Thursday, Genesis 22 - An Illustrative Prophecy

This chapter is about Jesus. I am not aware of any companion passage that specifically and thoroughly describes the messianic and prophetic nature of this particular narrative, yet this passage is exactly that: a foreshadowing model of Christ's story.

Notice the parallels between Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac and the Father's sacrifice of His Son. Here are some I picked up on:

1.         Abraham said, “I AM" (Genesis 22:1) - God is the "I AM."

2.         Abraham offered his son as an offering on a mountain (Genesis 22:2) - so did the Father.

3.         Abraham laid the wood on the back of his son (Genesis 22:6) - a wooden cross was laid on the back of Jesus.

4.         Isaac was in a position where he had to just trust his father (Genesis 22:7-8) and the same was true with Christ (Psalm 22:8, Matthew 27:43 & Luke 22:42).

5.         Genesis 22:8 expresses the typology most perfectly with these words (of richly double meaning), "God will provide HIMSELF a lamb" - AMEN!

6.         Abraham gave his "only" son (Genesis 22:12) and so did God (Romans 8:32; John 3:16).

7.         The substitution of a ram for Isaac on Mount Moriah (see also II Chronicles 3:1) was a pattern of the ultimate vicarious death of Christ in our place on Mount Calvary (incidentally... it was in the same geographical region).

8.         The proliferation of Isaac's family and the eventual victory of Isaac's family over his enemies (which is promised here, see Genesis 22:15-18) hearkens toward the many sons that Jesus would bring to glory (Hebrews 2:10) and toward the dominance that He will someday have over His enemies (Hebrews 10:12-13).

9.         The chapter even closes with an introduction of Isaac's eventual bride, Rebekah. Q: And who is Christ coming back to rendezvous with real soon? A: His own bride... the church!

This was about Christ. The story of the gospel, of redemption, of the Father's love and of the Son's obedience: that's the bulls eye that (I believe) God was aiming at here... that, and that fact that we can trust God even if He assigns to us unorthodox and offensive tasks.