Abraham and Isaac and all of us

 

    In Genesis Abraham and Sarah are blessed by God.  He tells them they will have a son, and his offspring will become a great and powerful nation.  Both Abraham and Sarah find this hard to believe because they are so old, but God keeps his promise and Isaac is born.  Because of this, Isaac is both unique and un-unique at the same time.
    Isaac is unique because he was ordained by God.  He wouldn't exist if God hadn't caused him to be brought forth.  God had a special hand in his birth.  Paradoxical this also makes him un-unique because we are all ordained by God.  We all exist by God's will.  In Psalm 139, David says, "(You) knit me together in my mother's womb".  In Isaac, you could say all of humanity is being represented as he is being led up the mountain to be sacrificed.  
    The question Abraham and Isaac's journey asks is, why would God do this?  Isaac is innocent, or at least as innocent as a human tainted by original sin can be.  Regardless, one day, whether he is sacrificed or not, he will die.  If God is a just and righteous God as we believe him to be, why would he bring this child into existence just for him to eventually die?  This is the cruel reality for every human being on earth.  From a nihilistic perspective, it would have been better if Isaac had never been born at all.  One day he will die, his children will die, everyone on earth will die, and nothing will have mattered.  It isn't hard to see how people can disregard sin and choose to live however they want under those circumstances.  However, Abraham had a different answer.  His answer was to have faith.
    He does what God commanded him to do.  Isaac is placed on the altar, and Abraham prepares to sacrifice him.  This is the brutal climax of the story.  Just before the deed is done, God stops him.  He blesses Abraham for being willing to do his will.  Abraham then looks up and finds a ram caught in a thicket.  God provided him with a substitute, just as Abraham had prophesized to Isaac earlier.
    God would take this template of events and bring salvation to all people 2000 years later.  Jesus would ride a donkey up to the temple.  The mountain the temple was on is believed by many to be the same one where Abraham was told to sacrifice Isaac.  Later that night, the temple priests would have him arrested.  He would be tried and turned over to Pilate who would then crucify him.  The son of God, who is God and man, would be a sacrifice for all the sins of mankind.
    Jesus ascent up the mountain seems almost symbolic.  He is humanity rising up once more, reuniting with God.  It wasn't something we could do by ourselves.  God had to provide, just as Abraham said he would.  Jesus's life and death were a substitute for ours.  We receive it through faith, just as Abraham did.

Echoes

     

 

    The bible does something interesting.  In the new testament we see Jesus fulfilling old testament scripture.  He is constantly drawing from it in his teachings, but also validating it in his actions.  This also happens throughout the old testament.  You have events and people that seem to echo one another throughout scripture.  More than prophecy, it's like there is a pattern or patterns being followed.  A good example is Abraham taking his son up the mountain to be sacrificed before God stops him and provides him with a goat instead (Gen 22).  It's a common belief that this is a representation of Jesus riding into Jerusalem before the priests gave him to the Romans to be crucified.  It was also prophesized by Zachariah.
    It's amazing how these things line up, but it isn't the only time this happens.  The bible does this constantly.  Continuing with the Abram (Abraham) example, he is called by God to leave his father's lands and go west to a land that God will give him.  His nephew Lot goes with him.  Then a series of familiar events take place.  There is a famine and they go to Egypt to escape it then they leave and return to Bethel.  This seems to mirror the brothers of Joseph coming to Egypt to escape famine, and the Israelites subsequent return in exodus.  Sound farfetched?  How about when Lot takes in the angels and feeds them a feast of unleavened bread before being forced to flee Sodom?  That sounds like Exodus, when God tells the Isrealites to take only unleavened bread before fleeing Egypt.  Lot is also told to flee into the mountains to escape destruction, a recurring theme throughout scripture.  The story seems loaded with meaning that references future events, but then it gets even stranger as it begins to make comparisons within itself.
    In the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, Abram is sitting in the door of his tent when the Lord appears before him.  Similarly, Lot is seated in the gate of Sodom when the angels appear to him.  Both men give them hospitality, shelter, water to wash their feet, and food.  On the other hand Abram tells them to rest beneath a tree, but Lot, fearing for their safety in the streets, brings them into his home.  Sarai laughs when God tells Abram they will have a son.  Lot's son-in-laws laugh when he tries to warn them of coming danger.  Sarai tries to lie when God calls her out.  Lot's son-in-laws accuse him of lying when he tries to wake them.  God and his angels come down to judge the cities on the plain and Abram tries to save them.  Lot is accused of being a judge by the men banging at his door.  The differences are as profound as the similarities.
    Again, things seem to be following some kind of pattern.  It makes you wonder what parts of it you're missing.  What's the significance of only two angels appearing to Lot instead of three?  Is what Lot's daughters did to him connected to his willingness to give them to the men trying to reach his guests?  Could it have been circumvented if he stayed in Zoar?  Lot didn't trust God to keep is word that he wouldn't destroy Zoar.  Could the sinful ending have been a result of this final failure of faith?  
    I don't even know where to begin with Lot's wife.  There are plenty of interpretations of the story.  All of them make sense on some level, but none of them feel comprehensive.  It's all too big to fully wrap your head around.  There are more examples I didn't include.  I kept coming up with them as I wrote this, and I'm sure there are more throughout the bible.  The book is like one of those science fiction paradoxes where the inside is much larger than it is outside.

Sin for Us

     

    The bible says that Jesus became sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21).  To me this was an odd phrase, and was something I didn't understand for a long time.  I only really came to understand it recently while reading the old testament story about the fiery serpents (Num. 21).
    In the story, God sends fiery serpents to punish the people of Israel.  People are dying from the bites, and the Israelites repent.  They come to Moses and ask him to intercede with God on their behalf.  Moses does so, and God gives him instructions to create a bronze serpent and put it on a pole.  Anyone who comes and looks on it will be spared, and they will live.
    Like many stories in the bible it can seem kind of strange, and only really makes sense when it's viewed symbolically, or in this case, how it relates to Jesus.  I think most people agree that the serpent on the pole is an image of Jesus crucified for our sins.  He even makes this comparison himself (John 3:14-15).  From that, we can infer that people coming to see the serpent on the pole is representative of people coming to Christ and believing in him for salvation from sin.  But what about the fiery serpents, and why is Jesus being portrayed as one by the bronze serpent on the pole?
    I think, at least in this context, the fiery serpents are representing sin.  This story equates the serpent's bites with death in the same way sin condemns us to death.  Only Jesus's crucifixion can save us from that.  His crucifixion was a substitutional atonement.  He took our place and died for us on the cross.  In doing so, he also became a replacement for our sins.  The story of the fiery serpents is an image of this.  It's why Jesus is represented by the serpent on the pole.  It was a supernatural replacement for the serpents that had been killing the Israelites.  The attacks by the fiery serpents didn't matter.  They had been replaced.  In the same way, our sins no longer matter once we're saved.  Jesus replaces them.  It doesn't mean Jesus is sin or sinful.  He's a new part of us, replacing the old broken one.
    One of the most interesting facets of the story about the fiery serpents is how sin is portrayed.  It's shown less as something we do and more as something that is being done to us.  I think that's really interesting.  I doesn't mean we aren't responsible or don't have a choice in the matter.  I sure we've all chosen to sin at some point or another, but I think it's a picture of God's grace that he chooses to look on our sins this way.