A Very Unusual Request

Genesis 22

22 "Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”

And he said, “Here I am.”

2 Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac,whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” 

God came to Abraham and told him to take his son, his "only begotten son," Isaac, and sacrifice him to the Lord on Mt. Moriah.  What A VERY UNUSUAL REQUEST!  It was so not like the God Abraham knew and loved, Who called him "My friend!"

But regardless, Abraham proceeded to do exactly as he was instructed; no question or complaint--also amazing!

I'm sure you know the story as well as I do. You can go and read it for yourself in Genesis 22. 

First of all, God says to take his son but He calls Isaac "his ONLY son."  

Wait a second.  Abraham had two sons.  The other one was Ishmael.  Why did He refer to Isaac as "his only son?"

Because God is always pointing to His ONLY Son, the Son that He loves; His only begotten, JESUS!  You can see the similarities between this "almost sacrifice" by Abraham and God's giving of His only Son.

Here are some obvious comparisons:

Isaac carried the wood on his back.

Jesus carried a wooden cross on his back. 

Isaac, with his father beside him, climbed to the top of a mountain. 

Jesus and His Father - no doubt-climbed to the top of Mount Calvary.  

You'd better believe it!  The Father was right there with His Beloved Son every step of the way until the moment He was forced to turn His back on Him because Jesus was carrying our sins.  

That's why Jesus had to cry out, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? because, for the first time in 
His life, His Father turned His back on His beloved Son while He carried all our sins.  He couldn't call Him "Father" so that we would one day be able to cry out to God and call Him "Father."  We can now be FULLY ACCEPTED because Jesus was FULLY REJECTED, taking our rejection on Himself, absorbing it all.  HALLELUIA!

Here's the difference between the two. 

Abraham was about to slay his son but God stopped him.  There was a ram caught in a thicket that God provided which was killed and sacrificed in his place.  

I believe that, though God was asking him to slay his son, that he would have gone through with it, knowing full well that God would raise him back to life because he said to the men who came with them in Genesis 22:5 "And Abraham said to his young men, 'Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and WE WILL COME BACK TO YOU.'"

He knew they BOTH would return.

Jesus, on the other hand, was NOT SPARED but took our place and was sacrificed for us on the
cross.

Here are some things you may not have heard: 

For instance: 

Did you know that Mt. Moriah is part of the same range of mountains as Mt. Calvary? True! Calvary is the highest peak of that range (of course!) where, in the distant future, Jesus would be offered up for us all. 

And then there's the ram. 

God purposely mentions that it is "caught by it's horns in a thicket." 

Thickets have "thorns" (foreshadowing of the crown of thorns maybe?); a very significant detail! 

Now, if the ram had been caught by it's wool and not it's horns, it could have been scratched or injured in some way. That would disqualify the animal as a sacrifice, since he had to be without blemish. Being caught by it's horns, which doesn't usually happen, prevented the animal from being harmed. 

Then God says to Abraham: "Now I know how much you love me because you did not withhold your son, your only begotten son, from me....."

.....so that one day we could say, "Now I know how much you love me because You have not withheld your Son, Your only begotten Son from me."

Finally, there's this verse in the Gospel of John. 

In chapter 8, vs 56, Jesus says "Abraham rejoiced to see His day." 

He was saying that Abraham actually had a vision of what God was planning to do in the distant future. 

I believe as soon as he turned around and saw that ram in the thorn bush behind him he caught sight of the higher peak, Calvary, and had a vision of Jesus sacrifice on the cross in the diatant future

No wonder he rejoiced! He saw the sacrifice to end all sacrifices, even though, at the time, what God asked him to do may have seemed a very unusual request.