Day 19.
And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” (Genesis 22:15-18 ESV)
This passage comes after Abraham almost sacrifices his son Isaac at God’s command, the son Abraham loves and has raised to be the inheritor of all of God’s wonderful promises. The parallels between Abraham and God the Father are amazing. The difference, of course, is that God’s son was sacrificed to show He loves us. But read the words with God and Jesus in the place of Abraham in the appropriate places:
By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because I have done this and have not withheld my son, my only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring (Jesus and the church) shall possess the gate of his enemies (doesn’t this sound like Matthew 16:18?), and in your offspring shall all the nations (the gentiles) of the earth be blessed, because Jesus has obeyed my voice and went to the cross.
“…on this rock (Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God) I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Mt 16:18)
Can you imagine a greater love for you than this? What does that love mean to you?
Chronological Reading Plan plus Psalms: Ge 22-24, Ps 19
It let’s me know that whatever I do God will never turn from me. It means he loves me and he must really think I am worth something to do this.
It means He loves me to the moon and back.
It means a lot!
It means a lot to me because that it was a very hard thing to do by God, and it impacts my life by helping me be godly and allows me to know that I will go to heaven with a clean heart because of Jesus’ sacrifice.