A Dress Rehearsal for Calvary | Part 1

If you read closely, all of Scripture tells the story of this earth and we're going to find a wonderful depiction of Abraham and Isaac when God called a father to offer up his son as a sacrifice. The story was a dress rehearsal for Calvary in which God the Father would send his son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. If you have your Bible, turn to Hebrews 11.

Look at verse 17 as Adrian Rogers shares part one of a dress rehearsal for Calvary. As you hold your Bible in your hand, may I tell you, there is no book like the Bible, none, none whatsoever. The book that you hold in your hand is one book and yet it is 66 books. There are 39 books in the Old Testament. There are 27 in the New Testament.

They were written over a period of about 1,500 years by at least 40 different authors in three different languages, people from all backgrounds and walks of life. But when you bring them together, they don't make 66 books. They make one book, one book that is bound together. It has one hero. His name is Jesus. It has one villain. He is the devil.

It has one theme. It is salvation. It has one purpose, the glory of God. And so if you read the Bible anywhere, you're going to find standing somewhere in the shadows the Lord Jesus. And that's what we're going to see today as we look in the life of a man whose name was Abraham. He's the father of the faithful, the brightest star in the Hebrew heaven, and we're going to look back in history, centuries before Jesus Christ was born upon this earth, and we're going to find a wonderful depiction of the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, look, if you will, at the scripture that we have here in the New Testament before we go back to the Old Testament. Hebrews chapter 11, verse 17, by faith, Abraham, when he was tried, that is tested, offered up Isaac, and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called.

Now, how was he able to do this? Well, verse 19 tells us, accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead, from which also he received him in a figure. Now, the word figure means a type, an illustration. In the Old Testament, God gave illustrations, types, prophecies, figures of that which is to come in the New Testament. Now, why did God do that? Well, many reasons, but one reason, friend, listen to me, it is one of the great confirmations of the inspiration of the scripture. When you see way back here centuries and centuries and centuries before Jesus Christ was even born that God gives figures and types and prophecies of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not only is it, therefore, a confirmation of the inspiration of the scriptures, but correspondingly, it is a confirmation of the deity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as we see him there tucked away in the Old Testament. Don't get the idea that the Old Testament is about something other than Jesus. All the Bible is about Jesus.

It's all about Jesus. And furthermore, it is there that we might have the joy that we're going to have this morning of discovering and feasting on these things that are tucked away in the Old Testament. By the way, before we get to the Old Testament, let me give you a couple of verses here to prove what I'm talking about is not mere fancy. Put down your margin for John 8, verse 56. Jesus is talking to the unbelieving Jews of his day who boasted in Abraham. And here's what Jesus said to those Jews. Your father, talking about Abraham, your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad. Abraham, Jesus said, saw my day. Now I want to remind you, this was centuries before Jesus was born.

Let me give you another verse. Galatians 3, verse 18, and the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. The phrase that I want to extract from that verse is that the gospel was preached to Abraham. The Scriptures, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham.

Now, having said that, let's go to this passage of Scripture. Go backward in your Bible to Genesis chapter 22. Genesis, the first book.

Find the first book. Fast forward 22 chapters and you're going to come to the basis of our text today in Genesis chapter 22. Now there's some things I want you to see. What I'm going to do right now is give you a portrait of Jesus that is found in the Old Testament.

Are you ready for it? I want you to see and delight yourself and feast on a portrait of Jesus found in the Old Testament, actually a prophecy of his coming crucifixion on the cross. I want you to see it and believe it, and then I want you to ask yourself this question, What does that mean to me today?

What does it mean to me personally? Number one, the first thing I want you to see is the special person who is described. Now the person who is described is Isaac, but you're going to see that Isaac is a picture of Jesus. Look, if you will, in Genesis 22, 1 and 2, And it came to pass after these things that God did tempt, that is, test Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham.

And he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, God said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him therefore a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which I will tell thee of. Now, Isaac therefore becomes a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let me give you about six ways or more that he is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. First of all, his miracle birth was prophesied. Go back even further now to Genesis chapter 18 and begin in verse 9. The angel is coming to visit with Abraham and to make a prophecy. And they said unto him, to Abraham, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent. And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life. And lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age, and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. That is, Sarah had gone through the menopause. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am old, shall I have pleasure, my Lord being old also? And the Lord said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of assurity bear a child which am old? Now here's what the angel says, Is anything too hard for the Lord? I want to ask you that question. Is anything too hard for God?

Of course not. Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the time appointed, I will return unto thee according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. Now Isaac was born of a miracle.

Jesus was born of a miracle. Put in your margin Isaiah 7, verse 14. Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Not only was his miracle birth prophesied, but his birthday was preset. Look in Genesis now 21, verses 1 and 2. And the Lord visited Sarah as he said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken. For Sarah conceived and bare Abraham a son in his old age, now don't miss this, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. God not only prophesied the birth, but God prophesied the set time of the birth.

Well, what does that have to do with Jesus? Put in your margin Galatians 4, but when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son made of a woman. Isaac was born at a set time. Jesus was born at a set time.

Now, here's the third thing. Isaac's name was divinely given. Genesis 17, 19. And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son and thou shall call his name Isaac.

Compare that to the New Testament. Matthew 1, verse 21, speaking of Mary, and she shall bring forth a son and thou shall call his name Jesus. Isaac was born of a miracle. Jesus was born of a miracle. Isaac was born at a set time. Jesus was born at a set time. Isaac was pre-named.

Jesus was pre-named. Isaac was loved of his father. Genesis 22, verse 2. And he said, take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest.

In Genesis 22, verse 16, he's called Abraham's only son. Compare that now to John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish. We think about God loving the world, but friend, I want you to know that God loved his son before he loved the world. John 5, verse 20, for the father loveth the son and showeth him all things that himself doeth. Isaac was offered up as a sacrifice. Jesus was offered as a sacrifice. Genesis 22, verse 2. And he said, take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I shall tell thee of.

And again, John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Isaac was raised from the dead. Genesis 22, verse 4.

Then on the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off. God said to Abraham, Abraham, take your son and offer him as a burnt offering. Abraham takes his son and he counts the days. One, two, three, he comes to the place where the offering is to be made. Now, he takes his son and he starts up Mount Moriah to offer his son.

How was he able to do that? Well, remember Hebrews 11, verse 19? He was accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead.

Now watch this. Whence also he received him in a figure? That is, in Abraham's mind, for three days, Isaac was dead. From the day that God said, Abraham, take him and offer him, until the day that Abraham got him back, in Abraham's mind he was dead. Abraham received him from the dead. Now, what is the gospel that you and I preach? That Christ died for our sins, that he was buried and was raised again the third day.

First Corinthians 15, verses 3 through 4. Abraham received Isaac back in a figure. God the Father received Jesus back, literally. So, what we're talking about here is a special person. Isaac represents, prefigures Jesus.

Have you got that? Then move to the second thing. Not only a special person, but I want you to see a specific place that is designated.

I want you to see how this comes together. Now look in Genesis chapter 22, verse 2. And he said, God said, take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him therefore a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which I will tell thee of.

They didn't just say, go offer him. He said, I have a specific place. Now look in Genesis 22, verse 4. Then on the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place far off. Now think with me, friend, about our universe. There are a hundred million known galaxies in our universe.

We don't know what's beyond that. In those great galaxies that stretch across the sky, there is one galaxy known as the Milky Way. That Milky Way is 100,000 light years across. God goes into that great galaxy out of all of the millions of galaxies, and God finds one little insignificant sun, our sun, 93 million miles away from the earth. And God looks there at that one sun, and around that sun are orbiting a number of planets. God takes one little planet, a speck of cosmic dust called the earth, and God says the earth is the Lord's. And then on the earth, that globe there, God takes one land, the land of Israel, and God calls that land, my land. And then out of that land that God calls his land, he tightens the focus a little more. And God takes in that land one city, the city of Jerusalem. And God calls that city, my holy city. And then in that holy city, God takes one hill, Mount Moriah, and he calls that my holy hill.

That becomes the focal point of all of the universes, a little limestone ridge. God said, Abraham, I will show you a place, a specific place. You take your only son. You take your only son that you love. You take him there and offer him in the place that I will show you.

The name Moriah literally means, foreseen of the Lord. The place is not incidental. The place is not accidental. It is the same place that Jesus would one day pour out his life's blood.

Put down Luke chapter 22, verse 23, and when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, there they crucified him. Not a place, the place, the same place. Now we've talked about a person. We've talked about a place.

Now let's talk about the purpose that is designated here. Genesis 22, verse 2, and he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. This speaks of the cross when Isaac was to be offered in that same place that Jesus was to die.

Think of the suffering of the cross that is pictured. Look, if you will, in Genesis 22, verses 4 through 8. Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off, and Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass, and I am the lad will go yonder and worship and come again to you. Abraham says he's going to be slain, but we're both coming back.

You talk about faith. We're going to go worship and come again to you. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac his son, and he took the fire in his hand and a knife, and they went both of them together. And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father and said, Father, and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Isaac said, Behold the fire and the wood, but where is a lamb for the burnt offering?

And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So they went both of them together. Now father and son come to a point beyond which the others cannot go.

You stay here. And father and son went to commune together. That tells me of dark Gethsemane where Jesus left Peter, James and John and the other disciples, and he went alone to commune with his father facing Calvary. And Isaac looks at his father. In Abraham's hand there's a torch, a fire in one hand. There's a knife in his other hand. Isaac can read his father's face.

He begins now to know what is about to happen. Think of what must have been going through Isaac's heart as he sees his father go up without a lamb, only with his own son up to that place of sacrifice. Think of what must have been in Abraham's heart.

I know when my first son was born, I ceased to think so much of the love of Jesus and I thought more of the love of the father, though both are infinite in their love. I thought how it must have moved the father's heart to give his only son to die upon that cross. Think of how much the Lord Jesus suffered. Think how much God the father suffered as is pictured here. Think of the suffering of the cross.

Think of the suffering of the cross. Look in Genesis 22 verse 9. And they came to the place which God had told him of. And Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

Use your sanctified imagination. Here's the altar. Here's the wood. Here's the torch. Here's the knife. Abraham says, come here son.

Hold out your hands. And Abraham begins to bind those hands. I remind you that Abraham is well beyond 100 years of age. I remind you that Isaac is not a child as we sometimes see pictured.

Isaac is a strapping young man. He could have easily outrun the old man. He could have taken the old man and bound him. But he presents himself to be bound. You know what Jesus said? No man takes my life from me.

I lay it down of myself. Here you see the son submitting himself to the father. They said of Jesus, he saved others himself. He could not save.

They were so wrong. He saved others himself he would not save. He could have come down from that cross, but he did not. Notice in Genesis 22 verse 6. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac his son. Wood is a symbol of humanity. It speaks of the wood of our wickedness being laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ. As you see Isaac bearing that wood, going up this mountain that Jesus would one day die on.

Think of John 19 verse 17. And he, Jesus, bearing his cross, went forth into a place called the place of a skull which is called Golgotha. Isaac goes up that mountain bearing the wood upon which he was to die. Jesus goes up the same mountain bearing that wooden cross upon which he was to die. Think of the sacrifice of the cross that is pictured. Abraham has a knife and he has a torch and he has ropes. The cord speaks of the binding power of sin. The knife speaks of the bleeding power of sin.

The fire speaks of the burning power of sin because the fires of God's wrath would burn themselves out upon the Lord Jesus Christ. In coming up tomorrow, we'll hear part two of this important message. Today, if you have questions about who Jesus is or what he means to you, how to begin a relationship with God through Christ, go to our Find God's Love page at lwf.org slash radio. There you'll find resources and materials that will answer questions you may have about your faith. Now, if you'd like to order a copy of today's message in its entirety, you can call 1-877-LOVEGOD.

Mention the title address rehearsal for Calvary. This message is also part of the insightful series Champions of Faith. For the complete collection, all 18 powerful messages, call 877-LOVEGOD or you can order online at lwf.org slash radio or write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. You can also purchase our new Bible studies much like this message in our online store.

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