A Ram and a Lamb
As I've been studying Genesis, I've returned each night to a specific passage that has rung through my head in the wake of the Easter season. When I consider what God has done for me, it is entirely overwhelming.
In Genesis 22, God tells Abraham: "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" (NASB). Abraham's faith astounds me (maybe that's why God credits it to him as righteousness. . .), and I cannot begin to imagine the level of sacrifice he was willing to give to the God he willingly followed to places unknown while waiting for the promised covenant child God finally provided in Isaac. The part that keeps coming back to me is when Isaac trustingly looks at Abraham and says, "My father! . . . .Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" (Gen. 22:7). We are not told Isaac's age, but it really doesn't matter--what father could sacrifice his son after that question? After they walk for a while, they arrive at the place God had told Abraham to go, and he builds an alter, arranges the wood for the fire, and binds his only son's hands together and lays him on the altar atop the wood. At this point, there can be no doubt in Isaac's mind about the sacrifice to be offered--it was clearly him. The intensity of the story builds as Abraham reaches out with the knife to slay his only son, Isaac. Suddenly, God's voice speaks from heaven and tells Abraham to stop because he was willing to obey God even if it meant slaying the son of the inheritance that he had long awaited. In Isaac's place, God provided a ram for the burnt offering. The ram can be seen as a type for none other than Christ, who is mighty to save as Isaac was not. Salvation would require a spotless lamb.
Abraham's experience paints a beautiful picture of God and His plan for the redemption of man. God waited many years before His only begotten Son was "birthed" on earth. After He lived a sinless life and was old enough to understand the idea of sacrifice, Jesus, "the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world" (Jn. 1:29) died on a cross. God sacrificed "His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life" ( Jn. 3:16b). He did exactly what Abraham had believed and stated in Genesis 22: "God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering." God did not require Abraham to slay his only son, but he did require a willingness for him to do whatever God asked of him, and in due time God provided what Abraham could not--a perfect sacrificial lamb. God not only provided for Himself a lamb, He provided Himself for the lamb in Jesus, who is "the mediator of a new covenant" (Hebrews 12:24). Hebrews also offers a picture of Abraham's faith in Chapter 11 where it says that Abraham died without seeing the fulfillment of the promises God made him; even more amazing is the fact that Abraham welcomed them from a long way off (vs. 13). He had the spiritual eyes to see and welcome what he knew would come simply because God said it would be so. He saw not only the ram, but also the Lamb.
In Genesis 22, God tells Abraham: "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" (NASB). Abraham's faith astounds me (maybe that's why God credits it to him as righteousness. . .), and I cannot begin to imagine the level of sacrifice he was willing to give to the God he willingly followed to places unknown while waiting for the promised covenant child God finally provided in Isaac. The part that keeps coming back to me is when Isaac trustingly looks at Abraham and says, "My father! . . . .Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" (Gen. 22:7). We are not told Isaac's age, but it really doesn't matter--what father could sacrifice his son after that question? After they walk for a while, they arrive at the place God had told Abraham to go, and he builds an alter, arranges the wood for the fire, and binds his only son's hands together and lays him on the altar atop the wood. At this point, there can be no doubt in Isaac's mind about the sacrifice to be offered--it was clearly him. The intensity of the story builds as Abraham reaches out with the knife to slay his only son, Isaac. Suddenly, God's voice speaks from heaven and tells Abraham to stop because he was willing to obey God even if it meant slaying the son of the inheritance that he had long awaited. In Isaac's place, God provided a ram for the burnt offering. The ram can be seen as a type for none other than Christ, who is mighty to save as Isaac was not. Salvation would require a spotless lamb.
Abraham's experience paints a beautiful picture of God and His plan for the redemption of man. God waited many years before His only begotten Son was "birthed" on earth. After He lived a sinless life and was old enough to understand the idea of sacrifice, Jesus, "the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world" (Jn. 1:29) died on a cross. God sacrificed "His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life" ( Jn. 3:16b). He did exactly what Abraham had believed and stated in Genesis 22: "God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering." God did not require Abraham to slay his only son, but he did require a willingness for him to do whatever God asked of him, and in due time God provided what Abraham could not--a perfect sacrificial lamb. God not only provided for Himself a lamb, He provided Himself for the lamb in Jesus, who is "the mediator of a new covenant" (Hebrews 12:24). Hebrews also offers a picture of Abraham's faith in Chapter 11 where it says that Abraham died without seeing the fulfillment of the promises God made him; even more amazing is the fact that Abraham welcomed them from a long way off (vs. 13). He had the spiritual eyes to see and welcome what he knew would come simply because God said it would be so. He saw not only the ram, but also the Lamb.
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