By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,” concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.
~ Hebrews 11:17-19 ~
This city is undoubtedly linked to the resurrection as is seen throughout the Old Testament. The city in Jeremiah 31:40 isn’t liable to being “plucked up or thrown down anymore forever,” which implies eternal life for all who inhabit it. The new Jerusalem in Zechariah 2 depicts abundance of life, to which John makes conscious connection in Revelation 21—where the glory of the Lord and the resurrection life of the saints function as related concepts, “there shall be no more death… (Rev. 21:4), etc.” And here in our text, resurrection seems to be related to the heavenly country because our author moves immediately from the heavenly country in vv. 13-16 to Abraham’s trust in God’s power to raise his son, Isaac, in vv. 17-19.
This is an incredible text, the depths of which I cannot hope to comprehend in a single sermon. Again, our text begins, “By faith…” And our author notes the context of this, “when [Abraham] was tested.” Tested by whom? By God. The term here is the same word that could be translated tempted. “But,” you may interject, “God tempts no one (Jas. 1:13)!” True enough. However, James is there speaking about temptation with reference to sin. He does not mean that God never puts His saints to the test or to the trial for their good, which is the other way in which the term may be used. God here tests Abraham with the aim of vindicating his faith. John Owen observes that after this traumatic event, which required every ounce of faith given to Abraham by God, the Lord ensured Abraham peace for the rest of his days.
Thus, Abraham is tested by God, and this would be the decisive test of his faith, after which God would commend him, saying, “because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son—blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies (Gen. 22:16-17).” This is not the decisive test for Abraham merely because he was faced with the prospect of killing his own son; consider what Isaac represented. Remember, God has already given the promise to Abraham in Genesis 12, 15, and 17. By this point, Abraham knows that God’s promise would come through Isaac. The seed which would eventually inherit the earth is to come through this son of Abraham. Indeed, in Abraham’s mind, the entire world-to-come depends upon Isaac’s very life.
In Genesis 21:12, again prior to God calling on Abraham to slay Isaac, it was revealed that “in Isaac your seed shall be called.” For Abraham, putting Isaac to death was not only to lose a son, it would appear to cancel the gospel promise altogether. From a human standpoint, to put Isaac to death was to annul the gospel and the new creation to come. Remember, Paul says that the Seed is Christ. Christ was the promised Seed which would descend from Isaac, “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your Seed,’ who is Christ (Gal. 3:16).” This was a serious situation indeed. God just called Abraham to slay the very person through whom the promised kingdom would come, and upon whom the future establishment of the covenant of grace depended.
However, Abraham knew that God could never go back on His promise. This promise in Genesis 21:12 was sure—that the seed would be called in Isaac. And because of the faith which God gave to Abraham, which caused him to trust entirely in the goodness of God and His ability to bring to pass what He promised, Abraham committed Isaac to death. Our text says, “and he who had received the promises…” Prior to this point, Abraham had already received the promise which said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called…” Thus, Abraham, resting in the promise of God, committed his only begotten son to death. And though he had no idea as to the particularities of promise-fulfillment, he knew that if Isaac were to be put to death, it must then be the case that God could bring him back again. Our author says as much in v. 19, “[Abraham] counted God powerful to raise him up, even from the dead…”
Related together in our passage are two very important biblical themes which should not be divorced from one another: (1) the promised seed; and (2) the resurrection. And though Abraham may have hoped for resurrection immediately upon Isaac’s death, it is difficult to believe this passage, as with all the other instances in this chapter, does not intend the glorious and final resurrection to which all believers look. Other places in Scripture confirm this relationship. Romans 4:16 says, “Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.” In v. 17, life is related to the seed, “God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did.” Paul here uses the language of the old creation to denote the new creation.
In Romans 4:21, Abraham is assured of God’s ability to carry out His promise, as is also seen in our text. And in Romans 4:23-25, the resurrection of Christ is seen as the Surety of the seed mentioned in v. 16. He was raised for the vindication of the seed of Abraham—
Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.
And moving on into ch. 5, the connection to the resurrection of believers becomes certain, “Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life (Rom. 5:18).”
Inextricably connected to the seed is resurrection life. And as we see in Romans 4-5, both the seed and resurrection life are also tightly connected to justification, which Paul calls the justification of life. I would argue, therefore, that while the seed immediately concerns Abraham’s immediate offspring in Isaac, through physical generation, it ultimately concerns a spiritual offspring—or an offspring by faith. And because it concerns a spiritual offspring, this seed is to be understood of those who are “born again.” The new birth is the begetting of the true seed of Abraham. This is why Jesus, speaking to a physical descendant of Abraham, Nichodemus, says, “You must be born again (Jn. 3:7).” And this new birth is the manner in which one becomes the seed of Abraham. Thus, when our text tells us Abraham counted God powerful enough to raise Isaac from the dead, he did so not on the basis of God’s power alone, but also on the basis of the promise itself. Abraham understood the promise to concern his true seed, which is seed by a regenerate faith alone in Christ alone. Abraham understood that this “seed promise” would ultimately come through new birth and the resurrection from death unto eternal life.
The last thing our text tells us is that Abraham received Isaac from the dead “in a figurative sense.” Abraham, by faith, had already counted Isaac as good as dead. He was going to carry out the positive commandment of God to put his own son to death. And thus, when God provided an alternate, substitutional sacrifice, and Abraham no longer was under divine pressure to slay his own son, he received him back from a proverbial, figurative, or parabolic death.
Just when Abraham was about to slay his only son, an angel came to Abraham and said, “Abraham, Abraham… Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me (Gen. 22:11, 12).” Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram stuck in a shrub. As a result, Abraham named that place, “The-LORD-will-provide,” and it became a popular saying, “In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided.” This revealed to Abraham the way by which his seed would be spared from death, that is, through a substitutionary sacrifice, the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. All of the precious themes contained in this text—from promise, to seed, to resurrection life, etc.—are brought about in and through the Lord Jesus, as He stood in our place. We all, like Isaac, have been spared in and by the Lamb the LORD Himself provided.
Victory Baptist Church | A Sovereign Grace Church in Kansas City 