Got a Minute? “You Want Me to Do What?”

Hi, friends in exile, got a minute?

Genesis 22 tells an enigmatic tale. Only a few years after the birth of Isaac to Abraham and Sarah in their old age, in fulfillment of the promise of God, the Lord commands Abraham to do something seemingly contradictory. He commands Abraham to take Isaac up on a mountain and offer him as a sacrifice. He obeyed and went. Right after he tied Isaac up and was ready to kill him, the angel of the Lord stopped him and led him to a ram caught in a thicket. That ram took the place of Isaac.

Hebrews 11:17-19 interpret this story: “By faith Abraham offered up Isaac,” even though God had promised that through Isaac his descendants would carry on his name, “and he reasoned that God could even raise him from the dead” (NET) to fulfill that promise.

This story becomes a powerful type for the work of Jesus Christ: “Christ … suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust to bring you to God” (1 Peter 3:18, NET). Just as the ram took the place of Isaac, Jesus Christ has taken our place—“to bring [us] to God.” And God the Father did raise Him from the dead.

Smiley Mudd