Where is Jesus #1

 Excerpt from Bible study#1  #WhereIsJesus?

Genesis 22 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”

“Here I am,”he replied.

2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac(John 3:16)—-and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

~~Moriah will one day become King David’s Jerusalem, where on this same mountain, GOD’S only begotten Son will ultimately be sacrificed. (We will refer to this, later on in the study)~~

3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day (Luke 13:32; John2:19) Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 

~~All the servants of G-d before the Cross, saw the Place of Sacrifice - of Salvation- only from a distance (Hebrews 11:13). This is true Faith.~~

5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” (John16:16)

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Yeshua:                                                                         Read Luke 19:28-47:                                                 Seeing “the Place in the distance” (vs.4), and surrounded by “servants”,  Jesus too, will “set His face like flint” and enter Jerusalem. 

However, he will approach the Place of Sacrifice accompanied only by His Father. (vs.5)

**A servant is not required to go all the Way with his master Because “a servant does not know his master’s business.” (John 15:15) But a friend - a Son - will go all the Way with His Father (John16:32).  Jesus did not stop after He rode the donkey into Jerusalem (vs3). Long before those same crowds had turned against Him and most of His disciples had abandoned Him, He had “set His face like flint and kept straight on” - to Death and through Death - that He would conquer Death and sin for all of us who couldn’t. (Romans5:6-8; Hebrews 12:2)**

Consider Abraham’s incredible statement in vs. 5: “We will worship and then we will come back to you” - this can be likened to Jesus’s own words in Matthew 26:39 “O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt.” (Is not to humbly submit our lives into the hands of God the greatest act of worship?) And just like Jesus, Abraham’s faith is not without substance: His hope was in the resurrection - the Lord’s ability to overcome Death (see Hebrews 11:19). So he was not afraid to offer his “only begotten son” up to the Lord.

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6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac (Isaiah 53:4-6; John19:17; Galatians 3:13); and he himself carried the fire and the knife (Isaiah53:10). As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”

“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.

“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” (John1:29)

8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” (Matt26:39; John 3:16; Rev.5:6). And the two of them went on together. (John16:32)

9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it (Luke 23:33). He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood (Mark 15:1; Psalm118:27).  

10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son (Zechariah 13:7 - Matthew 26:31). 

11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven,

“Abraham! Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said...”

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We will halt here for a moment, and look forward: to a time approximately 1000 years later - when this same region of Moriah has now become King David’s Jerusalem:                                   See 1Chronicles 21 -                                                         “…I will not take for the Lord what is yours, or sacrifice a burnt offering that costs me nothing.” (vs. 24) 

So one millennia later, in this Same Place, and as the sword of judgement is being raised again - this time not over Isaac, but over his descendants - G-d will once again say “stop!” (vs.15). 

And it is at This Place where another alter: the Alter of Sin, will then be built (1Chronicles22:1); Purchased by David; built by Solomon, this is the Place that foretells of the Cross - the Place where “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” (Psalm 85:10); the Place where G-d has poured out His judgement - and also His everlasting MERCY; And where mercy has triumphed over judgement✝️ James2:13. G-d sees the Altar yet to be built; He sees the Cross; He sees HIS Son - and He says “Stop”.

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Which brings us back to Genesis 22: 12: “Stop!           vs12: Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God,because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” (Romans8:32)...

**(“And I will not withhold from you Mine”)**

13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.  (The Lamb is reserved for GOD’S only Son, which G-d will offer up in our place. John 10:17-18) 14 So Abraham called that place (YHWH Yireh) The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”

*And it surely was❣️*