The Lamb of God
Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.
Genesis 22:8
The subject of the Lamb is one of the most beautiful themes in the Word of God. It’s threaded throughout Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation. In Genesis 4, we see the Lamb in type when Abel offered a firstborn from his flock to God. He understood that God had shed the blood of an innocent victim to clothe his parents and offered an innocent victim to God, typifying the Lamb that was to come. In Genesis 22, we will see the Lamb prophesied. God would provide Himself the Lamb, and that Lamb had to be a man for mankind. In Exodus 12, we see a beautiful picture of the Lamb slain, and its blood applied. In Isaiah 53, we see the Lamb personified; in John 1:29, we see the Lamb identified; in Revelation 5, the Lamb is magnified; in 22:1, the Lamb is glorified.
As we trace the Lamb through Scripture, we learn that in Genesis 4, the Lamb is for an individual, in Exodus 12 for a household, in Leviticus 16, the Lamb is for a nation, and in John 1:29 for the whole world. As the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus was gentle, sinless, and the perfect sacrifice. In 1 Peter 1:18-20 we read, “knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world but was manifest in these last times for you.”
As we focus on Genesis 22, there are many ways to view this historical chapter. We can examine its many practical lessons of a tested faith or the excellent example of a father and son relationship. There is a prophetic side that I would like to draw our attention to.
Background
This story begins a few chapters earlier when God had first called Abram, promising his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the heavens. Abram believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord gave him a sign of the covenant and changed his name from Abram (exalted Father) to Abraham (Father of a multitude). The difficulty with this was that Abraham did not have any children up to this point! His wife, Sarai, had taken the matter into her own hands, giving her maidservant, Hagar, to him to have a child with, but this was not the way of faith, nor was not God’s way! In chapter 21, we learn that Hagar and her son Ishmael are cast out after Isaac, the son of promise, is born. Isaac’s birth is a picture of the birth of the Lord Jesus, while Hagar and Ishmael are a picture of the law.
Three prophetic pictures point us to the Lamb of God in this chapter. All types and illustrations have their limits, but there is much in this chapter to appreciate.
Abraham the Father
Our chapter begins with Abraham being tested by God (v1-2), “Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Take now 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.” Humanly speaking, this test was personal, purposeful, painful, and perplexing. Throughout the test, we learn of Abraham’s steadfast obedience and complete God-focused trust. When we read Hebrews 11:19, we learn that Abraham believed “God was able to raise him (Isaac) up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.” Trials and tests come to us throughout our lives. The lesson we learn from Abraham is how to respond when things might not make sense to us. Abraham is a vivid picture of Proverbs 3:5-6 lived out, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”
Abraham is also a picture of God the Father giving His beloved Son. Where else can we find such a beautiful example of what the giving of the Lord Jesus at Calvary meant to the Father? In verse 4, we read, “On the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off.” The place is mentioned four times (22:3, 4, 9, 14). Moriah means “foreseen of God” or “chosen by God.” God the Father knew all that laid ahead for His beloved Son at the place called Calvary. The third day might remind us of resurrection. Three times in this chapter, we read of the father and son going together (22:6, 8, 19), reminding us of the constant communion between God the Father and His beloved Son. Also, Abraham took the fire and knife in His hands (22:6). The fire speaks of testing, and holy judgment, while the knife speaks of death.
It might be good to mention that God had asked Abraham to offer Isaac as a burnt offering. In the book of Genesis, all the offerings are burnt offerings. A burnt offering is all for God. It was to be a sweet-smelling aroma (Lev. 1, 7). The importance is that we don’t get the thought of a substitute until we are introduced to the ram. Isaac is a picture of what the Son was to the heart of the Father; He is a sweet-smelling aroma! We read of the wood five times, which was placed on Isaac had been split. Wood, in Scripture, often speaks of manhood. This split wood meant that you could see inside. The Father saw and appreciated the moral perfections of His beloved Son as a man here in this world.
Isaac the Son
Isaac is a picture of the sonship of the Lord Jesus. Notice Isaac’s distinct description: Your son, your only begotten son, Isaac (which means laughter or joy), whom you love. This is the first mention of love in the Bible. It is significantly connected to the son of the father’s love! We see that Isaac was Abraham’s unique son. Ishmael was also Abraham’s son, but Isaac was precious, being the son of promise, the son of Abraham’s love. This reminds us that in the gospel of John, we read of the Father’s love for the Son seven times (Jn. 3:35, 5:20, 10:17, 15:9, 17:23, 24, 26).
Isaac is also a picture of the Savior in His sacrifice. Abraham laid Isaac on the altar at the place where God told him. This place reminds us of what we read in Luke 23:33, “when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him.” Mount Moriah was along that same mountain ridge where Calvary would be located. Just as Isaac went to the place, the Lord went to the place called Calvary to lay down His life as a sweet-smelling aroma to God!
Isaac reminds us of the servanthood of the Lord Jesus as well. Isaac was not a little boy; he was probably a young man in his twenties. He could have easily overpowered Abraham. However, we see he was submissive, even acted as a servant by carrying the wood, then allowed himself to be bound and placed on the altar. This reminds us of our Lord Jesus, the perfect servant who submitted to the will of the Father, being obedient to the point of death, even the death of the Cross. “He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem” and would say, “not My will, Yours be done!” In verse 9, we read, “Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood.” Up to this point in Genesis, the offerings were killed before they were put on the altar, but Isaac was placed on the altar alive. This reminds us that no one took the life of the Lord Jesus. He had the power to lay it down and the power to take it up again! He gave up His life for us!
We sometimes sing, “Love bound Thee to the altar, The Father’s love and Thine, For us, O peerless Victim, That we with Thee might shine. Thy wealth Thou didst surrender, Thy self didst freely give, Thy life in grace unbounded, That we with Thee might live.”
In Psalms 118:27, we read, “bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.” Our Lord was bound by golden cords of love to the Father and silver cords of love toward man!
The Ram – the Substitute
In verse 7, Isaac asks, “Where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” This is the first time in the Bible that we read the word lamb! We can only imagine how this question penetrated Abraham’s heart, as he responded, “My son, God will provide Himself the Lamb for the burnt offering.” Isaac would ask the question, and John the Baptist would answer it years later, announcing, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
As Abraham laid Isaac on the altar, he lifted the knife, about to thrust it into the son of his love, when the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven saying, “Abraham, Abraham!” So, he said, “Here I am.” And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now, I know that you fear God since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” Abraham lifted his eyes, “there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So, Abraham took the ram and offered it for a burnt offering instead of his son. 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.” For Isaac, there was a substitute, caught by its strength in the thorns. This reminds us that in the strength of His perfect love and obedience, the Lord Jesus conquered sin, death, and the grave! He was our substitute! The burnt offering is for the glory of the Father, and the substitutionary ram speaks of our redemption (1 Pet. 1:18-19, 3:18).
It is interesting to see that verse 5 connected this burnt offering to worship, the first time in Scripture that we read the word worship. No words were spoken when Abraham offered the ram as the burnt offering! The worship was about the burnt offering, not Abraham or Isaac. Our worship is not about us. It ought to be about the Son. When we worship the Son in private, we will be prepared to praise Him in public!
Later we read, “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, 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. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” Here we see for the first time that the word “obeyed” is mentioned in Scripture. In this beautiful chapter, speaking to us of the Lamb provided by God, we have love, worship, lamb, and obedience all mentioned for the first time. All four are seen connected with God’s Lamb.
Lastly, we want to see the connection to the Lamb, which is the Bride. Once Isaac is given back to Abraham (a picture of resurrection), Rebekah, Isaac’s wife, is mentioned for the first time in verse 23. Then in chapter 24, we learn how she is brought to him. This reminds us that the Church is the Lamb’s wife. It is touching to be reminded of the intimate relationship we have been brought into because God has provided for Himself the Lamb for the burnt offering!
