| Subject: Genesis 22 vss 1-3 Post #114 |
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Hillbilly
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Date Posted: 07:47:46 09/14/09 Mon
CHAPTER 22
Genesis 22:1-3 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. 2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. 3 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.
Abraham has experienced much in his journey with the Lord. There have been good times and bad. There have been mountain top experiences with God and he has been acquainted with the deep valleys of despair in walking by sight and not by faith. Through it all though Abraham has mostly been pleasing to God in his wanderings. Abraham has for the most part been obedient to God. It is now testing time for Abraham.
Nowhere in the Bible, other than the story of Jesus Himself, will you find a more riveting story than the story of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac at God's command. Here in scripture between 1,800 to 1,900 years before Jesus walked up His mountain we find Abraham and his son making those same steps. The author of the Book of Genesis knew without doubt the story of the crucifixion centuries before the act was carried out. We do well to remember this was more than 400 years before Moses was born.
The Word of God came to Abraham and told him to take the son that he had waited so long for up to a mountain of God's choosing and there offer him up to God as a burnt offering. God had already caused him to send Ishmael away. It was a very sorrowful moment for Abraham as he loved his first son Ishmael dearly. Here in these verses though we find that God did not recognize Ishmael as the son of Abraham. The voice of God was clear: "Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah". Notice how God emphasized to Abraham what went without saying. "Whom thou lovest"!
In verse 1 it is stated that God did tempt Abraham. This should be understood in the context of "God did test Abraham". God knew the mind and heart of Abraham so he already knew what Abraham would do. As with all testing from God it is not in order that God will know but it is for the person being tested to know and as a witness to others.
When God tells us to do something it is for us to have enough faith in Him to trust the end result will be right. This is the essence of walking by faith and not by sight. When Moses was put to his great tests he was asked to do the impossible from the human standpoint. Moses went before the mightiest tyrant on the earth at the time armed only with a staff and faith in God. Gideon went against the Midianites with an army of 32,000 men of war. God said you've got too many men. Cut the size of your army. Gideon cut 22,000 and God said you still have too many. When God said you have the right number he had 300 men to fight the host of the Midianites and Amalekites. (Judges 7) How many were the host of the Midianites? There were only 135,000 that Gideon went up against with 300 chosen men. (Judges 8:10) Impossible odds you say. You are correct. God and Gideon had the 135,000 far outnumbered. With God all things are possible.
In verse 2 God tells Abraham to take Isaac to the land of Moriah, to one of the mountains there which God will point out to him. Where is Moriah. 2 Chronicles 3:1 Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the LORD appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite. The instructions to Abraham was to go to "one of the mountains" in Moriah. God sends Abraham to the area where Jerusalem will be built. Nice coincidence huh? So Isaac is to be offered in the area where our Lord will die many years later.
Abraham does not delay in his obedience to God. He arises early the next morning and "clave the wood for the burnt offering." Here again we have an interesting account. The wood was worked with a cutting tool and carried to the mountain. I would suspect that normally one would gather wood in the area of the sacrifice or at least gather it close to the place of the altar. Why would Abraham take enough wood for a burnt offering on a 3 day journey when there was plenty of wood in the area. The answer lies in the fact that Jesus had to bear His cross of hewn timber up the mountain to his own sacrifice.
We are dealing with typology here in these verses. Shadows of things to come if you will. Abraham is a type of God the Father who offers His only begotten son. Isaac, naturally is a type of Jesus Christ the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world (Jn. 1:29, Rev. 13:8). Now go back to verse 3 above and count the men. Abraham as God the Father, Isaac as Jesus Christ and then you have two more that went with them. "Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him". How many were crucified on the day Jesus was crucified? Weren't there two others beside? You say yes but these two men didn't go up the mountain. True but the typology is there. Neither was Isaac actually sacrificed. The two thieves crucified with Jesus had nothing to do with His crucifixion. It was not necessary for anyone else to have been crucified on that day in order for the price of redemption to have been paid. Why did Abraham take the men? They weren't there to carry the wood. Abraham nor Isaac needed them. Abraham had taken care of everything necessary. The wood would have been tied to the donkey for the trip and if Isaac was strong enough to carry the wood up the mountain he certainly would have been able to unload and load a donkey. I think it was for the shadow of coming events that the number matched the number with Jesus at Calvary. If you look at Isaiah 53:12 and Mark 15:28 you will see that He was numbered with the transgressors. Concerning the two men they were of the seed of Adam and as such were transgressors. "All have sinned" (Rom. 3:23)
In addition unless one should think the trip up the mountain was not that difficult stop and think how much wood it would take to completely consume the body of a grown man burnt on an altar! Jesus fell under the weight of His cross and I would not be surprised if Isaac stumbled on his way up the mountain.
Lastly, they came to the place God told them. I believe the exact spot was later known as Calvary. God chose the spot and He chose it for a reason. Personally I think it also was the exact spot of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Again we have a picture given that not only points to the event that started it all but also the event that would pay for the original fall of man. In the garden you had a tree with a serpent. I believe the serpent was in the tree. On Mount Calvary you had a "tree" in the form of a cross with a man who was pictured as a serpent of brass in Numbers 21:9. All who looked at that serpent raised on a pole lived. Jesus was likened to that serpent in John 3:14-15 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15 That whosoever believeth (look to Him) in him should not perish, but have eternal life. In 2 Cor. 5:21 we are told that Jesus was made to be sin for us who knew no sin. Sin personified. When God looked on the sacrifice for sin on the cross he saw the serpent and the man who brought sin into the world being put to death for that sin. It was the cross that defeated Satan and redeemed man. Yes,I believe God saw a serpent on the cross that day. Glory to our Saviour who was willing to take such an awful thing on Himself that we might go free and not have to face the penalty ourselves.
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