March 19, 2025 • 41 mins
What kind of God would ask a father to sacrifice his beloved son? This question has troubled skeptics and believers alike for centuries. In this deeply moving exploration of Abraham's journey to Mount Moriah, Pastors Ryan and Tim unpack one of Scripture's most misunderstood passages to reveal something profoundly beautiful about God's character.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome and thanks for joining us on this episode
of the Midweek Podcast broughtto you by A Fresh Wind Church.
Each week, our team brings younew content to help you take
steps towards Jesus and discovermore in Christ.
Today's episode is hosted byPastor Ryan.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Hey, welcome back to the Midweek Podcast, pastor Ryan
joining again with Pastor Tim,and we are in week two of our
sermon series Come to theMountain and Tim.
Just already we're two weeks in, but I'm loving this series and
this whole idea of bringingpeople to the mountain to meet
God.
And so in week one we looked atthe call to meet God at Mount
(00:49):
Sinai.
In the sermon this week we wentup to Mount Moriah, where God
had called Abraham up tosacrifice the son whom he loved.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Here we go.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Here we go.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Jumping right into it on the podcast today.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
I want to reiterate this because the optics are
really important on how we lookat this.
We say come to the mountain andmeet God.
Well, in our vernacular, theway we think about meeting God
is I'm going to go to God andhe's going to tell me how bad I
am, and this is what you've gotto do to fix it and.
I want you to do these things,and so we think meet with God is
(01:27):
to go get the orders right.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Not only go to the principal's office Right.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
What this is about.
Meeting with God is going to themountain to learn about him to
meet him and to speak with withhim and to understand who he is,
and this is probably one of thegreatest mountain experiences
in the Bible and a lot of peopleresist it.
(01:55):
A lot of people who look atChristianity and Judaism see
this situation as why would Goddo that to somebody?
Why would God put him throughthat emotional torture?
Why would he do that?
And a lot of people reject Godbecause they're like I can't be
(02:17):
with someone who would ask thatof me, and you need to slow down
and take a better look at thisstory, cause you're missing a
lot.
I know I'm jumping into like thethird part of this, but um,
this situation is is one of thegreatest um promises that we can
(02:43):
, that we can wrap our mindsaround, that God gives us.
He is telling us somethingabout himself that he really
wants us to know, and that's whyit's so dramatic.
Now, this is not taking yourson up to the mountain to
sacrifice him.
This is not going to berepeated and I think that's what
(03:05):
we miss about this story.
It's not like, okay, god'sgoing to all the churches, are
going to go to Canaan and driveout the bad people so Israel can
have Canaan again.
No, that was one time.
That was one order at a certaintime with a certain people.
That doesn't apply to us andthis won't ever apply to you
either.
This is you're missing thepoint of this, and we'll get
(03:29):
into that, but let's get startedin the front.
What?
Kind of emotional turmoil wouldyou be in if God asked you to
do that?
Speaker 2 (03:40):
And that's.
You know, I try to bring thatout in the sermon on Sunday, I
like when I'm preaching, becauseyou know, a lot of us were in,
you know, even our churchcouncil.
We're in a Bible reading plan,right, and so every year we're
trying to read through the Bibletogether and I think that's how
a lot of people approach, youknow, reading the Bible is.
We got a plan, we're going toread these things, or you pick
(04:01):
up a devotional maybe.
But it's so easy to read astory like this and just treat
it like an everyday story, Likethis is an everyday occurrence,
you know, all right, Broughtthem up to the mountain, god
provided, and we just kind ofkeep going next page, next page.
But to remind ourselves likethis isn't a novel, this isn't
(04:24):
fairy tale, this is real history.
There was a man named Abrahamwho God called to leave his
homeland and eventually, at 100years old, had a son.
And then God said, hey, this sonis who I'm going to, through
him, make you into a greatnation that I can bless the
whole earth, and then I want youto bring them up on the
(04:47):
mountain and sacrifice them.
That emotion I tried on Sundayto get people to that place to
walk in Abraham's sandals alittle bit and be like man.
What would you be thinking?
I mean all the dreams, all theplans that you had for them.
All the times you went out, youknow, outside the tent and
(05:08):
threw a rock back and forth.
You know, like all of that'sgone.
I don't think they had baseball, so what?
Speaker 3 (05:13):
were they going to throw?
I'm sure they came up withsomething.
They weren't cavemen.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
You know that's one thing you don't want to miss.
You take a rock to the forehead.
We know how that went foranother guy, but all those,
those moments had to be justcome flooding into Abraham's
mind and man I just I strugglewith that, to say God, would I
(05:39):
be willing to put it all, put itall on the line like that, it's
, it's, I don't know.
You know there's, there'sdefinitely moments I can look
back and see where God has askedme to give something up and
generally, I've tried to do it,but man, this just seems heavy.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
When, when we look back, we got to figure out where
we are in the timeline to, uh,old Testament.
We kind of throw everythingtogether, you know, and um, we
get.
We need to understand that thisis the very beginning.
God said I'm going to pickAbraham, and all we know to this
(06:17):
point is that God is speakingto one guy, this Abraham, and
he's proved himself.
But he hasn't proved himself toAbraham like he proved himself
to the children of Israel whenhe led him out of Egypt.
That's hundreds of years downthe road.
That's not even going to happenyet.
Nobody knows anything aboutthat.
Nobody knows anything aboutthis God, except for Melchizedek
(06:41):
, which I don't know what wasgoing on there, but maybe one
day we'll talk about him.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
This is a good point.
I even said on Sunday, when wethink resurrection, we think of
someone in the room, Jesus.
Well, yeah, he didn't have thatpoint of reference.
He didn't even have the Exodusreference where God showed up
and did all this.
He has none of that to go offof and we can read that back
into this story and assume heknew all the stuff that we know.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Right, he did not know all of those things he did
not know.
He knew that there was this guybecause he shows up in person.
It was Jesus incarnate, notincarnate but he showed up there
and led him, you know, and hespoke with them and he talked
with them about Sodom and hecame and ate with them and this
(07:32):
was.
He knew this guy, but he didn'tknow him like the Israelites
saw him in power.
He hasn't seen that yet, exceptfor you know, sodom and
Gomorrah, where he destroyedthose cities.
So he knows he's powerful andso we really need to lean back
(07:52):
on our personal walk with God.
And how much do you trust God?
You've been walking with theLord for a few years.
Where's your trust level?
And that's where Abraham.
He seemed to have a huge levelof trust and I don't see a lot
(08:13):
of whining and crying likeGideon Remember Gideon?
You want me to do what?
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Yeah, well, hold on, I'm going to need some do on
this side.
Well, maybe the other side,right?
Speaker 3 (08:24):
And who am I going gonna pick to do this?
Yeah and uh, but no, he's like,okay, get the donkey, let's go.
And he had this faith that godhad said and everything god had
said he had done.
And god had said that his sonwas going to be the father of a
(08:47):
great nation.
And so he said I don't know howthis is going to work, but God
is going to take care of it.
If you say so, yeah if you sayso, we all assume that he
believed that he was going to beresurrected, but we don't know
what Abraham knew about what Godcould do.
(09:07):
Remember, he's living wherepeople are worshiping all kinds
of gods and they've got allkinds of different powers, and
this one true God that iscommunicating with them, is
asking them to do something that, let's face it, all the other
gods were asking of their peopletoo right, yeah, so we read
(09:29):
this and it's shocking to oursystem, right, but to Abraham
maybe it wasn't quite soshocking, because this is what
the people around him did.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
People would sacrifice their children to God
other gods, all the time.
If we need a good harvest, orwe need to thank God for a good
harvest, or the harvest hasn'tbeen so good, and so we got to
try to get the gods favored.
I mean, they were doing allkinds of stuff to try to appease
the gods.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Right, and it would have made sense to him that God
asked for his Right, and itwould have made sense to him
that God asked for his firstbornchild.
That is the type of thing thatwe think.
Well, archaeologists, this iswhat was going on.
This was the ultimate.
If you really wanted a God'ssupport, this is what you had to
(10:22):
do.
So you don't see a.
It's almost like I knew youwere going to ask this, because
all the other gods asked this.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Yeah, and I wonder what that moment was like.
Did it seem out of characterfor God?
I mean how Abraham had come toknow God.
Did this seem out of character?
You know, I don't know.
And again I try to put myselfin his shoes a little bit and
try to man God.
How would I respond at thatrequest?
(10:50):
All we know is God callsAbraham, take a three-day
journey with his son and saysearly the next morning Abraham
got up and left.
He did it Now that emotionalweight, right, I would imagine,
was crushing, because even ifyou have all the faith in the
(11:14):
world I mean Scripture takestime to point out this is the
son whom he loved.
This is what everything wasdependent on.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
There had to be a kernel of doubt in there.
How could there not be?
Speaker 2 (11:25):
You know, man, is this really happening?
Is this really what I ought todo?
Is this really what God said?
Yeah, and In our own livesthere's going to come times, I
think, when God calls us to dothings and it seems out of place
(11:46):
, or we have these emotionalattachments to things and God's
saying, hey, I need you to laythat thing down.
Obedience so often feels costly.
I love that song we sang rightbefore the sermon on Sunday.
That one line in particular.
(12:07):
I'll bless God with the praisethat cost me.
Obedience always doesn't comefree.
It costs you.
You've got to give something upto obey.
We see Abraham willingly takingthe journey to do just that.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
And then we see him down at the bottom of the
mountain.
He tells his servant, he sayswe'll be down late, we're going
to go up and worship and we'llbe back.
Both of us, plural, we'll beback.
Right, he has, he has.
By the time he gets there he'salready decided that if God is
going to be true, then Isaac'sgoing to live.
(12:51):
Yeah, he's going to have to dosomething.
He's going to have to dosomething.
So he goes up to the mountain.
I'm sure Isaac's prettyconfused, but Isaac has seen
this guy too.
He's seen Yahweh.
He knows Abraham talks to himall the time.
I don't know what Isaac's walkat this point was, so it's all
(13:13):
speculation when we get thereand he asked Isaac to lay down
there was not a wrestling match,you know, we see him in the uh,
in the great painting.
Oh, who painted that paintinganyways?
he's got his hand, he's got hishands tied and um the whole bit,
(13:35):
uh, but I don't think thathappened.
I think he just got up therebecause he trusted his dad and
his dad trusted God and and thatis the way a man should raise
his kids I trust my dad and hetrusts God and I can trust him
too.
And he raises up that knife andthe angel says don't do it,
stop, god will provide.
(13:57):
And that's where we stop withthat whole idea.
We don't look forward atanything else.
We say, okay, he stopped them,he tested them and he passed the
test.
What a rotten test.
And I don't think I think we'remissing it.
I think God is saying look, allthese other gods would ask you
(14:18):
to do this.
I will not allow this to happen.
I never will.
I never will.
And you see, israel, when theyfall into this nastiness, they
have to go to other gods.
You don't see them ever tryingto sacrifice someone at least we
don't know of.
In the Old Testament to Yahwehthey're like well, we know he's
(14:41):
against this.
Because of Abraham, right, thisis not going to happen.
It's never going to.
I'll never approve of this.
Abraham, you're the beginningof this.
You need to know, isaac needsto know, and everyone down, no
matter what happens.
I'm not going to ask this ofyou.
(15:01):
I'm going to provide yousomething else.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
That's an amazing thing because and again, it
doesn't I don't know if itresonates with us the same way
it would have for an ancientIsraelite Right, but everyone
around them, like we said, weredoing these things.
I mean, people were sacrificingtheir babies to these other
gods, I mean the god Melech.
They laid their babies on thealtar and light them on fire.
(15:27):
There's some wicked, evilthings going on and so, like I
said for Abraham maybe it was Iwondered when this day was going
to come.
Right, you know like, maybethat's the thought, because he
sees it happening everywhere.
Right, and this is how peoplesacrifice to the gods and
appease the gods, and then forGod to step in and provide.
(15:50):
It says a lot.
But one of the things he'stelling Abraham is I will never
require this.
This is not how I operate, andso it took a dramatic test, I
think, to prove the point.
How else would you get it?
You know, like to say I'mdifferent, I'm not like those
(16:11):
other gods, I am set apart, I'msomething completely different
and I don't require this.
I never require this.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
And God does it again when he gives the law to Moses.
You know, hundreds of yearslater, the altar is still there,
people are still sacrificingthings to God, and the altar is
insatiable.
You can't give enough.
You know, I got a great harvestthis year.
I better give more to get agreat harvest next year.
(16:40):
Or I didn't get a good harvestthis year, I better give more.
It's always give more, givemore, give more.
And when God gave the law toMoses, he's like I want you guys
to know where you are in ourrelationship.
If you can afford a calf, bringme a calf.
(17:02):
If you can only afford a sheep,bring me a calf.
If you can only afford a sheep,bring me a sheep.
If you can't afford that, bringme a pigeon.
If you can't afford a pigeonand you can't catch one, I'll
take a little flower.
But I want you guys to knowwhere we stand in our
relationship, our relationship.
The altar is not insatiable.
I'm going to ask you to dosomething that you can do and
(17:27):
I'm going to provide you a wayto do that, even when you think
you can't.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
And I'm going to do that, so you know where we stand
, which is so important becausethe other nations around them
didn't know.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
No, they didn't know.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
They were always trying to appease the gods and
we see that, with Elijah on themountain, they're trying to
bring fire down from heaven toconsume their sacrifice and he
just starts to taunt them.
Maybe your God went to relievehimself?
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Hey, that's mine next week.
We can't talk about that yet.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
But they're trying.
What is he saying?
He said you guys try to appeaseyour gods all the time.
And God, yahweh, is sayingagain that's not how I operate
and I get it.
It's grueling sometimes to tryto get through Leviticus and
Numbers when you're readingthrough your Bible reading plan,
so many people stop there.
(18:20):
But if you understand what Godis doing, he's saying here's the
rules, do this and we're good.
No other nation had that.
No, not with their God.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
No, because he could ask that the priest can come and
say well, he changed his mind,he's going to do it this way.
And God, god, through thissituation with Abraham, he is
telling the people of God I wantyou to live free.
I don't want you to live underbondage.
My altar is for freedom.
(18:54):
Jesus is for freedom, it's notfor bondage.
I don't want you to live underbondage.
I am a God who has come to setyou free and right now your
problem is sin.
And in Exodus he gives themhere's how we're going to deal
with that.
And then, when Jesus comes, hesays here's how we're going to
(19:15):
deal with it forever.
And here we are.
And everybody looks at thisstory like man.
What kind of God would ask that?
A God who had to provesomething to a people who had a
bad idea of who he was.
That's right, and it had to bein your face.
(19:35):
Listen, you need to understandme.
I'm not this thing that youthink I am.
I'm completely different.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Yeah, what a powerful illustration, and I think it's
the only thing that could haveworked.
And then you see, every timechild sacrifice is brought up in
Scripture, from this point on,God always takes one side.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
He's against it Right , violently.
Against it, violently To thepoint where they've gone too far
.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
I want you to wipe them all out?
Right, because we're not doingthat.
This is not acceptable to me.
This is who God is provinghimself to be, and so we're, as
we meet God on the mountain.
Who is God?
He's this God.
I want you to know where youstand with me, and I want you to
know what is required in this.
I will never ask.
And so we see, then.
God provide for Abraham asacrifice.
(20:35):
And so we dove in a little biton Sunday to that word, and I
wish I could roll my R's andpronounce it like a great Jewish
man, but I can't, so raha isthe best I can do here.
But it means to see.
Seventy-five percent of thetimes in Scripture it literally
means to see, and so Abrahamuses that word that God will
(20:58):
provide a sacrifice.
And so I tried to flesh thisout on Sunday and I didn't have
a ton of time.
But this idea of when he saysGod will provide a sacrifice,
you could translate that Godwill see the sacrifice or he
will see the lamb.
I think he says God willprovide a lamb and God will see
(21:20):
the lamb, which immediatelydraws you all the way to Jesus,
the lamb of God who takes awaythe sin of the world.
And I think, if you're God,just as Abraham lays his son
there, knowing because Jesus,scripture tells us, was slain
before the foundation of theworld, when Jesus died on the
(21:40):
cross, it wasn't plan B, itdidn't catch God off guard, he
wasn't surprised.
This has been the plan allalong.
And I think, as Abraham layshis son there, god sees his son.
Yeah and man.
It gives me goosebumps everytime I think about it, to think
(22:02):
God's saying I'm going to haveto do this.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
I think that rolls us back to the high view of
humanity in God's sight.
I think we forget not so muchhow much he loves us but how
much he's overjoyed with whathumanity is.
You know, he made us perfect,he made us good, and you see it
(22:37):
in the Tower of Babel when hecomes down and he says look at
these people, when they gettogether there's nothing they
can't do.
He's bragging to his heavenlycourt.
You know, you guys think we gotproblems up here when these
people get together and one daythey're going to be together.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
You know we, so often , I think, we look at our
relationship with God as we're aconstant disappointment, right,
you know um cause we?
We know we suck.
We know that all the thingsthat I struggle with um, all the
things I've promised to leavebehind, and I pick back up and
I'll never do it again and I doit again.
(23:19):
We know that about us, and sowe feel like we're this constant
disappointment to God.
And scripture says God is rightnow in heaven singing over you.
Right, that's how he thinks ofyou.
Right, we project our owninsecurities and shame and guilt
on God as if that's how heviews us and you have got him
(23:42):
wrong.
Right, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
He's overjoyed.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
You know he's singing over you right now.
How amazing is that.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
I think it's.
It was one of the things weleave out when we preach,
because we're always.
We've got to call out sin andand we've got to tell people.
You know, righteousness matters.
We've got to live the life thatGod's called us to live in the
way that he wants us to live it.
And so we get focused on allour failures and we don't see
(24:13):
what God sees, because he seesyou 10,000 years from now.
He sees what you become, whatyou've done, what you've
accomplished, whatever we'regoing to be doing in heaven.
He sees that and he knows whoyou are, not just who you are at
this moment, but he knows youcompletely, just like when
(24:35):
Abraham took his son up on themountain.
You're like how can God do this?
Because he saw Abraham afterthis, right after that,
abraham's coming down themountain.
He's not like those other gods,he's not one of them, you know,
and he sees Jesus in that.
(24:58):
In that whole idea I'm going tohave to give my son, he sees
that.
He sees Isaac's life all theway through.
So we got to grab a hold of whoGod is when he looks at
humanity.
One of these days, guys, it'sgoing to be like he meant it to
(25:20):
be.
We're going to be all together.
Just think about what we can dowhen there's no greed, there's
no patents.
You know there's no.
Oh, I got this drug.
It works on cancer.
We're going to make billions andwe're not going to share it
with anybody until we get apatent.
And there's people dyingbecause they got a drug.
(25:43):
They just haven't got theirpatent yet, so they won't let it
out.
You know all that, all thatcraziness that we see here.
It's all about the money andthe greed and the secrets and
the conspiracies.
We look at what they're doingin the government now that doge,
(26:03):
cutting big hunks of justnonsense out of the government.
And then there's people mad.
Why are you mad?
I need to know why you're mad.
Well, he can't.
Those people.
No you're too mad.
I want to know how you'regetting part of this money,
(26:23):
because that's what's going onand I'm both sides of the aisle
there's a lot of emotionalattachment to some of those
dollar signs there, sure is.
And I don't understand.
But one day and one day all ourscientists will be oh, what
(26:45):
about this, or what about that,or what about this?
You work on this.
I'll work on that.
Well, you know, who knows whatwe're going to do?
I think we're going to do greatthings in eternity, and the
universe will be our playground.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
And.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
I think we think of God because we think of we suck,
we're never going to be goodenough, so forth and so on.
So when we get to heaven, ourreward or our punishment is
we'll just be little toddlers indiapers and praise Jesus all
day long, you know, and we getthis idea that because we suck
(27:22):
so bad, that's what we'reprobably going to have to do for
eternity.
And we'll, you know we'll be,that'll be our thing, and we
think, man, that'll be boringand, first of all, that will be
great.
But second of all, that's notwho he created humanity,
(27:44):
humanity to be.
He told Adam and Eve I want youto dominate this planet and I
want you to do it in a way thatthe planet regenerates under you
and becomes this gardeneverywhere.
And he sent him to do it.
He didn't Go do it.
This is the first humans, thecavemen.
I don't need to teach you howto walk and talk.
I've given you everything youneed to teach you how to walk
(28:05):
and talk.
I've given you everything youneed to do what needs to be done
?
Now go do it.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
In a perfect world, in a perfect garden, where God
says it's not just good, it'svery good, right, he gives them
a job.
So yeah, we're not sitting onclouds, playing harps and
wearing diapers.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
Right.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
Now, I wouldn't mind a week or so of that.
Just give me a break After that, let's go let's conquer the
universe.
It's going to be great.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
I think it's going to be great.
I think no eye has seen, notongue can confess.
We talked about the afterlifelast night and one of the things
that has to be stated, thatwe're not going to be spirit
(28:55):
with God.
We're going to be human.
We're going to raise again.
He's going to resurrect us inour spirit, the thing that makes
you you is going to dwell inthat new body that's going to be
like Jesus and that's how we'regoing to live for the rest of
eternity.
And we're going to go back tothe human state and because God
(29:20):
loves it, he loves it, and it'shard to wrap our minds around it
because everybody disappointsus.
We know how that hurts us and itknocks our feet out from under
us and we can't see forward andwe you know our best friend
betrays us and or our husband orour spouse betrays us, or we
(29:46):
catch them in a lie and we'relike, wow, I didn't know, how
can this, how can I get overthis?
And we project that on God.
And God said, hey, don't worryabout me, I've figured out a way
to take care of this.
You know, come on, this isgoing to be great.
Let's go.
I've got some things for youand I want to teach you some
things right now.
(30:07):
So let's go.
Let's go do this.
Yeah, but God, this, you know II've betrayed you and I always
do, and I always think about mefirst.
And he's like yeah but I tookcare of that on the cross,
Remember that's taken care of.
Yeah, but I feel so I I tookcare of your shame cross.
Remember that's taken care ofyeah but I feel so I, I took
(30:29):
care of your shame, not justyour guilt.
So let's go, let's go, yeah,but yeah, but god, you, you
don't understand.
No, I understand, it cost meeverything.
It cost me everything.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Let's go, let's go if we could wrap our head around
that, it would change theChristian life.
It would If we would stopseeing God as the disappointed,
disapproving dad and startedseeing him as your cheerleader.
He is over there saying let'sgo.
(30:59):
I have opened up heaven,eternity, unlimited possibility
for you.
Let's go and go chase that planwith God.
The Christian life all of asudden doesn't become this
grudge.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
It's not this well, I got to wait till I die.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
This cumbersome thing where I'm just checking off
boxes till I get to heaven.
Eternity starts right now.
Go live it.
Go live this rich, satisfying.
This is what jesus was talkingabout.
Go and experience that.
He's in your corner cheeringyou on, saying, man, when you
and I get together, there'snothing you can't do.
(31:39):
Why?
Because nothing's impossiblefor me, right?
That's the kind of god youserve.
He's not not up in heavensaying, here they go again.
He's saying, hey, hey, comeback, come back to me, let's go,
let's go.
Right, that's who he is.
I wish I feel like I'm doing aterrible job illustrating it,
but I want people to get a holdof that, because it would change
everything for you.
(31:59):
It would change everything.
That's who he is.
We're way off topic.
So I'm going to try to.
No, I don't think that's wayoff topic.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
I think that's what he was proven to Abraham, the
father of this nation.
This is who I'm going to be toIsrael.
This is who I'm going to be tohumanity, because I want this
nation to bless all nations.
And and he did it through Jesushe's trying to tell Abraham I'm
not this kind of God.
(32:28):
I'm not going to ask this fromyou.
I'm always going to provide foryou, even when I need a
sacrifice.
I'll give you the sacrifice.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
I'll give it to you and that is.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
It's so special.
People look at this.
This is a hateful, terrible God.
But this is a God drilling downin the most tense moment, in
the father of a nation's life,saying I won't be that to you, I
will not.
(33:04):
And Abraham, from that momenton, I mean he's seen God rain
down fire on Sodom and Gomorrah,so obviously he knows that God
can get fired up about stuff,right.
And he's saying I'm not goingto be that to you.
And I think that's what this isall about.
(33:26):
Abraham man, he loves me, thathe wouldn't ever ask this of me
and it's always been in the backof my head.
Can this happen?
And now I know that it'll neverhappen, and it shouldn't happen
with anybody else.
So, uh, I don't think we're wayoff.
(33:48):
I think he's saying all right,now that we got this taken care
of, let's go.
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
I love what you said a minute ago, that even when God
requires the sacrifice, heprovides it.
You know, and Abraham's up onMount Moriah getting ready to
sacrifice his son and once heraises the knife, you know, it
took him all the way to thatpoint, but he raises the knife
(34:15):
preparing to sacrifice him, andthat's when the angel calls out
and says Abraham, abraham, don'tdo it.
And he sees the sacrifice Godhad already provided, it was
already there.
God provides.
I mean, get this.
What God asks and requires,he's already provided.
Yeah, I got to muster up, I gotto find no, no, no.
(34:38):
He says I've already providedthat here.
He's already provided thesacrifice that he was going to
need.
Scripture tells us that he'sright now and he has given you
everything you need to live alife of godliness.
He's giving you the desire andthe power to do what pleases him
.
So what he requires, he'salready provided.
(34:58):
And that's an amazing thingabout our relationship with our
God.
And we see his provision whenhe know, when he he calls Joseph
to go to Egypt and it lookslike a horrible situation
because he gets sold by hisbrothers, but God says there's a
famine, getting ready to comeinto the land, and I need
someone who's going toadminister this and provide, and
he saves generations offamilies through Joseph.
(35:22):
So we see it there.
We see it when Israel's beenenslaved now in Egypt for
hundreds of years and God callsa man to lead them out, and God
provides everything that theyneed.
God is constantly providing forhis people and it's not this
reactionary thing where God'slike, oh crap, how did we get
(35:44):
here, how am I going to fix this.
It is proactive, tied to hisplan and his purpose in humanity
.
God is already going ahead ofyou in your future, giving you
the things that you need.
We just need to open our eyesto see it.
Open our eyes and recognize hisprovision that he's already
provided for us, and that's whathe did here on Mount Moriah.
(36:07):
When Abraham looked, he sawGod's already provided, and to
our greatest need.
We needed a Savior, and thething that God required he
provided in his son Jesus.
Speaker 3 (36:20):
And that is the greatest thing that we can tell
you about this story is that itforeshadowed God giving his son
so that we can be free of sinand free.
Free to live, free to be withhim forever, Because we weren't
(36:42):
free Before Jesus resurrected.
When you died and you werefaithful to the Lord, you went
to paradise, but you didn't goin the presence of God, you
still weren't allowed.
That sacrifice hadn't been madeyet.
And that's when Peter saysJesus came and he set the
(37:02):
captives free.
The captives were in paradise,but he took them to the presence
of God.
And now, because of Jesus'resurrection, we are.
Every one of us is destined tomeet God when we die, when we
step across that threshold.
Paul said to be absent from thebody is to be present with the
(37:24):
Lord, and he did that for us.
He provided that for us andwe're going to live with him for
eternity, and it's going to belike we said.
We can't even imagine what it'sgoing to look like from that
day forward.
God is good and, if anything onthis mountain, he proved it.
(37:48):
This is not one of thosestories that Christians should
shy away from, because I don'tknow how to answer that.
God was proving who he was toAbraham so that all of Israel
would know it, so that here weare, 4,000 years later.
We know it too.
Speaker 2 (38:09):
Yeah, we know.
And John later would say I'vewritten all these things so that
you might know you have eternallife, God all along.
He's proven it here on MountMoriah.
He proved it through the Exodusand giving the Israelites the
law.
He proved it through Jesus.
I want you to know where youstand with me.
(38:34):
I don't want you to havequestions, I don't want you to
wonder, I don't want you to feellike you constantly got to
prove yourself.
I'm giving you the way.
I've provided everything thatyou need.
And for us on this side of Jesus, what an amazing thing that God
said I'm going to send my oneand only son the ultimate
sacrifice, the sacrifice thatwas good once for all time.
(38:55):
Another sacrifice will neverhave to be made.
Jesus was the perfect, ultimatesacrifice for each of us.
What a good God he is.
I mean that's.
You can't look at it, it's.
I guess it's easy to look at itand say what an evil God, what
a mean God.
Who would require that?
(39:16):
But the discerning eye to lookat this and say man, God's
proven, he's totally different.
Man, God's proven, he's totallydifferent.
Again, now put yourself inAbraham Sandel's and walk back
down the mountain saying he'snot like I thought.
He's not like any of theseother gods.
(39:36):
He is wholly different, and Imean that in both sense of the
words.
I love it.
Speaker 3 (39:43):
I love it.
Well, pray for us.
Speaker 2 (39:46):
Ryan.
Father, we thank you that youare a good God and, father, I
thank you for this account ofAbraham's faith, of Isaac's
willingness and trust andsubmission, and his father and
that relationship that hisfather had with you.
Lord, this is just an amazingpassage of scripture to reveal
(40:13):
to us who you really are, andyou're not what people say about
you.
You're not what the other godsrequire, god, you are different
and, father, everything that weneed you have already provided.
So, father, I pray that youwould give us trust in your
provision, the God who sees.
You are the God who provides,and, lord, we thank you for it
(40:36):
In Jesus' name.
Amen, amen and amen.
Speaker 1 (40:39):
Thanks again for joining us for this episode of
the Midweek Podcast.
We'd love to hear from you.
Let us know how God is usingthis resource in your life, or
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(41:02):
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Make sure to tune in next weekfor a brand new episode of the
Midweek Podcast.
Be blessed and have a greatweek.
Welcome and thanks for joining us on this episode
of the Midweek Podcast broughtto you by A Fresh Wind Church.
Each week, our team brings younew content to help you take
steps towards Jesus and discovermore in Christ.
Today's episode is hosted byPastor Ryan.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Hey, welcome back to the Midweek Podcast, pastor Ryan
joining again with Pastor Tim,and we are in week two of our
sermon series Come to theMountain and Tim.
Just already we're two weeks in, but I'm loving this series and
this whole idea of bringingpeople to the mountain to meet
God.
And so in week one we looked atthe call to meet God at Mount
(00:49):
Sinai.
In the sermon this week we wentup to Mount Moriah, where God
had called Abraham up tosacrifice the son whom he loved.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Here we go.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Here we go.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Jumping right into it on the podcast today.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
I want to reiterate this because the optics are
really important on how we lookat this.
We say come to the mountain andmeet God.
Well, in our vernacular, theway we think about meeting God
is I'm going to go to God andhe's going to tell me how bad I
am, and this is what you've gotto do to fix it and.
I want you to do these things,and so we think meet with God is
(01:27):
to go get the orders right.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Not only go to the principal's office Right.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
What this is about.
Meeting with God is going to themountain to learn about him to
meet him and to speak with withhim and to understand who he is,
and this is probably one of thegreatest mountain experiences
in the Bible and a lot of peopleresist it.
(01:55):
A lot of people who look atChristianity and Judaism see
this situation as why would Goddo that to somebody?
Why would God put him throughthat emotional torture?
Why would he do that?
And a lot of people reject Godbecause they're like I can't be
(02:17):
with someone who would ask thatof me, and you need to slow down
and take a better look at thisstory, cause you're missing a
lot.
I know I'm jumping into like thethird part of this, but um,
this situation is is one of thegreatest um promises that we can
(02:43):
, that we can wrap our mindsaround, that God gives us.
He is telling us somethingabout himself that he really
wants us to know, and that's whyit's so dramatic.
Now, this is not taking yourson up to the mountain to
sacrifice him.
This is not going to berepeated and I think that's what
(03:05):
we miss about this story.
It's not like, okay, god'sgoing to all the churches, are
going to go to Canaan and driveout the bad people so Israel can
have Canaan again.
No, that was one time.
That was one order at a certaintime with a certain people.
That doesn't apply to us andthis won't ever apply to you
either.
This is you're missing thepoint of this, and we'll get
(03:29):
into that, but let's get startedin the front.
What?
Kind of emotional turmoil wouldyou be in if God asked you to
do that?
Speaker 2 (03:40):
And that's.
You know, I try to bring thatout in the sermon on Sunday, I
like when I'm preaching, becauseyou know, a lot of us were in,
you know, even our churchcouncil.
We're in a Bible reading plan,right, and so every year we're
trying to read through the Bibletogether and I think that's how
a lot of people approach, youknow, reading the Bible is.
We got a plan, we're going toread these things, or you pick
(04:01):
up a devotional maybe.
But it's so easy to read astory like this and just treat
it like an everyday story, Likethis is an everyday occurrence,
you know, all right, Broughtthem up to the mountain, god
provided, and we just kind ofkeep going next page, next page.
But to remind ourselves likethis isn't a novel, this isn't
(04:24):
fairy tale, this is real history.
There was a man named Abrahamwho God called to leave his
homeland and eventually, at 100years old, had a son.
And then God said, hey, this sonis who I'm going to, through
him, make you into a greatnation that I can bless the
whole earth, and then I want youto bring them up on the
(04:47):
mountain and sacrifice them.
That emotion I tried on Sundayto get people to that place to
walk in Abraham's sandals alittle bit and be like man.
What would you be thinking?
I mean all the dreams, all theplans that you had for them.
All the times you went out, youknow, outside the tent and
(05:08):
threw a rock back and forth.
You know, like all of that'sgone.
I don't think they had baseball, so what?
Speaker 3 (05:13):
were they going to throw?
I'm sure they came up withsomething.
They weren't cavemen.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
You know that's one thing you don't want to miss.
You take a rock to the forehead.
We know how that went foranother guy, but all those,
those moments had to be justcome flooding into Abraham's
mind and man I just I strugglewith that, to say God, would I
(05:39):
be willing to put it all, put itall on the line like that, it's
, it's, I don't know.
You know there's, there'sdefinitely moments I can look
back and see where God has askedme to give something up and
generally, I've tried to do it,but man, this just seems heavy.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
When, when we look back, we got to figure out where
we are in the timeline to, uh,old Testament.
We kind of throw everythingtogether, you know, and um, we
get.
We need to understand that thisis the very beginning.
God said I'm going to pickAbraham, and all we know to this
(06:17):
point is that God is speakingto one guy, this Abraham, and
he's proved himself.
But he hasn't proved himself toAbraham like he proved himself
to the children of Israel whenhe led him out of Egypt.
That's hundreds of years downthe road.
That's not even going to happenyet.
Nobody knows anything aboutthat.
Nobody knows anything aboutthis God, except for Melchizedek
(06:41):
, which I don't know what wasgoing on there, but maybe one
day we'll talk about him.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
This is a good point.
I even said on Sunday, when wethink resurrection, we think of
someone in the room, Jesus.
Well, yeah, he didn't have thatpoint of reference.
He didn't even have the Exodusreference where God showed up
and did all this.
He has none of that to go offof and we can read that back
into this story and assume heknew all the stuff that we know.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Right, he did not know all of those things he did
not know.
He knew that there was this guybecause he shows up in person.
It was Jesus incarnate, notincarnate but he showed up there
and led him, you know, and hespoke with them and he talked
with them about Sodom and hecame and ate with them and this
(07:32):
was.
He knew this guy, but he didn'tknow him like the Israelites
saw him in power.
He hasn't seen that yet, exceptfor you know, sodom and
Gomorrah, where he destroyedthose cities.
So he knows he's powerful andso we really need to lean back
(07:52):
on our personal walk with God.
And how much do you trust God?
You've been walking with theLord for a few years.
Where's your trust level?
And that's where Abraham.
He seemed to have a huge levelof trust and I don't see a lot
(08:13):
of whining and crying likeGideon Remember Gideon?
You want me to do what?
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Yeah, well, hold on, I'm going to need some do on
this side.
Well, maybe the other side,right?
Speaker 3 (08:24):
And who am I going gonna pick to do this?
Yeah and uh, but no, he's like,okay, get the donkey, let's go.
And he had this faith that godhad said and everything god had
said he had done.
And god had said that his sonwas going to be the father of a
(08:47):
great nation.
And so he said I don't know howthis is going to work, but God
is going to take care of it.
If you say so, yeah if you sayso, we all assume that he
believed that he was going to beresurrected, but we don't know
what Abraham knew about what Godcould do.
(09:07):
Remember, he's living wherepeople are worshiping all kinds
of gods and they've got allkinds of different powers, and
this one true God that iscommunicating with them, is
asking them to do something that, let's face it, all the other
gods were asking of their peopletoo right, yeah, so we read
(09:29):
this and it's shocking to oursystem, right, but to Abraham
maybe it wasn't quite soshocking, because this is what
the people around him did.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
People would sacrifice their children to God
other gods, all the time.
If we need a good harvest, orwe need to thank God for a good
harvest, or the harvest hasn'tbeen so good, and so we got to
try to get the gods favored.
I mean, they were doing allkinds of stuff to try to appease
the gods.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Right, and it would have made sense to him that God
asked for his Right, and itwould have made sense to him
that God asked for his firstbornchild.
That is the type of thing thatwe think.
Well, archaeologists, this iswhat was going on.
This was the ultimate.
If you really wanted a God'ssupport, this is what you had to
(10:22):
do.
So you don't see a.
It's almost like I knew youwere going to ask this, because
all the other gods asked this.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Yeah, and I wonder what that moment was like.
Did it seem out of characterfor God?
I mean how Abraham had come toknow God.
Did this seem out of character?
You know, I don't know.
And again I try to put myselfin his shoes a little bit and
try to man God.
How would I respond at thatrequest?
(10:50):
All we know is God callsAbraham, take a three-day
journey with his son and saysearly the next morning Abraham
got up and left.
He did it Now that emotionalweight, right, I would imagine,
was crushing, because even ifyou have all the faith in the
(11:14):
world I mean Scripture takestime to point out this is the
son whom he loved.
This is what everything wasdependent on.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
There had to be a kernel of doubt in there.
How could there not be?
Speaker 2 (11:25):
You know, man, is this really happening?
Is this really what I ought todo?
Is this really what God said?
Yeah, and In our own livesthere's going to come times, I
think, when God calls us to dothings and it seems out of place
(11:46):
, or we have these emotionalattachments to things and God's
saying, hey, I need you to laythat thing down.
Obedience so often feels costly.
I love that song we sang rightbefore the sermon on Sunday.
That one line in particular.
(12:07):
I'll bless God with the praisethat cost me.
Obedience always doesn't comefree.
It costs you.
You've got to give something upto obey.
We see Abraham willingly takingthe journey to do just that.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
And then we see him down at the bottom of the
mountain.
He tells his servant, he sayswe'll be down late, we're going
to go up and worship and we'llbe back.
Both of us, plural, we'll beback.
Right, he has, he has.
By the time he gets there he'salready decided that if God is
going to be true, then Isaac'sgoing to live.
(12:51):
Yeah, he's going to have to dosomething.
He's going to have to dosomething.
So he goes up to the mountain.
I'm sure Isaac's prettyconfused, but Isaac has seen
this guy too.
He's seen Yahweh.
He knows Abraham talks to himall the time.
I don't know what Isaac's walkat this point was, so it's all
(13:13):
speculation when we get thereand he asked Isaac to lay down
there was not a wrestling match,you know, we see him in the uh,
in the great painting.
Oh, who painted that paintinganyways?
he's got his hand, he's got hishands tied and um the whole bit,
(13:35):
uh, but I don't think thathappened.
I think he just got up therebecause he trusted his dad and
his dad trusted God and and thatis the way a man should raise
his kids I trust my dad and hetrusts God and I can trust him
too.
And he raises up that knife andthe angel says don't do it,
stop, god will provide.
(13:57):
And that's where we stop withthat whole idea.
We don't look forward atanything else.
We say, okay, he stopped them,he tested them and he passed the
test.
What a rotten test.
And I don't think I think we'remissing it.
I think God is saying look, allthese other gods would ask you
(14:18):
to do this.
I will not allow this to happen.
I never will.
I never will.
And you see, israel, when theyfall into this nastiness, they
have to go to other gods.
You don't see them ever tryingto sacrifice someone at least we
don't know of.
In the Old Testament to Yahwehthey're like well, we know he's
(14:41):
against this.
Because of Abraham, right, thisis not going to happen.
It's never going to.
I'll never approve of this.
Abraham, you're the beginningof this.
You need to know, isaac needsto know, and everyone down, no
matter what happens.
I'm not going to ask this ofyou.
(15:01):
I'm going to provide yousomething else.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
That's an amazing thing because and again, it
doesn't I don't know if itresonates with us the same way
it would have for an ancientIsraelite Right, but everyone
around them, like we said, weredoing these things.
I mean, people were sacrificingtheir babies to these other
gods, I mean the god Melech.
They laid their babies on thealtar and light them on fire.
(15:27):
There's some wicked, evilthings going on and so, like I
said for Abraham maybe it was Iwondered when this day was going
to come.
Right, you know like, maybethat's the thought, because he
sees it happening everywhere.
Right, and this is how peoplesacrifice to the gods and
appease the gods, and then forGod to step in and provide.
(15:50):
It says a lot.
But one of the things he'stelling Abraham is I will never
require this.
This is not how I operate, andso it took a dramatic test, I
think, to prove the point.
How else would you get it?
You know, like to say I'mdifferent, I'm not like those
(16:11):
other gods, I am set apart, I'msomething completely different
and I don't require this.
I never require this.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
And God does it again when he gives the law to Moses.
You know, hundreds of yearslater, the altar is still there,
people are still sacrificingthings to God, and the altar is
insatiable.
You can't give enough.
You know, I got a great harvestthis year.
I better give more to get agreat harvest next year.
(16:40):
Or I didn't get a good harvestthis year, I better give more.
It's always give more, givemore, give more.
And when God gave the law toMoses, he's like I want you guys
to know where you are in ourrelationship.
If you can afford a calf, bringme a calf.
(17:02):
If you can only afford a sheep,bring me a calf.
If you can only afford a sheep,bring me a sheep.
If you can't afford that, bringme a pigeon.
If you can't afford a pigeonand you can't catch one, I'll
take a little flower.
But I want you guys to knowwhere we stand in our
relationship, our relationship.
The altar is not insatiable.
I'm going to ask you to dosomething that you can do and
(17:27):
I'm going to provide you a wayto do that, even when you think
you can't.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
And I'm going to do that, so you know where we stand
, which is so important becausethe other nations around them
didn't know.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
No, they didn't know.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
They were always trying to appease the gods and
we see that, with Elijah on themountain, they're trying to
bring fire down from heaven toconsume their sacrifice and he
just starts to taunt them.
Maybe your God went to relievehimself?
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Hey, that's mine next week.
We can't talk about that yet.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
But they're trying.
What is he saying?
He said you guys try to appeaseyour gods all the time.
And God, yahweh, is sayingagain that's not how I operate
and I get it.
It's grueling sometimes to tryto get through Leviticus and
Numbers when you're readingthrough your Bible reading plan,
so many people stop there.
(18:20):
But if you understand what Godis doing, he's saying here's the
rules, do this and we're good.
No other nation had that.
No, not with their God.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
No, because he could ask that the priest can come and
say well, he changed his mind,he's going to do it this way.
And God, god, through thissituation with Abraham, he is
telling the people of God I wantyou to live free.
I don't want you to live underbondage.
My altar is for freedom.
(18:54):
Jesus is for freedom, it's notfor bondage.
I don't want you to live underbondage.
I am a God who has come to setyou free and right now your
problem is sin.
And in Exodus he gives themhere's how we're going to deal
with that.
And then, when Jesus comes, hesays here's how we're going to
(19:15):
deal with it forever.
And here we are.
And everybody looks at thisstory like man.
What kind of God would ask that?
A God who had to provesomething to a people who had a
bad idea of who he was.
That's right, and it had to bein your face.
(19:35):
Listen, you need to understandme.
I'm not this thing that youthink I am.
I'm completely different.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Yeah, what a powerful illustration, and I think it's
the only thing that could haveworked.
And then you see, every timechild sacrifice is brought up in
Scripture, from this point on,God always takes one side.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
He's against it Right , violently.
Against it, violently To thepoint where they've gone too far
.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
I want you to wipe them all out?
Right, because we're not doingthat.
This is not acceptable to me.
This is who God is provinghimself to be, and so we're, as
we meet God on the mountain.
Who is God?
He's this God.
I want you to know where youstand with me, and I want you to
know what is required in this.
I will never ask.
And so we see, then.
God provide for Abraham asacrifice.
(20:35):
And so we dove in a little biton Sunday to that word, and I
wish I could roll my R's andpronounce it like a great Jewish
man, but I can't, so raha isthe best I can do here.
But it means to see.
Seventy-five percent of thetimes in Scripture it literally
means to see, and so Abrahamuses that word that God will
(20:58):
provide a sacrifice.
And so I tried to flesh thisout on Sunday and I didn't have
a ton of time.
But this idea of when he saysGod will provide a sacrifice,
you could translate that Godwill see the sacrifice or he
will see the lamb.
I think he says God willprovide a lamb and God will see
(21:20):
the lamb, which immediatelydraws you all the way to Jesus,
the lamb of God who takes awaythe sin of the world.
And I think, if you're God,just as Abraham lays his son
there, knowing because Jesus,scripture tells us, was slain
before the foundation of theworld, when Jesus died on the
(21:40):
cross, it wasn't plan B, itdidn't catch God off guard, he
wasn't surprised.
This has been the plan allalong.
And I think, as Abraham layshis son there, god sees his son.
Yeah and man.
It gives me goosebumps everytime I think about it, to think
(22:02):
God's saying I'm going to haveto do this.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
I think that rolls us back to the high view of
humanity in God's sight.
I think we forget not so muchhow much he loves us but how
much he's overjoyed with whathumanity is.
You know, he made us perfect,he made us good, and you see it
(22:37):
in the Tower of Babel when hecomes down and he says look at
these people, when they gettogether there's nothing they
can't do.
He's bragging to his heavenlycourt.
You know, you guys think we gotproblems up here when these
people get together and one daythey're going to be together.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
You know we, so often , I think, we look at our
relationship with God as we're aconstant disappointment, right,
you know um cause we?
We know we suck.
We know that all the thingsthat I struggle with um, all the
things I've promised to leavebehind, and I pick back up and
I'll never do it again and I doit again.
(23:19):
We know that about us, and sowe feel like we're this constant
disappointment to God.
And scripture says God is rightnow in heaven singing over you.
Right, that's how he thinks ofyou.
Right, we project our owninsecurities and shame and guilt
on God as if that's how heviews us and you have got him
(23:42):
wrong.
Right, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
He's overjoyed.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
You know he's singing over you right now.
How amazing is that.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
I think it's.
It was one of the things weleave out when we preach,
because we're always.
We've got to call out sin andand we've got to tell people.
You know, righteousness matters.
We've got to live the life thatGod's called us to live in the
way that he wants us to live it.
And so we get focused on allour failures and we don't see
(24:13):
what God sees, because he seesyou 10,000 years from now.
He sees what you become, whatyou've done, what you've
accomplished, whatever we'regoing to be doing in heaven.
He sees that and he knows whoyou are, not just who you are at
this moment, but he knows youcompletely, just like when
(24:35):
Abraham took his son up on themountain.
You're like how can God do this?
Because he saw Abraham afterthis, right after that,
abraham's coming down themountain.
He's not like those other gods,he's not one of them, you know,
and he sees Jesus in that.
(24:58):
In that whole idea I'm going tohave to give my son, he sees
that.
He sees Isaac's life all theway through.
So we got to grab a hold of whoGod is when he looks at
humanity.
One of these days, guys, it'sgoing to be like he meant it to
(25:20):
be.
We're going to be all together.
Just think about what we can dowhen there's no greed, there's
no patents.
You know there's no.
Oh, I got this drug.
It works on cancer.
We're going to make billions andwe're not going to share it
with anybody until we get apatent.
And there's people dyingbecause they got a drug.
(25:43):
They just haven't got theirpatent yet, so they won't let it
out.
You know all that, all thatcraziness that we see here.
It's all about the money andthe greed and the secrets and
the conspiracies.
We look at what they're doingin the government now that doge,
(26:03):
cutting big hunks of justnonsense out of the government.
And then there's people mad.
Why are you mad?
I need to know why you're mad.
Well, he can't.
Those people.
No you're too mad.
I want to know how you'regetting part of this money,
(26:23):
because that's what's going onand I'm both sides of the aisle
there's a lot of emotionalattachment to some of those
dollar signs there, sure is.
And I don't understand.
But one day and one day all ourscientists will be oh, what
(26:45):
about this, or what about that,or what about this?
You work on this.
I'll work on that.
Well, you know, who knows whatwe're going to do?
I think we're going to do greatthings in eternity, and the
universe will be our playground.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
And.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
I think we think of God because we think of we suck,
we're never going to be goodenough, so forth and so on.
So when we get to heaven, ourreward or our punishment is
we'll just be little toddlers indiapers and praise Jesus all
day long, you know, and we getthis idea that because we suck
(27:22):
so bad, that's what we'reprobably going to have to do for
eternity.
And we'll, you know we'll be,that'll be our thing, and we
think, man, that'll be boringand, first of all, that will be
great.
But second of all, that's notwho he created humanity,
(27:44):
humanity to be.
He told Adam and Eve I want youto dominate this planet and I
want you to do it in a way thatthe planet regenerates under you
and becomes this gardeneverywhere.
And he sent him to do it.
He didn't Go do it.
This is the first humans, thecavemen.
I don't need to teach you howto walk and talk.
I've given you everything youneed to teach you how to walk
(28:05):
and talk.
I've given you everything youneed to do what needs to be done
?
Now go do it.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
In a perfect world, in a perfect garden, where God
says it's not just good, it'svery good, right, he gives them
a job.
So yeah, we're not sitting onclouds, playing harps and
wearing diapers.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
Right.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
Now, I wouldn't mind a week or so of that.
Just give me a break After that, let's go let's conquer the
universe.
It's going to be great.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
I think it's going to be great.
I think no eye has seen, notongue can confess.
We talked about the afterlifelast night and one of the things
that has to be stated, thatwe're not going to be spirit
(28:55):
with God.
We're going to be human.
We're going to raise again.
He's going to resurrect us inour spirit, the thing that makes
you you is going to dwell inthat new body that's going to be
like Jesus and that's how we'regoing to live for the rest of
eternity.
And we're going to go back tothe human state and because God
(29:20):
loves it, he loves it, and it'shard to wrap our minds around it
because everybody disappointsus.
We know how that hurts us and itknocks our feet out from under
us and we can't see forward andwe you know our best friend
betrays us and or our husband orour spouse betrays us, or we
(29:46):
catch them in a lie and we'relike, wow, I didn't know, how
can this, how can I get overthis?
And we project that on God.
And God said, hey, don't worryabout me, I've figured out a way
to take care of this.
You know, come on, this isgoing to be great.
Let's go.
I've got some things for youand I want to teach you some
things right now.
(30:07):
So let's go.
Let's go do this.
Yeah, but God, this, you know II've betrayed you and I always
do, and I always think about mefirst.
And he's like yeah but I tookcare of that on the cross,
Remember that's taken care of.
Yeah, but I feel so I I tookcare of your shame cross.
Remember that's taken care ofyeah but I feel so I, I took
(30:29):
care of your shame, not justyour guilt.
So let's go, let's go, yeah,but yeah, but god, you, you
don't understand.
No, I understand, it cost meeverything.
It cost me everything.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Let's go, let's go if we could wrap our head around
that, it would change theChristian life.
It would If we would stopseeing God as the disappointed,
disapproving dad and startedseeing him as your cheerleader.
He is over there saying let'sgo.
(30:59):
I have opened up heaven,eternity, unlimited possibility
for you.
Let's go and go chase that planwith God.
The Christian life all of asudden doesn't become this
grudge.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
It's not this well, I got to wait till I die.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
This cumbersome thing where I'm just checking off
boxes till I get to heaven.
Eternity starts right now.
Go live it.
Go live this rich, satisfying.
This is what jesus was talkingabout.
Go and experience that.
He's in your corner cheeringyou on, saying, man, when you
and I get together, there'snothing you can't do.
(31:39):
Why?
Because nothing's impossiblefor me, right?
That's the kind of god youserve.
He's not not up in heavensaying, here they go again.
He's saying, hey, hey, comeback, come back to me, let's go,
let's go.
Right, that's who he is.
I wish I feel like I'm doing aterrible job illustrating it,
but I want people to get a holdof that, because it would change
everything for you.
(31:59):
It would change everything.
That's who he is.
We're way off topic.
So I'm going to try to.
No, I don't think that's wayoff topic.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
I think that's what he was proven to Abraham, the
father of this nation.
This is who I'm going to be toIsrael.
This is who I'm going to be tohumanity, because I want this
nation to bless all nations.
And and he did it through Jesushe's trying to tell Abraham I'm
not this kind of God.
(32:28):
I'm not going to ask this fromyou.
I'm always going to provide foryou, even when I need a
sacrifice.
I'll give you the sacrifice.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
I'll give it to you and that is.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
It's so special.
People look at this.
This is a hateful, terrible God.
But this is a God drilling downin the most tense moment, in
the father of a nation's life,saying I won't be that to you, I
will not.
(33:04):
And Abraham, from that momenton, I mean he's seen God rain
down fire on Sodom and Gomorrah,so obviously he knows that God
can get fired up about stuff,right.
And he's saying I'm not goingto be that to you.
And I think that's what this isall about.
(33:26):
Abraham man, he loves me, thathe wouldn't ever ask this of me
and it's always been in the backof my head.
Can this happen?
And now I know that it'll neverhappen, and it shouldn't happen
with anybody else.
So, uh, I don't think we're wayoff.
(33:48):
I think he's saying all right,now that we got this taken care
of, let's go.
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
I love what you said a minute ago, that even when God
requires the sacrifice, heprovides it.
You know, and Abraham's up onMount Moriah getting ready to
sacrifice his son and once heraises the knife, you know, it
took him all the way to thatpoint, but he raises the knife
(34:15):
preparing to sacrifice him, andthat's when the angel calls out
and says Abraham, abraham, don'tdo it.
And he sees the sacrifice Godhad already provided, it was
already there.
God provides.
I mean, get this.
What God asks and requires,he's already provided.
Yeah, I got to muster up, I gotto find no, no, no.
(34:38):
He says I've already providedthat here.
He's already provided thesacrifice that he was going to
need.
Scripture tells us that he'sright now and he has given you
everything you need to live alife of godliness.
He's giving you the desire andthe power to do what pleases him
.
So what he requires, he'salready provided.
(34:58):
And that's an amazing thingabout our relationship with our
God.
And we see his provision whenhe know, when he he calls Joseph
to go to Egypt and it lookslike a horrible situation
because he gets sold by hisbrothers, but God says there's a
famine, getting ready to comeinto the land, and I need
someone who's going toadminister this and provide, and
he saves generations offamilies through Joseph.
(35:22):
So we see it there.
We see it when Israel's beenenslaved now in Egypt for
hundreds of years and God callsa man to lead them out, and God
provides everything that theyneed.
God is constantly providing forhis people and it's not this
reactionary thing where God'slike, oh crap, how did we get
(35:44):
here, how am I going to fix this.
It is proactive, tied to hisplan and his purpose in humanity
.
God is already going ahead ofyou in your future, giving you
the things that you need.
We just need to open our eyesto see it.
Open our eyes and recognize hisprovision that he's already
provided for us, and that's whathe did here on Mount Moriah.
(36:07):
When Abraham looked, he sawGod's already provided, and to
our greatest need.
We needed a Savior, and thething that God required he
provided in his son Jesus.
Speaker 3 (36:20):
And that is the greatest thing that we can tell
you about this story is that itforeshadowed God giving his son
so that we can be free of sinand free.
Free to live, free to be withhim forever, Because we weren't
(36:42):
free Before Jesus resurrected.
When you died and you werefaithful to the Lord, you went
to paradise, but you didn't goin the presence of God, you
still weren't allowed.
That sacrifice hadn't been madeyet.
And that's when Peter saysJesus came and he set the
(37:02):
captives free.
The captives were in paradise,but he took them to the presence
of God.
And now, because of Jesus'resurrection, we are.
Every one of us is destined tomeet God when we die, when we
step across that threshold.
Paul said to be absent from thebody is to be present with the
(37:24):
Lord, and he did that for us.
He provided that for us andwe're going to live with him for
eternity, and it's going to belike we said.
We can't even imagine what it'sgoing to look like from that
day forward.
God is good and, if anything onthis mountain, he proved it.
(37:48):
This is not one of thosestories that Christians should
shy away from, because I don'tknow how to answer that.
God was proving who he was toAbraham so that all of Israel
would know it, so that here weare, 4,000 years later.
We know it too.
Speaker 2 (38:09):
Yeah, we know.
And John later would say I'vewritten all these things so that
you might know you have eternallife, God all along.
He's proven it here on MountMoriah.
He proved it through the Exodusand giving the Israelites the
law.
He proved it through Jesus.
I want you to know where youstand with me.
(38:34):
I don't want you to havequestions, I don't want you to
wonder, I don't want you to feellike you constantly got to
prove yourself.
I'm giving you the way.
I've provided everything thatyou need.
And for us on this side of Jesus, what an amazing thing that God
said I'm going to send my oneand only son the ultimate
sacrifice, the sacrifice thatwas good once for all time.
(38:55):
Another sacrifice will neverhave to be made.
Jesus was the perfect, ultimatesacrifice for each of us.
What a good God he is.
I mean that's.
You can't look at it, it's.
I guess it's easy to look at itand say what an evil God, what
a mean God.
Who would require that?
(39:16):
But the discerning eye to lookat this and say man, God's
proven, he's totally different.
Man, God's proven, he's totallydifferent.
Again, now put yourself inAbraham Sandel's and walk back
down the mountain saying he'snot like I thought.
He's not like any of theseother gods.
(39:36):
He is wholly different, and Imean that in both sense of the
words.
I love it.
Speaker 3 (39:43):
I love it.
Well, pray for us.
Speaker 2 (39:46):
Ryan.
Father, we thank you that youare a good God and, father, I
thank you for this account ofAbraham's faith, of Isaac's
willingness and trust andsubmission, and his father and
that relationship that hisfather had with you.
Lord, this is just an amazingpassage of scripture to reveal
(40:13):
to us who you really are, andyou're not what people say about
you.
You're not what the other godsrequire, god, you are different
and, father, everything that weneed you have already provided.
So, father, I pray that youwould give us trust in your
provision, the God who sees.
You are the God who provides,and, lord, we thank you for it
(40:36):
In Jesus' name.
Amen, amen and amen.
Speaker 1 (40:39):
Thanks again for joining us for this episode of
the Midweek Podcast.
We'd love to hear from you.
Let us know how God is usingthis resource in your life, or
send any podcast questions ortopic ideas to podcast at
afreshwindorg.
If you would like to supportthis ministry financially and
help us continue offering newresources that equip you to
discover more in Christ, simplytext any amount to the number
(41:02):
84321.
We're so grateful for yoursupport.
Make sure to tune in next weekfor a brand new episode of the
Midweek Podcast.
Be blessed and have a greatweek.
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