Intro: For our Advent season this year, I have chosen to enjoy the Jesse Tree by sharing a 24-day practice to prepare us for the celebration of Christ’s birth; the event we celebrate and honor at Christmas. From the root of Jesse’s stump, we will discover or rediscover the people in the family Tree of Jesus Messiah who were instrumental in bringing the presence of God near to us in order to revive the Spirit-led family of faith. With each day’s reading, we will add a new symbol—an ornament—to our family tree.
Today, is day five of our journey and our symbol is a ram.
Children may look forward to Christmas with the anticipation of opening personal gifts and toys that have been picked out especially for them. I could be wrong, but I don’t imagine any child would be excited to find a ram as their gift under the Christmas tree. However, we serve a God who is the Master of unexpected and miraculous gifts; so, our lesson today is about a gift only God would give.
Picture Abraham and his son, Isaac, heading to worship the Lord. On their way, God asks Abraham to offer his only son as a sacrifice. In the grace of God, Abraham prepares to obey God, but just as he goes to sacrifice his son, God stays Abraham’s hand and provides a ram to take Isaac’s place. Now, that ram would be a monumental and unfathomable gift for any parent given such instructions, but God never planned to allow Abraham to fulfill this sacrificial task. It was a test involving faith and a very unexpected gift of provision.
This was a lesson for Abraham [and us] about the love of God; the Lord was revealing something about Himself and the future. God knew the pain involved in what he was asking of Abraham; because, in the future, He would live it. God knew Abraham needed a way of escape; because, in the future, He would want it. God knew the peace that would flood Abraham’s soul when he saw the ram; because in the future He would be the One to make peace between God and His human creation. God knew the joy of Abraham when the ram became the sacrifice in Isaac’s place; because in the future He would endure the cross for the joy of regaining a relationship with humanity.
The ram reminds us that Jesus was sent, by God, to offer his life as a sacrifice in our place. We deserve to die for the sins we have committed against our holy God, but we serve a very merciful God who knows all about us, our hearts, our lives, our motives, our needs and He chooses to love us in a sacrificial way. Jesus is God’s most generous Gift; the Savior who pardons and provides abundant Grace.
There won’t be a ram under your tree this year, but please don’t forget the Gift of Christ that hung on a tree (a wooden cross) to provide a way for the world to enjoy eternal life in God’s love. When you think of the ram, remember God gave his one and only Son to save you!
Genesis 22:1-2, 9-14 Abraham’s Faith Tested
1 Some time later, God tested Abraham’s faith. “Abraham!” God called.
“Yes,” he replied. “Here I am.”
2 “Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”
9 When they arrived at the place where God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. 10 And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice. 11 At that moment the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Yes,” Abraham replied. “Here I am!”
12 “Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.”
13 Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son. 14 Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the Lord will provide”). To this day, people still use that name as a proverb: “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
John 3:16 NLT “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
Hebrews 11:17-19NLT
17 It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God’s promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, 18 even though God had told him, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.” 19 Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for stepping in and making a way for our salvation. You spared us the penalty of our own sin, by offering your Son, Jesus, as the sacrificial Lamb. You are so very generous to us and we thank you. Please forgive us when the challenges of life seem to overwhelm us. Help us put things into a proper perspective. Thank you for being with us and giving the Gift we really need. In Jesus’ name. Amen.