They turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 22. Genesis chapter 22, a passage that we have considered in the past, but one instructive for our appreciation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Genesis chapter 22, you'll remember, is the event, the specific incident where Abraham is called to offer up Isaac. Make some observations on the text and then look at some of the typology that is in the text.
A type is something, a picture, a message that is prefigurement. And the things that we find here are fulfilled later on. The typology is fulfilled later on in the person and work of the Lord Jesus. I'll just pick up reading in Genesis 22, beginning in verse 1.
It came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, and he said, Here I am. Then he said, Take now your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. 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.
Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said to his young men, Stay here with the donkey. The lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you. So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac, his son.
And he took the fire in his hand and a knife, and the two of them went together. But Isaac spoke to Abraham, his father, and said, My father. And he said, Here I am, my son. Then he said, Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
And Abraham said, My son, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering. So the two of them went together. Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order.
And he bound Isaac, his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. So he said, Here I am.
And he said, Do not lay your hand on the lad. or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me." Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his and Abraham called the name of the place. The Lord will provide, as it is said to this day in the mount of the Lord, it shall be provided. Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven and said, by myself, I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son Blessing, I will bless you and multiplying.
I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies in your seed. All the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed my voice. So Abraham returned to his young men and they rose and went together to Beersheba and Abraham dwelled at Beersheba. Well, let us pray.
Our Father, we thank You for the Holy Scripture and for this account. We thank You for what it teaches us concerning sacrifice, concerning Your work on behalf of sinners. And I pray that we would come away from this passage with a fresh appreciation of the fact that God took His Son, His only Son, and sent Him into this world to die for us and to rise again. We just praise you now, we ask that you would bless our study together and bless us as we participate in the Lord's Supper.
And we pray through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
Introduction
Well, as we approach this particular narrative, I want to break it up into three sections. The first, the presentation of the test. Secondly, the obedience of Abraham. And thirdly, the approval of God.
We'll get right to it.
The Presentation of the Test
Notice, first of all, with reference to the presentation of the test.
The Test Announced
Verse one, it says, Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham. The author alerts us, as the reader, to the fact that God is not really asking for human sacrifice. This is something the pagans practice, this is something the false religions practice, and if we didn't have this particular statement, it might perplex us. But we're told at the outset that this is designed as a test given to Abraham.
But something we need to remember is that Abraham didn't have Genesis chapter 22 verse 1. As far as he was concerned, this was not a test. As far as he was concerned, God was calling him once again to act upon his faith. You'll remember that in Genesis chapter 12, the original call, Abraham was to leave Ur of the Chaldeans.
This was his home. This is where he resided. This was the people that he knew. This was everything to him.
And yet God says, come out of that land and go into this other nation. And Abraham obeys God. Abraham does what he's told to do. In Genesis chapter 21, we see Abraham is grieved over having to see Ishmael sent away.
Remember that Abraham pleaded with God that Ishmael would be the child of promise. And God said, no, it's going to be an Isaac that the promise is carried through. And then Abraham had to get to that place where Ishmael was sent away. I mean, we think about Father Abraham, we think about his faith, we think about the fact that he is a great example in that regard.
But look at what he's undergoing as a man of God. Faith does not remove difficulty. Faith in the risen Savior does not mean a life of ease and simplicity. In fact, more often than not, when we come to Christ, we have challenges and struggles and trials that before that we knew nothing of.
Jesus, the Holy Spirit, comes upon him powerfully at his baptism, and the very next scene, after the father says, This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased, that self-same spirit drives Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil for forty days. You ought not to consider it a strange thing when difficulties come upon you. You ought not to consider it a strange thing when there are challenges and trials in your life. In fact, the Master promised in John 16, verse 33, he said, In this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.
As one commentator says, this scene, Genesis 22, presents the radical nature of true faith. Tremendous demands and incredible blessings that in some in substance is what the Christian life is all about. So it is a test presented to Abraham.
The Land of Moriah
Notice. Secondly, the location. Verse two. Then he said, Take now your son, your only son, Isaac.
Now, readers of the New Testament ought to pick up this convention. God sent his only begotten son, or his one and only son. That's the emphasis in the narrative. Of course Abraham had Ishmael.
Of course Abraham had an additional son. But this speaks of his prestige. It speaks of his It speaks of that special bond between Abraham and Isaac. God highlights this reality several times in the narrative that this is your son, your only son, whom you love.
And it says in verse two, go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. Now, Moriah was the place, or the location, of the threshing floor of Aaronah, the Jebusite, where David built an altar in 2 Samuel, chapter 24. But additionally, according to 2 Chronicles 3, Moriah was the location of the temple. That is where they were to construct the temple, to build that place where God and sinners would meet together, to build that place where the sacrificial system would be carried out.
You're supposed to read this narrative. You're supposed to read Genesis 22 and appreciate the fact that God is laying the groundwork for the sacrificial system to follow. which ultimately culminates in the doing and the dying of our Lord Jesus Christ. You should see Jesus in Genesis chapter 22.
The Object: Isaac, the Only Son
So, we've seen the test, the land. Notice the object. I've already referenced this. Take now your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love.
Go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. Isaac was the son of promise. Isaac was the one whom God said, in your old age, you're going to have a son. I mean, again, just think about the life of Abraham up to this point.
He certainly wouldn't be a proponent of the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel. He wouldn't listen favorably to Benny Hinn telling him that he should have, you know, a gold-colored Rolls Royce. He should have an endless supply in his bank account. Abraham, the father of the faithful, had a very difficult life, and in this particular instance, he is being told to take the son he loves and to put a knife into his chest cavity.
Now, probably Isaac was late teens at this particular time. Certainly enough time for that attraction and that bond and that love to grow and to nurture. Only son is repeated three times in the narrative. Son is repeated about ten times. throughout these verses.
Again, what's the author doing but setting before us the great test that faces Abraham? I mean, this is something that you and I, thankfully, will never be called to engage in. The emphasis is inescapable. Abraham faces a monumental test in this particular incident.
The Obedience of Abraham
Now, let's move on, secondly, to the obedience of Abraham. He prepares, verse 3, 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. There's no discussion here.
There's something you need to take note of as well. When God says He's going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because of their sinfulness, what does Abraham do? Abraham says, Lord, can I just present you with an idea? If there's fifty righteous, will you spare the land?
And they go back and forth on that all the way down to about ten or five people. Abraham asks the question of God. God doesn't cast him off. God doesn't say, you vile wretch, get away from me.
And then again, with reference to the statement that Abraham would indeed have a son in his old age, Abraham feels the ability to say to God, how about Ishmael? Let him be the son of promise. And God says no. Maybe by this point, Abraham stopped thinking he could ask God to stop his ways.
He just does what the Lord tells him. He just acts. This is what faith is all about, brethren. You may not understand everything at the particular time.
It may not all make sense to you at the particular time, but when God calls you to act, you do what he says. I remember that illustration that Glenn Penner gave when he was here many, many years ago. He held up a piece of a puzzle. He says, very often in our Christian life, and he's speaking specifically about persecution of Christians and of the church.
He says, very often in our Christian lives, this is all we see is the piece of a puzzle. God has the whole thing put together. God sees the end from the beginning. God has decreed everything.
He is sovereign. Nothing catches Him by surprise. We need to trust in that and rest in Him, and we need to act in obedience to the commands that He gives to us. He doesn't discuss it.
He simply obeys. He saddles His donkey. He takes His two servants and Isaac, and then He splits the wood for the offering. It's interesting about these two servants.
They're introduced here. You know what their job is? Wait here. That's the only reason these men are in the narrative.
He takes them and then when he and Isaac ascend to Moriah, he tells the two servants, wait here, the lad and I will return. Again, I think what the author is highlighting, what Moses is doing for us is to show us the isolation. The solitariness, the aloneness of Abraham with his God, in obedience, walking by faith in the unseen God.
The Three-Day Journey
Notice the journey, verses four and five. It says, then on the third day, Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place of far off. And Abraham said to his young men, stay here with the donkey. The lad and I will go yonder and worship and we will come back to you.
It's a three day journey. Do you think Abraham's thinking in these three days? Wow, this is going to be great. It's going to be awesome.
You're going to have a worship experience. It's going to be like no other event in my life. Three day journey with the knowledge that the knife you're carrying is going to have to be driven into your son, your only son, the one that you love. It's horrendous.
John Calvin makes this comment. He says, For God does not require him to put his son immediately to death, but compels him to revolve this execution in his mind during three whole days, that in preparing himself to sacrifice his son, he may still more severely torture all his own senses. Again, it's not as if God's playing some sick joke upon him. It is designed to test Abraham.
It is with our knowledge that he is carrying this out. We need to just marvel at what faith looks like in the servant of God Most High. He says, stay here. Again, this highlights the isolation of Abraham.
A commentator says, the servants are brought along to be left behind. Please don't miss details when you're reading your Bible. I think sometimes we read it, we get the data, we get the main gist, and then we move on. That's not the way you're supposed to read the Old Testament.
You're supposed to stop. You're supposed to focus. You're supposed to think. You're supposed to engage your mind.
You're supposed to ponder, why is it that these servants are told, stay here? This man says this is their function, a very strange one in any narrative. Characters who are introduced solely in order to take no part in it. It compounds our sense of Abraham's isolation.
Abraham must leave everything behind. His lonely journey up that mountain symbolizes the lonely, lonely journey of faith to the place of sacrifice. When you go through trials and difficulties as a Christian, come to Genesis 22. And we often like to read Job.
Job is a great book to teach us what faith looks like in the midst of trial and adversity. But Genesis 22 is right there as well. Feed your soul, nurture yourself, realize that sometimes the servants of God are pressed to the very end. God is still faithful unto them.
Notice how he says the lad. He refers to him as the lad in this particular instance. I wonder if he's trying to disassociate it. I don't want to get too psychological or mumbo-jumbo here, but I've noticed a trend.
When my kids are going to move out, I have this nesting desire. I don't want them to leave. Sometimes I can almost get mad at that. Why is that?
I'm detaching myself. I'm not trying to get all Jim Butler and the weirdness that is him here. I think this is interesting. The lad.
The narrative is riddled with son, except when Abraham speaks, he says, the lab. He's putting some distance between him and his son, his only son, the one he loves. He's going to have to execute his son. It's heavy stuff that we're witnessing in this narrative.
I want you to get something of it, because when God stops him from carrying through, we should think of Calvary. Bob doesn't stop himself when he sends the knife into the bosom of his only begotten son. You're supposed to see through Abraham to the God of Abraham who carries this out, who takes his son, his only son, up to Moriah and finishes the very job. That's what's going on here.
Notice his faith. We will come back. He doesn't say I will come back. He says we will come back.
I don't think it's because Abraham has this idea, once I get to the top of Mount Moriah, I'm going to cut him loose and we're going to run. We're going to make a run for it. No, the book of Hebrews informs us why Abraham does this. It says that he concluded that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.
Abraham tells these two servants, wait here, the lad and I are going up, we will come back. Abraham, at this particular instance, realized that even if he buries the knife into the son, the one that he loves, God is able to raise him from the dead. This is faith, brethren. This is amazing faith.
The Sacrifice Itself
Notice the sacrifice itself, very specifically, verses six to ten. Preparation. So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac, his son, and he took the fire in his hand and a knife, and the two of them went together. But Isaac spoke to Abraham, his father, and said, My father." Now, Isaac, again, if we put him, some commentators put him as young as thirteen, others put him at age twenty, probably late teens.
He wasn't a fool. He understood sacrifice. We've got the wood, Father, and we've got the fire, but where's the actual animal? What have we taken up there to Moriah?
What is it that we're going to engage in, in terms of sacrifice? The two of them went together. And then notice, Abraham seizes upon this opportunity to teach him theology. It's a good father here, this is Deuteronomy 6, when you rise up, when you walk by the way, when you go up Mount Moriah, when you're on the way to execute your own son.
Use those opportunities to teach your son about God. Use those opportunities to teach your son about substitutionary atonement. Use those opportunities to teach your son about the sacrificial system. This is precisely what Abraham does.
Verse 8, Abraham says, my son, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering. Beautiful statement. Again, read in terms of John, read in terms of the gospel, read in terms of the fact that Abraham is making a theological statement of significant import at this particular juncture in redemptive history. Isn't this what the rest of the Bible is about?
God providing for himself the lamb for an offering. Isn't that the message of Holy Scripture through and through? And here, on the way up to Moriah, he is theologizing. Wenham, a commentator, says to Isaac, it must have sounded like evasion.
God will provide for himself a sacrifice. Isaac's probably thinking, you didn't really answer my question. But he said nothing and went on up the mountain. The two of them went together.
We are forced to conclude that he was naive and totally trusted his father or that he now realized what was planned. Yet he continued on up the mountain with his father. Either way, he was a perfect, blameless, sacrificial victim. Isaac fit the particular bill at this instance.
And then Abraham's response. From Abraham's perspective, it's his faith. The Lord will provide. God will send one.
Again, a commentator, John Sailhammer, says, Abraham's words cast a new light on his silence. Amid the anguish that the reader has read into Abraham's silence, there is now also a silent confidence in the Lord who will provide. Abraham's words should not be understood as merely an attempt to calm the curious Isaac. But in light of the fact that they anticipate the actual outcome of the narrative, they are to be read as a confident expression of his trust in God.
He's not panicking. He's not freaking out. He's not saying, why is God always do these things to me? I think about it.
The three big things that we've already seen in Abraham's life and that we've seen up to this point, when God pushed him. Not in a bad way. God is testing, God is moving him, God is forming him, conforming him into the man that he would be. Abraham deals.
He doesn't whine. He doesn't cry. How many times when we go through trials or difficulties, and again, I don't want to get all psychological here, but how many times do we bear up like Abraham? He's not there in Romans 4 and in James 2 and Hebrews 11, just for, you know, wow, theological reflection on what justification by faith alone is.
That is primary. That is paramount. But we also need to identify with what the life of faith looks like. He was pressed and he believed God.
And then notice thirdly, or with reference to the actual sacrifice, the act of verses 9 and 10. Then they came to the place of which God had told them, and Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order. And he bound Isaac, his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son." You and I have never been called to this.
Ever. I mean, God may call us, or we may read our Bibles, we may get convicted. You know, I need to be a better witness here. I need to repent of this particular sin there.
I need to be a little more consistent in my Christian life right there. This is amazing. What's going through the head of a man like this, who's laying out the altar where he's going to sacrifice his son, where he's going to take a knife and he's going to put it into his chest? This is a man that believes God.
This is a man who trusts in the Father. This is a man that we need to look at in terms of our own Christian life.
The Approval of God
Verse 11 brings us thirdly and finally to the approval of God. The approval of God. Notice the angel's announcement in verse 11. The angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham.
So he said, here I am. And he said, Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him. For now, I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son from me. Praise God Almighty that Abraham was rejoicing, singing praise unto his father.
What a glorious statement concerning not only Abraham's faith, but God's faithfulness. You may be tried, you may have difficulty, you may be sorely best impressed, but God will never give you something that you cannot handle. Now I know that you fear God. We know, of course, that James references this particular instance in James chapter two.
Sometimes readers get a little backwards when they read James chapter two. And they think that he was justified by words in terms of his acceptance with God. James's point is simply this. Genesis 15, Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
Genesis 22 was the fruit. Genesis 22 was the evidence. Genesis 22 was the confirming acts that demonstrated to others that he had a genuine saving faith in the Lord God Most High. And then notice, verse 13, that Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns.
So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. You see the language of substitution there, instead of his son. This is consistent with what Abraham's already told Isaac, the Lord will provide. We have the wood, we have the fire.
God will provide the perfect sacrifice that he will give us in this particular instance. He names the place Jehovah-Jireh or Yahweh-Yireh. This means the Lord will provide. As it is said to this day, in the mouth of the Lord it shall be provided.
And then God reconfirms His promise, land, seed, and blessing. These things were promised to Abraham in Genesis 12, 13, 15, 17, and 18. And ultimately, based on the data we receive in the New Testament, these promises are secured, not first and foremost because of Abraham, but because of the seed of Abraham, which is Jesus Christ our Lord.
Lessons from the Narrative
Well, that's a brief recount of the narrative Let's look at some of the lessons that we learned.
The Faith of Abraham
First, the faith of Abraham. We've touched on this, but it bears repeating. We can rest assured we'll never be called upon to put a knife in our children. That much I can confirm, beyond a shadow of a doubt.
I am a cessationist after all. I do not believe in new revelation. Believe with John Owen that if private revelations agree with Scripture, they are useless. If they disagree, they're blasphemous.
We've got the written and revealed will of God, the written and revealed Word of God. We aren't supposed to be looking for new data. So, he's not going to call you to take your son, your only son, the one whom you love, up to Mount Shem and sacrifice him for the Lord. That's not going to happen.
Now, there may be trials that God has for you. There may be challenges that God has for you. There may be difficulties that God has for you. There may be issues that you would choose not to deal with that God has for you.
We need to go to Abraham. It's a wonderful exemplar of what living faith looks like in terms of great challenges. Abraham persevered. Abraham soldiered on.
That three-day journey with Abraham and Isaac and the two servants must have been soul torment for that man. When he finally gets to Moriah and he's just there with Isaac and he's preparing the altar for the sacrifice, what is going through his mind? It is only the steadying influence of the sovereignty and the supremacy of God that will quiet the soul in that season of distress. Sovereignty is absolutely crucial.
Without it, we perish, because God can't save us. But without it, we're wrecks, because we live in a world of chance, where anything can happen. But the biblical student realizes that can't be the case. They sing with the hymn writer in Number 94 in the Trinity Hymnal, whate'er my God ordains is right.
They realize, with William Cooper, that God moves in a mysterious way. They realize, with the saints of old, that not everything in the Christian life is always rosy, is always happy, is always peppy, and is always full of joy. All those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. You will have the world to deal with.
You will have the devil to deal with. You will have your own remaining corruption to deal with. I have yet to find anybody in the Christian life who's been at it for any amount of time who hasn't had trials, who hasn't had difficulties, who hasn't had problems. It's just the way it is.
It is part and parcel. Now, by saying that, I'm not suggesting that only every moment of the Christian life is misery continually. I don't believe that at all. But what we learn from Abraham is that when called upon by God through the written word to do those things that he has ordained, we do it.
We trust him. We believe him. When we falter, when we sin, we confess it. We forsake it.
We seek fresh mercy in the Lord Jesus. But we keep soldiering on. We keep persevering because our God is faithful. The one who has promised is not going to abandon us.
He has promised in the context of physical temporal benefit. I will never leave you nor forsake you. Certainly in the realm of spiritual and eternal benefit, he will never leave us nor forsake us.
The Promise of God Is Good
Secondly, We need to realize that the promise of God is good. He promises him land, seed and blessing. God fulfills that God swears by his own name. Book of Hebrews highlights this reality for us in Hebrews chapter six.
It's a beautiful statement concerning God's dealings with Abraham in Hebrews six, beginning in verse 13. It says, for when God made a promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no one greater, he swore by himself. It's amazing. That God should bind himself by an oath is a reflection, not on divine credibility, but on our depravity.
God swears and confirms oaths for us, for our feeble faith. For our little faith, notice, saying, Surely, blessing, I will bless you, and multiplying, I will multiply you. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men, indeed, swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute.
Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel. That means the unchangeability of his counsel. Confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the presence behind the veil where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become high priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.
Interesting about the anchor there. Early Christian inscriptions were anchors. Anchors. Not that they were all naval officers or seamen, as they called them.
The anchor, based on Hebrews 6. This was found all over ancient ruins. The anchor. Yeah, you'd find a cross occasionally.
You'd find what we call the Jesus fish occasionally. Do you know what you found the most? Was an anchor. That was a Christian symbol, the anchor based on Hebrews six.
God, who cannot lie, God, who swears an oath by himself. He has promised to save us through Jesus Christ. It's going to happen. And when we come to the bread and the wine, this is the extent, this is the lengths to which the father went to save us from our sins.
We have an anchor for our soul. Notice, sure and steadfast, which enters the presence behind the veil, where Jesus, the forerunner, has entered for us. God's promise is yea and amen. God's promise to Abraham, according to Galatians chapter 3, we won't develop that tonight, but it is in and through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Galatians 3.29 says, those who believe on Christ Jesus are the sons of Abraham. Gentiles, physical Gentiles, who believe the promise of Christ, the gospel of Jesus Christ, are spiritually Abraham's sons.
The Typology of the Passage
And then thirdly and finally, the typology of the passage. As I mentioned, there are several things in this passage that flesh out later in redemptive history. The event itself is a type. The event itself points to the three days journey into the wilderness made by Israel to engage in tabernacle worship.
The event itself foreshadows that sacrificial system that would be in place through the Levitical priesthood. The event pointed to the fulfillment, ultimately, of the sacrificial system, Calvary. That's why we can preach the gospel from Genesis chapter 22.
Abraham as Type of God the Father
Secondly, Abraham typifies God the Father. God the Father and Abraham the Father both offered up their sons, their only sons, the one whom they loved. You can't miss that. I mean, you may be a real dullard and miss that, but I hope you don't.
You've got to see God in this passage, brethren. You've got to see the Lord Jehovah. You've got to see that he, in fact, provides and he provides his son, his only son, the son whom he loves. Both Abraham and God the Father parted with their sons in order to bless the nations.
I mean, isn't this what God said to Abraham? In you all the nations of the earth will be blessed. So when he's called to sacrifice Isaac on Moriah, he thinks this is part of the game, not game. He thinks that this is part of the fulfillment of this particular venture, that in him all the nations would be blessed.
By game, I didn't mean game. I meant, I was looking for the word, the situation. So don't think, I think this is a game. But notice, thirdly, that only God the Father carries through with the sacrifice.
You see, when Jesus was hung on the cross, no angel came down out of heaven. No angel stopped those Roman soldiers. No angel stopped those religious leaders who were taunting Christ, who said he saved others, let him save himself. No angel came on that day.
No angel stopped this tragic event. God indeed took the knife and plunged it into the son of his love. Isaiah the prophet tells us it pleased the Lord Jehovah to crush him, putting him to grief. Yes, godless man crucified the Lord Jesus, but it happened according to the predetermined plan of God.
The father sends the son. The son willingly submits himself to the father. The son goes to the uttermost in order to fulfill the covenant of redemption. The father carries out this act of execution.
Paul the Apostle records it this way in Romans 8.32. He says, He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
Isaac as Type of God the Son
Thirdly, Isaac typifies God the Son. Can't miss that. Isaac is the willing victim. Isaac's soldier's on as well.
If for three days Abraham's mind was in torment, what do you think Isaac's thinking? Certainly he doesn't have all the information, he doesn't have all the data, but something isn't right here. Things aren't normal here. Things don't jive like they have in the past.
Jesus Christ is God's only son, the son of his love. He willingly goes. He soldiers on. He says throughout his earthly ministry, my meat is to do the will of him who sent me.
He knew what the will of the Father was. He knew it wasn't simply to be an exemplar of a new religion. He knew it wasn't simply to be an all-around great guy and an excellent Bible teacher. He knew that he came to die at Calvary at the hands of lawless men, and he carried on.
In fact, his last time going into Jerusalem, the scripture says, he set his face like a flint. He couldn't be deflected. He couldn't be turned back. He said, I must go to Jerusalem.
I must be tried. I must be delivered up. I must be crucified and raised on the third day. Jesus Christ, his son, bore his cross en route to Calvary in order to be sacrificed.
John's Gospel makes that very clear. There's no Simon the Cyrean to help him with the cross. It is Jesus and Jesus alone. The same thing we see here with Isaac.
Isaac is carrying the wood upon which he'll be laid in execution. Jesus Christ, however, was actually sacrificed. No angel stayed the hand. No angel stopped the event.
No angel intervened or interposed. But Christ was pressed to the point where he said, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Don't miss this in Genesis 22. And finally, there's one other type in the passage.
What's the other type?
The Ram as Type of Christ
That ram caught in the thicket, isn't it? It's that ram caught in the thicket. Verse 8, Abraham states that God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering. Verse 13, Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns.
So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering and loved the language of substitution instead of his son. You get those words down and Calvary makes perfect sense. You know what Calvary is all about? Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
Christ is on that cross instead of his people. Christ is on that cross instead of sinners. Christ is on that cross instead of the elect of God. All those whom the Father chose, all those whom the Father gave to Him, all those for whom Jesus died.
It is substitutionary curse bearing that Genesis 22 preaches. And we know that that is fulfilled and realized in the antitype, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Behold, John the Baptist said, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. I hope you see Jesus in Genesis 22.
I hope you see Jesus throughout the Old Testament. I hope you see it as a book of anticipation, a book of promise, a book of foreshadowing, a book that is indicating what's going to happen when Jesus comes in the fullness of the times. Brethren, read your Old Testament as a Christian. Read your Old Testament as a believer in Jesus Christ.
Read your Old Testament as a brother to Abraham. Read your Old Testament as one who realizes that Christ is the Savior of sinners. Genesis 22 is about Jesus. Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for this account involving Abraham and Isaac. We thank you for what it teaches us concerning sacrifice. concerning substitution. We thank you, Lord, that you have indeed provided the Lamb of God, that you have provided the sacrifice at Calvary instead of, or the one instead of the elect.
We just praise you. We give you glory and honor and thanksgiving. God, truly, these things humble us. I pray they would cause us to worship and to praise and to honor and adore.
And we just ask this now in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.