Abraham Offers Up Isaac

by G. Prasher, Maidstone | Category: Studies In Genesis | Jul 1973

There are two landmarks in this story: the first, Beer-sheba, where Abraham was dwelling; and the second, Moriah, to which place Abraham was sent. Beer-sheba means the well of the oath, and Moriah the vision of Jah. The wells in Palestine were mostly springs, and Beer-sheba takes our thoughts to the past eternity where God's love for man was surging in His bosom. When Isaiah heard the voice of the LORD saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?", he replied, "Here am I; send me" (6:8). This, we judge, was a faint re-echo from a remote "Beer-sheba" when God planned the great work of redemption. Because of the vastness of that work none save One from the Godhead was eligible, since He must meet the claims of divine justice on the one hand, and the need of a ruined race on the other So we judge we can hear the Son of God saying, "Here am I; send Me". Moriah, the vision of Jah, where Abraham was sent to sacrifice his son, was where God's temple was built in later years with its altar of sacrifice. Outside that city wall at the place called Calvary the Son of God was slain as He bore the penalty of our sin, and made atonement through His blood. This was all foreshadowed in the journey of Abraham and Isaac from Beer-sheba to Moriah.

God did prove Abraham

God commanded, "Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, even Isaac, 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" (Gen. 22:2). These words show how fully God had entered into the trial He was giving Abraham. It has been remarked had God only said, Take now thy son, Abraham could have replied, But he is my only son. Had God said, Take thine only son, he might have pleaded, But I love him; and had God stopped there Abraham might have continued to plead, He is my Isaac, which means laughter, my joy. But God had considered all this and so framed His command that no way of escape, or room to parry, was left.

Obedience of faith

The Psalmist says, "I made haste, and delayed not, to observe Thy commandments" (119:60), and thus it was with Abraham. He "rose early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son ... and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him". He might have thought it well to reconsider the matter, but this was not the way with Abraham the friend of God. It was enough that God had spoken. Though the task appointed him pierced his soul like a poniard, he rose early in the morning, cleaving the wood and preparing for the long journey to Moriah.

The assurance of faith

The third day brought the place of sacrifice within sight, though still afar off. Here the company was divided, the young men and the ass being left behind, while the father and the son went on together. "I and the lad will go yonder", said Abraham, "and we will worship, and come again to you". As the Lord Jesus was nearing the cross He testified, "I am not alone, because the Father is with Me" (John 16:32). And again, "He that sent Me is with Me; He hath not left Me alone" (8:29). Thus the Father and the Son were going on together. Even while being nailed to the cross the Lord Jesus could speak to His Father - and say, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34); but "darker hours of deeper woe" lay ahead, as from the sixth hour "a darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour", and the Son of God was forsaken by His God, and He cried, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?"

Resemblances and contrasts appear as we proceed with Abraham. The wood for the offering was laid on Isaac, and here we see in shadow our Saviour carrying His cross. But what a contrast! Isaac was fit and fresh and ready for the load he bore; but the prophetic word says of Christ:

"The plowers plowed upon My back;

They made long their furrows" (Psa. 129:3).

The rough heavy cross must have inflicted grievous pain, till at last, we judge, He sank beneath its weight. Abraham carried the fire and the knife - the knife to slay, the fire to consume. In the burnt offering the fire released the sweet savour of the offering.

Where is the lamb?

This question, Where is the lamb? was pressing on Isaac's mind, and as he gave expression to it it must have rent the heart of Abraham. Wisely he replied, "God will provide Himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son". Arriving at the place which God had told him of, Abraham built the altar, laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son. "And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said ... Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him; for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from Me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son".

Why was Isaac spared?

An aged friend of the writer's was seated in a caf6 in his home town at a meal. From a table nearby a Jewish acquaintance called to him, "Mr M., why was Abraham not allowed to sacrifice Isaac?" This was perhaps a rather difficult question, but he replied, "I think it was because Isaac was a sinner, like all other men". This was certainly the correct answer. Each one of us is blighted by sin. Another, a sinless Person, must die for us. This One, the Lord Jesus Christ, "gave Himself a ransom for all; the testimony to be borne in its own times" (1 Tim. 2:5,6). He is typified in the ram that was slain instead of Isaac.

The Lamb of God for sinners died,

A Victim on the tree;

He gave Himself a Sacrifice,

To set the guilty free.

Happy indeed are all who can truly say,

I seek no other argument,

I want no other plea,

It is enough that Jesus died

And rose again for me.

Jehovah-jireh

"And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh", which means, the LORD will see, or provide. Yes, though many centuries came and went, the glad morning dawned when a virgin "brought forth her firstborn Son; and she wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn". For 30 years this glorious Person moved in obscurity till the time of His manifestation to Israel. John the Baptist's testimony concerning Him was crystal clear: His own testimony lucid and forceful, yet Jew and Gentile rushed Him to the death of the cross. There the spotless Lamb of God who knew no sin was made sin for us, "that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Cor. 5:21). God had seen to this matter, the Lamb had been provided. "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Isa. 53:6).

A Substitute

The cords that had bound Isaac upon the altar were cut, and likely the same knife was used to slay the ram. Isaac would stand beside the altar and witness the ram slain in his stead. So the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ can view by faith the cross of Christ and say with the apostle Paul, "the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself up for me" (Gal. 2:20).

Beneath an eastern sky,

Amid a rabble cry,

A Man goes forth to die,

For me.

Thorn-crowned His blessed head,

Blood-stained His every tread,

Crossladen, on He sped,

For me.

Because thou hast obeyed

The obedience of Abraham in this supreme test gave God intense delight. It was proof of his faith that at the command of Jehovah he was ready to slay his son whom he loved so dearly. So God called unto him a second time saying, "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 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; because thou hast obeyed My voice". It is significant that God uses both stars and sands to express the countless numbers of Abraham's offspring. Does the sand upon the sea shore set forth the multitudes of his earthly offspring, and the stars of heaven the myriads reached and blessed through the message of the cross of Christ? So it appears to the writer.

G. Prasher, Maidstone | Jul 1973
Studies In Genesis