FATHER OFFERS HIS SON AS A LIVING SACRIFICE. Genesis 22

This astonishing chapter told of a father’s obedience to His God in surrendering his beloved son. It showed a likeness to the death of our Lord Jesus as a type of His cross sufferings. Strangely, it began with ‘after these things’, namely, that Isaac was miraculously born , and Hagar the slave girl had taken Ishmael, Abraham’s son from a union not endorsed by God, into the desert to die. God protected the boy, whom God would make ‘a strong nation’. Such was the background of the story.

‘God tempted Abraham’ calling him by name., and receiving an immediate response.

God commanded, ‘ Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, and get into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering.’ The Lord assured He would show which mountain was chosen for this sacrifice, ( v2 ) God proved His special servant, just as He tests you and me. Abraham was on trial. God knew how precious Isaac was to his father, for he was indeed his only son, for Ishmael was born to a slave girl because Sarah had urgently longed for a son, even a surrogate boy.

Moriah had been chosen as the place where King David had offered a sacrifice when God threatened to judge the entire nation. It had been the threshing floor of Aruanah, and later the site of Solomon’s temple. Exodus 29:18 told how the ram must be burnt as an offering to God. Isaac would be offered to the Lord in the same way.

‘Abraham rose up early in the morning’ ( v3 ) hiding what took place over that night. How often did Sarah join her husband in weeping and prayer. How frequently she reminded him that Isaac had been God’s miraculous gift to them at 90 and 100 years respectively. They restated their reliance in the living God., whose promises were to be fulfilled in this beloved child. The bible was silent . Adam Clarke said that Isaac was 33 years old ( the age of our Saviour when He went to the cross), making his parents 133 an 123 years . Isaac would be his fond parents’ delight in their declining years.

‘God continued, ‘Take two young men, the wood for the burnt offering, rise up and go to the place God had told him.’ Why did 2 young men accompany father and son? Two disciples walked with their Lord on the Emmaus Road. Peter and John were often witnesses, 2 women were present at the grave on resurrection morn, two angels in white announced the resurrection wonder. God had 2 witnesses to confirm the father’s sacrifice of his precious son. Had God told Abraham of His entire plan for Isaac and the generations following? He carried the treasured truth in his heart.

They walked hard for three days, for ‘Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off.’ ( v4) ‘ Abraham told his young men to ‘ Stay here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, ( v5) and come again to you.’ His heart did not grieve that he would soon sacrifice his beloved son, rather that ‘he would worship the Lord

( devotedly adore Him ). Abraham told the world that His God would raise Isaac from the dead. This was an early promise of resurrection in God’s Word.

‘Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on the back of Isaac, his son, and took the fire in his hand, and a knife.’ ( v6 ) Two thousand years later, our Lord Jesus carried his cross to Calvary on that same mount, and also, the crushing weight of our sins. The fire had come from coals, formed when divine judgment fell in the flood, and a knife was the instrument used to take the life of the sacrifice. In God’s Word everything had its rich purpose. The cross, judgment, death and resurrection were always part of God’s perfect salvation. .

But why wait three days? Joshua delayed the children of Israel for this time before crossing the flooded Jordan. Our Lord was raised from the dead after three days. The mighty preacher Paul endured 72 hours of darkness before God released him to enjoy the light of heaven. It gave Abraham space to change his mind and return with God’s mission unfulfilled. God’s testings are precious to His children. He knows our stand.

‘They went both of them together’ ( v6) showed how the father and son were knit together in God’s eternal plan. This deep truth was repeated later in the chapter . It pointed to the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary, where ‘God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself. ‘ Our beloved Lord is concealed in the Old Testament, but delightfully revealed in the New Testament.

. Abraham laid bare such tender oneness with his dear son when he said, " My son’. Isaac exposed his deep devotion when he said, " My father’. (vv7,8) The whole exercise was so costly. Isaac added, ‘ Behold the fire, and the wood, but where is the lamb?’ Every generation seeking peace has asked this question, as they searched for the lamb. 2000 years later, John the Baptist from Jordan’s banks pointed to the Saviour as ‘The Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world.( John 1:29)

The entire Word of God was Spirit-breathed, and was our best commentary

Abraham responded to his son’s pathetic plea, ‘ Jehovah ( Raah ) will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.’ The Lord His very self, will provide the atoning sacrifice. It also told us that The Lord will provide Himself personally as the sacrifice. He is not only the Provider, but the sacrifice on the altar. Only our Lord Jesus Christ could fulfil all these requirements. All praise be to our God! Peter tells ‘that we were not redeemed with corruptible things, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a LAMB without blemish or spot. ( 1 Peter 1:18)