The Voice of the Lord

"Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" So he said, "Here I am." And he said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me." Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place. The-Lord-Will-Provide, as it is said to this day. "In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided." Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said, "By myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son – blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice." So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to Beersheba, and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba." (Genesis 22:9-19)

Because the scripture identifies Isaac as "a lad" it is difficult for us to determine his age, however, I was reading the commentary done by Jamieson, Faucett and Brown this morning, and they seem to believe that Isaac was closer to twenty or a bit more. If that is the case, then it is possible that Isaac willingly submitted to becoming the sacrifice that day, trusting either in his father's ability to hear from God or trusting in God as he had well learned from his father. Certainly the scripture gives no hint that there was any struggle or pleas for deliverance on Isaac's part. It does say that Abraham bound Isaac, but still he could have been bound willingly, I suppose.

This event is such a typology of the sacrifice of Jesus upon the cross (Isaac carried the wood upon which he was soon to be sacrificed just as Jesus carried his own cross upon which He was indeed sacrificed for all mankind; the father giving his one and only son – the son promised by God to come by Sarah, just as God gave His one and only begotten Son, Jesus). It would only enhance the typology if Isaac willingly submitted to his father Abraham's will, such as Jesus also did to His own Father, God.

This event takes place on a hill in Moriah. It might have been one of two places: either the hill in Moriah upon which the temple was later built by King Solomon (2 Chronicles 3:1) and upon which currently the Dome of the Rock stands. Or it might be the same hill that Jesus Himself was later crucified on: Golgotha. It took three days journey to reach Moriah, for on the third day is when Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the hill that the Lord was leading him towards still "afar off" (vs. 4). Three days for Abraham to think about what was to come. In our own humanness, we cannot help but wonder what his thoughts were. Were they focused on the Lord God in order to remain obedient? Were his thoughts at rest, because his trust in God was of such strength to allow that kind of rest? Were his thoughts of how this would look to others: Sarah, his servants, the heathens in the land he dwelt in who would hear of the sacrifice eventually and think ill perhaps of Abraham's God? There is no hint to us of anything other than Abraham proceeded without any hesitation and without any delay to fulfill the command of the Lord. But further scripture tells us that he knew that God had promised descendants to come from this one and only child of promise, and he knew that God would raise Isaac from the dead, if necessary, to fulfill His promises to Abraham:

"By faith, Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten [son]. Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed by called: Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure." (Hebrews 11:17-19)

When they reached the hill, Abraham caused his servants to remain at the foot of the hill, so that they would not attempt to stop what he knew he must do. And then he methodically laid out all that was necessary at the place of offering, ending with placing the bound Isaac on the bed of wood at the altar. And as he is about to cut Isaac's throat (as would have been done with the animal to be sacrificed), a voice from heaven stopped him. That voice belonged to the "Angel of the Lord." Biblical scholars mostly agree that "the Angel of the Lord" is none other than Jesus, pre-incarnate (before He was made flesh), the Word of God speaking from heaven. The Angel of the Lord then proceeded to confirm his promises to Abraham to an even greater degree than when first promised; an increase of blessing because of Abraham's obedience in hearing the voice of the Lord and in doing what was spoken to Him so willingly.

It is important to see that Abraham trusted in the WORD of GOD that had been spoken to Him. This is why it is the WORD of God who speaks to Him when he has accomplished all that he had been commanded. And who is the Word of God, but Jesus Christ…the Word of God that will later be born to a virgin (made flesh such as we are). By trusting the WORD of God, Abraham showed his faith IN GOD by acting in obedience to that WORD that God spoke.

This is once more, a testimony to us of the multi-layered depths of the Scriptures that describes things that can be applied to the natural, but also speaks of things prophetically at depths (or perhaps I should say heights) that man cannot humanly reach, but can only be explored by the power of the Holy Spirit who illuminates the richness of that Word to us.

Such is the case with the blessing that the Angel of the Lord speaks over Abraham: "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice." (v. 18)

Jesus Christ was of the seed of Abraham; and all who trust in Him are called the "spiritual seed" of Abraham.

Matthew Henry explains the meaning of that blessing so that we can see how ALL NATIONS, this is no exaggeration on the part of the Lord, ALL NATIONS will be blessed:

"Christ is the great blessing of the world. Abraham was ready to give up his son for a sacrifice to the honour of God, and on that occasion, God promised to give His son for the salvation of man."

Each and every individual from every tribe and nation of the world has a Savior that gave His life for them, a sacrificial LAMB provided by God for their sakes, to SAVE them from the wrath of a HOLY and JUST God…If all will only RECEIVE their salvation from HIM: JESUS CHRIST.