Sermon for the First Sunday after Christmas

‘The Lord said to Moses, “Consecrate unto me all the firstborn.”’

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It may be a surprise to some, and a stumbling block to others, that the Lord commands human sacrifice.

It is plainly written, ‘Whatever
is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and
beast, is mine.’

No differentiation here is made between man and beast. All that are of the
first to see life are God’s.

‘All the firstborn of your flocks that
are males shall be the Lord’s.’ Thus it is written.

This should not surprise us, for such commands were given to the children of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Abraham, a heathen, who knew no truth, was called in the darkness of the
wilderness to go to a land of which he knew not.

When he arrived, he dwelt there; he married, had a child; a child named Isaac;
born of his old age. A child of promise, for the Lord had told Abraham that he
would have a child, even though his wife was barren. This was a great joy the
patriarch, for he had longed for a son to continue his line. Yet, when the
child was born, and when he had grown to an age of strength, it was commanded
of Abraham that he should take his son,
his only son, whom he had loved, and sacrifice him unto the Lord.

Even as he had left his homeland upon hearing the voice of
God without question, counting this faith
as righteousness, so again Abraham took his son early in the morn and went
out to a place appointed to him. And
upon arriving at Mount Horeb, the old man laid upon his young son wood, that he
may carry it. Up the mountain they went, and while journeying, the young Isaac
asked ‘Father, here is the wood and the
fire, but where is the sacrifice?’ His father responded, ‘the Lord shall provide the sacrifice: my
son.’ For indeed, the son would be the sacrifice that the Lord would
provide, even as he had provided a son for Abraham and Sarah. Abraham is not
trying to deceive his son, saying that miraculously an offering shall be given.
He is, to speak regularly, being straight with him. He says ‘the Lord will provide the sacrifice, that
is, you, my son.’ This Isaac understood, that he would be the one slain and
burnt upon the altar, for this the Lord commanded, and for this reason, he did
not struggle, but was tied by his aged father willingly.

Isaac is bound. Down he is laid. Abraham raises his knife, and an angel of the
Lord stops his hand. He stops it not merely because the sacrifice is not
necessary, as if it was only and ever just a test. No, it was necessary. A son
of man has always been required as an offering for the sins of man. But Isaac
would not do, for, as a sinful man, he is not a sacrifice ‘blameless and without spot.’

For this reason, Abraham named this mountain ‘the Lord will provide a sacrifice,’ for
a sacrifice was still commanded, just not this one. It would come, offered on
this mount, the mount that would one day be called Zion.

‘All the firstborn are the Lord’s.’
Yet the firstborn of men and women are not exempted. Rather, they are simply
given a substitute, a lamb, pure and unharmed. The substitute is just that, it
is a place-holder for the real thing; a 
lamb for God in place for a son of man; for no son born of the will of
man would do, conceived in sin as he
is; so a lamb must do for a time; but now, the real thing has come, the first
born Son of Man, blameless and without fault.

Now the Son of Man and the Lamb of God have become one. Is this not what we
have awaited? ‘Render yourself a living
sacrifice before God.’ This is the command given. This is the Law and its
summation, given in ancient times to Isaac, given again to Moses and Israel,
and repeated by the prophets; and only one is given to complete it. Therefore
it is written that Christ ‘came not to
abolish the law, but to fulfill it.’ His blood shall fulfill it, a living sacrifice, the first to open the womb, the son of man, the, firstborn of all creation.

‘Behold, this child is appointed for the
fall and rising of many.’

The child is presented at the Temple, and the proper
offerings are made. The hopes and fears of all our years are revealed in the
revelation of the Son; the Lamb; Him who is to be offered, in blood, in
suffering, and in glory.

We do not like to look upon the baby Jesus, and see in Him the nails in His
hands, but why was He born, if not to be pierced? We hate to look upon Mary
holding in love her child as only a mother could, and see in His eye the thorn
born of our fall from Eden; but why was He held, if not to bleed? This the Lord
has deemed good, whether we can see the goodness in it or not. Many weep before
the image of the Lord that shall be scourged. Many revile it as celestial child
abuse. But was this not the question of faith asked all along? Asked of
Abraham, and then of Moses?

‘Behold, this child is appointed for the
fall and rising of many; so that the thoughts from many hearts may be
revealed.’

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Preached by Pastor Fields

Sermon Texts: Exodus
13:1-3, 11-15; Colossians 3:12-17; Luke 2:22-40.