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5 And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.” 6 So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. 7 But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, "My father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." Then he said, "Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" 8 And Abraham said, "My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering." So the two of them went together. ~ Genesis 22:5-8
Today, we continue in our study of Genesis 22 where God has ordered Abraham to take his son, Isaac, up Mt. Moriah the very place where Solomon built the Temple. It was also on Mt Moriah that the Lord Jesus Christ was offered up as a sacrifice for our sin. At this point in the narrative, about twenty years have elapsed between Genesis 21 and 22. We last saw Abraham in a tent by the well of Beersheba in the wilderness with his son Isaac. There he built an altar and worshiped God. For twenty years of blessing and happiness, Isaac had been the delight of his parents' hearts. True to his name, he had brought laughter into their lives. Out of nowhere and suddenly like a thunderbolt from the sky came the word from the Lord for Abraham to sacrifice this son whom he loved most dearly.
In v.5 of today's passage we read, "And Abraham said to his young men, 'Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.'"
The faith of Abraham in the God of the Bible was yet again confirmed here when he said to his servants that he and Isaac would both return to them, even though God had told him to offer up Isaac as a burnt offering. Abraham, after all these years of walking with God, was convinced that the two of them would return to the servants who had remained at the foot of the mountain. According to Hebrews 11:19, Abraham had concluded that even if Isaac died, he would be raised from the dead.
Abraham stood on the promise that God had long made to him in Genesis 17:19 and in Genesis 21:12. God had promised that Isaac would live and have descendants, but at this point in Isaac’s life he wasn’t even married, much less a father. No matter what Abraham did to Isaac, he knew he would live because Abraham had been convinced of the righteousness of God through the many years that he had walked with God. This kind of faith does not come about over night; It takes years of heartache, confusion, death to the self-life, and the revelation of God.
In v.6 of today's passage we read, "So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together."
The first time that the words "love" and "worship" appear in the Bible is right here in this chapter. This observation underscores the principle that what we love we worship and what we worship we love. These two words also bring attention to the fact that the first time the word love is used in the Bible reminds us of the Father's love for His Son. In Genesis 24, we will see that the second time the word love is used is of the Son's love for His bride.
The wood represented both the cross of the Lord Jesus and our sin. In Isaiah 53 we learn that God placed our sin on the Lord Jesus. It was the heaviest burden He carried up that hill, much heavier than that of Abraham. And the wood was the fuel for the fire of God’s wrath upon our sin. God’s wrath is the absence of His love. God's wrath is what we meet when we have been cast out of His presence. Our sin has either been mitigated through the crucifixion of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, or it will be the object of the very wrath of God in the end.
The fire and the knife that was carried by Abraham up that mountain was also represented in Isaiah 53 where we read, "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand."
This plan, the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, was set in motion at the foundation of the world according to the book of Revelation and it was the Father who determined it would be accomplished. What Abraham prefigured here is the greatest act in all of history. God the Father pouring out all of His wrath for the sin of all mankind on His own Son.
In v.7-8 of today's passage we read, "7 But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, 'My father!' And he said, 'Here I am, my son.' Then he said, 'Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?' 8 And Abraham said, 'My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering." So the two of them went together.'"
God's ways with us are such that it often seems as though His deliverance will never be realized by us. But, as we move forward in our walk with Him, when we get to the mountain, His deliverance will be provided. Man's disappointments are God's appointments. It is never too late for God. Even if Abraham had to carry the bloody business through to its very end, nevertheless, his father's heart was quiet in restful peace because he knew God would raise his son from the dead.
Isaac asked the obvious question and Abraham knew the correct answer because he had seen and experienced for himself, God and His power firsthand. For Abraham, the price for these types of experiences with God had been very great. It had to be that way because it is only in utter darkness do we see the very heart of God the best. As Isaac stood before his daddy, Abraham was reminded that God is true to His promise. In his mind, Abraham knew that Isaac was to be the burnt offering. So often in our walk with the Lord we are frightened by the possibilities that God has in store for us. We, in most cases, cannot know in advance that which God will do. We must trust that He will do what is right even when it seems impossible. I am sure Abraham struggled with this as he walked up Mt. Moriah that day with his son whom he loved.
Undoubtedly, that day as Abraham walked up the mountain with his son, he was learning that Isaac was an expressive type of the coming Messiah. Every other sacrifice that had been offered from the foundation of the world had been those chosen and offered by men. But Isaac was asked for by God and so this pointed them forward to the true Lamb provided by God. The Lord asked Abraham to do something unimaginably difficult and Abraham responded with immediate obedience.
Nowhere does the New Testament connect the sacrifice of Isaac to the death of the Lord Jesus on the cross, but it does clearly connect it to His resurrection. This true story between a son and his dad very clearly teaches us that the kind of faith that saves us is the type that is resurrection faith. But resurrected faith requires death to the self-life. We do not experience resurrected life without resurrected faith, and, we do not get to resurrected faith without turning our backs on the will that is contrary to the will of our Heavenly Father.
