And when I think that God, His Son not sparing
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in
That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing
He bled and died to take away my sin.
This is the second verse to the great, old hymn How Great Thou Art. I became a believer (as an adult) at 25 years old. I already had three children, the first a son. I couldn’t imagine how God could send His Son. If it were up to me (and you should be glad it’s not,) we’d all be forever lost because I wouldn’t even think about sending my son for you all!
How could a loving Father do that! And why?
For an answer to that we need to go back to Genesis – all the way back to Abraham. We know the story.
This happens well after creation, after Noah and the ark, and after the Tower of Babel. God appeared to Abram. How did He appear, we’re not really told, but Abram knew it was God.
The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.
“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there. (Genesis 12:1-5)
Each time God appeared or spoke to Abram, God promised generational blessings. In Genesis 13:14-17, God tells Abram that his offspring would be so numerous they could not be counted.
The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.
Abram (he’s not Abraham yet) has a instructions from God to leave his family in Haran, and go to a land the Lord would show him. He does that. God promises Abram all his generations will be blessed. The problem – at least from Abram’s viewpoint – is that he didn’t have even one offspring, yet. But Abram believed God. If God said it, it would happen! But how long could he keep believing it?
It has been sometime – years – and Abram and Sarai still don’t have a child. Abram has had to go rescue his nephew Lot and he meets Melchizedek and gives him a tithe. (This is before the law of tithing was even given.) Then God appears to him in a vision, reaffirming that He is with Abraham.
But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:2-6)
Abram believed God – but it had been a long time since God had first made this promise.
Back in Abram’s time, they didn’t have lawyers to draw up legal contracts, but people would make covenants with one another. Nations or tribes or individuals would covenant to honor boundaries, or do trade, or agree to protect each other if attacked. However, there was one covenant that could NEVER be broken, except by DEATH. This was the BLOOD COVENANT. The rest of Genesis 15 describes God “cutting the covenant” with Abraham. This covenant was FOREVER. Abraham was reassured that God’s guarantee of generational blessings – he would have a son!
Month after month, no baby. We know what happens next. Sarai, his wife, decides that God needs help keeping His promise. Abram has a child by Sarai’s slave girl, Hagar. Ishmael is born. But he’s not the child of God’s promise. The child had been promised to Abram and Sarai. This “helping God” has had repercussions that the world is still feeling today!
When Abram is 99 years old, God again appears to Abram. Still no child. God changes Abram’s name to match the promise. Abraham means “Father of Nations.” The covenant of circumcision is also established between God and Abraham. Really! At 99! Sarai‘s name is also changed – to Sarah.
Abraham can’t believe it. He laughs at the very possibility that he and Sarah would have a child at their ages! God didn’t get angry at their laughter, but He declared a child would be born to Abraham and Sarah within the year. The baby is born, and he’s named Isaac (laughter) because both had chuckled at the possibility of the child. To say they were overjoyed would be an understatement. (But can you imagine chasing a toddler at 99?)
Several years later, God again gives Abraham a command.
God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”
(Genesis 22:2)
God told Abraham to take his son – the one he and Sarah had waited – for years – and sacrifice him. Abraham had to be shocked. It wasn’t uncommon for other “gods” to require child sacrifice, but God had promised to bless the nations through Isaac! Would they have another son??? Would God raise him from the dead?? He didn’t know, but he trusted God.
What is the connection between Abraham offering his son, and God sending His Son, Jesus?
Because of the Blood Covenant between God and Abraham, God was obligated to offer His Son because Abraham had offered Isaac – who was spared. God provided an alternate sacrifice, the ram caught in the thicket. Jesus was not spared; He died as the sacrifice for the sin of the whole world – past, present and future! God kept His side of the Blood Covenant.
And Jesus was raised from the dead!
We have a new Blood Covenant – In Jesus’ Blood!
Hallelujah!
And it can never be broken!