| The FISHERS Magazine (Issue 193)
The Outcome (Gen 22:11-14) At the critical juncture, the Angel of Yahweh issued an urgent command to stay Abraham’s hand. He Himself called out from Heaven, He did not entrust this message to another. He shouted at the precise moment, for He had been watching carefully. “For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His” (2 Chr 16:9). Make no mistake, God watches over those who fear Him. For the third time, Abraham answered, “Here I am.” This betrays the humility of this man of God. “Here I am” means “I am ready to do your bidding, I am here for you, I stand ready to serve you.” Abraham answered God twice in this way. When God speaks to us, this should be our attitude too. Before we read our Bibles, we should say, “Here I am, Lord, I am ready to do your will, whatever you reveal to me.” It is noteworthy that this was also the way Abraham spoke with Isaac, his son, a hundred years younger than him. He had “eaten more salt than Isaac had eaten rice,” he had “crossed more bridges than Isaac had walked roads”; yet in his humility, he placed himself in Isaac’s service. The more godly a man is, the more he seeks and strives to make himself available for others – to serve their needs, preferring their interests more than his own. What the Angel of Yahweh said to Abraham represented a firm statement of divine approval. Abraham feared God, and did not withhold his son from God. God approves of those who fear Him. It was Abraham’s fear of God that was being tested, the same was what Abraham demonstrated. Only at the end did it become clear to Abraham that this whole episode was a test. It also was made abundantly clear that God does not approve of child sacrifice. Though the command was to sacrifice Isaac, the real point was Abraham’s sacrifice of himself. When the Angel of Yahweh, who was none other than the pre-incarnate Lord Jesus, stopped Abraham, it signified that Abraham’s sacrifice was accepted. In reality, Abraham had already made the sacrifice, for he had proven his fear of God; and God approved of it. God sends tests to strengthen our faith and to show us what we are like spiritually. God does not test us to find out how faithful we are – He already knows that. He tests us to reveal to us our own spiritual state, and to stretch our faith in Him. It was not by chance that a ram was caught in the thicket by its horns (v. 13). It must have been securely caught for a centenarian to go up to it, catch hold of it, and offer it as a sacrifice. This was God Himself providing a sacrifice. Abraham offered the ram “in place of his son” – this was a substitute sacrifice. There was no command to sacrifice the animal, but Abraham understood that God provided it, and he sacrificed it in worship – for no worship of God may be made without any sacrifice. In his heart, Abraham must have been grateful that God provided him the ram with which he could thank God for sparing his son Isaac. Abraham knew that God provides for those who fear Him. Abraham named the place “Yahweh Will Provide”. Moses tells us that in his day, it was still said, “In the mount of the LORD, it will be provided.” Even today, this statement stands true. In his fear of God, Abraham has testified to the greatness and glory of God, that God is the One who provides. His testimony lives on – it is one that has reached the ends of the world – people of all tribes and tongues know that God provides. The God-fearing testify of God’s faithfulness by their faithfulness. There is not the slightest hint that Abraham wavered or doubted throughout because his faith had grown over the years from Gen 12 to Gen 22. Though our study of the text of Gen 22:1-14 ends here, there is still a question that needs to be asked, “The LORD will provide, yes, but what exactly does He provide?” John 5:39-46 asserts that the Pentateuch is about the Lord Jesus Christ. We do not have to spiritualise the text to see Christ in Genesis, and certainly not in Genesis 22. Look carefully at Gen 22:14. Where was the place God had promised He will provide? It was on the Mount of Yahweh. There is a precise place, a mount belonging to Yahweh, where God Himself will provide. This was why it was crucial that Abraham travelled exactly there. But where is Mount Moriah? It is the Temple Mount in Jerusalem (2 Chr 3:1), where Solomon built the temple, where Zerubabbel re-built the temple, and where Herod also built His temple. What will God provide? The Jews would have been extremely sensitive to this; Genesis 22:7-8 speaks of God providing a lamb. The animal that Abraham sacrificed, however, was a ram. A ram is not a lamb. To the Jew, this would have left the story in a most unsettled state of non-closure. They understood, especially after the Mosaic Covenant was made, that a lamb was required for the Passover, a ram would not do. No doubt God provided the ram at that time, but this was incongruous with the lamb that Abraham had said God would provide. Moses’ original hearers would expect, from the words of their grand patriarch, that one day, God Himself will provide a lamb. In the story, temporarily, a ram sufficed. The words “In the mount of the LORD, it will be provided” (Gen 22:14) can also be translated “In the mount of the LORD, He will appear”. In fact, 2 Chr 3:1 clearly alludes to Gen 22:14; for it is said in that verse that the LORD “appeared” to Solomon, using the same Hebrew root word for “it will be provided”. So, who will appear on the Mount of the LORD? Abraham was supremely confident God Himself will provide the lamb, but where is the Lamb that God would provide? Isaiah prophesied of the Messiah, “Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth.” (Isa 53:7b) Just as Isaac, the son of Abraham did not resist, the Messiah, the Son of God, would also not resist. But while there was a substitute found for Isaac, there would be no substitute for the Lord Jesus, for He Himself would be the sinless substitute for His sinful, needy people. Centuries later, John the Baptist would point Jesus out as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Ponder this: the One who shouted from Heaven to stay Abraham’s hand would Himself be the sacrifice one day. Isaac was Abraham’s son, Abraham’s only son, the son whom Abraham loved. Jesus Christ was God’s Son, God’s beloved Son, the Son in whom God was utterly pleased. God took pity upon Abraham, and spared him the agony of killing his own son by providing the substitute for him. But God did not take pity on His own Son, the Son in whom He was utterly pleased, but made Him our substitute, pouring out His wrath on the Lord Jesus the wrath we richly deserved, so that we may go scot-free. Paul deliberately used the same turn of phrase found in Gen 22 when he wrote in Rom 8:32 that God “did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all.” Indeed, on the Mount of Yahweh, it will be provided. Indeed, on the Mount of the LORD, He, the Lord Himself, will appear. On the Mount of the LORD, the Lamb of God has already been provided. We often think of the pain and agony of Christ on the cross. Spare a thought for the anguish of God the Father as He saw His Son, His only Son, the Son Whom He loves, the Son in Whom He took great delight, suffering on the cross. Think of the searing pain and the unspeakable torment in God’s heart when not only did He not spare His own Son, but He had to Himself pour out His own wrath on His own Son, for sins His own Son did not commit, so that He might save His enemies who did commit those sins. This brings us to our final point. God deserves to be feared. What a great God we worship!
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