The Subtitute
John 8:42-59
Grace to you and peace from
God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
The
faith that delivered righteousness to Abraham wasn’t easy. He was an old man,
and old men know how life disappoints, how dreams fizzle, how promises are
broken, and how the best days are already gone. Abraham knew about death. All
old men do. Yet God had told him that he would be the father of a great nation.
His descendants would number more than the sands on the seashore. But he was
old, and He had only one son according to the Promise: the miracle son, the
small glimmer of hope that somehow his family line would continue, that God can
cause barren women and virgins to give birth. Then God told him to kill his
son, to sacrifice his hope. Isaac could not survive being a burnt offering.
Abraham knew of the resurrection, but this still didn’t make sense, and it
would be painful beyond what fathers can endure. But by grace, Abraham
believed. He knew that God was good, that God was merciful, that God would
provide. So he suffered this indignity. He submitted to the will of God.
By
grace, Abraham believed. He waited. He trudged up the mountain with that awful
knife, hoping against hope. He held God to His Word. He is a man of faith. In
light of that, there is nothing worse that could be said of him now than that
he is dead. We know better. Abraham is not dead. He believed. It was reckoned
unto him as righteousness. The Lord provided. Isaac went free. Abraham sees our
Lord’s day because Abraham is not dead. He passed through death and into life.
Before
Abraham was, Jesus is. He is the One who is, who was, and who is to come. He is
without beginning and without end. He took up our flesh to be our Sacrifice. He
humbled Himself to suffer what we suffer, to be tempted as we are tempted, to
die as we die. But Isaac was spared to Abraham by the gift of a substitute ram;
Jesus is the substitute Lamb. Jesus obeyed the Father’s will. He was without
sin, the perfect substitute and payment for sinners who could not save
themselves. Abraham passed through the gate of death into life. That is the
reward of the righteousness reckoned unto him. Jesus went to hell on the cross.
He was forsaken by His Father. He felt the bitter agony of guilt alien to Him
in the depths of His soul. He is the ram caught in the thicket. He is the
innocent One who dies for the guilty. His death is our life. His flesh is our
bread. His blood sustains us. He clothes and feeds and cleanses us by giving up
all He is for us.
Jesus
is not dead. He came through death also. But righteousness was not reckoned
unto Him; righteousness is who He is. He is the Righteous One, the Lover
of souls, the Beloved of the Father. He
rested in the tomb for three days. Then He took up His life again and rose from
the dead. He has completed His Father’s will. And He has sent His Spirit to all
the earth to make us His. He reigns as a Man at the right hand of the Father.
What
has all this to do with you? First, He died and rose for you. You believe. You
are baptized. He has called you by name. It is reckoned unto you as
righteousness. He declares you to be His child. He recreates you as a
reflection of His holiness, a saint of God. And just as Abraham is not dead, neither
are your loved ones who have preceded you in the faith. They live. They kept our
Lord’s Word in their hearts, and now they sing Hosanna, loud Hosanna, with the
Holy Innocents. They are not dead. Our Lord’s Word is fulfilled in them. They
have passed through death and have joined the Church Triumphant. Now they join
their praise to that of the angels and archangels while they wait for you. For
that day will come to you as well. The Lord has provided your substitute Lamb.
You will live. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
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