see the importance of this story in the whole scope of scripture?
Because we're not given the specifics of places, we have to imagine a little where this 'almost sacrifice' took place. Tradition holds one place, I think it could have been one of two places. Either way, it's pretty awesome.
Either the mountain that God shows Abraham is the mount of the temple of Solomon or it's Golgotha, the place where Christ was crucified. Tradition holds the temple (amazing!), but it could be Golgotha as well (equally amazing!)
So God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son in a place that would soon become a place of sacrifice for the sins of God's people.
Think about that for a moment. God gives us a story from millennia past that shows Him asking for the sacrifice of a son as a sign of faithfulness. He stops that from happening, but He himself doesn't withhold his Son in the future. His son is sacrificed for the sins of not only Israel, but of all people, always.
My goodness is God ever faithful. His faithfulness to His people is not governed by time. He always is a God who keeps His promises, and He always has a plan to save, and redeem His people.
One final thing. Reread Genesis 22:12. We hear the speaker as the angel of the Lord, but then we hear the speaker say these words, "You have not withheld from me your son, your only son."
Hmmmm. Who is speaking? Is it God himself? Could it be, maybe, possibly, Jesus?
What if Jesus speaks to Abraham to stop the sacrifice? And since Christ and the Father are one, did He stop the sacrifice that He knew one day would be His? And no one would stop that sacrifice because Christ's sacrifice was the only way that all people could be saved.
God was faithful to Abraham. He kept His promises. And He's faithful to us.
Trust Him today. No matter what's happening, no matter how crazy, or frustrating, or challenging life is, the God who showed up in the region of Moriah, loves you. And that's never going to change.
Blessings,
Pastor Scott
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