The Sacrificial Messiah

Isaac

By faith Abraham … offered up Isaac … his only begotten son.—Hebrews 11:17

Aaron Marten

One of the clearest types in the Old Testament as a picture of our Lord’s sacrifice is that of Isaac, offered up by Abraham in the land of Moriah (Genesis 22:2). As one reads the account in Genesis 22, one cannot help but sympathize with the intense emotional struggle Abraham must have felt in seeking faithfully to obey God’s commandment. We also see the complete faith and submission of Isaac in doing what his father requested even if it required his own death. This portion of Isaac’s life clearly marks him as a type of the sacrificial role of Messiah, just as his marriage to Rebekah marks him as a type of the Messiah as bridegroom of the church.

Ascending the Mountain

In Genesis 22:2 we read God’s commandment to Abraham: “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac” to be sacrificed on a mountain in Moriah. Because Ishmael and Hagar had previously been sent away (Genesis 21:14; 25:6), Isaac was counted as Abraham’s only begotten son. Just as Abraham had only one son, so too the heavenly Father has only one son, Jesus Christ, by whom all other things were made (Colossians 1:16; John 1:3). In both cases, we see the absolute bond of love between Father and son. Isaac was to be the one through whom all the promises made to Abraham were to be fulfilled (Genesis 17:19-21). He was a miracle child born to a woman ninety years old. Isaac was more than Abraham’s beloved son; he was a fulfillment of God’s promise. So too our Lord Jesus, in his pre-human existence as the Logos, had a special and unique bond with the Father. In John 17:5 we read Jesus’ prayer to “glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was” (NASB). He is the “only begotten” one: “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth” (John 1:14, ASV). The relationship was more than a normal father-son relationship; it has a unique and special bond.

The provisions for the journey when Abraham was to sacrifice Isaac are described in these words: “So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him” (Genesis 22:3, NASB). The two “young men” that accompanied Abraham and Isaac may be symbolic of the apostles and other human agencies the Father provided for Jesus’ earthly walk. “On the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off” (vs. 4, NKJV). 

This three-day period might indicate the three-and-a-half-year period of Jesus’ ministry since it is at the end of this “three days” that the two young men were told to stay behind. This reminds us of Jesus’ words to the apostles just before his final trials: “Simon Peter said to him, Lord, where are You going? Jesus answered him, Where I am going, you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow me, afterward” (John 13:36, NAS). Again, our Lord speaks of how he must walk alone with the Father in his final hours: “Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave Me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me” (John 16:32, NAS). In his final days and hours, Jesus was most certainly walking alone with God, just as Isaac ascended the mountain alone with his father Abraham.

We read that Isaac had the wood of the offering laid on his back. Although this brings to mind our Lord carrying the wooden cross on the way to Golgotha (John 19:17), the picture may perhaps be of the burden of mankind’s sin that Jesus bore: “All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him” (Isaiah 53:6, NASB). “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed” (1 Peter 2:24).

As they journeyed up the mountain, Isaac questioned Abraham: “Where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” (Genesis 22:7, NASB). Abraham replied: “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son” (Genesis 22:8, NASB). There is no further recorded discussion between Abraham and Isaac after this. Perhaps Isaac knew that he was to be the one sacrificed instead of a lamb. That would explain why there is neither record of struggle nor word of protest when Isaac is laid on the altar. At some early point during his ministry as he remembered more and more of his pre-human experiences with the Father and studied the prophecies concerning himself, Jesus must have realized through prayer that he was to be the sacrificial lamb for the world. Through all his experiences, he accepted this as his place in God’s plan and never uttered a single word in protest toward the heavenly Father.

The fact that Isaac asks about the absence of a lamb also seems significant. This account of Abraham and Isaac is the first mention in Scripture of a lamb specifically being used for sacrifice.¹ It is especially significant when we consider that this occurred years before the Israelites were commanded to slay lambs for the Passover (see Exodus 12). It is especially significant when we consider that the symbol of a lamb is tied directly to Jesus as the “Lamb slain from [before] the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8; cf., 1 Peter 1:19, 20).

The Sacrifice

Upon reaching the place for the sacrifice, we read: “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” (Genesis 22:9, NIV). At this time, Abraham was likely about 125 years of age and Isaac about 25. Certainly, Isaac might have outmatched his father in physical strength and speed [cf. Deuteronomy 34:7]. Nevertheless, we read that Abraham “bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar.” Isaac did not utter a word in protest nor struggle to escape from the fate set before him. The lack of resistance by Isaac is also shown by our Lord Jesus: “He was oppressed, yet when He was afflicted he opened not His mouth; as a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so He opened not his mouth.” (Isaiah 53:7, NASB). When Peter offered resistance to the Roman soldiers coming to capture Jesus in Gethsemane, Jesus said: “The cup which my Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?” (John 18:11, NASB). Again, in Pilate’s court, Jesus’ attitude was one of submission to what God had in store for him. He never protested what was happening around him, but merely restated the truths that he had been preaching to the Jewish people for over three years. His submission continued even through the scourging and finally death by crucifixion.

As Abraham raised a knife to slay Isaac, his hand was stayed. The Lord had counted the sacrifice as though it had actually happened because Abraham was willing to follow through with his commandment; a ram was provided in Isaac’s stead (Genesis 22:10-13). There is another lesson in this experience that is repeatedly brought up throughout the Old Testament and reiterated by the apostle Paul. There can be no forgiveness for sin without the shedding of blood (Hebrews 9:22). In the case of Isaac, the Lord offers a glimpse into the needed ransom price for mankind by showing that a perfect human sacrifice (represented by Isaac) would be required to atone for Adam and his progeny; animal blood would be insufficient (Hebrews 10:4). With the sacrifice of Isaac having been accepted, Isaac arose from the altar, typifying our Lord’s resurrection and ascension after his death.

Lessons for Us

Job said during his trials and extreme testings, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job 13:15). Do we, as followers of Jesus, have this same attitude of Job, Isaac, and our Lord? Do we trust the Lord, even where we cannot trace him? In difficult circumstances, do we always keep before our minds the promise that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose?” (Romans 8:28). Do we have that courage of conviction to fight our battles and persevere in faith-testing circumstances, even unto death? Let us keep in mind this attitude of full submission to the will of God, that even if we would seem to be “sacrificed unto death,” we would never murmur or utter a word of complaint against our God.

Seeing this beautiful picture of Isaac representing the sacrificial role of the Messiah should bring gratitude to our hearts. We are often amazed at the level of detail God has provided in the various pictures throughout the Scriptures. The account of Abraham and Isaac is no exception. That this is an appropriate picture to consider is stated clearly by the apostle: “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac; and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; it was he to whom it was said, IN ISAAC YOUR SEED SHALL BE CALLED. He considered that God is able to raise men even from the dead; from which he also received him back as a type(2)” (Hebrews 11:17-19, NASB). The fact that the title “only begotten son” is used for Isaac is a strong endorsement that Isaac being (almost) sacrificed by Abraham is a picture of Jesus being offered up by God as the redemption price for fallen man.

After receiving and sacrificing the ram in Isaac’s stead, Abraham dedicated the place of the sacrifice and called it “Jehovah-jireh” meaning “the LORD will provide” (Genesis 22:14). God has certainly provided the most precious sacrifice in our place on the scales of justice when he gave his only begotten son Jesus. Through that sacrifice, the world will be uplifted and restored back to a state of human perfection and the faithful church raised to immortality and the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). May we continue to be thankful for that sacrifice and emulate Jesus’ humble submission to God, as Isaac submitted humbly to Abraham!

1. Although Noah offered burnt offerings of every clean beast and fowl (Genesis 8:20) when he left the ark, a lamb is not specifically mentioned by name in that account.

2. The Greek here is parabole, parable, figure, and not typos, type. This incident clearly seems to be typical, though it is not so referred to in the New Testament. The closest hint to it being a type is this text in Hebrews 11:19.