Image from Icons of the Bible James Lewis
The Icons of The Bible Series will go through all the people of the Bible in chronological order. I will attempt to provide you focused article and videos that will help you become more familiar with those whom God chose to tell us about in His Holy Scripture. - Andy
Icons of the Bible: Isaac, Miracle Son of Abraham
Isaac, Son of Abraham
The Midrash states that G‑d wanted to create a universe that would be administered solely by the attribute of Justice. (Bereishit Rabba 12 and 15) These Midrashim say that when G‑d realized that such a universe could not endure for long, He adopted the attribute of Mercy....the yardstick of the attribute of Justice...is applied only to the truly righteous…
I have also explained that one must not conceive of G‑d as having "changed His mind", having abandoned a previous plan, seeing that, "He is not human that He should have regrets". (Num. 23:9) All that happened to G‑d's original plan is that instead of the yardstick of the attribute of Justice being applied universally, it is applied only to the truly righteous. To them G‑d applies the most stringent yardstick. It is the application to them of the undiluted attribute of Justice which stamps them as superior creatures. They are but few in numbers. G‑d applies a mixture of the attributes of Justice and Mercy to the vast majority of people. In the future, however, when everybody will qualify as a member of that formerly select group, everybody will be judged by the undiluted attribute of Justice and will prevail even under such scrutiny.." from the article: Isaac, Son of Abraham
How the Old Testament Prepares Us for the Third Day
When I was a church teen in the 1990s, one of hottest new Christian bands was Third Day. The name seemed like a riff on the mainstream band Third Eye Blind, but we all know where it really came from. According to Paul’s gospel, Christ was “raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.” This is “of first importance” (1 Cor. 15:3–5).
We all know that Christ rose on the third day. But we probably aren’t as familiar with the latter half of Paul’s statement, namely, that Christ was “raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:4). This wasn’t just something that happened in history; it was also prophesied in the Old Testament. Jesus himself says the same thing in Luke 24:46: “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead.”
Which raises the question, where? Where is it written that Christ would rise on the third day? To find the answer, we must remember that the Old Testament has more than one way of pointing to Christ. We often think first of explicit predictions (e.g., Mic. 5:2). But we come up dry in our search for “Messiah raised on the third day” predictions. Because as far as I know, there are none.
But the Old Testament also points to Christ through typological patterns, such as the slaying of the Passover lamb and the building of the tabernacle (1 Cor. 5:7; John 1:14). These are also things that Jesus fulfills. And I believe the “third day” Scriptures that Paul alludes to in 1 Corinthians 15:4 fall into this category.
In the Old Testament we find a pattern of God doing big things on the third day. Redemptive things. Revelatory things. And yes, resurrection things. Here are four examples.." from the article: How the Old Testament Prepares Us for the Third Day
Live Like Death Is the Beginning
Where did Abraham find the faith to lay his one and only son on the altar?
He did not lay his incarnate promise on the altar because it made sense or he could prove it doctrinally or because the promise was dispensable. Abraham’s obedience that day was not the fruit of an anemic self-help pep talk. He was willing to plunge a blade into his son because he figured God would raise Isaac from the dead (Hebrews 11:19) — because God had spoken things that had not yet come to pass, and he “is not man, that he should lie. . . . Has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?” (Numbers 23:19).
Abraham’s confidence was that the voice that called him to Canaan was likewise the Lord of the resurrection (John 11:25). For Abraham, this meant and changed everything.
He Saw Jesus’s Day
Abraham “believed God” when he spoke, and it was counted to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6; James 2:23). At God’s instruction, the father of the covenantal faith laid his son of promise out on the altar on a certain hill in what would later become known as Jerusalem. The twenty-second chapter of Genesis, where God calls Abraham to sacrifice his son, is an uncomfortable episode, confronting what we believe to be true about the kindness of God and the cost of conforming to his image.." from the article: Live Like Death Is the Beginning