Genesis 22:15-19
Abraham's Reward

This story is so rich it has more than one moral. It has many implications. The Lord spoke once to Abraham from heaven, providing a substitute sacrifice to pay for Abraham's sins. And Abraham drew a moral from that, naming the place Yahweh Yireh, The Lord Will Provide. For indeed the Lord provided for Abraham. And 2000 years later the Lord provided for us to be blessed with believing Abraham. He sacrificed his Son, his only-begotten, whom he loved on that very hill.

Now there is a second moral to be drawn. The Angel of the Lord again speaks out of heaven, crowning Abraham's obedience with a repetition of his gracious promises.

1. The Context of the Blessing
   1. Abraham's Prior Justification by Faith Alone
      1. It is essential that we understand this fact: Abraham was already justified.
         1. Way back in ch. 15, Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
         2. Paul insists on this point, saying he was declared righteous before he had done a single good work.
         3. God has chosen to rejoice our hearts by showing us how Abraham's faith was vindicated and shown to be true.
         4. And he has chosen to rejoice our hearts by showing how he crowns these good works of faith with reward from heaven.
         5. Let us not abuse God's grace in this regard by misunderstanding this story as though Abraham's works suddenly become a part of what saves him.
      2. Abraham demonstrated his faith by being willing to sacrifice Isaac, no question about it. This was the action of a man of utter faith; nothing else could have motivated him to such a terrifying and extreme obedience.
      3. But can this act, coming 25 years after Abraham's justification, provide a new basis for the promised blessing?
      4. Hardly! Otherwise God is unjust, first freely offering Abraham the blessing of a Seed to inherit the land, then establishing conditions that must be met to obtain the blessing.
      5. And suddenly Abraham would be on a less sure footing, for if the blessing is given on account of his obedience, it may just as surely be taken away when he is disobedient.
      6. No, Abraham was accounted righteous because he believed the promises of God; he believed that God would do everything required to fulfill those promises.
      7. It was this steadfast faith that enabled Abraham to sacrifice Isaac without questioning. He was confident that God could bring Isaac back even from the dead.
      8. So this act does not justify Abraham, but demonstrates that the faith with which he believed God was not a dead faith. It was not merely an assent with the mind that God can do anything. He believed that with his whole being. The sacrifice of Isaac is the proof.
      9. This is what James means when he says Abraham was justified by works. His faith was vindicated as a living faith by the fruit it produced.
      10. But those works can never provide a new basis for his salvation. His salvation rests forever on the promise of God alone, which he received in faith.
      11. Children of God, it is this way with us as well. Let us seek to have a living faith which abounds in good works. But let us never transfer our salvation to those works as though they merit the reward of God.
      12. Fix your eyes rather on Jesus as the only one with merit, even as Abraham fixed his eyes on the ram provided by God.
   2. Abraham's Need for a Sacrifice
      1. Abraham has not become so perfect that he does not need a substitute to shed his blood that Abraham may be saved.
      2. Does this not demonstrate how foolish it is to say that Abraham became so righteous that he merited the favor of God?
      3. If that were so, he would need no ram at all. The one who merits God's favor needs no sacrifice for sin; he is good in the eyes of God.
      4. So this blessing God gives cannot be because Abraham deserves it or earned it.
      5. Abraham is still in the position of relying on God for everything.
      6. God promises blessing, but no sinner can be blessed by God.
      7. So Abraham must have a sacrifice for his sin. And this God provides as well, symbolically in the ram, and actually in Jesus Christ.
      8. Abraham, in sacrificing that ram, confesses that he has nothing to offer God in himself (he didn't even provide the ram).
      9. He confesses that he deserves the wrath of God, and pleads for a substitute who will bear that wrath.
      10. A man in such a position would be a fool to take credit for anything he does as though it earns God's favor.
   3. "By Myself I Have Sworn"
      1. God further clarifies the context.
      2. He is not swearing by Abraham or Isaac or anything they have done.
      3. The reason he offers grace to Abraham is still his mere good pleasure.
      4. He has consulted himself and no one else in this matter.
      5. And the promise is grounded in the faithfulness of God, just as before.
      6. It was because Abraham believed utterly in that faithfulness that he was willing even to sacrifice his only son, Isaac.
      7. And God is not now doing Abraham the disfavor of saying, the promise once depended on my faithfulness, but now it depends on yours.
      8. Rather, he says, the promise is still based on my own faithfulness to fulfill my promises
      9. I have sworn by myself: He reminds Abraham thus of the time he passed through the cut up pieces, swearing by his own life. That oath is still valid, he says.
      10. If we are clear on all this, we are ready to receive the remarkable statement that follows.
   4. "Because You Have Done This"
      1. The Angel of the Lord says this twice
         1. Once at the beginning - "because you have done this thing, and have not witheld your son, your only-begotten" (v.16)
         2. Once at the end - this will happen "because you have obeyed my voice" (v. 18)
      2. Clearly, this is significant, and we ignore it at our peril.
      3. God is being gracious to reward Abraham not according to the deeds of his flesh, but according to the deeds of his faith.
      4. If Abraham actually deserved this reward, then the grace of God, which had already been given, is of no effect.
      5. But if God wishes to crown the works of Abraham's faith with a confirmation of his grace, then Abraham can only fall on his face and give glory to God.
      6. "Because you have obeyed my voice"
         1. Before, Abraham like Adam listened to the voice of his wife. She said, "Abraham, your flesh is strong. Go into my maidservant and make the seed that God promised." And Ishmael, the work of Abraham's flesh, resulted. This work has no reward from God, for it proceeded from unbelief, a distrust of the promises of God.
         2. But now Abraham by faith has received the child of promise. And when God says, "Give him wholly to me," Abraham hears the voice of God and obeys. For he knows that God is faithful.
         3. So God says, now you know that I am the only one whose voice you must hear, for in my hand alone is the blessing of eternal life.
         4. And Abraham's action demonstrates that he knows and believes this truth.
         5. For what kind of a faith would it be that said to God "I believe you will fulfill your promise, but I don't trust you to do it if I offer up Isaac as you request"?
         6. It would be no faith at all.
         7. So you see that Abraham's faith is vindicated and adorned by this good work which must inevitably flow from it.
      7. As well, what sort of faith would we have if it said, "I believe Christ has saved me, but I will not follow him or cling to him or suffer with him"? That is no faith at all.
      8. Let us then with all boldness take up our cross and follow Jesus, even as Abraham did.
         1. Be encouraged! Abraham gave his son up to God and received him back as one alive from the dead.
         2. Rejoice! For Christ who laid down his own life, has received it back again and been highly exalted to the right hand of God.
         3. Let us then suffer with him that we may also participate in his reward.
         4. He has earned it for us; God graciously holds it out to us.
         5. Children of God, the Lamb has been slain and has risen again. Your sins are gone, as far as the east from the west.
         6. He gave up all and received it back again. No one of you shall lose more for Christ than he lost for you. Be bold then to lay down even your lives for Christ and for his people. You shall receive it back with a crown of life at the resurrection!
         7. Give up money and houses and lands, whatever the Lord requires of you, but hold on to the one who is your exceedingly great reward.
         8. Let your faith be vindicated by your works.
         9. And if you find yourself poor in works, come have your faith increased that your works may be in accordance with the measure of your faith.
         10. Come hear the gospel of what Christ has laid up in heaven for you and you will value the things of this world as of no importance. You will set them behind you, rather pressing on toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
      9. For what is the reward that is offered?
         1. Is it not the appearing of Christ himself?
         2. Indeed, and thus our works of faith will be rewarded and vindicated. We have counted nothing worthy of our desire except him, and at last we shall see him face to face.
         3. As Paul closed out his earthly ministry, he wrote to Timothy "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. ⁸ From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing."
         4. Is he here claiming this reward as something he earned? Hardly, for a few verses later he rejoices: "The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and save me for his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen."
         5. But what is this reward? By faith he has longed for Christ. His whole Christian life has reflected his longing for Christ
            1. He set behind him his own righteousness from the law as a thing of no importance - gristle and bone to be fed to the dogs.
            2. He took no wife, for what woman could he ask to share a life of fear and fleeing by night and beatings and imprisonment?
            3. Yet these things were joy to him, for by them he partook of the sufferings of Christ.
            4. He laid aside even his own life, for as he writes to Timothy, he says he is being poured out as a drink offering.
            5. But what is his present life to him?
            6. His whole Christian life has been the activity of a man longing and yearning for Christ.
            7. And what is the reward to these works of faith? A crown of righteousness - not his righteousness but Christ's - and the appearance of his beloved Savior.
            8. What will he do with that crown but cast it at the feet of Christ and give all glory to him?
      10. This is the sort of reward Abraham receives. His very actions testify that he values the promise of God above all else. So God says, "Because you have testified thus, I assure you by my own name that I will give the promised things to you.
      11. And Abraham goes away rejoicing to know how God will keep his promise.
      12. And so it must be with us as well. Let us forsake all for Christ and by that testify that he is our only treasure and our only hope of eternal life is found in him.
      13. Let us hear then, one more time, the repetition of the promise with which God crowns Abraham's obedience. And let us by hearing, believe, and believing, act upon it, that we too may be assured of what God has already sworn in Christ.
2. The Text and Meaning of the Blessing
   1. Blessing I Will Bless You
      1. A Hebrew way of saying, I will really or indeed bless you.
      2. Abraham's eyes must be taken off the ordinary meaning of "blessing"
         1. God intends to do more than bless him with long life
         2. God intends to do more than bless him with a child (who after all, will die)
         3. God intends to do more than bless him with wealth and servants and lands (for he will one day be buried in this land and then which one owns the other?)
      3. God intends to really bless him, with the things pictured by the Promised Land and the Promised Seed.
         1. He will give him his only-begotten beloved Son, for who else could make a sacrifice for Abraham's sin?
         2. He will give him heaven, eternal life, not just dirt and hills
      4. God will really bless Abraham. He will give him everything he needs, everything Adam forfeited.
   2. Multiplying I Will Multiply Your Seed
      1. Specifically, Abraham's descendants will be great in number.
      2. Abraham, who has only one son, must believe God who can raise up children to Abraham even out of stones.
      3. And is this Scripture not fulfilled, even in our midst? Are we not all children of Abraham? For the Bible says it is not the children of the flesh who are counted as seed, but those who like Abraham believe.
      4. For how could Abraham rejoice to hear a promise that says "You'll have a lot of kids, but they'll all deny me and forfeit the promise"? Abraham wants children in the faith, and this is what God promises: I will really give you children.
      5. Abraham has indeed been granted a vast multitude of children of like precious faith with him.
   3. Your Seed Shall Possess the Gates of Their Enemies
      1. Looking forward to the children of Abraham being victorious in war.
         1. For the gate is the stronghold of the city, the place where a city is defended. To take the gate is to take the whole city.
         2. And the gate is also the place of judgment. Abraham is told his children will not be judged by the nations but will judge them.
      2. This is fulfilled when Israel takes over the Promised Land, but only in a picture.
      3. It is fulfilled in reality when Christ, the Seed of Abraham, bursts the gates of hell. He comes out of the grave. The gate of what Scripture calls "the last enemy" proves powerless against the righteousness of Christ.
      4. And so as well the gates of hell shall not prevail against those who are in Christ.
      5. Though we die yet shall we live and storm the gates of this last enemy, returning to life.
      6. The gates of death shall not be a place where we are judged, but we shall rise again to judge others, ministering the judgment of Christ.
   4. In Your Seed All Nations Will Be Blessed
      1. Truly this is so, for the Seed is Christ.
      2. And the salvation of Christ has gone out to the ends of the earth. People are streaming into the gates of heaven, even now.
      3. We are indeed blessed by this Seed of Abraham.
3. The Result: Abraham Returns to Live in the Land
   1. So Abraham returns to Beersheba
   2. He continues to live in the Promised Land, confessing that his faith is still that God will fulfill all his promises to give his descendants this land, and really that God will provide a true city to live in, built and made by himself, a perfect dwelling place forever.

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