Dear People Who Keep Company With God,
The very first mention of love in the entire Bible is found in Genesis 22:2. Think about it for moment, a whole lot had gone on in the first 21 chapters of the Bible and some very notable people such as Abel, Seth, Enoch and Noah had already made their mark upon history, yet God never talked about love. Not even a hint. I think He saved it for a very special moment in time.
It was in the context of a father’s love for his son. This is when and where God debuted love. I believe this is the essence of love in the Bible. It is the Father’s love for you and I demonstrated and foreshadowed by Abraham and Isaac’s love for each other (Gen. 22:1-14).
There is something called the law of first mention in biblical interpretation. It is a principle that basically sets the foundation of a truth where it is mentioned the first time unless it is specifically changed or overridden later in the Scriptures.
In this case the Father’s heart of love has never been changed or over-ridden as it is the core and essence of the gospel. God demonstrated this when He stayed Abraham’s hand as he was about to kill Isaac, but God did not stay His own hand when Christ was brutally and violently killed on the cross. Although we do not fully understand, it really did “please God to crush His Son” (Is. 53:10) out of love for us.
The phrase “only son” used in Genesis 22: 2 means the same as John 3:16 “only begotten Son” in the Hebrew New Testament. That means Isaac was a one of a kind, precious, irreplaceable son – an Old Testament picture of the Lord Jesus Christ.
God told Abraham to take this only son whom he loved to the land of Moriah and kill him. About two thousand years later in the same place, the land of Moriah, Jesus was crucified on Golgotha. Abraham named the place The Lord Will Provide (Gen. 22:14). It means, “the revealing One who is more than a provider.” It tells us that the Lord sees our future and has made provisions for every need we will ever have.
Another significant first mention is found in Genesis 22:5 is worship. When you think about it, it makes sense; love and worship really do go hand and hand. How can we worship a God we don’t love? You can’t; not real worship anyway. Worship is a “hot button” in the church. I think it always has been. The devil has a huge lust for worship. He was willing to give Jesus pretty much everything he owned if He would worship him (Matt. 4:9). The devil knows our worship declares that Jesus Christ is Lord, and therefore, by strong implication, he is not Lord.
Abraham took Isaac and said they were going “yonder and worship” (Gen. 22:5). I love the word “yonder”. It is an old sounding word. The fact that Abraham went yonder knowing the dreadful act that lay ahead may be one of the greatest expressions of worship.
The worship did not only happen when they arrived over yonder. It also happened in the going. You don’t have to understand what is going to happen as you go yonder. You do not have to like it or even embrace what is happening. I think true worship happens when we embrace the love of the Father and allow ourselves to be embraced by Him as we go yonder in life.
Many Blessings, BW