Article

The Hinge of Christianity

Camilo Buchanan
November 10, 2023

Without it, Paul said those of us who call ourselves “Christians” are to be the most pitied. Resurrection is kind of our thing. In the Old Testament, prophets resurrected people from the dead. In the New Testament, Paul resurrects someone who falls asleep and dies falling out of a window while listening to one of Paul’s sermons. Jesus Himself, resurrects a 12-year-old little girl, a young man, and His close friend, Lazarus. God raises people from the dead. Resurrection is what He does.

However, in Genesis 22, a peculiar story takes place. Abraham, the patriarch of the Jewish faith, is told by God to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Abraham obeys the brazen command and begins to make the journey up the mountain where God has told him this would occur. On the way there, he tells his servants who’ve accompanied them on the journey not to continue. Saying, “the boy and I will go and worship, then we will come back to you.” That’s an odd statement for someone who is about to take their son’s life. Why does he say “we” will come back to you? I know the resurrection is a part of our story, but in Genesis 22, God has not raised anyone from the dead before…

The answer is given to us not in the narrative, but in the book of Hebrews. The writer recounts the events in the 11th chapter. He says of Abraham that he concluded: “that God was able to raise him, even from the dead, from which he also received him figuratively.” Abraham may not have physically seen anyone resurrected before, but in a moment of confusion, he recalled that he and Sarah had a barren womb, and yet God gave them a son anyway. God had already made the impossible possible in Abraham’s family. God had proven that He was in the business of resurrection long before someone physically dead was brought back to physical life

Jesus takes this further and declares that He is the resurrection and the life in John 11. It’s not just what He does; it’s who He is. Resurrection isn’t an event. Resurrection is a person named Jesus. What Abraham tells us is He is a safe and worthy place to anchor our faith and hope. He takes dead dreams, dead hearts, dead bodies, dead relationships, and dead souls and brings them back to life. If you ever need proof that God can bring resurrection to your story, don’t look ahead at the challenge; look back at the cross and the empty grave, and look up to He who is resurrection.

Scripture References

21When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake.
22Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet.
23He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.”
24So Jesus went with him.

A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

25And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years.
26She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse.
27When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak,
28because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.”
29Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
30At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked,
“Who touched my clothes?”
31“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask,
‘Who touched me?’
 ”
32But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it.
33Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth.
34He said to her,
“Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
35While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?”
36Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him,
“Don’t be afraid; just believe.”
37He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James.
38When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly.
39He went in and said to them,
“Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.”
40But they laughed at him.

After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41He took her by the hand and said to her,

“Talitha koum!”
(which means
“Little girl, I say to you, get up!”
). 42Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. 43He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.

41He took her by the hand and said to her,
“Talitha koum!”
(which means
“Little girl, I say to you, get up!”
).
42Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished.
43He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.
38Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.
39
“Take away the stone,”
he said.

“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”

40Then Jesus said,
“Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
41So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said,
“Father, I thank you that you have heard me.
42
I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
43When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice,
“Lazarus, come out!”
44The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.

Jesus said to them,

“Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

45Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.

Abraham Tested

1Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

2Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

3Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”

6Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”

“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.

“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

8Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

9When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11But the angel of the

Lord
called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

12“Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

13Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14So Abraham called that place The

Lord
Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the
Lord
it will be provided.”

15The angel of the

Lord
called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16and said, “I swear by myself, declares the
Lord
, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”

19Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba.

Nahor’s Sons

20Some time later Abraham was told, “Milkah is also a mother; she has borne sons to your brother Nahor:
21Uz the firstborn, Buz his brother,
Kemuel (the father of Aram),
22Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph and Bethuel.”
23Bethuel became the father of Rebekah.
Milkah bore these eight sons to Abraham’s brother Nahor.

24His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also had sons:
Tebah, Gaham, Tahash and Maakah.
Camilo Buchanan
Camilo Buchanan
Camilo Buchanan is a speaker, writer, podcaster, and leads the Young Adult ministry at Passion City Church. He holds a Bachelors degree from Georgia State University, a masters degree from Dallas Theological Seminary and is currently pursuing his Doctorate from Southeastern University. He enjoys spending his time pouring into students and leaders, writing content, working on real estate, traveling, and eating with friends & family, alongside his wife, Emily, and their puppy, Rummi.