Genesis 22
After Isaac had grown, one night God tried Abraham’s faith. God said to him, “Abraham,” and he said, “Here I am.” God said, “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.” Abraham was very rich, and Isaac was the heir of everything. God had promised that Abraham’s children would spread over the whole land where he lived, so all his hope was put on Isaac alone. After all, could Abraham trust and obey God in this one thing or not? Yes, even so, he obeyed God, and rose up early in the morning, saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and the wood for the burnt offering, and went to the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham said to his young men, “Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.” How do you think Abraham knew that he would come back with Isaac? Because he believed that God could raise Isaac his son from the dead. So Abraham took the wood and laid it on Isaac: just as God’s beloved Son bore that heavy wooden cross. And Abraham took the fire in his hand, and a knife and they went, both of them together. And Isaac spoke to his father and said, “My father.” And Abraham said, “Here am I, my son.” Isaac said, “Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering.” And when they came to the place which God had told him of, Abraham built an altar, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son. Suddenly the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham.” He answered, “Here I am.” The angel 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.” How glad Abraham was! Soon he set his son free. Then he saw a ram caught in the bushes by his horns, and Abraham took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. Afterward Abraham called the name of the place Jehovah-jireh, that is, the Lord will provide; for God provided a burnt offering for Himself instead of Isaac. So Abraham returned to his young men with Isaac, and they went home together.
Because Abraham obeyed God and offered his son Isaac, God was greatly pleased. God promised to give him great blessing, and all the nations of the earth should be blessed in his seed. This has been fulfilled because the only hope of the whole world is the Seed of Abraham—that “Seed” is the Lord Jesus Christ whom God “spared not, but delivered Him up for us all” (Rom. 8:3232He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? (Romans 8:32)). Thus we see in Abraham and Isaac a beautiful picture of God the Father and His Only Begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the spotless Victim, the perfect Sacrifice, who bore our sins in His own body on the cross and put them forever out of God’s sight. Will you accept Him as your Saviour?
“God spared the son that Abraham offered: but He would not spare His Own.”