Offering Isaac and God’s Oath

God tested Abraham as to his faith while also picturing the sacrifice of His own Son. Isaac was Abraham’s loved and long-promised son through Sarah even as Jesus is God’s beloved and only begotten Son. Abraham was to offer his son in sacrifice. He had split the wood for the fire but took no animal with him for the burnt offering. Naturally, Isaac would ask his father, “Where is the burnt offering?” Abraham replied that God would provide the burnt offering. So it is, God provided Jesus as our burnt offering, just as in the account God provided a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. Isaac carried the wood, picturing Jesus carrying the cross. Abraham bound Isaac and placed him on the wood. His son did not resist even though he was a young man by this time. His sacrifice was voluntary just as was Jesus’.

Abraham would have killed his son had God not sent an angel to stop him. However, God did not prevent the death of His own Son for it was necessary for man’s redemption. Abraham called the place “The-Lord-Will-Provide.” (vs. 14, New King James Version) God did provide His own Son to die on the cross.

Abraham’s faith as exercised in obedience was rewarded by God. He was promised by God’s oath that his descendants would be as the stars of heaven and as the sand of the seashore—a large number but also of a heavenly nature (stars) and of an earthly nature (sand). This oathwas a reassurance of the promise that through Abraham all the families of the earth would be blessed.—Gen. 12:3

The seed pictured by Isaac is Christ Jesus. Paul writes that if we be Christ’s then we also are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise. (Gal. 3:16,26-29) For those who hope to be of the heavenly nature, God’s oath is a strong encouragement. (Heb. 6:13-18) Those who have not the heavenly hope will have opportunity in the Millennium to become part of Abraham’s earthly seed. “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

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