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“And 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” (Genesis 22:13).
You will remember that God had told Abraham to offer up his son Isaac as a burnt offering. Abraham was prepared to do this, for he knew that the Lord could raise Isaac up from the dead if necessary. But at the last minute the Lord stopped Abraham, and told him not to offer up his son. There was a ram (male sheep or goat) on the same mountain, caught in a thicket by his horns, and Abraham was able to offer the ram instead of Isaac.
Isaac is a picture to us of the Lord Jesus, who as the Son of God, was offered for our sins. But there was no substitute for the Lord Jesus; no ram could take His place. No, the blood of an animal would not do; the Lord Jesus had to bear the penalty for sin. Mount Moriah, where all this took place, was where Solomon’s temple was eventually built, and not far from where the Lord Jesus was crucified.
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