Mystery Of Isaac And The Sacrifice

Abraham, Sacrifice Your Son, Your Only Son

After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” Gen 22:1-2 (ESV)

Multiplied Sorrows

In the last post, we discovered that Sarah’s pain and sorrow in childbirth connected back to the garden curse laid on the serpent and the woman.

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire [shall be] for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” Gen 3:15-16 NKJV

Before the journey to Canaan began, the text states that Sarah was barren; she had trouble, hardship, and sorrow in conceiving. In fact, every time they travel to a new location, the text lets us know that she’s still barren. The continual reminder borders on absurd, but for seven chapters, Abraham and God engage in a back-and-forth dialogue about offspring.

From Abraham’s perspective, he’s childless, his wife is barren, and no one will inherit his estate. Yet God continues to affirm offspring, descendants, land, a family like the stars of heaven and the sand of the sea. This running dialogue about offspring and barrenness is a fascinating study. It begins in Genesis 11:30 and continues through Sarah’s laughter at the angels’ words in chapter 18.

The Covenant, A Resting Place for Hopes and Dreams

In its most basic form, the story of Abraham and his offspring is about two things: a people and a homeland for his people. But at a deeper level, it’s about creating a people who will steward the promised seed spoken back in the garden.

The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you… I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring…Gen 3:14-15 (ESV)

Abraham and Sarah cannot accomplish either goal: a people or a homeland. That’s why the back-and-forth is so relatable when we recognize our own inability and powerlessness. Sarah is barren; she has no power to give birth to one child, let alone a multitude of people. For Abraham, a national homeland for a people yet to be born when he can’t produce a single son: “surely God, you jest.” He’s a homeless wanderer moving from place to place with a tent and some livestock.

In chapter 15, when Abraham seems beyond hope, having seen no results, a major clue appears about how the promise will come to pass. God tells Abraham that He will be his shield and that he will receive a great reward. Notice his response. Without gratitude or excitement, he complains. “Oh Lord God, what will you give me, I continue childless.”

“Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” But Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness. Gen. 15:1-6 (ESV)

This conversation about offspring and land has been ongoing for decades, coming to a head in this chapter with the Abrahamic covenant. From the beginning, it’s been clear that Abraham and Sarah cannot produce a family or a homeland. How will it happen? Then the answer finally comes.

Beginning in chapter 15:8, God instructs Abraham to prepare the animals for a covenant ritual. While Abraham sleeps deeply, two Yahweh figures (firepot and torch) pass between the animal halves to show how the covenant promises will be realized. The divine power of the Godhead will fulfill the covenant terms, accomplishing the promise of offspring and homeland (Gen. 15:7-20).

Notice the verses immediately preceding the covenant ritual.

Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” Gen. 15:13-16

In these passages, God connects the offspring promise to the land promise.  In other words, the offspring that Abraham doesn’t have will possess the land that he doesn’t have.

On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates… Gen. 15:18

But now Abraham has at least a clue. The promises for offspring, land, shield, and reward will be fulfilled through a mysterious covenant between two divine entities – emblems of fire (a smoking firepot and blazing torch). Abraham has never witnessed a human covenant like this. It is nothing less than a covenant between members of the Godhead made on behalf of Abraham and his future descendants. It is a covenant hearkening all the way back to the curse pronounced on the serpent.

Breaking the Bad News

Sarah and Abraham endured many years of sorrow and difficulty as they waited for their promised child. Maybe Abraham thought, “There’s no way I can tell Sarah what God is asking me to do; it will crush her, but I have no other choice; I must obey.”

He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. Gen. 22:2 (ESV)

As they walked to the mount of sacrifice, the text captures a conversation between father and son.

And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So, they went both of them together. Gen. 22:7 (ESV)

The “sacrifice of Isaac” highlights our deadness, powerlessness, and the death that we really deserved. Yet, in His great mercy, God prepared a substitute; we are delivered, and the covenant promises are being realized.

Redemption and Restoration

God called Abraham to a land and promised him untold descendants. Abraham and Sarah, in their own strength, could not produce the people or establish themselves in the land. The Abrahamic covenant highlights how this covenantal promise and oath will come to pass-as a divine work of the Godhead.

God the Son, aka “blazing torch”, offered himself as our substitute to fulfill the terms of the Abrahamic covenant, which we could never do. This covenant, promised in Gen. 15, guarantees the word spoken about the people and land. The price of this covenant was paid at Mount Moriah by the blazing torch. Hebrews calls this out when it says God swore by himself when making the promise to Abraham.

For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Heb 6:13-20 (ESV)

How solid is the covenantal promise given to Abraham? As the passage above says, God guaranteed it with His oath, and Scripture tells us God cannot lie. This is the one God represented by two covenant partners (firepot and torch), each making a promise and oath to the other. Two members of the Trinity bind themselves to Abraham and his descendants forever with this covenant. That is an anchor for our souls, a hope entering behind the curtain.

Abraham could not possibly understand the larger story being written through these circumstances; we can barely understand them four thousand years later. But he certainly knew that his life was part of a much larger story, even if he couldn’t grasp its magnitude.

• Yes, Abraham, your descendants will be blessed and multiplied; kings will come from you.
• And yes, all the land of Canaan will be given to your descendants as an everlasting possession.
• And yes, those who share your faith will be declared righteous just as you were.
• And oh yes, the resurrection of Isaac you witnessed, and the substitutionary ram in the thicket will be the foundation of the New Covenant. But you must understand that it will happen as a divine work completed by the smoking fire-pot and blazing torch, a work executed by the Godhead. 

I suspect this may have been on the Lord’s mind in the garden the night before His crucifixion.

Do you think that I cannot appeal to my father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?”
Mat 26:53-54 ESV

The divine images (fire-pot and torch) together foreshadowed the “covenant cutting” ceremony. The binding and sacrifice of Isaac at Mt. Moriah foreshadowed what God would do on our behalf. The sacrificial ram in the fire of judgment foreshadowed the Lamb of God thousands of years later on that same mountain. And that same eternal promise is still at work today, more resilient than ever, because two eternal beings enacted it.

Conclusion

Abraham has learned who this God is. He makes promises, and He keeps those promises. He reminds us what the world’s gods are like, and that He is not like them. He offers His own son, not demanding ours. The Abrahamic covenant (people and land) will be fulfilled through the power of the Godhead. This is the only means by which it can be accomplished, for we are like Abraham, sound asleep in our sin while the covenant was cut. We lack the strength to accomplish much of anything apart from him.

God, on the other hand, is after something in Abraham. He is leading Abraham to trust and surrender. God has promised offspring, land, protection, and reward, but now He wants him to offer up Isaac, the answer to the promise He gave. In a sense, we might say God is intentionally putting Abraham in a dilemma so He can prove himself beyond any doubt.

And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. Gal 3:8-9 (ESV)

Why…because God keeps His promises!

~~Be blessed!