Yahovah yireh

And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together. And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen. -- Genesis 22:1-14

Sometime after Isaac was born and Hagar & Ismael were expelled from Abraham's family, God "tempted" (tested) Abraham by commanding him to take Isaac to Mount Moriah and sacrifice him there. Interestingly, Mount Moriah would eventually be where Solomon would build the temple in Jerusalem. II Chronicles 3:1 records, "Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the LORD appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite."

It is difficult, to say the least, to even begin to fathom the anguish Abraham must have endured at this time. He had waited many years for Isaac, his promised son, and now was being commanded to offer him as a sacrifice. Not to mention, the natural love Abraham had as a father for his son would have screamed against such a course of action. But one should also take into consideration the now obvious parallel with a point made in John 3:16a, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son..."

Amazingly (and, I am inclined to believe, only by God's grace), Abraham obeyed God's command. He, Isaac, and two servants collected the necessary supplies and journeyed to Mount Moriah. There is some debate as to Isaac's age at this time. All the scriptures make clear is that he was at least old enough to talk but not more than 37 years old (based on when his mother, Sarah, died in the next chapter). However, Abraham referred to Isaac as a "lad", which in Hebrew is na`ar. It can mean boy or youth but could also refer to a young man.

At any rate, Isaac was old enough to notice the one thing they were missing: "And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" Abraham's reply was prophetic in more than one way: "And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering..."

The absolutely salient question is does this scripture mean that God will provide a sacrifice for Himself or God will provide Himself as a sacrifice? Surprisingly, the answer is yes on both accounts. Obviously, the immediate record reveals that God provided a substitute -- "a ram caught in a thicket" -- for Isaac. However, this prophecy would ultimately be fulfilled nearly 2,000 years later when the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, sacrificed Himself as humanity's substitution-payment for sin.

The parallels of the two sacrifices are truly extraordinary such as both being supplied by God in an unexpected way and both dying on a mountain near Jerusalem. However, the differences are what really matters. The blood of sacrificial animals had no saving power, but the blood of the sinless Christ is full atonement for all who trust in Him. The ram was caught in a thicket, but Christ willingly suffered and died for humanity. The ram stayed quite dead, but the Lamb of God arose again and lives forever more. Amen.