4th March 2024
God has provided
This is the fifth study in a series of studies about shadows in scripture
… “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”
Genesis 22:2 (NIV)
The Lord, who was to become incarnate as the man Jesus, watched from heaven as he saw his own impending sacrifice being figuratively carried out on a mountain in the region of Moriah. And, as the above scripture indicates, it was at his own command.
Just before Abraham made the fatal move with his knife, ‘the Angel of the Lord’ (Genesis 22:11) called out and stopped it all in its tracks saying, “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” (v.12). All that had led up to this point – the loading of the donkey with wood; the three-day trek for Abraham, Isaac his only son, and two servants; the walk up the mountain with Isaac carrying the wood for the fire and Abraham carrying the knife and the fire; the building of the altar; the binding of Isaac, and the lifting of the knife – it all was finished when a ram ‘caught in a thicket’ was provided for the sacrifice (v.13). The narrative suggests how deeply involved the Father was with his Son’s sacrifice.
The once for all sacrifice that Christ would be making (Hebrews 10:10) was in the mind of God from eternity, before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8). But since he was not constrained by time and place, it could have been as if he was living it out himself, along with Abraham. There was the Father, figuratively walking alongside Jesus as he carried his cross; though, in reality, God was ‘in Christ’ shouldering the burden of the cross with him
(2 Corinthians 5:19). But as he provided an alternative sacrifice for Isaac, no substitute was provided for Jesus, even though he prayed that there might be another way – another ram caught in another thicket. There on the Mount of Olives, traditionally thought to be in the same region as the mountain that Abraham and Isaac walked to, Jesus prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” (Luke 22:42). Maybe Abraham was uttering a similar prayer.
We can create lists of the parallels between the two sacrifices, but one is a mere shadow of the other. The reality was bloodier, more agonising, uglier, and then, ultimately, more glorious. Isaac and Abraham’s long walk home, joyful as it undoubtedly was, with the servants and the donkey, but without the wood, was no equal to Jesus’ appearance to Mary outside the open tomb: triumphant and with death defeated.
Prayer
Father, any sacrifice we are asked to make is nothing compared to the sacrifice we have in Christ Jesus. Thank you that he was prepared to endure the pain that we might have an eternal future, even more than the great and precious promises made to Abraham, the father of the faithful. In Jesus’s name, Amen.
Study by Maggie Mitchell
About the writer:
Maggie Mitchell attends the Market Harborough congregation of Grace Communion International
Local congregation:
GCI Market Harborough
9 The Point
Rockingham Road
Market Harborough
LE16 7QU
Meeting time:
Sunday 4.00 pm
Local congregational contact:
Sinead Henderson
Email: sinead.henderson@gracecom.church
Word of Life contact:
wordoflife@gracecom.church