Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #16 of Genesis, chapter 22, and we are reading Genesis 22:1-12:

And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.  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? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.  And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.  And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of JEHOVAH called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

I will stop reading there.  In our last study, we went to Hebrews, chapter 11 and we saw that the Lord referred to Abraham’s only begotten son, in Hebrews 11:17:

By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,  

We were looking at the Greek compound word that is translated as “only begotten.”  As I mentioned, it is the Greek word “mon-og-en-ace.”   It is translated into English as “only begotten.” 

Then we went to Luke 7:11-15, where the Lord Jesus brought to life the only son of a woman.  Her young son had died, and the Lord brought him back to life.  So far, in the two places this word “mon-og-en-ace” is used, it had to do with an only son that was dead and brought to life. 

In the case of our verse in Genesis, the boy Isaac was not literally killed, but the Lord tells us in Hebrews 11:19:

Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.

The Greek word translated as “figure” is “par-ab-ol-ay,” or “parable.”  So, for all intents and purposes, spiritually it was as though Isaac had been slain and resurrected again.  That is how Abraham “received him.”  Twice we have seen examples of an only son that died and resurrected, just like that poor woman’s son was resurrected. 

Also, we see in Luke 8:41-42:

And, behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue: and he fell down at Jesus' feet, and besought him that he would come into his house: For he had one only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she lay a dying. But as he went the people thronged him.

The word translated as “only daughter” is the same Greek word “mon-og-en-ace.”  The Lord seems to get “side-tracked,” but He is never really side-tracked.  For our purposes, He then healed another woman that had touched Him.  But if we go down to verse 49, He returns to this man regarding his only daughter.  It says in Luke 8:49-56:

While he yet spake, there cometh one from the ruler of the synagogue's house, saying to him, Thy daughter is dead; trouble not the Master. But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole. And when he came into the house, he suffered no man to go in, save Peter, and James, and John, and the father and the mother of the maiden. And all wept, and bewailed her: but he said, Weep not; she is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead. And he put them all out, and took her by the hand, and called, saying, Maid, arise. And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway: and he commanded to give her meat. And her parents were astonished: but he charged them that they should tell no man what was done.

Once again, we find this particular word used.  An “only daughter” is in view and she died and was resurrected, so we can see how God is using this word that means “only begotten.”  Based on how this particular word is used, it has a much fuller definition that relates not only to being “only begotten,” but with being dead and resurrected.  It has to do with death and resurrection. Well, let us see if this (pattern) continues, because this word is also found in Luke 9:38:

And, behold, a man of the company cried out, saying, Master, I beseech thee, look upon my son: for he is mine only child.

Here is our word again regarding a man who had a son, an only child.  Then it goes on to say in Luke 9:39-43:

And, lo, a spirit taketh him, and he suddenly crieth out; and it teareth him that he foameth again, and bruising him hardly departeth from him. And I besought thy disciples to cast him out; and they could not. And Jesus answering said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, and suffer you? Bring thy son hither. And as he was yet a coming, the devil threw him down, and tare him. And Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the child, and delivered him again to his father. And they were all amazed at the mighty power of God. But while they wondered every one at all things which Jesus did, he said unto his disciples,

Now we wonder if the idea we had about “mon-og-en-ace” does not hold up.  It was the case in Hebrews regarding Abraham and Isaac, and it was the case with the woman at Nain and her son, and it was the case with Jairus and his only daughter.  But, here, although this was the man’s only child and although he was afflicted grievously with an evil spirit, he had not died and been resurrected.  Does this mean our idea does not hold up?  Wait – we should not be too hasty.  We need to be careful with the Bible.  There are parallel Gospel accounts that must be checked out, so let us do so by going to Mark, chapter 9 where we will find something interesting.  It says in Mark 9:17-29:

And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit; And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not. He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me. And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming. And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child. And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us. Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose. And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out? And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.

Here, we see in this parallel account which gives more information, the young man that was an only child was “as one dead.”  He was even thought to be dead by many people that witnessed this, so here we see it relates to “death.”  And when Christ took him by the hand and lifted him up, he arose as in resurrection.  He was an only child as one that was dead, and he arose.  So, again, we find this a fourth time where there is an only child, the death of that only child and a resurrection. 

You know, this is certainly not a coincidence.  We can rid ourselves of the idea of “coincidences” when it comes to the Word of God, the Bible.  There are no coincidences.  Everything is “measured.”  Everything is according to the predeterminate counsel, foreknowledge, wisdom and perfect will of God.  God arranges and carries out things in the Bible to come to pass in the way they did so He could record them, and they could become part of His Word.  So this means that the Lord is making these connections regarding this particular word.

This word is found a few more times, maybe four or five times.  I will give an example, and this will be similar to all the remaining times this word is used in the Bible.  It says in John 1:14:

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

Here, again, is the word “mon-og-en-ace,” referring to Jesus.  Then it says in John 1:18:

No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

And it says in this very famous verse in John 3:16:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

It says John 3:18:

He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God .

It appear one more time in the Epistle of John, in 1John 4:9:

In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

So in those four other instances and in these five verses, they speak of Christ.  That is every usage of this word in the New Testament, and every one of them refers to an only child – most often an only son – and there is “death” and “resurrection.”  Of course, we know that is true of Christ.   It was not readily apparent when it was used of the Lord Jesus that He is the Father’s only begotten Son.  It refers to the fact that He had already died and resurrected (from the foundation of the world), but we know the Bible does teach that He is the only begotten Son.  In fact, we know that Jesus was declared to be the Son because He first died and rose from the dead at the foundation of the world, as it says in Romans 1:3-4:

Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:

Sometimes I like to eliminate some “words in the middle” because when there are many words it is hard to see the “thread” connection.  We could say, “…declared to be the Son of God…by (through) the resurrection from the dead.”  We can see the “cause and effect.”  He was declared to be the Son of God and the “cause” was by His resurrection from the dead; that is, when He arose from the dead, He became the Son of God.  We have discussed this before, but it does not hurt to look at a couple of verses again to remind ourselves and to prove it anew from the Bible.  It says in Colossians 1:15:

Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature…

We could also read this as “firstborn of all creation.”  Then it goes on to say in Colossians 1:15-18:

Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

We have worked through this before, and it is not possible for Christ to have been the firstborn from the dead in 33 A. D.  There were others.  We read of the young man in Nain who rose from the dead.  Lazarus rose from the dead before Christ went to the cross and rose again.  In the Old Testament there was a young boy who rose from the dead.  And Moses died and was buried, and God resurrected him, and he was in heaven.  There are many examples of others that rose from the dead.

And God is a jealous God, and He tells us that the Lord must have the preeminence.  The word “preeminence” has to do with being “first.”  The Greek word is related to the word from which we get our word prototype.  Jesus is the firstborn from the dead, and that fact can be added together with Romans 1 where we are told He was declared to be the Son by the resurrection from the dead; plus in John 1 when He was beginning His period of ministry, He was already called the only begotten Son of the Father.  In John 3, He was already called the only begotten Son because He had died and resurrected (from the foundation of the world), as that word “mon-og-en-ace” (only begotten) identifies with, and through death and resurrection He was the firstborn from the dead, declared to be the Son of God.

Let us look at one last verse in Revelation 1:5:

And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth…

So we can see as the Lord is using the word “mon-og-en-ace” in relationship to Isaac and Abraham receiving him in a figure, that it has everything to do with Christ’s death and resurrection and the declaration that He is the only Son of God.  We also discussed in the previous chapter that when Sarah finally gave birth to the promised son Isaac, it said in Hebrews 11:11:

Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised .

We spent some time discussing the word “conceive,” which is the word “kat-ab-ol-ay,” which is the word translated as “foundation,” because the Lord Jesus is the Lamb slain from the “foundation” of the world.  The Lord tied in Isaac’s birth to Sarah and her “dead womb,” if you recall those earlier studies.  This miraculous son was born of a woman with a dead womb and He came out of her womb to “life.”  It was like “death” in her womb, and it was like rising from the dead as He was born into the world.  We discussed how God likens the “deadness of Sarah’s womb” to the hell or the grave, and so forth.    So Isaac had already been used in a figure or parable that was showing the “only begotten Son of the Father,” the firstborn of the dead.  Now a few years after Isaac’s birth, God is running through this figure again.  We could say that if Isaac’s birth was picturing Christ’s death at the foundation of the world, then the situation with the Lord’s command to Abraham to take his only son and offer him as a burnt offering (and Abraham going through the motions to the point of bringing down the knife to slay his son until God prevented him) was all a demonstration.  There was also the birth of Isaac coming out of the deadness of his mother’s womb pictures the foundation of the world.  And now with this event, Isaac could have been 11 years old, and that would point to 11,000 years of history from the beginning of the world.  But, again, that would be speculation because the Lord does not let us know exactly how old Isaac was when this happened.

Well, I think we have spent enough time on this.  Lord willing, when we get together in our next Bible study, we will still be looking at this passage, but we are going to move on from this particular point.