Abraham, Isaac, and Jesus
Abraham [1] is an important historical figure in several religions, so much so that religious holidays have been established in his honor. While Abraham’s story might vary from tradition to tradition, all recognize him as an important forefather of their faith. Furthermore, his story – at least the final parts -- is one of extreme trust and obedience in God. However, the original version relayed by God to Moses and recorded in the Bible (Genesis, Chapters 11 through 15) holds specific significance to Christians in several ways.
CALLING
Despite being known as the father of the Israel nation, Abraham originally did not worship God, at least not exclusively. The Bible describes him and his family as following the various gods of his day (Josh. 24:2). Yet Yahweh, the God of the Bible, came to Abraham and made him a promise. Through Abraham’s offspring, God was going to bring about a great nation and bless all people (Gen. 12:2, 15:4-5). Even though the promise came from the Creator of the Universe, Abraham still saw one problem with God’s promise: He was old and his wife Sarah was barren, beyond childbearing years.
Still, the couple tried until Sarah grew tired of waiting and devised her own plan. She instructed Abraham to sleep with Hagar, their younger servant, and father a child through her. Despite the common belief that the man was the head of the ancient household, Abraham deferred to his wife and bore a son with Hagar. They named the boy Ishmael. While you might think Sarah would have been happy, the whole arrangement being her idea, that wasn’t the case. Abraham’s wife grew extremely jealous of the fact that Hagar had been able to conceive when she couldn’t and she ended up treating her servant harshly from that time forward (Gen. 16 and 21).
ISAAC
Life continued for Abraham and his family for another thirteen years before God visited him again. This visit was to remind Abraham of God’s promise to bless his family and make many nations through him and his children. As if God may have forgotten, Abraham reminded Him that Sarah was too old to bear children. However, that wouldn’t be a problem as Ishmael, the son born to the servant Hagar, could continue Abraham’s line.
But this wasn’t God’s plan. His promise was not to be fulfilled through Ishmael, but through a son that Sarah would indeed bear herself. That son would by Isaac whom Sarah conceived and gave birth to the following year. It was proof that the blessing came from God and God alone, for who else could bring forth a child from a barren woman? [2]
SACRIFICE
Much happens to Abraham over the next several years and eventually, there comes a time when Isaac is old enough to work with his father. It is then that God visits Abraham again and gives him another shock, one more surprising than the fact that his barren wife would have a baby. God told Abraham to take Isaac, the child from whom was to come many nations, and sacrifice him. At this point, Abraham could have thought he misheard God, or that God had made some sort of mistake. As he did with Ishmael, Abraham could have tried to fix the apparent error and preserve his son’s life. But he didn’t. Instead, this time Abraham followed God’s command.
Abraham led his son to a mountain in Moriah, a three-day journey, and built an altar of wood to the LORD. He then bound Isaac and lifted his knife. However, before Abraham plunged the blade through his son’s heart, God stopped him. God knew that Abraham held Him in awe. In place of the child, God presented Abraham with a ram. Therefore, Abraham named the place “The LORD will provide.”
FORESHADOWING OF CHRIST
As I’ve already mentioned, the story of Abraham is considered an example of great faith in God, though many gloss over or fail to recognize the pain and heavy-heartedness Abraham must have gone through when instructed to kill his own son. (For further insight on this event, I strongly recommend R. C. Sproul’s sermon on Abraham and Isaac.) But this final scene also holds specific significance for Christians. The first, Abraham’s naming of the mountain, is obvious. Just as God provided the sacrifice for Abraham on that fateful day, He has provided Jesus Christ as the ultimate sacrifice for all mankind. However, there are two other aspects that are a bit more subtle.
The concepts of “sonship” and “heir” hold a prominent place among the Hebrews. In that time, the firstborn male son was the person slated to receive the family inheritance and all the associated blessings. However, throughout the Bible this is not always the case with God’s family. For starters, the New Testament writers, when talking about our inheritance from God, use the term “sons” to refer to both genders, male and female, destroying all previous limitations.
But what is more relevant to Abraham’s story is the way God constantly flips the birth order, as He did with Isaac over Ishmael, the firstborn son. In addition to Abraham’s sons, it also occurs right at the start of human history with Cain and Abel. Even though Cain was the firstborn, he was eventually cursed while Abel’s sacrifice was acceptable to God. Later, comes Isaac’s sons, Esau and Jacob. Esau was the firstborn, yet Isaac’s blessing ended up being given to the second son, Jacob. Jacob’s son Joseph, who would eventually gain Pharoah’s trust and save Israel from famine, was actually the 11th child in his family. The first, Reuben, lost his standing due to an affair with his father’s concubine. King David, often considered the most Godly king of all time, was the seventh of his brothers, and so on. Throughout Biblical history, the younger son often receives blessings that should have been reserved for the eldest child.
This occurrence isn’t by accident, or just a throw-away fact about each story. They are foreshadowing God’s plan for creation through His son, Jesus Christ. The Bible is clear that Christ, God’s one and only son [3], is the firstborn of all creation (Col. 1:15, Rev. 1:5). As such, he is the rightful heir to all of God’s blessings and His inheritance. While called “sons,” Christians are only sons through adoption and unquestionably the lesser children. However, God has a different plan. He allowed His firstborn son, Jesus, to be murdered on the cross and receive the wrath deserved for us, so that we may also receive the inheritance and blessings. Jesus still retains His place with God (unlike many of the human sons in the Bible) but the concept is the same. The lesser child receives what should be reserved for the firstborn.
The final way the story of Abraham and Isaac points to the future work of Christ is in its location. Naturally, the people, culture, and landmarks around Mount Moriah changed over the next several hundred years until eventually the city of Jerusalem was built next to it.
Many scholars believe that it is on that mountain where the Romans would take prisoners sentenced to die and crucify them. One of those prisoners was Jesus Christ. In the place where God instructed Abraham to sacrifice his son, the child from whom all nations would be blessed, God also brought His own son to be sacrificed. However, unlike Isaac whom God spared, God did not spare Jesus, so that his sacrifice would truly bring to the world the blessing that was promised through Abraham’s family.
[1] Before anyone calls me out for this, I know that Abraham and his wife Sarah were only given these names late in the story. However, since the two are more commonly known by their God-given names, I have chosen, for convenience, to only use those.
[2] While not specifically mentioned in scripture, I suspect another reason God intended Isaac to be His child of promise is due to God’s installation of marriage in Genesis 2, verse 24. There is says, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” In some spiritual way, two individuals become a single person. When God made His promise to Abraham it is a Spiritual Promise. As Abraham’s wife Sarah is included in that promise as the two are spiritually one. On the other hand, Hagar has no such connection to Abraham. They were spiritually two different people and, as such, Hagar was not intended to be part of that promise.
[3] See God’s instructions to Abraham in Genesis 22:2.
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