Isaac on the Mountain

From: Messages of God's Love: 1936

Genesis 22:1-20¹And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. ²And he 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. ³And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. ⁴Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. ⁵And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. ⁶And 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. ⁷And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? ⁸And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. ⁹And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. ¹⁰And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. ¹¹And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. ¹²And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. ¹³And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a 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. ¹⁴And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen. ¹⁵And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, ¹⁶And 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: ¹⁷That 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; ¹⁸And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. ¹⁹So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beer-sheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beer-sheba. ²⁰And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she hath also born children unto thy brother Nahor; (Genesis 22:1‑20)

Once Isaac went with his father, Abraham, to a mountain far from their tents. They rode together on a donkey for three days. Then Abraham told the servants to keep the animal, and he and Isaac walked on alone. The boy carried a bundle of wood; his father a knife and the coals for a fire. They were going for a strange, sad reason. God had told Abraham to give his boy for a sacrifice. Abraham loved Isaac dearly, but he knew God’s wisdom and power, and trusted that God would raise Isaac alive again, because of His promise to make of Isaac a great nation.

While they were climbing up the mountain, Isaac asked, “Where is the lamb for the offering?” His father said, “God will provide Himself a lamb.” When they reached the place, Abraham made an altar, laid on the wood, bound Isaac, and put him upon it. So all was ready for the sorrowful act of slaying the boy, when quickly a voice from heaven called Abraham’s name, telling him not to hurt the boy. For he had proved he was willing to give him to God. Then, as Abraham looked about him, he saw a wild goat, a rani, caught by its horns in the bushes. He took that to offer instead of Isaac, and praised God. Then they went back to the servants and all returned to their tents. The Lord never again asked anyone to sacrifice a child, and any who did so were disobedient to Him.

On this mountain, many years after this, God gave His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die. No voice called to spare Him, but God raised Him from death to live for evermore.

ML 08/02/1936

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