God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his own most beloved son Isaac.
Abraham had trusted in God's promises, and God counted it for righteousness. Abraham would not disobey God's command, even though it seemed that the killing of Isaac would overturn the covenant God had made with Abraham, because according to the Lord, all the promised blessings were to be in and through Isaac his son.
Along the way, Isaac asked his father the most important question: where is the lamb for the sacrifice? Isaac was old enough to understand that God required an animal to offer up, whose blood was shed to satisfy God's demands upon His people.
How could God be satisfied without a lamb to sacrifice?
Abraham's response to Isaac was profound, even though he failed to grasp its full import: God will provide Himself a lamb for a sacrifice!
What Abraham articulated had been revealed to him by the Holy Ghost, and he spoke prophetically. His statement had an immediate fulfillment, and an eternal one.
Just a few hours later, God did indeed provide a lamb to take Isaac's place, and to rescue Isaac from being slain by Abraham.
But in the future, God would provide Himself as THE Lamb of sacrifice, His Own dear only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus, to take the place of His loved ones as our sin offering, to take away our sins completely.
Before Christ went to the cross, all men could say in hope and trust was that somehow, someday, "God would provide Himself a lamb for our sacrifice."
But now we can proclaim, no, now God HAS PROVIDED Himself our Lamb of sacrifice!
The promise foretold to Abraham by the Holy Ghost has finally, after all these centuries, been completely fulfilled for us in Christ! |
