Abraham’s Faith Portrayed in the Old and New Testaments
The foreshadowing of the Atonement is in Genesis 22 -
Genesis 22: 7 And Isaac spake
unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son.
And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt
offering? 8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a
burnt offering: so they went both of them together.
His faith and works in Isaiah are honored in Isaiah -
Isaiah
41:8 8 But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of
Abraham my friend.
Isaiah
51:2 Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called
him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.
Matthew showed how Jesus descended from Abraham, as promised
in Genesis 15.
Matthew
1:17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and
from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and
from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.
Luke 16 - Lazarus is with Father Abraham in eternal
life, and Abraham answers unfaith.
Luke
16:23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham
afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham,
have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in
water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. 25 But Abraham
said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and
likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. 26
And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that
they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us,
that would come from thence. 27 Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father,
that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: 28 For I have five brethren;
that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. 29
Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. 30
And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they
will repent. 31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets,
neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
32 And
ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. 33 They answered
him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest
thou, Ye shall be made free? 34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto
you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. 35 And the servant abideth
not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. 36 If the Son therefore
shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. 37 I know that ye are Abraham's
seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you. 51 Verily,
verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. 52
Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is
dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall
never taste of death. 53 Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is
dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself? 54 Jesus answered,
If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of
whom ye say, that he is your God: 55 Yet ye have not known him; but I know him:
and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I
know him, and keep his saying. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day:
and he saw it, and was glad. 57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet
fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? 58 Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I AM. 59 Then took they up stones
to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going
through the midst of them, and so passed by.
Romans 4 is the central New Testament message about
Abraham and Justification.
Galatians 3 and 4 are the centerpiece of Paul’s
epistle about Justification by Faith.
Hebrews constantly references Abraham, throughout the
epistle, including chapter 11.
Exodus 3 – More Than the Angel of the Lord
Exodus
3:1 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian:
and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of
God, even to Horeb. 2 And the angel of
the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and
he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not
consumed. 3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight,
why the bush is not burnt. 4 And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see,
God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And
he said, Here am I. 5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from
off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. 6 Moreover he
said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the
God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God. 7 And
the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in
Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know
their sorrows; 8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the
Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large,
unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and
the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the
Jebusites. 9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come
unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress
them. 10 Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou
mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt. 11 And Moses
said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring
forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? 12 And he said, Certainly I will be
with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When
thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this
mountain. 13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of
Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you;
and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? 14 And
God said unto Moses, I Am That I Am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the
children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you. 15 And God said moreover unto
Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the Lord God of your
fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent
me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all
generations.
The Angel of the Lord is God,
and He uses a Trinitarian description – The God of Abraham and the God of Isaac
and the God of Jacob – not three Gods but One God. The Burning Bush has two
natures – the burning flames and also the bush existing and not being consumed
by the fire, like the Two Natures united in Christ.
The Angel of the Lord is the
Son of God, before His Incarnation. The Name of God is so sacred and powerful
in Judaism that it is often avoided, even now, when Jewish believers say The Name
in Hebrew rather than God’s Name. Or they spell God as G-D when they write to
others. God reveals His Name as – “I AM.”
John 8:58 - Therefore, when Jesus countered
the claim of the Jews regarding His age by saying, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” He
infuriated them by revealing His Name and necessarily His pre-existence as God.
Their response was to pick up stones to kill Him (John 8:59) – the efficacy of
the Word.
John 18: 5 They
answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And Judas
also, which betrayed him, stood with them. 6 As soon then as he had said unto
them, I AM, they went backward, and fell to the ground.
Notice that it makes little
sense for Jesus to say at crucial moments, “I am He.” The actual Greek does not
include a second pronoun, only I AM, which is the Name of God.
[1] Do
not neglect reading and digesting Luther’s sermon for St. Stephen’s Day.
December 26th.
[2] Oxford Cyclopedic Concordance, as
recommended by Alec Satin, helped in making up this list.
