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1 Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." 2 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." 3 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. 4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off." ~ Genesis 22:1-4
Today, we transition into Genesis 22 where Abraham, as we have seen, has consistently demonstrated his faith in the God of the Bible even though he struggled at doing so. Today, we will see Abraham’s faith put to the test yet again. Today's narrative took place about twenty years after the events of Genesis 21.
In v.1-2 of today's passage we read, "1 Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, 'Abraham!' And he said, 'Here I am.' 2 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.'"
Everything that has happened to Abraham since his call in Genesis 12 has led to the events of this chapter. In the development of his faith, four times Abraham has had to set aside something to gain something greater. The first was when he was called out of the land of idolatry into the land of promise. The next was when he separated from his nephew Lot. The third was when he had to see Sarah's handmaiden and his son Ishmael out the door. The fourth is found in today's passage where Abraham was issued his greatest trial, the one which will establish him, for all times, as the Bible’s premier example of a man of faith.
In v.1 we read "after these things." That is after Abraham had entered into a covenant with Abimelech King of Gerar. It was after this that God tested Abraham's faith yet again. I find it most instructive that Abraham, at this point, had gained an audience. There were those like Abimelech who were watching the unfolding of Abraham's personal relationship with God. The Hebrew word translated "tested" here in v.1 means to "prove." This incident was a moment when God would prove Abraham's faith to all who were watching. This moment would yield the true allegiance of the heart of Abraham for it was the preciousness of Isaac to Abraham that precipitating this test. This allegiance was the product of all of the previous trials that Abraham had faced to this point.
God directed Abraham to take his son, Isaac, to Mt. Moriah and sacrifice him on an altar there. The phrase, "whom you love" points our attention to Abraham’s highest love. This is the first time in the Bible that the word "love" appears in the Bible. It speaks a father's love for his son. Abraham surely loved Sarah and he loved Ishmael too, but the love of Abraham for Isaac was the highest love of his soul.
Tim Keller once said, “This was the ultimate test (for Abraham) because Isaac was now everything to Abraham. Abraham’s affection had become adoration. God was not saying (to Abraham) that you cannot love your son, but that you must not turn a loved one into a counterfeit god.” This is why God commanded Abraham to take his son to "Moriah" which means "Chosen by YHWH."
The burnt offering included first the cutting of the throat of the sacrifice, then the inside organs were removed and washed, and then the flesh was cut up in quarters. After that, the pieces were to be placed in order on the fire to be burnt to ashes. Highlighting the sacrifice was the fact that Mt. Moriah was not only the spot where the temple stood, it was also the mountain where God’s only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ would be crucified. When the Lord Jesus was crucified, it is important to note that at that moment, the veil in the Temple was torn as is recorded in Matthew's Gospel. As the Lord Jesus passed through the veil, He presented His blood as the fulfillment of all of the offerings which had prefigured His work on the cross. When His blood was presented before God, it made it possible for fallen man to be restored to the holy God.
In v.3-4 of today's passage we read, "3 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. 4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off."
The fact that Abraham was going through with God's command proves that Isaac was to already dead to him. Though the action hadn’t come yet, the state of mind had. At this point Abraham was probably numb from the contemplation of what was directed, but in complete obedience to God, the account says he "rose early in the morning."
Isaac rode a donkey next to his father and in so doing we see the unfolding of the picture of the coming Christ revealed in Zechariah 9:9 which reads, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey."
Just as Isaac’s sacrifice was to prefigure the Lord Jesus’ death, so Isaac’s ride on the donkey prefigured the Lord Jesus’ triumphal ride into Jerusalem. Before that donkey ride for Isaac, Abraham split wood for the sacrifice. Here we have another picture of the coming Messiah. Though he had a thousand or more people in his camp, Abraham split the wood. In the same way, God, the Creator, prepared the way for His Son. He used a portion of His own creation, a tree, in the sacrifice of His Son. The work of Abraham prefigured that great act and the personal responsibility it foreshadowed. And so off they traveled from Beersheba to the spot where history itself began, climaxed, and will continue into eternity, Mt. Moriah at Jerusalem.
It’s about a 45 mile trip from Beersheba to Jerusalem and it took Abraham two days to make it. Although we won’t come to the end of the story today, those two days once again prefigured the time from the Lord Jesus’ crucifixion to His resurrection. Isaac’s death occurred, to Abraham, the moment he was told to sacrifice him. They arrived at the mountain to accomplish their mission on the third day. The same was true for the Lord Jesus, who ascended the hill on Friday and was resurrected on the third day.
This phrase "on the third day" is found throughout the Old Testament. Israel was called to Mount Sinai on the third day in Exodus 19:16. In Joshua 3:2, Joshua led Israel across the Jordan River on the third day. In 2 Kings 20:5-6, King Hezekiah was healed from his sickness on the third day. In Esther 5:1, Esther asked the people to pray and fast and then on the third day she went before the king to intercede for the life of the people.
According to 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, "Christ died for our sins, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures." The Lord Jesus was raised from the dead on the third day, not in fulfillment of a particular text, but in accordance with a pattern of events in the Old Testament. There are many other "third days" mentioned in the Bible, but one in particular needs to be addressed in conjunction with both the binding of Isaac and the resurrection of Christ and it points to the return of Christ.
In Hosea 6:1-3 we read, "Come, and let us return to the Lord; For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. 2 After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight. 3 Let us know, Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, Like the latter and former rain to the earth."
This prophecy of Hosea then tells us that the Jewish nation will, after a period of two thousand years, be revived. This has happened, exactly as prophesied. It also says that they will return to the Lord at this time and be raised up on the third day. In other words, it will be the fulfillment of Jesus’ own words when He said that He will return to Israel when they call on Him as Lord, at the dawning of the third millennium from their exile. We are right at that point in history now. As a confirmation of that, Hosea 6:3 says "He will come to them like the latter and the former rain." The rain cycle in the land of Israel was disrupted for the past 2000 years and only now that Israel is back in the land and has repopulated the forests have the two rains returned.
James 5 spoke about this time in history when he wrote, "Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. 8 You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand."
