The incident of Abraham offering Isaac was a foretelling of Christ’s being offered up as God’s Lamb to rescue sinners. Isaac was saved by a substitute provided by God, but for Christ, there would be no such rescue, for Jesus is the end of the line for the substitution of Lambs for sinners.
In the incident of Abraham offering Isaac, humanly speaking, there could be no happy outcome. It was an intensely sad and horrific thing Abraham had to do. What good could it possibly bring? How could Abraham survive the killing of his own son?
But instead, God used this incident to burn into Abraham’s heart, as well as all the saints, the promise of the substitution of Christ one day for all His people!
God wanted His people to rest in that promise, and rely upon it, that one day He would provide The Lamb as a sacrifice for sinners!
Looking back on it all, we recognize that God did make this incident work together for the good of Abraham, Isaac, and us all! What looked hopeless and awful, turned out to be glorious! What would have been a great torment, was turned into great rejoicing for us all!
Yes, the Lord will provide! That is the lesson from that startling incident.
Abraham is never recorded as offering up another sacrifice after this. The lesson is, that when the substitute has been provided by God and offered up, there is an end of offerings for sin. Where sin is finally purged, there can be no more Lambs slain in our place.
Likewise, when the Lord Jesus went to the cross, there was terror and sorrow in the disciples’ hearts, because they had not grasped the meaning of the story of Abraham and Isaac, or the words of the prophets of old. |
