Here's a great account. It has
great typical significance and spiritual teaching for us as
we look at an experience in the life of Abraham, the father of
them that believe. Genesis 22, 1 through 13. 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, get thee into the land
of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one
of the mounts 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 claimed 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 the young men, Abide ye here with the ash. I and the
lad will go yonder and worship and come again to you." Look
at that. 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 he said, my father. And he said, here am I, my son. And he said, that is Isaac said,
behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the
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, laid the
wood in order, bound Isaac his son, and laid him upon the altar
upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his
hand and took the knife to slay his son. when the angel of the
Lord called unto him out of heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, Here I. And he said, Lay not thine hand
upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For now I
know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son,
thine only, from me. Abraham lifted up his eyes and
looked, And behold, behind, a ram caught in the thicket by his
horns. Abram went and took the ram,
offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. In studying
the Old Testament, we learn that there are some wonderful and
some spiritual types that are there for our learning and admonition,
pictures of Christ. And that in these types, the
Lord, his salvation, his sacrifice and death and thing are clearly
set forth. And the types usually fall into
three categories in the Old Testament. And that would be animals, material
thing, and men. Men were types, animals were
types, and some material things like the ark were types of our
Lord Jesus Christ. A few years ago, we had a series
of sermons on the human types of our Lord. There were such
types as Moses, a deliverer, mediator, lawgiver. There was
Aaron, a type of the high priest who makes the sacrifice. There
was Joseph, a favorite and beloved son of his father. And of course,
there was Adam, who was the head of the race. There was Jonah,
three days and three nights in the belly of the whale. and then
lived again and went to preach the word of God. One of the great
ones is Boaz, who was the kinsman redeemer and purchased back all
that had been lost of his kinsman. Now, of course, there was the
type of Isaac, Isaac here in our text today. He was the son
of promise. He was the son of Abraham. and his blessed princess Sarah
bear unto him. Him we consider Isaac today. But first, as we see the multiplicity
of the types in the scripture, we realize that no one animal,
no one object, or no one person could be a full and complete
type of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, it is said here in this
text, where's the lamb? Abraham replying unto his son,
God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. Now the
case of Isaac is especially blessed in the scripture in that he was
the special promised son in whom would the seed of Abraham be
both called and would be bled. Also, we see him in type spared
not by his father, but delivered up on the altar of death. We see in him a close type of
the death and the resurrection of our Lord as we read about
it in the book of Hebrews. Our text opens with a declaration
that God tempted Abraham. Now we need to understand that,
chapter 22, verse 1 tempted not in the sense of soliciting Abraham
to do evil or to sin some understand the words of Genesis 22 in verse
1 to mean that God tried God tested God proved Abraham and
that seems to be the meaning of the word. It says in Hebrews
11 and verse 17, Abraham, when he was tried, his being tried
is said to come after these things in verse one. The most immediate
thing after that, we find in chapter 21 of the book of Genesis,
when Ishmael, the son of Abraham by the slave maid was cast out
of the house and was sent away. And when Abraham took a surrogate
wife and produced a son named Ishmael. Now, Abraham had two
trials here in close proximity. He was tried or proved by God. Once he was tried when he was
told to send Isaac away out of the house. For he mocked Isaac. He was the son of the slave woman,
and he was not the one in whom the promise did stand. And then
he is tried or tempted or proved again when he is commanded to
offer up Isaac upon an altar and slay him. Now, you know if
Abraham were alive today and pulled a stunt like that, CPS
would be on his doorstep in a flash. But both of these things were
commanded by God. send Ishmael away, take Isaac
and offer him upon a burnt offering. Both of these were by God's command
and Abraham was obedient. In the second verse of our chapter
take Isaac and offer him for a burnt offering because these
things were no sin when commanded by God. For God is his law and
is above his law. And the thing about it is that
Abraham was immediately obedient unto God without hesitation. He prepares and he sets out for
Isaac, the wood for the fire, the knife, and such like. And
it carries Isaac to that place where God directed him to go. Now, we may imagine that Abraham
told neither Sarah nor his son Isaac the command that he had
received from God and the intention of this mission. That's clear
when we read father. the fire and the wood, but where
is the lamb for the burnt offering? Literally the kid, the young
goat for a burnt offering as was so often used in the sacrifice. You have come well prepared.
You have brought the fire, you brought the wood, you brought
the knife, but where is the burnt offering that you intend to offer
up? Could we wonder that this question
was not raised leaving home as they left out then without a
lamb? Had it been better had Isaac
brought up the subject then, Father, here are all things except
for the lamb. We can only wonder were the words
of Isaac questioned as a dagger that would pierce into His very
own soul as in Mary in Luke chapter 2 and verse 35. His answer, that
is the answer of Abraham in verse 8 of our chapter today, speaks
both of the faith of Abraham, but it speaks also by prophecy
of the Lamb of Calvary, the Lamb of God that would be shed at
Calvary. And so Abraham in faith says,
my son, God will provide for himself a lamb for a burnt offering. And in the 9th and the 10th verse,
they ascend the mount, just the father and his beloved son, while
the servants are left at the foot of the mount, bearing the
wood that would consume the sacrifice, even as Christ carried his own
cross as he made his way out to Golgotha. Upon the altar,
or rather upon the mountain, Abraham built an altar to carry
through the command of God. Now this is something that Abraham
had done before. He had built an altar in Hebron,
Genesis 13, verse 18, of which we read other patriarch, Jacob
and Isaac and such like, built altars and made sacrifices under
their God. Moses in Exodus 17, 15, did so
in Rephidim, in the sight of all the children of Israel. Joshua
built one in Mount Ebal, in Joshua chapter eight and verse 30. But
there are these differences between those and that of Abraham. Abraham lay and bound not an
animal, but his very own son Isaac, his promised son, his
only son, it said, his beloved son. And then he took the knife,
raised it above his son, for the purpose of slaying his beloved
and promised son. And he would have no doubt, except
he was restrained from doing so by an angel of God out of
heaven. When Abraham then looked and
saw ram behind him caught by the horns in a thicket and he
brought that and offered it up in the stead of his son now there's
a great commentary on this in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 17 through
verse 19 and The chapter on faith, as you
remember. Verse 17, he offered up Isaac
as his tribe. Verse 17 and 18, even though
the promise of God stood in Isaac, and in him would his seed be
called, yet Abraham was willing to offer him up. In spite of
all of this by faith, Abraham would put his son to death. Upon
this ground, and you have it in Hebrews 11 and verse 19, Abraham
accounted or reckoned that God was able to raise him up even
from the dead. And the apostle says in the end
of Hebrews 11 and 19, from which he received him in a figure. He put him down as a figure of
death received him back as a figure of the resurrection as a type. The point being, even Isaac slain
upon the altar would have been no hindrance to the fulfillment
of the promise that God had made concerning him to be fulfilled. This is predicated upon the power
and the ability and the faith of Abraham to believe that God
was in fact able to raise Isaac from the dead. That the promise
would not die if Isaac died even because God was able to raise
him from the dead and he received him again typically from the
dead. Now consider, if you might, the
prophetical words of the father of them that believe. My son,
God, will provide himself a lamb. As Abraham had earlier entertained
angels unaware, so here he unwittingly utters a great prophecy concerning
the Lamb of God. He addresses the greatest prophecy
of all time. God will provide himself a lamb. Now, let's fast forward to the
New Testament and to John chapter 1 and the words of John the Baptist
concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. They are familiar to you. You've
heard them a lot. Behold, the Lamb of God that
taketh away the sin of the world. He said that as the Lord came,
pointing out the Lord Jesus Christ. as the Lamb of God which bears
away the sin of the world. You have it in John 1, 29, and
again in verse 36. The Lamb, the Lamb of God, the
Lamb that bears away our sin. God has indeed provided Himself
a Lamb, and we see several allusions or references in the New Testament
to Christ under the figure of a Lamb beginning with that of
his forerunner, John. For example, 1 Peter 1 and 19. He is called a lamb without blemish
and without spot. Hebrews 9, 14. He is without
spot. And this was required of all
lambs sacrificed in the Old Testament. They couldn't have any kind of
sore or scurvy or sickness upon them. Revelation 13 and 8, he
is called the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. In Revelation chapter 5 and verse
6 are numerous mentions of the Lamb. I should have said chapter
5, chapter 6, and chapter 7. Now, why is the Lord's Christ,
our Lord Jesus Christ, so often referred to as a lamb, the lamb,
the lamb of God? Why is that and what is the significance
of it? And I think the answer is that
the similitude of a lamb applied unto Christ because the Old Testament
lambs which were slain were what Thomas Manton the Puritan called
quote a standing type of Christ unquote a standing type of Christ. Lamb after lamb after lamb was
slain. In Exodus 29 38. A priest was
to offer up upon the altar, quote, two lambs of the first year by
day continually. Paul writes to the Corinthian
church, 1st Corinthians 5 and 7, Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed
for us. Now, the Passover was given in
conjunction with the deliverance of the people of Israel out of
the land of Egypt. And it was to be celebrated yearly
among the Jew. And they did that until the time
of Christ. And Paul said, Christ is our
Passover. Said, Paul, we have a Passover.
That Passover is sacrifice for us. He is our Paschal Lamb, and
in connection with the first Passover in Exodus chapter 12,
Christ being the fulfillment of that blessed Lamb. So in the
New Testament, He is called the Lamb God now there are some wonderful
extended types of the Passover lamb which are seen in the Lord
Jesus Christ let's look at some of them how they were typical
of our blessed Lord A, we notice in Exodus 12, getting ready for
the Passover, that their lamb was chosen ahead of time. The lamb was marked out before
and brought into the house. kept intended as the one they
would sacrifice on Passover night. In Exodus 12 you have that in
verse 3 and again in verse 6. In fact it was chosen four days
before It was killed. It was chosen as a victim. It was chosen that it might die,
to be killed. Even so, Christ, the Lamb of
God, slain from the foundation of the world. He was appointed
to die before time, by the decree, by the covenant, and in the purpose
of God. And then thee, the Passover Lamb,
was to be a perfect specimen. I've already mentioned that,
but let's look at it again. In Exodus 12 and 5, your lamb
shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. It was to
be without any defect, and it was to be in the prime of its
very life. So Christ was without sin, without
spot, and without blemish, and was in the prime of his life,
being some 30 to 33 years old at the age of his crucifixion.
And then C, the paschal lamb, or lambs plural, was calculated
to be sacrifice cooked and eaten by a set number. A set number was chosen and a
fixed and definite number were to partake of the lamb when it
was slain and when it was cooked. A lamb for every house, Exodus
12 and 3. Make your count for the Lamb,
Exodus 12 and 4. The number of souls was to be
reckoned. That's also in verse 4. So our
Passover Lamb was sacrificed for a chosen number, a set number
of souls, no more, no less than those that were given unto him
in the covenant of grace. And then D, we notice that the
Passover lamb was to be killed, and he was to be killed at a
set time. Not the same day it was chosen,
not the second, and not the third. but on the fourth day after it
was chosen and brought into the house. On the 14th day of the
month, John Gill was very knowledgeable of Jewish custom and law and
such like, and he said, this month was at first known as Abib,
and you have that mentioned in Exodus chapter 12 and verse 4. Then later, Gill said, It came
to be known as the month Nisan, or Nisan, which name seemed to
be a Chaldean name that had been attached unto it. But that be
as it may, the Lord also died at an appointed time. The Lord
died at exactly the time that the Lord had appointed and that
had been typified by all of the types and the sacrifices in the
Old Testament. The Passover lamb was to be killed
in the evening, not in the morning, not at noon, but in the evening. The point is, the conviction
of some good expositor that the Lord Jesus, our Passover, died
at the time of the evening sacrifice which was made in Jerusalem. Charnock, whom I like to read,
thinks that both the Passover and Christ died at what we know
as three o'clock in the afternoon, and by the time the lamb was
roasted and ready for the table to be eaten, Christ also was
prepared for a special burial and was put in the tomb nearing
dusk on that day. Chornot waxes poetical, speaks
of the Lord Jesus dying in the evening of the world as being
manifested in these last times for you Yes, indeed, God has
provided for himself a lamb. Then let's not forget that great
and wonderful prophecy in the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, where
the prophet likens Jehovah's suffering servant to a lamb led
to the slaughter without any protest or fighting. Said the
prophet verse 7 isaiah 53 He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter
and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb So he opened not his
mouth. You have a reference to that
in acts chapter 8 verse and verse 32, where it references that
text of scripture. John Brown wrote on his work,
Isaiah chapter 53 and verse 7 there, he said, indicates both his situation
and his disposition in that his situation was, he was led as
a lamb to the slaughter, The clear image here, he said, is
that of a sacrificial lamb being brought under the altar where
it would be killed." And the high priest would unsheathe his
knife and he would slit the victim's throat and he would catch the
blood in a basin of God's ordaining and he would burn the flesh there
upon the altar as Aaron made a sacrifice for the sins of the
people and then he would take that blood into the holy place
and sprinkle it there and upon the mercy seat. But let's look
at his disposition again. He not only went willingly, but
he opened not his mouth in protest. Isaiah and the Lord himself went
without protest. He made no complaints. He protested
not in the injustice when men hopped upon him and took him
away to the cross to be crucified. When reviled, he reviled not
again, Peter said in one of his epistles. He neither proclaimed
his innocence nor protested the injustice of what was about to
be done unto him. We can see the same two things
in the son, Isaac. There is no record that he resisted. There is no record that he complained
when he heard. But he submitted himself unto
Abraham. Remember the words of our original
text in Genesis 22, 9, the last part, and 10, the first part? that told of an amazing thing
which took place upon the mount. And here's what we read there
in that scripture. Abraham built an altar. There
he laid wood in order. He took his son Isaac and brought
him and bound him and then lay him upon that altar of wood. And then Abraham went about his
chore. He reached out his hand and he
took the knife And he lifted it over his son. I just wish
we knew the circumstances when Isaac learned the intention of
his father to slay him. Did Abraham tell him or did Abraham
just lay hand upon him and seize him and lay him there upon the
altar? binding we can think Isaac might
have overpowered old Abraham had he pleased to do so physically
I'm sure he would have been able to overpower his father and to
have escaped out of his hand even so Christ said I could call
12 legion of angel to slay the persecutor and deliver him Matthew
26 and verse 53 But then, what a picture do we
see? Abraham there on Mount Moriah,
his son bound upon the altar, the fire being kindled. a knife
drawn intended to be plunged into his only and blessed Isaac. Abraham prayed that Ishmael might
live before God in Genesis chapter 17 and 18. He grieved at casting
out Ishmael in Genesis 21 and verse 11. But he spared not the
son of his own love. He delivered him up. Even the
son in whom it is said, your seed will be called. Romans 11
and 18. He would take the life of the
son of promise that God had made unto him. What did the holy God
do concerning this blessed and only begotten son? What did God
do to his son? There's a wonderful prophecy
in Zechariah chapter 13 and verse 7. I love to preach on it and
to read it. It says this, Awaken, O sword. Hear that? Awaken, O sword, against
my shepherd and against the man that is my fellow. Listen, smite
the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered. Now, my fellow
is my nearest kin. Very close associate, I understand,
is the meaning of that word. And against him, God unsheathed,
the sword of his divine justice. He gives a command to the sword
of justice to come from its scabbard and to go forth in exercise. A long time that sword had slumbered,
a long time that sword had been holstered, and in due time it
is given that command, awaken, go and smite my fellow. And it smote and it pierced the
very soul of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross, who unlike Isaac,
was put to death and raised up only in type, the Lord Jesus
Christ was actually slain and put to death and actually lived
again and gained the victory over death. Who is this lamb
that God has provided himself? Well, it's his very own fellow. It's his very only begotten son. It is the promised one in whom
the covenant lies, the one in whom the covenant stands in perpetuity,
the one by whom many would be called. And as we see Abraham
did not deputize another to slay his son, so too God did personally
put his son under grief. plunging that awakened sword
clear up to the haft and handle of his own unblessed son. Why
Isaiah said, his soul was made an offering for sin. Isaiah said,
he bruised him, he spared him not, he delivered him up for
us all, says Paul in the New Testament. Yes, God has provided
for himself a lamb, one of his very own kin, and he lay our
sins upon that lamb, like Aaron did upon the head of the scapegoat,
and as the goat bore them away into the wilderness, so he lay
our sin upon the Lord Jesus Christ. He made him sin, though not sinful
for us. that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. And he bore our sin as far as
the east is from the west. And yet, though dead, the promise
is not dead, for he lives again. He conquered death. It was not
possible for the grave to hold him. He saw no corruption in
Acts chapter 2, and he ever lives to make intercession for us. Yes, in closing, God has provided
himself a lamb for us, a sin offering, the only one able to
be such, the only one who can satisfactorily and efficaciously
and vicariously bear away our sin. And he gave himself, a sacrifice
to God, a lamb, the answer of all the types of the lamb in
the Old Testament, the lamb of God, that taketh away the sin
of the world." Thank God for that in type and in reality. There's the types and then there
is the reality. The Lamb of God slain from the
foundation of the world without spot and without blemish.