The Most Important Verse

Years ago, I was having deep communion and discussion with two of my brothers in the Lord. It was what we called discipleship: weekly meetings with our leader, where we discussed matters of faith and the word of God. Our leader, Chris, posed a random question to us:

What is the most important verse in the entire Old Testament?

He wasn't necessarily seeking a right or wrong answer, he just wanted to see what we came up with. Chris gave us a couple of minutes to look through our Bibles and find what we wanted. I didn't need more than a few seconds, to tell you the truth. You see, the moment he asked that question, I had a flash of remembrance.

One of my brothers has an amazing painting, a painting linked to a verse. The verse for that painting, I knew, was the one.

It may seem silly to want to sum up the entire, massive Old Testament in one verse. After all, the Old Testament has sections on History, law, poetry, songs, philosophy, prophecy, and people-- quite a broad spectrum. I'm not really sure what Jews think of Christians using their book for our own purposes, but they probably feel as though we've hijacked their scriptures or something. Still, I often wonder if they see a universal theme, a point, if you will, for their entire canon. I know we do.

Christians, I think, should view everything in the Old Testament through the lens of Christ, and his salvation. I am convinced that the entire reason for the Old Testament is to point us to the New Testament: Jesus, and his atonement for all our sins. The Bible is one giant salvation story, a salvation arc. There is a beginning, a catalyst, rising action, a resolution, and a new beginning.

With that said, I give you the most important verse (in my opinion) in the whole Old Testament:

Genesis 22:8

Isaac, being Abraham's only child by his wife Sarah, is the child of promise. If it had not been for God's miraculous intervention, Sarah could not have borne Isaac-- she was in her 90's. Nonetheless, God speaks to Abraham one day, and tells him to sacrifice Isaac as a burnt offering to the Lord (!). Miraculously, Abraham sets out to obey God's command. Abraham and Isaac travel up to a mountain, where Abraham prepared the altar and the wood, bound Isaac, took his knife, and was about to slay Isaac when an angel stopped him, and God told Abraham not to sacrifice Isaac. Abraham then looks up and sees a ram on the mountainside, which he takes and sacrifices to God as a burnt offering, instead of his own son. God tells Abraham that because Abraham had not witheld anything from God, not even his own son-- who himself was a gift from God-- HE would forever bless Abraham, making his descendants as numerous as "the stars in the sky, and as the sand on the seashore."

That's the story most people know, but there was a critical moment before the conclusion.

Now, when Abraham and Issac had prepared the altar and the wood for the sacrifice, Isaac realized that they had nothing to sacrifice. Not knowing Abraham's intention was to sacrifice him, Isaac asked "Father, the fire and wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" Abraham answered Isaac by saying:

Genesis 22:8

"My son, God himself will provide the lamb"

and provide the lamb for the sacrifice, God did. Then, and forever.