Genesis, Message 23: The Offering of Isaac

My Great Delight in God's Word

Crystallization-Study of Genesis, Message 23

The Offering of Isaac and Experiencing God as the One Who Gives Life to the Dead

In this message, we are going through one of the most popular stories in the book of Genesis. It is about the offering of Isaac. This story continues from Genesis 21. The things happened in the story resulted from having the redeemed and covenanted well of Isaac as the source of living, which led the drinkers to the Mount Moriah where Jerusalem and the temple were being built and Christ was being crucified.
There are two big themes in this story that I would like to mention. On the one hand, with regard to Abraham's experience of offering Isaac, which perhaps was the highest peak in his spiritual journey, we clearly see the principle of offering everything back to God in order to get them back in the resurrected form for the fulfilment of God's eternal purpose. On the other hand, the story clearly depicts Isaac and the ram as the types of Christ in different aspects.

Abraham's experience shows us the principle of death and resurrection.

Early in Abraham's spiritual journey, God promised to give him two important things that were needed for fulfilment of God's eternal purpose. They consisted of the seed and the land, which were for God's representation and expression on the earth. Through his spiritual journey, Abraham went through so many trials from God, and he did not perfectly pass them. However, God kept speaking and appearing to Him, and each time he encountered God, his life was changed.
The land of promise was gained by Abraham quite easily. But for the promised seed, he could not receive it straightaway. He went through the tests in which he was tempted to help God select and even produce the seed for the fulfilment of God's eternal purpose. Firstly, he proposed the faithful servant Eliezer, which represents what he had, to be his heir. Even though this servant was so good, God did not accept him. Secondly, he proposed Ishmael, which represents what he could do, to God, but He again denied and rejected this son of him. Abraham had to wait until he was 99 years old when he realised that he could do nothing to contribute to God's plan. What he had and what he could do were by no means useful to God. He needed to see God as the El-Shaddai, the all-sufficient One, and as his heavenly Father, the source of everything. And he needed to terminate his own flesh through circumcision. Eventually, Isaac, the promised seed, was given to him through Sarah.
Things seemed to have gone so smoothly in Abraham and Isaac's lives until one day when was about 20 years old. God again appeared to Abraham and requested something that I would have never been willing to offer to Him if I had been asked by God. God asked him to offer Isaac, who was both his only beloved son and the seed through whom God's goal would be achieved (genesis 22:1-2; Heb 11:18). He was everything and the only hope Abraham had. Nevertheless, very impressively, Abraham was perfectly obedient to God without any sign of hesitation, despite how difficult it could be. And this obedience resulted in God's marvellous blessing at the end of the chapter, confirming what he had promised to him.

¹⁵ Then the Angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time out of heaven,
¹⁶ and said: "By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son ---
¹⁷ blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.
¹⁸ In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice." (Genesis 22:15-28 NKJV)

Before he offered Isaac, the seed was only one. But after he offered Isaac, the seed multiplied exceedingly. The descendents through this seed would be as numerous as the stars of the heaven, which represent all the spiritual or heavenly descendents adopted by grace through faith in Christ Jesus, and also as the sand on the seashore, which represents earthly descendents, the earthly Israelites. This seed was becoming a great nation.
This teaches us the principle of death and resurrection. All we have and even all we are come from God and must be offered back to God, including our Isaac, which represents God's gifts, God's works, and God's wills. In their natural form, they are not useful to God at all. They must be terminated by putting on the cross, so that we may get them back in the resurrected form. Those things then can be used by God to fulfil His eternal purpose.
With regard to this matter, Jesus gave us a good analogy of a grain of wheat. He compared this to His own life that had to die for us so that we would become his much grain and have Him as the life-giving spirit.

²³ But Jesus answered them, saying, "The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.
²⁴ Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.
²⁵ He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life (John 12:24 NKJV)

And this principle can also be applied to all other things in our lives. The more we surrender and terminate ourselves, putting on the cross to die with Him, the more resurrected life we will have. Only the resurrected form of us can God really use to fulfil His eternal purpose in us and through us.
Additionally, because of the absolute obedience to God, Abraham saw God in another aspect. He saw God as Yahweh Jireh, which means "the LORD who will see" or "the LORD who will provide."

And Abraham called the name of the place, The-LORD-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, "In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided." (Genesis 22:14 NKJV)

What an amazing God we have! Our God is the God who always sees us and provides all we need.

Isaac and the ram portray Christ as the Son and the Lamb of God.

Isaac typifies Christ as the Son of God.

No one in the Old Testament can portray Christ's life as beautifully as Isaac's life, especially in his experience described in Genesis 22.

• Isaac was born supernaturally not according to the flesh, but God's promise.
  Jesus was born supernaturally not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:13).
• Isaac was the only begotten son of Abraham (Genesis 22:2).
  Jesus was the only begotten Son of God the Father, full of grace and truth (John 12:14).
• Isaac was beloved of his father (Genesis 22:2).
  Jesus was declared to be the Father's beloved Son, in whom He was well pleased (Mark 1:11).
• Isaac journeyed to the Mount Moriah by a donkey (Genesis 22:3).
  Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a young donkey (John 12:15).
• Isaac headed to the Mount Moriah with 2 servants of Abraham's (Genesis 22:3).
  Jesus was at the Golgotha with 2 others (John 19:18).
• Isaac carried the wood for the offering (Genesis 22:6).
  Jesus carried His cross for the offering of His own life (John 19:17).
• Isaac was offered on the altar as a burnt offering (Genesis 22:7-10) and received back in figurative sense (Hebrew 11:19).
  Jesus was crucified on the cross probably at the very same place (Mount Moriah, where Jerusalem was built; 2 Chronicles 3:1) as an offering and resurrected from the dead to be received by all the believers.
• Isaac was offered by Abraham his father (Genesis 22:7-10).
  Jesus was not killed by man, but by God the Father who give man power to crucify Him (John 19:11).

From other parts of his life, we can also see Christ in his life in many ways.

• Isaac never left Canaan in this whole life.
  Jesus was always in the bosom of the Father (John 3:13; 1:18).
• And unlike his father and his sons, Isaac had got only on wife, Rebekah.
  Jesus had only one corporate Bride, the Church.
• Isaac and Rebekah were from the same household.
  Both Jesus and the Church are the begotten of God. And in His full humanity, He has become like us and able to receive man to be His beloved Bride.

Therefore no one can deny that Isaac is the very type of the Son of God, who was absolutely obedient to the Father even to the point of death (Philippians 2:8).

The ram typifies Christ as the Son of God.

Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. (Genesis 22:13-14 NKJV)

The story tells that it was the ram, not Isaac, that was killed as the burnt offering. As all other types of Christ, Isaac alone could not perfectly portray Christ's life. He was the type of Christ as the Son of God, but the ram was the type of Christ as the Lamb of God, who died on the Cross, to take way the sins of the world. The Son of God was not killed, as He was God and thereby could not die. But here we see that the Son of God, as described early in John chapter 1, became the Lamb of God, as declared by John the Baptist, and was offered on the Cross!

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29 NKJV)

Interestingly, Genesis 22:13 describes that the ram was caught in a thicket by its horn. A ram, or adult male sheep, is a strong version of a lamb, a young sheep, and a thicket represents lowly and fallen humanity. Therefore this story clearly describes that the very Son of God, who was all-powerful, was willing to be caught in humanity and offered to God as our Substitute. Praise the Lord that Christ is both Isaac and the ram. He is the Son and the Lamb. He is everything we need for the redemption of our sins. Hallelujah!

Further reading

• The Holy Word for Morning Revival: Crystallization-Study of Genesis, week 23.

• Life Study of Genesis, messages 57 and 58.

• God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob chapters 6 and 7.

Thirayost Nimmanon (Tony)