Genesis 22.3-10-Abraham's Obedience to God's Instructions

Sunday March 12, 2006

Genesis: Genesis 22:3-10-Abraham’s Obedience to God’s Instructions

Lesson # 114

Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 22:1.

On Thursday evening we studied Genesis 22:1-2, which records God testing Abraham by giving him instructions to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac.

This morning we will study Genesis 22:3-10, which records Abraham’s obedience to these instructions.

Genesis 22:1, “Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, ‘Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’”

Genesis 22:2, “He said, ‘Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.’”

Genesis 22:3, “So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.”

All that takes place in Genesis 22:3 has deep spiritual meaning and significance.

Abraham typifies or portrays God the Father, who “spared not his own Son, but delivered Him up for us all” (Romans 8:32).

Isaac typifies or portrays the Lord Jesus Christ who was “obedient unto death” (Philippians 2:8).

The burnt offering portrays Jesus Christ’s death on the Cross as propitiating the Father (1 John 2:2; 4:10).

Notice that Abraham does not procrastinate or consult with anyone regarding God’s instructions to sacrifice Isaac but rather he rises early in the morning to carry out God’s orders.

Psalm 119:60, “I hastened and did not delay to keep Your commandments.”

In the Hebrew text, waw-consecutives precede the Hebrew verbs for “saddled, took,” and “split” implying that Abraham did one thing after another.

The significance of this is that Abraham cut the wood “after” saddling his donkey and gathering together his servants and Isaac indicating a battle was being waged in the soul of Abraham since it would have made more sense to cut the wood first.

It appears that Abraham was postponing the most painful part of the journey till the last possible moment.

Even though this was painful preparation for Abraham, he still obeyed God.

As Abraham was preparing to leave for Moriah, in his soul he was reconciling the apparent contradiction between God’s command to kill Isaac and the fact that God promised him He would establish His covenant with Isaac!

Hebrews 11:17-19 records that Abraham resolved this apparent contradiction believing that God would raise Isaac from the dead!

Hebrews 11:17, “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son.”

Hebrews 11:18, “it was he to whom it was said, ‘IN ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS SHALL BE CALLED.’”

Hebrews 11:19, “He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.”

Genesis 22:4, “On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance.”

Abraham was residing at this time in the land of the Philistines, in Beersheba according to Genesis 21:33-34 and Beersheba to Moriah was about fifty miles.

The three days journey typifies or portrays the Lord Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the dead on the third day.

The raising of the eyes before seeing indicates that what is seen is of great significance and thus the moment of truth had come.

The fact that Abraham raised his eyes indicates that his head was down implying that he was deep and thought regarding God’s command.

Genesis 22:5, “Abraham said to his young men, ‘Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.’”

Abraham tells his young men to stay behind since they would have misunderstood Abraham’s motive for sacrificing Isaac.

Also, the fact that Abraham does not tell his servants what he is about to do typifies that the Cross was a transaction between only the Father and the Son and was shrouded in supernatural darkness, concealed from both men and angels.

Matthew 27:45, “Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour.”

Matthew 27:46, “About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?’ that is, ‘MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?’”

Abraham’s statement to his young men that both he and Isaac are going to worship God and God’s command to Abraham to sacrifice Isaac indicates that worshipping God involves obedience to the point of sacrifice.

Abraham’s obedience to God’s command to sacrifice Isaac and Isaac’s confidence in his father Abraham and submission to him typifies or portrays the obedience of the Son of God Jesus Christ to His Father’s will.

Abraham knew that God had a future planned for Isaac and that God wanted Isaac sacrificed and that God could raise Isaac from the dead.

The statement in Hebrews 11:19 that “Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead” indicates that Abraham’s statement to his servants “we will worship and return to you” in Genesis 22:5 is “not” a lie but rather an expression of faith that God would raise Isaac from the dead.

Genesis 22:6, “Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together.”

The fact that Abraham laid the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac indicates that Isaac was “not” a little boy.

Isaac was actually between thirty and thirty-three years of age, which is significant since Jesus Christ was thirty-three when He died on the Cross and rose from the dead.

Isaac was between thirty and thirty-three years of age at this point in the narrative, which is indicated by the following:

First, Genesis 23:1 records that Sarah was said to be one hundred twenty-seven years old when she died, which was right after the events of Genesis 22.

Secondly, Sarah was ninety-years old when she gave birth to Isaac since Genesis 17:17 records that she was ten years younger than Abraham who was one hundred years old when Isaac was born according to Genesis 21:1.

If we subtract the age of Sarah when she died from the day Isaac was born we get thirty-seven years.

Furthermore, the term “lad” in Genesis 22:12 and “lads” in Genesis 22:5 is the Hebrew noun na`ar (ru^n^), which depending on the context can refer to a “child” or a “young man.”

The context of Genesis 22 indicates that the term refers to a “young man” rather than a “child” since Abraham lays wood for the sacrifice upon Isaac to carry, which is something he would not do if Isaac was a little boy at this time.

The fact that Abraham laid the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac portrays that God the Father laid a wooden Cross on His Son Jesus Christ to carry Himself.

John 19:17, “They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha.”

The fact that Abraham took in his hand the fire and the knife again indicates Abraham’s faith in God and his belief that God would raise Isaac from the dead.

It also portrays that God the Father sacrificed His Son Jesus Christ and could not have taken place without God the Father’s consent and sovereign will.

The fire speaks of divine judgment and typifies that Jesus Christ whom Isaac portrays was judged for the sins of the entire world.

Isaiah 53:8, “By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?”

Genesis 22:7, “Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, ‘My father!’ And he said, ‘Here I am, my son.’ And he said, ‘Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?’”

Genesis 22:8, “Abraham said, ‘God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.’ So the two of them walked on together.”

Abraham’s statement, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering” is a prophecy that God the Father would send His Son Jesus Christ as the “lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

The fact that God commanded Abraham to perform a human sacrifice with Isaac also was prophetic in that it foretold that God the Son would become a human being in order to take away the sin of the world.

The statement “so the two of them walked on together” appears twice in Genesis 22:6 intentionally to demonstrate to the reader that Isaac went to the place of sacrifice of His own volition typifying that the Jesus Christ went willingly to the Cross in obedience to the Father’s will and was not forced to go the Cross.

John 10:17, “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again.”

John 10:18, “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”

The statement “so the two of them walked on together” typifies or portrays the intimate fellowship between God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ and that they were in agreement that the Cross was necessary for the salvation of men.

Genesis 22:9, “Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.”

“Altar” is the noun mizbeach (j^B@w+m!) (miz-bay-akh), which was composed of material constructed of earth and stones and was the place Abraham, was to perform this act of worship, which would portray the Father sacrificing Jesus Christ on the Cross.

Notice that Isaac does “not” resist his father Abraham when he is bound to the altar, and which binding revealed to Isaac that he was the sacrifice.

The fact that Isaac didn’t resist Abraham and did not open his mouth but was silent, like a sheep to the slaughter typifies the Lord Jesus Christ’s silence, not opening his mouth and going to the Cross as a sheep to the slaughter.

Isaiah 53:7, “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth.”

The silence and submission of Isaac demonstrated his total and complete confidence in and his total submission to his father, which portrays the Lord Jesus Christ’s confidence in and obedience to God the Father.

Genesis 22:10, “Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.”

Abraham’s intention to kill Isaac typifies or portrays the fact that God the Father put His Son Jesus Christ on the Cross and killed Him in order to provide salvation for all men and demonstrate His hatred of sin and love for sinners.

Abraham’s obedience to God’s command to sacrifice someone as beloved to Abraham as Isaac demonstrated the extent to which Abraham loved God.

Obedience is the supreme test of our love for the Lord.

John 14:15, “If you love Me, you will observe conscientiously My commandments.”

One thing we notice in this story of Abraham’s obedience to God’s command to sacrifice Isaac was that Abraham did not put his relationship with his beloved son Isaac between him and his relationship with God.

Luke 14:26, “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.”

Luke 14:27, “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.”