DAY 7 Read Genesis 20 through 23
Today's reading includes one of the most dramatic short stories in all literature: Abraham's obedience to the divine command to offer his beloved son as a sacrifice.
Memory gem: "And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering" (Genesis 22:8).
Thought for today:
The ram offered in Isaac's place represented Christ, who was to be sacrificed in our stead. When man was doomed to death because of his transgression of God's law, the heavenly Father, looking upon His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, said to the sinner, "Live! I have found a ransom."
While Isaac was not actually burned as a sacrifice, he was offered up in the heart of Abraham. Abraham had actually sacrificed Isaac to God, as we read in Hebrews 11:17, although he had not killed him. The external completion of the act was suddenly prevented by God Himself. It is not external performance that makes a sacrifice, but the intention of the heart. Not death, but life, is the final goal of all sacrifice. In figure, Abraham received Isaac as resurrected from the dead.
The blood of the sacrificial ram of Mount Moriah pointed forward to the blood of Christ shed to atone for the sins of men. Abraham's sacrifice and those offered in the temple of Solomon built on the same spot all pointed forward to the death of the Saviour who was to come. The Christian ordinances, celebrated in our day--the broken bread and the poured out wine--point backward to the same sacrifice of Christ and the same salvation. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).
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Difficult or obscure words:
Genesis 22:2. "Moriah"--the site of Solomon's temple is mentioned here and in 2 Chronicles 3:1
Today's reading includes one of the most dramatic short stories in all literature: Abraham's obedience to the divine command to offer his beloved son as a sacrifice.
Memory gem: "And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering" (Genesis 22:8).
Thought for today:
The ram offered in Isaac's place represented Christ, who was to be sacrificed in our stead. When man was doomed to death because of his transgression of God's law, the heavenly Father, looking upon His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, said to the sinner, "Live! I have found a ransom."
While Isaac was not actually burned as a sacrifice, he was offered up in the heart of Abraham. Abraham had actually sacrificed Isaac to God, as we read in Hebrews 11:17, although he had not killed him. The external completion of the act was suddenly prevented by God Himself. It is not external performance that makes a sacrifice, but the intention of the heart. Not death, but life, is the final goal of all sacrifice. In figure, Abraham received Isaac as resurrected from the dead.
The blood of the sacrificial ram of Mount Moriah pointed forward to the blood of Christ shed to atone for the sins of men. Abraham's sacrifice and those offered in the temple of Solomon built on the same spot all pointed forward to the death of the Saviour who was to come. The Christian ordinances, celebrated in our day--the broken bread and the poured out wine--point backward to the same sacrifice of Christ and the same salvation. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).
------------
Difficult or obscure words:
Genesis 22:2. "Moriah"--the site of Solomon's temple is mentioned here and in 2 Chronicles 3:1
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