Genesis
chapter 22 contains the most powerful symbol in the entire Old
Testament. It begins, “Some
time later, God tested Abraham… Then God said, “Take your son,
your only son Isaac whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah.
Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I
will tell you about”. Early the next morning Abraham got up and
saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son
Isaac”.
Abraham does not hesitate, argue, or try to find a way around God’s
word- he is obedient. We are next told, “When
he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the
place God had told him about. On the third day, Abraham looked up
and saw the place“.
Abraham tells the servants to wait with the donkeys, “We
will worship and then we will come back to you“.
“Abraham
took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac“.
Isaac is no toddler, he is old enough to willingly carry the wood
for his father. “As
the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up… The fire and wood
are here… but where is the lamb?”. Abraham answered, “God
Himself will provide the lamb… and the two of them went on
together“.
The Abraham that always had a back-up plan, finally trusts God
completely. Even though he knows that God has promised, through
Isaac, He would complete His promise, Abraham is obedient. Hebrews
11:19 says, “Abraham
reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking he
did receive Isaac from the dead“.
After
Abraham builds an alter and arranged the wood on it, “He
bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the alter“.
“Then
he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the
angel of the Lord called out to from heaven. “Abraham!
Abraham! Do not lay a hand on the boy…Do not do anything to him.
Now that I know you fear God, because you have not withheld from me
your son, your only son”
(Twice now, Isaac is called Abraham’s ONLY SON). “Abraham
looked up and there in the thicket he saw a ram caught by the
horns… So Abraham called the place, The Lord Will Provide“.
The parallels to Our Heavenly Father and His Son are impossible to
miss, except there could be no substitute for the Lamb of God. Jesus
carried the wooden cross up that same hill (Mt Moriah was in what
would later be called Jerusalem). God provided for mankind the
perfect sacrifice, His only Son. John 1:29 declares, “Behold
the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!”
Through the shedding of His blood, we can have our sins covered
completely if we accept, by faith, Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
Next
we read, the angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second
time, and said, “I
swear by Myself, declares the Lord… because you have not withheld
your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your
descendents as numerous as the stars in the sky…Your descendents
will possess the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring,
all nations on earth will be blessed“.
Through Isaac the nation of Israel is born, and through the line of
Isaac, Jesus blesses all the world. As John 3:16 reminds us, “For
God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever
believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life“.
Amen.