This has been one of my favorite chapters for many years. This chapter is the reason I named my son Isaac. (Margaret was a party to selecting the name but she was pushing for Mark as I recall.) Also, Isaac means "he laughs" and I wanted that for him as well, but this chapter was the real reason.
Abraham
Abraham is an old man by this time. He has walked with the Lord many years and is well able to recognize the Lord’s voice. The Lord comes to Abraham and instructs him to do the literally unthinkable. To sacrifice Isaac would not only be a horrible thing to do in the natural, but in the spirit it seemed to make no sense. Everything God had promised to Abraham was tried to Isaac’s life. If Isaac is no more what will become of these promises concerning Abraham’s descendants?
But Abraham does not hesitate. The only issue here is, “What has God said?” Abraham realized that Isaac had certainly come from God. As such, Isaac did not belong to Abraham. He belonged to God.
There may well come a time in your life when God instructs you to give up something He has given to you. When He does remember, the only issue is, “What has God said to do?”
Isaac
Isaac is the arch-type of Christ in many ways. He was born as the son of promise. Abraham was 99 years old and Sarah was well passed the age of child bearing. Not only was she passed the age to have children she had never been able to have children even when she was younger. She was barren. Isaac was born to a mother who in the natural couldn’t have children just as Christ was born of a virgin. Isaac’s father was a wealthy man and everything he had came as a result of who he was. Jesus was the Son of God and everything He had came from His Father.
Isaac’s father was willing to offer him in sacrifice. For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, whom He loved.
The Comparison
The region of Moriah where Abraham was instructed to go is in the area of present day Jerusalem. So it was that at the father’s instruction the son carried the wood upon which he was to be sacrificed up a hill in the area of Jerusalem. The final stage of the journey was made by the father and son alone. The servants could not go with them.
One of the most remarkable facts about this even is explained in Hebrews 11:19. This is the verse that explains what Abraham was thinking when he was willing to obey this seemingly impossible command. The verse simply says, “Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.”
Think about this. It was a three day journey to the place God showed Abraham. From the time the command was given until the ram was provided was three days. For three days Isaac was as good as dead to Abraham. Yet Abraham was able to stand it because he reasoned that God could even raise the dead. And so for three days our Lord was in the grave but on the third day, God did raise the dead!
Sometimes the prophet himself only has the slightest notion of what he saying. Isaac asked, “Father, the fire and wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”
A ram? No. His only Son, whom He loved. What must have gone through the heart of God as He saw Abraham and Isaac act out this scene?
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