The True and Greater Isaac

Genesis 22
Abraham Tested
Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!"
"Here I am," he replied.

Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."

Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you."

Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?"
"Yes, my son?" Abraham replied.
"The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"

Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together.

When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!"
"Here I am," he replied.

"Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."

Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided."

I don't think there could be a more radical act of obedience than to take your only son to a mountain and offer him as a sacrifice. I can't imagine a more demanding command. What strikes me so strongly is that if Abraham would have actually offered Isaac, it still wouldn't be enough to pay for his sins.

There is a gap between God and humanity that cannot be crossed by any of our efforts, no matter how radical.

It reminded me of this song by Isaac Watts.

I Boast No More

No more, my God, I boast no more
Of all the duties I have done;
I quit the hopes I held before,
To trust the merits of Thy Son

No more my God,
No more my God,
No more my God,
I boast no more.

Now, for the loss I bear His name,
What was my gain I count my loss;
My former pride I call my shame,
And nail my glory to His cross.

Yes, and I must and will esteem
All things but loss for Jesus’ sake;
O may my soul be found in Him,
And of His righteousness partake!

The best obedience of my hands
Dares not appear before Thy throne;
But faith can answer Thy demands,
By pleading what my Lord has done.

There is only one whose sacrifice could ever be sufficient. It took the sacrifice of the Son of God. The Son of God became a son of Abraham in order to save his covenant people. By faith, Abraham told Isaac that God himself would provide the lamb.

Thousands of years after Isaac carried the wood up the mountain for his sacrifice, the true and greater Isaac, Jesus, did the same. He did so, not at the risk of his life, but at the cost of his life.

Come to him today. Like Abraham, let your faith answer the laws demands by pleading the precious and all sufficient blood of Christ.