ISAAC’S SUKKAH

Abraham’s son, Isaac; grew into a very godly man.

Every year, as Isaac was growing up, he was learning the wonderous things of God from Abraham and Sarah.

Together, and a family, they would go and sit in the Sukkah during the time of The Feast of Tabernacles.

Inside the sukkah, Abraham and Sarah would tell Isaac the stories of God.

They spoke to Isaac of how God had created the whole universe.  Sometimes they told him about how God put the stars in the sky; and each night they would look through the roof of their sukkah and think about God creating the stars and the moon, and the night skies that spoke of God’s miracles and told God’s stories to the people of the earth.

As they sat in the shade of their sukkah every year during The Feast of Tabernacles; Abraham and Sarah told Isaac about the first man and woman that God created.

They told him that their names had been “Adam” and “Eve.”

Sarah spoke to Isaac about the fact that God had promised Eve that one day a very special son would be born.  He would be a son that would save all of mankind from their sins.   Sarah said that every godly woman, since the time of Eve, had looked for God to fulfill this promise through one of her children.

Abraham and Sarah and Isaac marveled at this thought.

This very special son had not yet been born (as far as they knew;) but often Abraham and Sarah had wondered about the miracle that God had allowed when Isaac was born to them in their old age.

Could Isaac possibly be the special son that everyone had hoped for?

Indeed Isaac was a very special son to Abraham and Sarah.

All of his life Isaac heard the stories; and he realized what a very special son he was; and how he had always been a special blessing from God to his family.

When He became a man; Isaac built his own sukkah.  He sat inside his sukkah with his own wife, who was named Rebekkah.

As Isaac grew up and became a man; he kept all of the traditions of Abraham that he knew were pleasing to God.

When Isaac had his own children; he passed the ways of God(which he had learned at the feet of Abraham) on to his own family.

The Hebrew people who descended from Abraham and Isaac have one old, old story which they love to tell that speaks about an experience of Isaac.

This old, old story is called The Akadah.

In English; the title of the story would be:  “The Binding of Isaac.”

The story about Isaac that is called The Akadah, began in the week of The Feast of Trumpets during the year that Isaac was about 33 years old.

In this particular week, Isaac and his father; Abraham, took a long, long journey together where they climbed all the way up to the top of Mount Moriah.

There was an important reason for their journey; but Abraham could not speak of it out loud.

Together, Abraham and Isaac climbed the winding, twisting turns of the path up to the mountain called Moriah.  This mountain was also known as “The Mountain of God” and Isaac realized as they walked that this was a journey up the Mountain of God that required a lot of faith.

Faith is believing in the things that you cannot see with your eyes; but you can feel and know inside your heart.

Isaac could not see what God was about to do with his life; but in his heart he knew he could trust God to get him through even the most impossible situation.

Abraham and Isaac walked on and on up the path of this amazing mountain which God had shown to Abraham a very long time ago.

They walked side by side.

Abraham carried a knife and a pot holding some fire.  Isaac carried the wood for the fire for the sacrifice.

For the most part; this was a very quiet, silent journey.

Not a word was heard form the mouth of Abraham; and it was Isaac who finally spoke out and broke the silence.

Isaac called out to Abraham; “My Father!”

“Here I am, my son.”  Abraham answered.

It was time for Isaac to ask his father the question that he had pondered in his mind all the way up the mountain’s trail.

Isaac had seen the fire, and he had seen the wood; so he knew they were going to make a burnt offering for God.

But something important was missing; and Isaac had a big question.

“Where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

“God will provide the lamb” was Abraham’s soft answer to his son.

Perhaps Abraham answered too softly and Isaac didn’t hear.

Again Isaac asked; “Where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

This time Abraham shouted it out; “GOD WILL PROVIDE A LAMB!”

And they kept walking in the silence as Isaac pondered this answer.

The answer from Abraham told Isaac just what he had suspected all along.

When Abraham answered Isaac with these words, Isaac was filled with emotion; and he put down his head and wept.

In that very moment Isaac knew his destiny.

He understood why he had been born.

Isaac remembered all the times he had heard Abraham and Sarah discussing the Torah together.  He remembered the part where God had said a special son would come to give His life for the sins of all of mankind so that they could be saved.

Only a few seconds went by before Abraham too put down his head and wept.

Abraham now knew that Isaac knew.

Father and Son wept together that day as they climbed up into the Mountain of God.

Then; putting aside his human emotions, Isaac sought to comfort Abraham.  It was during that time that Isaac gave his father full permission to fulfill God’s will through him.

Isaac stated to Abraham that he wished for his life to provide atonement for all of the people.

After that very hard and emotional conversation; the father and the son walked on in complete agreement.

Isaac totally understood his destiny and yet; he walked willingly on to a sacrificial death.

Of course, Abraham understood the hard part of the story that he would have to play.  Abraham led Isaac on up the mountain.  Abraham  willingly walked on through the rest of their journey in order to give his son’s life over to God as a sacrifice to save all of mankind.

Both men had the same silent thoughts.

They both thought that Isaac must be the special son that God had promised to Eve.

On the third day of their journey, they found themselves nearly all the way up to the top of Mount Moriah.  Soon they were in a place where they knew they would find the altar of God.

Have you ever experienced your own type of Mt. Moriah?

Have you ever felt like God was asking the impossible of you and that you MUST be obedient and continue to “walk on” in spite of the circumstances that you knew you would face when you arrived at your next destination?

Have you ever had to trust God that much?

Sometimes in this life it is extremely hard to keep “walking on.”

Often we go through dark moments when we are asked to carry the fire and the wood and the knife for the very things that we do not want to do; or perhaps for things that we do not even begin to understand.

These are the times of the testing of our faith.

In these dark times, when we must remember to have faith and resolve to keep walking in obedience to God’s will for our lives, we must always resolve to keep moving forward in faith.

Both Isaac and Abraham were willing to make the hard sacrifice that they thought God was requiring of them.

Sometimes life is full of hard sacrifices that MUST be made, and they often come to us in the midst of struggles.

In these times we face a huge battle against the human will.

Many times these very hard things come to us through the earthly things which we cherish the most, or even through the special people that we love the most.

“Walking on” takes great courage.

To keep walking on takes a brave heart with a great big love for God.

Walking on requires obedience; even to the point of death.

For us to keep walking on we need great faith and trust.

Abraham and Isaac had great courage, and a great love for God as well as a great love for each other.  They were both entirely obedient to God’s will for their lives; even when it hurt, and even when it was very hard to do.

Isn’t this just like what Jesus said; that the whole sum of all of the commandments is to love God; and to love one another?

This was all happening on the way up the big mountain called Moriah.  It was happening with Isaac and Abraham; and there often comes a time when it may happen with all of us too.

We must face and employ this type of love from the example of Abraham and Isaac which involves great sacrifice.

This old, old story of the Akedah is the first place in the bible where we hear of the Hebrew word for love.

The word clearly states that:  “There is no greater love than this; that a man would lay down his life for his brothers or that a father would give his son in exchange for other people’s lives.”

So finally; Abraham and Isaac came up to the very place where God had led them.

They were at the altar of God.

Interesting things happen whenever you arrive in the place where God has led you.

As it turns out (in the case of Abraham and Isaac) this place was the very same place where Adam (the very first man) had offered the very first sacrifice up to God after he had been cast out of The Garden of Eden because of sin.

It was here, in this very place, that Adam had first begun to seek a way that he could return to God.

This very place was also the same place that had been destroyed during the time of the great flood which was survived only by Noah and his family.

It is amazing to think that in this very place, Noah had rebuilt the altar for God in the very same spot that Adam had built it; and Noah and his family offered up sacrifices for God right in this very place.

Later we learn that a horrid man, named Nimrod, tried to destroy this place where the altar of sacrifices to God was built.

He tried to wipe the place off of the map right after the fall of the Tower of Babel; but it didn’t work, because along came Abraham who totally rebuilt the altar in this exact same spot.

Abraham had offered sacrifices to God many times here at this same altar.  Isaac had often been right there beside Abraham, and they had offered the sacrifice together on many occasions.

On the other occasions, they had brought a lamb to sacrifice.

Today there was no lamb.

Today Isaac knew he was about to lay down his life in order to save the lives of all of his people.

He was going to be the sacrificial lamb.

Isaac understood that this was his destiny, and this was why he had been born as a special son for Abraham and Sarah in their old age.

God’s will was always Isaac’s will.

God’s will was always Abraham’s will.

No matter how hard.

Abraham laid the wood in order.

As Abraham built the wood to hold the fire, Isaac had every opportunity to escape and run away.

Isaac stayed and submitted.

He humbled himself, and he was ready to do his Father’s will; believing all the while, that God would save them both through this sacrificial offering that seemed to be his own destiny.

Can you imagine how Isaac must have trembled?

Can you imagine the pain in the heart of Abraham?

Abraham bound to this altar a totally submitted and willing Isaac; an Isaac who willingly laid himself down on top of the wood.

Now we know all these many years later about another very special son who came from another very special Father.

His name was Jesus; and he willingly laid himself down on top of the wood of a tree; just as Isaac had done atop this altar of wood that his father had arranged.

The ancient scriptures say that Isaac “set his face like a flint” to fulfill God’s will.

Abraham was going to make a quick and clean cut so that Isaac would not suffer in pain for a long time.

We can imagine in our mind’s eye that Isaac lay on the altar with his eyes directed toward the heavens, and his faith totally resting in the ability of God to use his willing heart and this act for the good of all.

For a few seconds, Abraham examined the knife to be sure it was ritually fit for the cut.  Then, he stretched out his arm and raised his hand to make the cut.

In that very short, quick moment of time, the Angel of the LORD called out Abraham’s name from heaven.

“Abraham!”

“Abraham!”

Abraham looked up.

The Angel of the LORD then told Abraham not to lay a hand on the boy and not to harm him.

He said; “For now I know that you fear God, seeing that you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”

It must have been with great joy and relief that Abraham immediately released Isaac and recited a prayer of blessing:

“Blessed are You LORD who revives the dead!”

Just as Abraham lifted his eyes from prayer he beheld a ram caught by the horns in the thicket.

Abraham took the ram and offered it up on the altar in the place of his son.

The lamb became the substitute offering instead of Isaac.

Now we know, all these many years later, about another very special Son who came from another very special Father.

His name was Jesus, and He was the only begotten Son of God.

Jesus willingly laid himself down on top of the wood of a tree to die; just as Isaac had done atop this altar of wood that his father had arranged.

After Jesus gave His life for us; there was never another need for any more sacrifices to be made.

He died once for all.

Father Abraham, with the thought in mind of a substitute offering, prayed while he was sacrificing the ram that God would regard the ram as an offering instead of Isaac.

He asked that God would regard the offering as though it were his very own son.

God accepted Abraham’s offering in place of Isaac!

Even today, many people believe that God kept one of the two ram’s horns that were caught in the thicket, and that mankind has been given the other horn.

The blowing of the shofar made from a Ram’s horn on The Feast of Trumpets is mankind’s cry out to God for mercy.

One day, the last trump will sound on the last day.

Many believe that mighty sound will be coming from that other half of the ram’s horns that is now resting in the possession of God.

We are always to be listening for that sound.

After making the substitute sacrifice, Abraham prayed to God and reminded God that he had not questioned or argued when God had made the request of him; but that he had willingly offered up his son until God Himself had stopped his actions.

Abraham requested that God always remember this day, and this sacrifice.  He asked that God especially remember it each time that one of the sons of his later generations sinned.

Abraham requested that God would have mercy on their sins because of this; and always forgive them.

Today, you and I, and many of Abraham’s other descendants, can be thankful for that wise and timely prayer of Abraham.

When a ram was not sufficient; God sent Jesus.

This is how and why we can come to our season of joy with hearts full of Thanksgiving and praise for our Great God.

We should NEVER forget this as we celebrate our eternal life in this time of worship.

The Talmud mentions that God asked Abraham to sound the sound of the ram’s horn before Him each year so that God would remember the binding of Isaac and count it as mercy toward the children of Abraham forever.

This is yet another reason that we blow the shofar on Rosh Hashanah; to remind God to be merciful to His children still living who are doing their best to be faithful.

Each year at the sound of the shofar, God is reminded of the prayer of blessing from Abraham.

This place where God called for the sacrifice of Isaac to be made is a very sacred place.  Abraham called it Adonai Yireh,  which means:  “The LORD will provide” because God had provided a ram in place of Isaac.

Moriah comes from the verb “ra’ah: which means “to see.”  It was said on Mt. Moriah that the LORD saw the need of the people and made provision for a substitute sacrifice that would save them.

Mt. Moriah, which has been called “Zion” has been the place for many, many sacred events ever since.

Many years later Jacob, who became the son of Isaac, dreamed here in the very spot of the offering of Isaac.  He dreamed of a ladder that reached all the way up to heaven.

Years after that dream of Jacob, the Temple was built on the very spot where Isaac was bound and Jacob dreamed of Heaven.

This was the very place where another Son the true Son of God, the One perfect Lamb, was eventually sacrificed upon a wooden cross for all of the sins of mankind.

He carried His own cross.

He knew His destiny.

He gave His life willingly out of love for The Father.

Isaac, as brave and courageous as he was, was only a shadow of the great and awesome love of Jesus Christ for His people.

It was right in this very spot where Isaac had laid himself down that Jesus came and died for us.

On the Mountain of The LORD, God has truly provided a Lamb!

Can you not hear the message every time that we blow the shofar on Rosh Hashanah?

Is God not calling His people to gather around and receive salvation?

Many years later Abraham again sat happily with his son Isaac under the roof of their Sukkah.  It was during the appointed time of The Feast of Tabernacles that they sat and spoke of all the stories of their lives with God.

They had so much to be thankful for.

It was their time of great joy.

When we all come together several days later (after The Feast of Trumpets and The Day of Atonement) to The Feast of Tabernacles; it is this willingness of Jesus to lay down His life for us that brings us into the time of OUR great joy.

In the Feast of Tabernacles we know and celebrate that God has resurrected Christ back to life from the dead.  We rejoice in the fact that the day is coming when Christ will rule and reign as our King forever and ever.

That is why we spend the whole week rejoicing and praising God.  It is why we love listening to the stories of God inside our very own sukkahs.

We are celebrating how happy our times will be in the time that He returns to us as our Most Glorious King and His Kingdom will rule and reign over the earth for 1,000 years.

GOD ALWAYS KEEPS HIS PROMISES;

THEREFORE LET US KEEP THE FEASTS!