For Unto Us is Born a Substitute-Gen. 22:9-14

Last week we began a journey that will take us through the Old Testament in order to examine different predictions of the Christ Child—that same child we celebrate in a special way during the Thanksgiving and Christmas season. Last week we looked at the earliest prophecy of Christ in Genesis and learned that as soon as sin was born in the world, so too was God’s plan to eradicate it by means of Jesus. From Genesis 3:14-15 we learned that “for unto us is born the defeater of sin.” Jesus is the seed of the woman who was miraculously conceived of the virgin Mary to right the wrongs of humanity and totally destroy the program of evil led by the cursed serpent, Lucifer. Today we turn a few pages in our Bible to Genesis chapter 22 where we confront an entirely different kind of spectacle—a holy ritual that, at first, seems to spell disaster. The tension mounts in the scene we are going to observe today by means of four stages that can be witnessed in verses 9-14. As we witness observe the rising tension and finally see how the crisis averted, we will learn that “for unto us is born a substitute.” What glorious news!   

I. STAGE 1: The Preparation-22:9-10

Imagine being 99 years old and having a name like Abram (father). Imagine that contrary to your given name, you have no children. Now imagine that God comes to you and promises that a great nation would be made from you and your barren wife! Imagine taking on a new name, “Abraham,” (father of a multitude) as a token of good faith that God would make good on this promise. Imagine that after some time (many years in fact) your barren wife give birth to a miracle child. So tickled are you by the events that have unfolded that you name him Isaac (laughter). All of this was true of Abraham and his house. You can probably guess how much this son of theirs mean the the aging couple. Sure, they were old, but having a young son would keep Abraham and Sarah young. After all, he was the beginning of a great nation.

Now imagine that God comes to you and says, “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” (Gen. 22:3). Would you do as Abraham did and immediately, rise early in the morning, saddle your donkey, gather wood, call Isaac to join you, and go? Though I question my own willingness to be faithful in the midst of such a test, Abraham was obedient without hesitation.

We pick up the story in verse 9 when “they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood” (22:9a).  Everything was prepared, that is, everything but the sacrifice. Who is the first to notice this? Young Isaac who says in verse 7, “’Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?’”

I’ve never been able to wrap my mind around what took place as the sacrifice was prepared. After Abraham built the altar and arranged the wood, he “bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood” (22:9b). Remember Abraham is at this point over 100 years old and Isaac is a teenager (i.e. very capable of getting free and running away—fearing that perhaps his dad was suffering from an acute case of psychosis or dementia). However, as mysterious as it was for Abraham to be obedient to God’s unusual command to sacrifice Isaac in the first place (without any hesitation), so too is it mysterious and yet altogether true that Isaac took his place on the altar and allowed himself to be bound in preparation for the sacrifice that would soon commence.

The tension of the scene reaches its critical mass as the writer continues by saying, “Abraham stretch out his hand and took the knife to slay his son” (22:10). So much of this does not make sense. This was the promised son Isaac from whom would come a great nation (see Gen. 18) in response to the covenant promise God made to Abraham (see Gen. 12:1-3). And yet, here is Isaac strapped on top of an altar with a knife hovering over his neck. Who is wielding this weapon but none other than Abraham! Somebody stop this!!!

II. STAGE #2: The Prevention-22:11-12

Thankfully, at that very moment (even the very last second), “the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, ‘Abraham, Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am’…” (22:11). Whew!  It is at this crucial point in the story that it becomes exceedingly clear that God never intended to have Abraham sacrifice his son Isaac. Instead, this was a test. In fact, that this was a test of Abraham’s obedience and resolve was intimated in verse 1 of chapter 22, “Now it can about after these thing, that, God tested Abraham, and said to him, ‘Abraham!’ and he said, ‘Here I am’”. Sound familiar? This familiar call occurred at the beginning of the test and marked its end in verse 11, “But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, ‘Abraham, Abraham!’ and He said, ‘Here I am’…”.

After preventing the sacrifice from happening, the angel of the Lord provides some instructions, “’Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him’” (22:12a). In other words, “put down the knife and walk away slowly.” If Abraham did not seem bothered by the unusual request to sacrifice his son Isaac, I’m sure that Abraham had no problem following these new set of orders.

Once these instructions are articulated, the angel reveals the results of the test that Abraham had just passed with flying colors, “for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me’…” (22:12b). To fear God means to revere Him as sovereign, trust Him implicitly, and obey Him without question. This Abraham had done by following God’s unusual command without hesitation. Likewise, a true worshiper of God holds nothing back from God but obediently gives Him what He asks, trusting that He will provide. Abraham accomplished this when he strapped Isaac to the altar and nearly followed through with what God had originally instructed.

In his willingness to offer Isaac, Abraham demonstrated that he was willing to hold nothing back in obeying the Lord. Isaac represented everything to Abraham. He was Abraham’s only legitimate son, the key to the promise God had made him, and his joy. Yet even Isaac was something that Abraham was willing to part with in order to follow the Lord. Abraham passed the test that none of us would sign up to take and because of this, he was awarded with provision.

III. STAGE #3: The Provision-22:13

“Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns” (22:13a). There, just a little ways off was God’s substitute for Isaac. No longer would Isaac have to be offered for the sacrifice. God had placed a ram in their midst for this occasion.

It is here where we are given yet another foreshadowing of the coming of the messiah—this time prefigured by both the willingness of Isaac to comply with Abraham’s unusual request and by the substitutionary ram. Like Isaac, Jesus would be the willing sacrifice that was placed on the altar by His Father. Though He had the power to remove Himself from the cross, just as Isaac is assumed to have had the strength to break free of the altar, Christ followed His Father’s instructions all the way to certain death. The only difference is, Jesus was offered and sacrificed, while Isaac was spared. Abraham so loved God that he was willing to give his only son so that by trusting in Him in this way, he might honor God. Sound familiar? “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (Jn. 3:16).

In so doing, Jesus satisfies the criteria for another image found in this ancient story. Not only is Jesus foreshadowed in Isaac, but He is also intimated in the ram caught in the thicket. This is made clear in what is revealed next in the second part of verse 13.

 “And Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son” (22:13b). The ram was Isaac’s substitute. Because the ram was caught in the thicket and available for the offering, Isaac no longer had to occupy the place on top of the firewood.

It is here where we catch the second type for Christ. Not only is Jesus the willing and only son of promise—He is the substitutionary atonement for the sin offering. Like this ram caught in the thicket, Jesus allowed Himself to be caught by the authorities at the right time and place, and was led like a lamb to the slaughter so that He might take our place and satisfy the punishment that we all deserve. The truth is, we all deserve a fiery end for the many sins we commit. However, because Jesus went on our behalf as our substitute, we do not have to (just as the ram took the place of Isaac).

Jesus is the only Son of God and the substitutionary atonement for sin.  For unto us is born a substitute!

IV. STAGE #4: The Praise-22:14-“…Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, ‘In the mount of the Lord it will be provided,’…”

The fourth stage of this saga involves praise offered by Abraham to God, “Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, ‘In the mount of the Lord it will be provided’…” (22:14). God had indeed provided for Abraham—He provided a substitute for his only son and a way for his promise of a great nation to progress. However, one gets the sense from reading the whole story that this came as no surprise to Abraham. While on the way up the mountain Abraham turned to those who were traveling with him and his son and said, “stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and WE will worship and return to you” (22:5). It appears that Abraham trusted God enough to obey the Lord’s unusual command to sacrifice his only son, while at the same time he trusted that God was going to do something like this in the end so that Isaac would be spared. Now that is faith!

So What?

When one considers who originally wrote this and to whom, one can begin to understand how this is rightly applied to us today. Genesis (along with Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy for that matter) were all written by Moses while those he led wandered in the desert following their incredible journey out of Egypt. Waning in the wilderness for some time had made some groan and complain about their present situation. In fact, many began to question Moses and God altogether. They doubted the Lord’s provision even though God had executed multiple plagues, signs, and wonders in their favor and miraculously supplied food and water every step of their long journey to the Promised Land. What better way to remind them of God’s enduring provision for the faithful than with this story of Abraham and Isaac? God is pleased to provide for those who completely trust Him with every part of their lives. This is just as true today as it was for Abraham and for the Israelites in the wilderness. We can expect God to provide for our needs when we entrust everything to Him through total obedience.

However, the even better news is that when God provides for those who completely trust Him, He provides His Son Jesus. Just as God provided a ram in the thicket to solve Abraham’s problems, God provided Jesus Christ for the sinner to solve his problems. For unto us is born a substitute! He is God’s only begotten son and atoning sacrifice—the stand in for us. He is ours when we surrender our lives over to Him, completely trusting and totally obeying Him with all parts of our lives. Just for a moment this Christmas season, let us pause and consider what we might give to God in a demonstration of trust to him. Would you give all of yourself? Abraham certainly did. As a result God provided what he needed and in so doing he predicts the greatest provision the world has ever seen—Christ—the substitute. This season let us be inspired by this substitute and be willing to trust the Lord with all of our lives, knowing that in so doing, we can expect to be taken care of and provided for according to his will.