January 12, 2011 From the Empty Womb

From the Empty Womb to the Empty Tomb
Read Genesis 21-23

Gen 22:6-8 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?” 8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”

HERE ARE 3 examples of God’s salvation of life out of emptiness and death. First, God provides to Abraham and Sarah a son. Isaac was born 25 years after God had first made that promise.
Second, God provides for Hagar and Ishmael. He miraculously opens a well in the wilderness, so Ishmael will live and become the ancestor of many people to be a thorn to God’s people.
And third, God provides the sacrificial lamb to replace Abraham’s son Isaac on the altar.
Wow!
Do you see God’s power and sovereignty over death here? God shows his power first over barrenness. From an empty womb God takes us to the empty tomb as Sarah becomes the mother a great nation from whom Jesus Christ would come.
Secondly, he shows his power over death in a barren desert. Ishmael is the son of a sinful act; yet, God blesses him with the life-giving water because he is Abraham’s son. God rewards the father by blessing the son.
And most dramatically, God provides salvation over the power of sin. Yes, God would provide the lamb—that day and 2,000 years later. To the altar would go the Son of God to become the sacrificial lamb for you and for me. We have life; we don’t have to go the altar of death.


Pause and Consider: We can worship God because he has provided the lamb. This, my friends, is a God you can trust.