AWOL: Andrew Wilson Online

Isaac’s Birth

Just like Christ, Isaac’s birth was miraculous, although Christ’s birth was a miracle of a higher order. Abraham and Sarah both laughed at the idea of having a child, Abraham being 100 years old and Sarah 90. Hence God directed them to call the name of the child Isaac, meaning ‘laughter’. But to them as well as to Mary, God gave the wonderful promise that for God, nothing is too hard or impossible (Genesis 18:14, Luke 4:37).

Isaac’s Sacrifice

Abraham’s faith was tested in Genesis 22 when God told him to offer Isaac, ‘your son, your only Isaac, whom you love’, as a burnt offering. The word ‘only’ in Genesis 22:2, 12 is quoted in Hebrews 11:17 as ‘only-begotten’, the same word as is used in relation to the Lord Jesus Christ. Abraham’s love for Isaac was a picture therefore of the unique love of the Father for the Son. Isaac’s sacrifice allows us a glimpse into how much it must have cost God the Father to offer up His well-beloved Son. However, we also see the affection of Isaac for his father Abraham expressed in his address of Abraham on the way to sacrifice in Genesis 22:7: ‘My Father’. So also, Christ’s love for the Father could be expressed in John 14:31, ‘But so that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, so I do, arise, let us go hence’. Isaac’s ignorance of what was happening (Genesis 22:7) contrasts with Christ’s full knowledge of all that lay before Him (John 18:4), yet Isaac’s submission reflects some of the glory of Christ’s perfect obedience to His Father’s will – ‘so the two of them went together’ (Genesis 22:8). So too, Christ could say, ‘Indeed, the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave me alone. And yet, I am not alone, because the Father is with me’ (John 16:32). Abraham was directed to take Isaac on a three-day journey to a special place of sacrifice, Mount Moriah. It was here where Solomon’s Temple was later built (2 Chronicles 3:1). This journey and this place pointed forward to Christ, too, who could say in Luke 13:33, ‘Nevertheless I must journey today, tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem’. Abraham offered up Isaac in the confident assurance that God would raise him from the dead – even burnt to ashes. He said ‘I and the lad will go yonder and worship and we will come back to you’ (Genesis 22:5). This again presents a striking parallel with Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection. God’s provision of a ram to be offered in the place of Isaac led Abraham to name the place ‘Jehovah-Jireh’, meaning, The Lord will provide, or The Lord will see. Perhaps this was what the Lord Jesus was alluding to when He said in John 8:56: ‘Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad’. Abraham at Moriah was allowed a glimpse into God’s provision of His Son as the lamb of sacrifice.

Isaac’s Marriage

After Isaac’s figurative death and resurrection, Abraham’s attention turned to providing a suitable wife for Isaac. The marvelous story of how Abraham’s servant, ‘being in the way’, was led by God to find Rebekah, shows that it was also God’s desire to provide a bride for Isaac. This again prefigured the sending of the Holy Spirit to win a Gentile bride for our Lord Jesus Christ. The present Church age will finish when our Lord Jesus comes out, like Isaac did, to meet his bride. In anticipation, the Spirit and the Bride say, Come (Revelation 22:17).

Isaac’s Inheritance

Isaac’s ultimate purpose was to inherit the blessing of Abraham. ‘Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac’ (Genesis 25:5), just as we read that ‘the Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand’ (John 3:35, 13:3). Isaac’s inheritance of the covenant promises and blessings made to Abraham was again only a prefigurement of God’s plan to one day put all things in heaven and earth under Christ’s feet. ‘For the promise that he would be heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed (Isaac, and ultimately, Christ) through the law, but through the righteousness of faith’ (Roman 4:13).