Through a women�s Bible study (DVD series � taught by Beth Moore) I recently got some new insight into an old familiar story and seeing Jesus in the Old Testament. Beth Moore is a wonderful teacher and these are her insights. If you ever get a chance to read a book or see her in person or on video � take it.
Turn to Genesis 22. This is the familiar story of when Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son Isaac. The son he had waited 20+ years for. The son born to him when he was 100 and Sarah his wife 90 years old.
Verse 2: ��take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love�� Beth says the New International Commentary puts the word �please� in the phrase �Take your son, your only son�. The word �please� is a Hebrew word which means �I beg you�. God was not commanding Abraham so much as he was earnestly pleading and entreating him.
Verse 3: �Early the next morning�� Abraham did not waste any time. Surprisingly, this man who had shown no hesitation in the past (see Genesis chapters 15 and 18) to question God, has no questions recorded in this story. Not one question. He was being asked the impossible � to kill his own son. But he did not question. He obeyed � even the very next morning. Also � God tells him to take his �only� son. But Isaac was not the only son Abraham had. God of course knew this.
This is where Beth says we see Jesus in this story. Thousands of years before Jesus was on the earth as a man, God saw ahead to that moment and speaks of it here in this story. Beth says that what God meant was that God saw his only son, Jesus, being made a sacrifice.
Now, verse 5: ��we will come back to you�. Abraham was speaking by faith. Turn to Hebrews 11:17-19. Look also at Job 1:21. Abraham was going beyond Job�s words. The Lord does take away, but Abraham had faith that the Lord would also give back. Just as God knew that His son would go away from His side, be killed, but would return again.
Romans 12:1 asks us to make ourselves a living sacrifice. While it is true that the problem with a living sacrifice is that it keeps crawling off the altar to go do its own thing � still we are called, and we must try and strive.
Abraham walked all the way to Mount Moriah side-by-side with Isaac. Isaac did not go alone. Beth says that God walked with Jesus down the via Dolorosa. We could not see Him, true. But she (and I) believes that the Father was there, with His son, walking every step of the way. Just as Abraham and Isaac walked together.
Verse 9: �He bound his son Isaac�� How many times do you think Abraham arranged the ropes? Did his hands falter? Did he move slowly? Were his eyes obscured with tears?
Verse 11: �� Abraham! Abraham!� In verse 1 God called his name once to get his attention and to tell him what He wanted him to do. But when he was called to stop, Abraham was called twice.
Verse 13: �� Abraham looked up� Thickets are not tall. Abraham must have been kneeling or prone on the ground. Don�t you think so? Don�t you think his legs collapsed in relief when God called him?
God provided a substitute for Abraham � a ram � so that Isaac did not have to die. God provided. God saw ahead to when He would provide His own son. He gave Abraham some spiritual insight into that during this incident � read John 8:56.
It took Abraham 3 days to walk to the place where Issac was to be sacrificed. (To Abraham his only son was dead for three days, Jesus was considered dead for three days)
There is much more, don't want to take all the good stuff! I attended a church for 15 years where the pastor was supposed to be a rabbi as all the first born in his family had. Obviously he was was disowned and considered dead thorough some Jewish ritual by his family when he became a Christian. One of my favorite things was to listen to him preach the Gospel out of the Old Testament, yes...Old Testament!
Could Abraham have had such faith in God's promise that he believed Issac would have been resurrected? After all, God did promise him a son through whom there would be a great many people. This had to have been accomplished starting with Issac.
Thanks for sharing your notes, Godslamb. I'll post my notes from Bible study in a couple of days.
Nu 21:8 And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.
Ps 107:20 He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.
