The Grace of the Lamb (2): The Shadow of the Lamb and the Reality in the Lamb of God
Pastor Tan Thai · Apr 14, 2019
This sermon expounds the theological significance of Abraham's offering of Isaac in Genesis 22 as a prophetic shadow pointing to the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. The pastor demonstrates that God never commanded the unjust killing of an innocent person, but rather provided a ram in Isaac's place — a foreshadowing of the sacrifice of His only Son on the cross.
This sermon is the second in a series on 'The Grace of the Lamb,' preached on Palm Sunday, April 14, 2019. The pastor introduces two Old Testament narratives about a lamb — Genesis 22 and Exodus 12 — and explains that both are prophetic shadows pointing to the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. He emphasizes that the Old and New Testaments do not describe two different Gods but only one unchanging God from eternity to eternity.
The pastor addresses the common misunderstanding that God in Genesis 22 is cruel for commanding a father to kill his son. He cites Jeremiah 19 and 32 to demonstrate that God himself condemned the practice of sacrificing children to idols, declaring He never commanded or even thought of such things. He also explains that in the Old Testament context, the firstborn belonged to God but could be redeemed — the background within which Abraham understood God's command to offer Isaac.
The central portion of the sermon focuses on Abraham's faith amid a profound theological tension: God is holy and demands justice, yet He is also merciful and compassionate; He promised descendants through Isaac, yet commanded Isaac to be offered. Abraham could not resolve this contradiction by reason, but in faith he trusted that God would provide the lamb and could even raise Isaac from the dead. His answer to his son — 'God himself will provide the lamb' — was both a word of comfort and a confession of faith.
The pastor points out that Mount Moriah, where God spared Isaac and provided a ram as substitute, is the very location where Jerusalem was later built and where Jesus was crucified on Golgotha. There, when God's only Son cried out 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me,' there was no voice from heaven and no lamb to take His place. Citing Romans 8:32-35, the pastor emphasizes that God's grace to Abraham was a ram in place of Isaac, but God's grace to humanity is the Lamb Himself — His only Son.
The sermon concludes with a practical call: every believer must open their hands, releasing their grip on worldly things, so that God may hold their hand. The pastor uses Watchman Nee's image of hands full of gifts and the story of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones to illustrate the fleeting nature of worldly success. The invitation is to trust and receive Jesus — the Lamb of God — as the only sure foundation for life.