The Sacrifice of Isaac (Gen.22).

The Lord established a covenant with Abraham promising him multiple descendants and a homeland to bless the world (15:5-8, 18-21). Being barren, Sarah proposed she raise a family through her Hagar, her Egyptian maidservant (16:2). Abraham agreed and Hagar gave birth to Ishmael when Abraham was 99 years old (16:15-16). They all expected Ishmael to be the heir of God’s covenant but the promised son would be born to Abraham through Sarah (17:19). When Abram was 99 years old God appeared to him confirming the covenant and giving circumcision as the covenant sign. After this, the Lord appeared to Abraham through three mysterious visitors and confirmed that Sarah would have her own son. Sarah laughed when she heard this but one year later Sarah gave birth to a son as God had said and they named him Isaac, meaning ‘laughter’.  Watch and listen to the story and read the comments below. 

God tested Abraham to see if he would trust God completely to fulfil God’s plan. God had opened Sarah’s womb but could Abraham trust God when asked to offer Isaac as a burnt offering? Sacrificing Isaac would have seemed completely contrary to what God had promised. After all, God had sworn to give Abraham multiple descendants and to bless the world through Isaac. Originally, God called Abraham to go to a land that God would show him. Now God was calling Abraham to go to a place where he would sacrifice his beloved promised son (Gen. 22:1). The Lord instructed Abraham to take Isaac, who was now a boy, up a mountain and offer him as a sacrifice. If God didn’t intervene Abraham would lose everything. Would Abraham love God more than his long awaited beloved son?

Abraham got up early to obey right away (Gen. 22:3). He saddled his donkey, took two servants, enough wood for the altar, and set out with Isaac for the place God had told him about. When Abraham saw the place in the distance, he told his servants to stay with the donkey while he and Isaac went up to worship and then they would return. We see Abraham’s faith when he tells his servants to stay with the donkey while they went to worship and then they would return (22:5). Isaac inquired about the lamb, and Abraham said, “God will provide the lamb… my son” (22:8). When Abraham got to that place he built an altar and put Isaac on it. Yet, before Abraham could slay his son the angel of the Lord told Abraham not to “lay a hand on the boy”. Abraham saw a ram caught in a bush, he sacrificed the ram instead of his son, and called that place ‘The Lord Will Provide’ (Gen. 22:11–12).

The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time saying, “Because you have not withheld your only son, I will bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore.” God confirmed the land promise by saying that Abraham’s descendants would possess the cities of their enemies. Moreover, God said that all nations would be blessed through Abraham’s offspring because Abraham obeyed God. God wanted Abraham to be willing to offer up Isaac and Abraham’s willingness showed that he feared God. Abraham would have had to die to all his hopes and dreams to which God was not central and essential. The writer of Hebrews tells us that Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead (Heb. 11:19).

That a ram took Isaac’s place on the altar prefigures the Mosaic sacrificial system that would be practiced in the temple that would be built on that very place. It also points beyond the sacrificial system to the cross where Jesus would take the covenant curse upon himself. At the cross, God in human flesh would fulfill all that was depicted and promised in the Abrahamic covenant (Genesis 15, 17). There Jesus was cut off for our sins so that we might live forever under God’s blessing. Ironically, because Abraham trusted God the covenant promises were renewed. Abraham obeyed God and because of his faithfulness Abraham would have multiple descendants and the Promised Land. We need to learn as Abraham did that one way or another God will provide and we can trust Him. A sacrifice would have to be made and God provided a substitute.

Ironically, the place where God provided a substitute for Isaac was on Mount Moriah (22:2). This is the very place where Solomon’s temple would later be built (2 Chron. 3:1). This incident would have helped Abraham understand the principle of substitutionary atonement. The ram took Isaac’s place and was sacrificed instead of Isaac (Gen. 22:13). The sacrifice of Isaac and the later sacrificial system points us to the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Surely, Abraham’s experience with Isaac would have given him a unique insight into the way of salvation that would be accomplished through Jesus Christ. Jesus, like Isaac, would have to allow himself to be bound (Isa. 53:7). But for Jesus there could be no other substitute. Our God has provided the pleasing sacrifice for us, let us therefore offer all our hopes and dreams to God and let us seek to love God above anything God can give us!