GOD’S WORD FOR JULY 14 ~ ~ Genesis 22:2 ~ ~ “Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”

The command to Abraham to sacrifice Isaac is a type of Christ’s sacrifice.

Some say the events happened on Mt. Moriah, but this verse indicates that it was another mountain. There is another mountain in the land of Moriah, near Mt. Moriah. It is called Golgotha or the Place of the Skull, where Jesus was crucified. We don’t know if this, either, was where they put His cross, but this would be very fitting, since it is clear that Isaac is a type of Jesus and His sacrifice for us.

I don’t think we can even imagine that event, and how it tore at Abraham’s heart. His beloved son, the one that was the son of Promise, that he had with his beloved Sarah, was now approaching the age of marrying. That would begin the fulfillment of the promise of descendants that could not be counted, as God promised him. What could God be thinking? He believed God, so most believe that he figured God would bring him back to life, since he told the servants that he AND Isaac will return. Still, he didn’t tell Isaac anything about it. I wonder if he told Sarah. Probably not. How would she take that news? How COULD she take it? It would probably kill her. It would certainly kill her faith. And, besides, he had enough faith for both of them, that they would both return.

How hard it must have been when Isaac asked where the sacrifice was, as he carried the heavy wood up the mountain on his back, just as Jesus carried His cross to the top of Golgatha.

Isaac, being a grown man by now, (by what we see in the Word he would be very near 33 years old, while Abraham would be about 133 years old.) when Isaac came to the time when he had to bind the sacrifice to the alter, it was a terrible time for him, even though he had strong faith that God would either provide the sacrifice, as he told his son, or that He would bring Isaac back to life as Abraham looked ahead at what the heavenly Father did for His own son. But he had to be asking himself if he really could push that knife into the heart of his son. Then his faith would come back, and with it, the knowledge that God is in control, no matter what happened.

And then let’s look at it from Isaac’s point of view. Did he has the strong faith of his father? He didn’t hear from God like Abraham did before Isaac was born. He didn’t see the fire go between the halves of the sacrifice in the covenant ritual. All he had was what his parents told him, which, I’m sure were ridiculed by Ishmael and Hagar in his younger years, making it a little less clear to his memory as a young child.

When he saw his old father come closer to him with the ropes to bind him, he knew he didn’t have to submit. He was a strong, strapping young man and his father was weak and torn with grief. He could have resisted with ease. The Holy Spirit must have strengthened both of them, as his father probably told him what he believed the Lord had in mind. How hard it is to believe with someone else’s faith!!!! Still, Isaac did submit, and the Lord came through by providing the sacrifice as Abraham had said. Did the Lord actually tell Abraham that? We’re not told.

It would have been easier for both if He did, as our lives would be easier if we always could plainly hear His voice in our spirits. But, we have our Ishmaels in the form of humanity, the evil world around us, and our sin nature all making it blurry like it maybe was for Isaac.

At any rate, Isaac submitted to his probable death the same as Jesus did, arguably, on the same mount near Mt Horeb, having carried his sacrificial wood, as Jesus did, and was very likely the same age as Jesus at the time.

But, Isaac, just like you and me, was saved by none other than, the Lamb of God!!!!!!

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