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The Sacrifice of Isaac
A Ram in the Thicket On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.—Genesis 22:4 Abraham offering his son Isaac, at the instruction of God, is one of the most ..well-known pictures of the sacrifice of Christ that we have in the Scriptures. The account in Genesis chapter 22 is replete with details that enhance the picture. Verse one says, “God did tempt Abraham.” The expression “did tempt” is better rendered “tested” as it appears in the NASB and NIV. The test was severe. After waiting twenty-five years from the time they entered the land of Canaan, Abraham and Sarah had the child promised by God. He was a treasured child, in whom their hopes, dreams, and promises for the future—even for the human race—depended, for through him was to come a deliverer destined to bless “all families of the earth” (Genesis 12:3). Abraham’s faith had developed well through a lifetime of vital experiences following the leading of God. Now it stood firm in this most difficult of tests. The Land of Moriah The location where Abraham was to offer his son was specific: “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of” (Genesis 22:2). Not only the area, but a specific mountain, would be designated by God, the same mountain that would later serve as the site of God’s temple in Jerusalem. There many typical sacrifices would be offered representing the ransom to be given by our Lord Jesus at Jerusalem. More than eight centuries later, Solomon would “build the house of Jehovah at Jerusalem on mount Moriah” (2 Chronicles 3:1, ASV). Nearly a thousand years after that, Jesus himself would die for our sins on the hill of Golgotha, which is a geographic extension of the same prominence on which the temple of Solomon was constructed. “On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off” (Genesis 22:4). Jesus said that Abraham “rejoiced to see my day ... and was glad” (John 8:56), but Abraham saw it only by faith, “afar off.” It had been more than two thousand years from Adam to this experience in Abraham’s life, according to the testimony in the Hebrew Old Testament. This means that Abraham was living in the third thousand-year day from Adam. This is probably the meaning of Abraham seeing the place of sacrifice, still far off, “on the third day.” “Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together” (Genesis 22:6). As Isaac bore the wood, so the cross of wood was laid upon Jesus on his way to Golgotha: “And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha” (John 19:17). The coals of fire were in the hand of Abraham, just as the trials that would accompany the sacrifice of Jesus were under the control of our heavenly Father. The knife, which on occasion represents the word of God (Hebrews 4:12), perhaps here represents the truth to which Jesus bore testimony and that resulted in his death (John 17:17; 18:37). “Ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth” (John 8:40). When Isaac innocently asked where was the lamb for a burnt offering, Abraham answered: “My son, God will provide himself a lamb” (Genesis 22:8). So it is with us. God has provided for us “the lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). When they reached the summit, Abraham erected an altar, bound Isaac, and laid him upon the wood upon the altar, as was customary for burnt offerings (Genesis 22:9; Leviticus 1:6-8). Abraham lifted his knife, but at the critical moment the angel intervened. Isaac was delivered, but God knew that Abraham in his heart had fulfilled the command and proven his loyalty. It was not literally necessary that Isaac die in this event, but it would be necessary for Jesus, the fulfillment of this, to die on Calvary’s cross. Jesus would not be spared. Jesus, “by the grace of God [would] taste death for every man” (Hebrews 2:9). However, Jesus would triumphantly rise from the dead on the third day. When Abraham received his dearly beloved son from the altar, this was a picture of our heavenly Father receiving his dearly beloved son from death itself (Hebrews 11:19). A Ram in the Thicket Upon this remarkable resolution to the trial of Abraham’s faith, he looked up and saw a ram caught by his horns in a thicket. Abraham saw the hand of God supplying the need for the occasion, and he offered that ram as a burnt offering to God. Similarly, only God could supply a sacrifice for our sins, namely his son, Jesus. Divine justice appropriately condemned our first parents, and thus all of us, their progeny. But there was no sense of vindictiveness on God’s part against Adam, Eve, or their unborn race. Divine love had already planned, even before creation, to provide a release from condemnation for mankind. Divine wisdom saw that allowing mankind an experience with sin, and then a recovery from sin, was the best way to educate the human race. Thus, the consequences of both sin and righteousness could be deeply learned. This would be the best arrangement for the highest welfare of all of us. Divine power is adequate to the task of seeing this plan to a successful conclusion. Thus all four divine attributes cooperate together in God’s wonderful “Plan of the Ages.” The motivating influence behind it all was love, entirely the opposite of vindictiveness. In Genesis 22:14 we see how much Abraham appreciated what God provided: “Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh [margin: the Lord will see, or provide].” A Burnt Offering That Abraham’s offering on this occasion was a burnt offering is not surprising, because a burnt offering was a common kind of offering. But when the Law Covenant was established with Israel generations later, other types of offerings were identified as well. These are described in Leviticus chapters 1 through 7, together with the regulations specific to each. The first one listed is the burnt offering, then the meal offering (chapter 2), peace offering (chapter 3), sin offering (chapter 4), and trespass offering (beginning at 5:17). Depending on the circumstances, either male or female animals could be used in most cases. But for a burnt offering, the law was specific: it must be a male. The burnt offering by Abraham on Mount Moriah is clearly a picture of the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus as a ransom for Adam and all of us. As animals are ranked, males are more valuable than females. This is implicit in the laws respecting the offerings (compare Leviticus 4 verses 22,23 with verses 27,28). Jesus as our ransom sacrifice is depicted as the more valuable offering. This is exhibited both in the animal being male, and it being “without blemish” (Leviticus 1:3). The offerer could bring a bullock or a ram, depending on his ability, but it must be male, and it must be without blemish. (The poor could even bring birds.) The same requirements—male, and without blemish—were also stipulated for the passover lamb, which also represented the ransom (Exodus 12:5). The “daily sacrifice” of a lamb each morning and each afternoon, at the tabernacle and later at the temple, were burnt offerings. These also pictured Jesus as our ransom. Jesus was put on the cross in the morning, and he died in the afternoon (Numbers 28:3,4; Mark 15:25, 34-37). The fact that the “daily sacrifice” was provided every day, meant that the altar would always have this foundation offering upon it, as a basis for other offerings that would be brought by the Israelites.{FOOTNOTE: Leviticus 3:5 makes a point of the fact that peace offerings of the Israelites were to be laid “upon the burnt sacrifice, which is upon the wood that is on the fire.”} The ever-efficacious ransom sacrifice of our Lord is likewise the foundation for us to be able to make offerings to God that can be acceptable. Burnt offerings are described as “a sweet savour unto Jehovah” (Leviticus 1:13). This same expression is applied to the sacrifice of Jesus: “Walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour” (Ephesians 5:2) An Oath from God Judging by the flow of the narrative, it was after Abraham had offered his burnt offering of the ram provided by God, that an angel appeared again with a remarkable announcement to the man of faith who had proven his obedience to God so thoroughly. God gave an oath, or pledge, to Abraham, to affirm his agreement to bless Abraham’s seed: “And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, and said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;{FOOTNOTE: Literally, “bless themselves.”} because thou hast obeyed my voice” (Genesis 22:15-18). Hebrews 6:17 comments on this. “God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath.” The occasion was exceptional, and what it prefigured was exceptional. The sacrifice of Isaac on the wood (and the ram which replaced him) prefigured the sacrifice of Jesus on the wooden cross, and that sacrifice was necessary to confirm the fulfillment of God’s wonderful plan to bless “all the nations of the earth.” God’s confirmation by an oath was a guarantee that his plan of the ages would be fulfilled. Christ’s death at Calvary was a guarantee of it. On this occasion the description of the seed of Abraham is given in the broadest terms. It is described not merely as stars (heavenly), or sand (earthly), but both parts are included, for both the heavenly and earthly seed of Abraham spring from the one sacrifice of Christ. Return to Beersheba Genesis 22:19 tells us Abraham and his men returned to Beersheba and there he dwelt. Beersheba is a word that means “the well of the oath.”{FOOTNOTE: This meaning is given in Genesis 21:31, margin. Beer means well, and sheba means oath.} Perhaps in this context the name suggests that water (such as a well produces) represents the blessing of truth and life as described in Revelation 22:1. This blessing is assured by the oath-bound covenant given to Abraham. The oath-bound covenant, in turn, is established upon the foundation sacrifice of Christ, represented in the offering of Isaac. Some time later, Abraham heard a report about the rest of his family. His brother Nahor had stayed in Mesopotamia after their father, Terah, died. Abraham had left Mesopotamia at the calling of God to come into the land of promise, just as those of faith among the natural seed of Abraham had left their old promises to receive the greater favor of the heavenly calling following the first advent of Messiah. But not all of Israel responded. Most remained with their old hopes, just as Nahor remained in Mesopotamia. For these, there would be a blessing at the end of the Gospel age. Even now they are being regathered to their land; they are an independent nation again after two thousand years, and during the blessed Millennium Israel will have a place of honor among the nations (Zechariah 8:22). Abraham had been separated from that part of the family for many years. But the news was good. His brother had prospered: “Behold, Milcah, she hath also born children unto thy brother Nahor” (Genesis 22:20). Then follows a list of twelve children, eight born to Milcah and four to Reumah, a concubine of Nahor. The twelve sons of Jacob through his wives and concubines formed the nation of Israel. The twelve sons of Nahor, through his wife and concubine, evidently symbolize the twelve tribes of Israel.{FOOTNOTE: In Galatians 4:22-25, Paul shows that Hagar represents the Law Covenant, and her child Ishmael represents Israel. Ishmael had twelve sons, which evidently represent the twelve tribes of Israel (Genesis 25:12-16). Thus to see the twelve sons of Nahor representing the twelve tribes of Israel is a compatible picture.} The news from Nahor came after many years, evidently soon before the passing of Sarah, which opens the account of Genesis chapter 23. So at the end of the Gospel age, after many years, Israel comes back into prominence again. This happens soon before the passing of the Sarah feature of the Abrahamic Covenant which bore Christ and also bears the church. |