Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 869
Delivered on Sunday Evening, MAY 2, 1869, by, the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.
“He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all.” - Romans 8:32.
We have selected this verse as our theme, but our true text you will find in the 22nd chapter of Genesis, the narrative which we read to you this morning at full length and upon which we spoke in detail in our discourse. I thought it meet to keep to one point this morning, on the ground that one thing at a time is best and therefore I endeavored to lead your undivided contemplations to the peerless example of holy, believing obedience which the father of the faithful presented to us when he offered up his son.
But it would be a very unfair way of handling Holy Scripture to leave such a subject as this, so full of Christ, without dwelling upon the typical Character of the whole narrative. If the Messiah is anywhere symbolized in the Old Testament, He is certainly to be seen upon Mount Moriah where the beloved Isaac, willingly bound and laid upon the altar, is a lively foreshadowing of the Well-Beloved of Heaven yielding His life as a ransom! We doubt not that one great intent of the whole transaction was to afford Abraham a clearer view of Christ’s day. The trial was covertly a great privilege, unveiling as it did to the Patriarch, the heart of the great Father in His great deed of love to men and displaying at the same time the willing obedience of the great Son who cheerfully became a burnt offering unto God.
The Gospel of Moriah, which is but another name for Calvary, was far clearer than the revelation made at the gate of Paradise, or to Noah in the ark, or to Abraham, himself, on any former occasion. Let us pray for a share in the privilege of the renowned friend of God, as we study redemption in the light which made Abraham glad. Without detaining you with any lengthened preface, for which we have neither time nor inclination, we shall first draw the parallel between the offering of Christ and the offering of Isaac. Then, secondly, we shall show how the Sacrifice of Christ goes far beyond even this most edifying type. O blessed Spirit of God, take of the things of Christ at this hour and show them unto us!
I. First, THE PARALLEL. You know the story before you. We need not repeat it, except as we weave it into our meditation. As Abraham offered up Isaac, it might be said of him that he, “spared not his own son,” so the ever blessed God offered up His Son Jesus Christ and spared Him not. There is a likeness in the person offered. Isaac was Abraham’s son and in that emphatic sense, his only son—therefore the anguish of resigning him to sacrifice.
There is a depth of meaning in that word, “only,” when it is applied to a child. Dear as life to a parent’s heart is his only child, no gold of Ophir nor sparkling gems of India can be compared with it. Those of you blessed with the full quiver, having many children, would yet find it extremely difficult if one had to be taken from you, to say which it should be. A thousand pangs would rend your hearts in making a choice of one out of the seven or the 10, upon whose clay-cold brow you must imprint a last fond kiss.
But what would be your grief if you had but one?! What agony to have torn from you the only token of your mutual love, the only representative of your race! Cruel is the wind which uproots the only heir of the ancient tree! Rude is the hand which dashes the only blossom from the rose. Ruthless spoiler, to deprive you of your sole heir, the cornerstone of your love, the polished pillar of your hope! Judge, then, the sadness which pierced the heart of Abraham when God bade him take his son, his only son, and offer him as a burnt offering! But I have no language with which to speak of the heart of God when He gave up His only begotten Son!
Instead of attempting the impossible, I must content myself with repeating the words of Holy Writ: “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Nothing but infinite love to man could have led the God of Love to bruise His Son and put Him to grief. Christ Jesus, the Son of God, is, in His Divine Nature, one with God, co-equal and co-eternal with Him, His only begotten Son
in a manner mysterious and unknown to us! As the Divine Son the Father gave Him to us—“Unto us a Son is given, and His name shall be called the Mighty God.”
Our Lord, as Man, is the Son of the Highest, according to the angel’s salutation of the Virgin—“The Holy Spirit shall come upon you and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you: therefore also that holy Thing which shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God.” In His human Nature Jesus was not spared, but was made to suffer, bleed and die for us. God and Man in one Person, two Natures being wondrously combined, He was not spared but delivered up for all His chosen. Here is love! Behold it and admire! Consider it and wonder! The beloved Son is made a Sacrifice! He, the Only-Begotten is struck of God and afflicted and cries, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”