John 8:46-59 - Judica,
Lent V - March 17, 2013
Seeing
Death Aright
Search me,
O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties;
And see if there is any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.
Try me, and know my anxieties;
And see if there is any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.
So wrote King David at the end of
Psalm 139. And yet only Jesus is able to
say this with full confidence of impunity: search
Me; try Me. He says this to
God! And “which one of you,” He
asked the Jews, “convicts Me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me?” Jesus exposed their unbelief. They couldn’t accuse Him of anything false He
had either said or done, but they didn’t believe Him anyway. And Jesus told them why: “Whoever is of God hears the
words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”
Now this is as simple as it
gets. The reason why people don’t listen
to the word of God is because they are not God’s children. The reason they are not God’s children is
because they do not listen to the word of God.
The reason why they don’t listen to God is because they’re listening to
someone else. They’re listening to their
own father, the devil. He is the father
of lies. He is the one who caused our first
father Adam to fall. He deceived Adam’s
wife who was flesh of his flesh in the garden.
And so he continues to deceive Adam’s children who are born of his flesh
on earth. Jesus calls the devil a
murderer. He’s been a murderer from the
beginning. He murders by speaking
lies. He appeals to our sinful nature in
order to destroy our faith in God.
But God rescues us from Satan’s lies
by speaking the truth. He gives us life
by giving us a new birth. That which is
born of flesh is flesh. Yes. But that which is born of Spirit is
spirit.
Abraham was born of the Spirit,
because God made a promise to him and Abraham believed it. That’s how it works. The promise of the Gospel always tells us not
to put confidence in our flesh and blood – no matter how pious or disciplined
or religious or sanctified it is –
but to put all confidence in Christ alone.
He is the one who cannot be convicted of sin! And this was the promise that Abraham heard: “In
your seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed” (Gen.
22:18). That is, through your line of
children the promised Seed shall come who will crush the serpent’s lying
head. This Seed is Christ. He will be your blessing. He will be your innocence. He will be your answer to every accusation of
sin – even in the face of death – because He will die death for you. By the promise of Christ, Abraham Himself was
blessed – he was justified. He cherished
the promise because the promise gave him life.
Abraham was therefore “of God.” “Whoever
is of God hears the words of God.”
Abraham did.
Now, all nations would be
blessed. This is to say that all those
born in the natural way would find their blessing in the One who was born of a
virgin to take their place. He is our
Substitute. God provided Him so that we
would not have to die in our sin.
Abraham looked forward to seeing
this day. That’s what Jesus says. He said that Abraham rejoiced that he would
one day be able to see the promise fulfilled.
And he saw it. And he was
glad. What did he see? Let’s consider this.
Our Old Testament lesson for this
morning is well selected. It records one
of the most startling events in all of Scripture. God tested Abraham. He tested his faith by demanding from him
that he offer as a sacrifice his one and only son whom he loved. There is really no commentary about how
Abraham felt here. But you can imagine,
can’t you. Abraham with his wife Sarah had
been childless. By a miracle God gave
life in Sarah’s womb, although her womb was as good as dead, being over 90
years old. They must have loved that
boy. And now God demanded his life.
But Abraham’s test of faith was much
more than just: how much are you willing
to give up for Me? How much pain are you
willing to self-inflict for Me? No,
because, see, it was through Isaac, this boy, that God promised the Savior to
come. God did not give Isaac to Abraham
and Sarah just so that they would hear the patter of little feet and childish
laughter fill their home. They had
Ishmael for that. No, but it was through
Isaac that all the nations of the earth would be blessed and through whom
Abraham’s own soul would be saved from hell.
Without Isaac, how would God fulfill his promise to send Jesus? This was the test.
And Abraham passed. He passed because of what he consoled himself
with. He consoled himself with God’s
word. Young Isaac asked his dad: “My
father! Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt
offering?” Did Abraham then lie
to his son? Did he say whatever might
make Isaac less nervous? No! He confessed what God had promised when He
first told him that in his Seed all nations would be blessed (Gen. 18:18,
21:12). – including Isaac! Abraham said,
“God
will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” And He would.
Even if Isaac died, God would not renege on his promise to send His own
Son to bear the sin and guilt of all humanity.
God would provide the Lamb.
Abraham knew it. And so he said
it. Consider these words from Hebrews
11:
By faith
Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the
promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, “In Isaac your
seed shall be called,” concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from
the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.
Now this figurative sense refers to the fact that Abraham
received Isaac from the dead – in a sense – because Sarah’s womb was dead. Think of that! God had already proven Himself to be able to
bring life where only death reigned. Certainly
God could bring life from the loins of Isaac even if Isaac had to die first –
just like his mother’s womb had to die first.
Now, this is a little much, I
know. But it is fantastic! Abraham’s sole contribution, as it were, to
the fulfillment of God’s promise to send a Savior was found in the life of his
son. That’s all he had! But God had given it to him. And now God demanded it from him. But Abraham believed the promise. He didn’t lay stock in what his flesh had
sired or in what his eyes could see. God will provide a Substitute. He will.
He promised. That had been
the content of every promise that Abraham had heard and every hope he had. And he believed it. He told his son the truth. God will provide.
Abraham was willing to give up his own son because he knew that God was
intending to give up His own
Son. God will provide the Lamb. Abraham didn’t know about the ram that was
caught in the thicket. If he had known,
he would have said so: that God would provide a ram. But he didn’t. He was focused on the ultimate promise. He was focused on the Lamb of God whom God
would provide to take away your sin and mine – the sin of the whole world. God will provide a Lamb.
And so he went through with it. He intended to kill his own son. The knife was raised. But God was also focused on the Lamb who would take our place. He sent His angel, the angel of the Lord, who is
the very Son of God Himself – and we know this because He speaks as God – “now
I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son,
from Me.” He says. “From
Me!” 2000 years before He would be conceived of
the Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit, the pre-incarnate Christ interceded and
saved Isaac from death: “Do not harm the boy.”
Think of this. Abraham had believed that God could have
raised his son in order to keep his promise to send the Savior through his
line. But what a relief! What a joy!
God’s plan was even more gracious than that. He would not require Isaac’s death at all. He would see his boy grow up. And he would show his son how the Lord
provided. He offered the ram in his
place.
So let’s go back to that question
that we have been considering. Jesus
said that Abraham saw His day and was glad.
Well this is what Abraham saw – what I just explained. He saw His Savior make a surprise appearance
before His time to spare the life of Isaac whom he loved. He would see that God provided a ram to take
his place. How glad was Abraham. Words can hardly express how happy he was not
to have to do what God demanded of him.
Isaac was his little boy. But the
joy that Jesus mentions in our Gospel lesson is not just the joy of a father
who loves his child. It is the joy of
having seen the day of his Lord. It is
the joy of knowing that God will still forgive you your sins. See, because Abraham was taught something
wonderful here.
The very God of God, the great ‘I Am’ who would
one day be led like a Lamb to the slaughter by the will and counsel of His own
eternal Father— He, in a dramatic display, revealed what it meant to spare us
from death. I will not require the death of the boy. I will not require your death either. I will not require the death of the
world. But look what God requires: the
death of His Son, Jesus Christ. God
gave Abraham a ram on Mt. Moriah, caught in the thicket by his horns, in order
that by sacrificing it, he might confess what our Lord would one day do on Mt.
Calvary. This is what Abraham saw. It made him glad.
In the midst of his trial, Abraham
believed the promise. This is what made
him “of God.” And this is what makes us
sons of Abraham today. We are his
spiritual heirs when we believe in Him whom Abraham also trusted. Jesus said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, if
anyone keeps My word, he will never see death.” Abraham kept Jesus’ word. And he saw a token of God’s faithfulness by
which he was assured that he would live forever.
Where do we find tokens of God’s
faithfulness? Do we know that God is
faithful because of how faithfully we have lived? Do we know that God is pleased with us
because of what we are willing to give up?
Do we know that God is generous because we produce so much fruit? This is what the Jews who argued with Jesus
believed. This is what the devil had
persuaded them of. But of course it’s a
lie.
The truth is that our lives do not
glorify God. Our lives are full of
sin. Even our good works are
tainted. Our hearts doubt. We desire what isn’t ours – and not just sex
and money – we desire honor and justice for wrongs done. We desire respect for our strong faith and
our very public life of prayer. We
desire what the devil promises us. We
desire to present before God some token of our own virtue that our flesh has
produced.
But in order to test us – in order
to temper our faith – God demands everything from us. He demands that we kill what we love the most
and call it no more. He demands that we
forsake our own righteousness. Just like
God demanded from Abraham the only thing he had that made the promise more
sure, so He demands from us that we rely 100% on Him who provides and 0% on
ourselves.
But God provides. Not only does He provide the Lamb who bears
the heat of God’s wrath in our place.
But He provides the ram, so to speak – a visible token of God’s favor in
the Sacrament that we eat and drink.
Just as 2000 years before Christ, Abraham confessed the death of his
Savior by sacrificing a ram in the place of his son, so also 2000 years after
His resurrection and ascension to the right hand of the Father, we proclaim His
death by eating and drinking His very body and blood by which He earned God’s
favor.
And so we keep His word. We keep His word by finding our righteousness
in Christ’s obedient suffering. We keep
His word by finding our life in His death.
We keep His word by heeding His command to eat and drink His body and
blood – often – for the forgiveness of our sins. And by keeping the word of our eternal God
who tasted death for us, we shall live forever in Him being clothed in His
impeccable righteousness – so that we also can say to God as His own dear
children:
Search me,
O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties;
And see if there is any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.
Try me, and know my anxieties;
And see if there is any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.
For Jesus’ sake, Amen.
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