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In the last message we saw how Abraham offered his son Isaac according to God's demand. That story, recorded in Gen. 22, is not only a meaningful history but also has an implied significance, for it is a vivid picture of Christ in several aspects. Although we cannot find the title of Christ nor the name of Jesus in this chapter, many aspects of Christ are signified in the way of implication. In this message we need to see the aspects of Christ depicted in this chapter.
Isaac typified Christ. We have seen that Abraham answered God's call to go to Mount Moriah to offer Isaac. This is history. However, if we view this matter from the perspective of God's revelation, we shall see that what Abraham did to Isaac is a vivid picture of what the Father did to His beloved Son. When Abraham journeyed to Mount Moriah with Isaac, two young servants accompanied him. On the third day, Abraham put the two servants aside, saying, "I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you" (v. 5). From that point on, the story was different. It was no longer a story of four people — the father, the son, and the two servants; it was now a story of Abraham and his son Isaac. Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac, who bore it to the top of Mount Moriah. Compare this with John 19:17, which says, "And bearing the cross Himself, He went out to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha." Isaac walked the same path on the way to Mount Moriah that the Lord Jesus later walked on the way to Golgotha. Before Christ bore the cross and walked to Calvary, Golgotha, Isaac bore the wood for the burnt offering and walked along the same way. And Jesus was crucified on the same mount where Isaac was laid on the altar. Thus, we see that Abraham was a type of the Father, and Isaac, with the wood upon him, was a type of the Only Begotten Son of God. Isaac was brought as a lamb to the altar. Jesus was also "brought as a lamb to the slaughter" (Isa. 53:7).
As Abraham and Isaac were climbing Mount Moriah, Isaac said, "Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" (v. 7). Abraham replied, "My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering" (v. 8). Here we see that the son fellowshipped with the father. Do you not believe that while Jesus was bearing the cross on the way to Calvary He fellowshipped with the Father? And do you not believe that the Father talked with His Son? I do. If you say that the Bible does not tell us of this, I would say that Genesis 22 tells us so. We need to have the sight and the listening ear to hear the heavenly conversation on the way to Mount Moriah. Abraham and Isaac typified the Father and the Son, and their fellowship on the way to Mount Moriah was a vivid picture depicting how Jesus the Son fellowshipped with the Father as He was bearing the cross to Calvary. Although we do not have a clear explanation of this in plain words in the New Testament, we do have the picture in the Old Testament, and a picture is better than a thousand words. The picture in Genesis 22 portrays something which words cannot explain. Although the writers of the New Testament did not describe the loving fellowship between the Father and the Son on the way to Calvary, it is clearly portrayed in the picture in Genesis 22. How we all need to see this picture. As we shall see, nearly every point regarding the type in Genesis 22 is covered in John 1.
Let us consider now some details of Isaac as a type of Christ. Isaac was Abraham's only son (vv. 2, 12, 16). This typifies Christ as God's only Son (John 3:16). Isaac was Abraham's beloved son (v. 2), and Christ was the Father's beloved Son in whom He delighted (Matt. 3:17). In 22:5 we see that Isaac took his father's will, and in Matthew 26:39 we see that Christ chose the Father's will. In the picture in Genesis 22, we see that Isaac, a full-grown man, was obedient unto death (vv. 9-10). According to the record of this chapter, in the matter of offering Isaac, Abraham consulted neither with his wife Sarah nor with his son Isaac. Abraham took his son, put the wood upon him, led him up the mountain, bound him, and laid him on the altar. He did not give Isaac the opportunity to say anything. But Isaac took his father's will and was obedient to death. Likewise, when the Lord Jesus was about to die, He said, "Not as I will, but as You will" (Matt. 26:39). In Philippians 2:8 we are told that Christ was obedient unto death. Look again at the picture: Isaac was obedient unto the altar. He not only followed the father to the foot of the mount; he also obeyed him in taking up the wood and in being bound. He did not resist. Even when the father laid him on the altar, took the knife, and stretched out his hand to slay him, he did not rebel. He was obedient unto death. If we consider all these aspects of Isaac as a type of Christ as portrayed in the Old Testament, we shall see that they were sovereignly arranged, matching the clear word of the New Testament revelation.
In God's eyes, Isaac was killed. Just as Abraham was about to slay his son, the angel of the Lord intervened from heaven, saying, "Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him." The angel of the Lord here is actually God Himself. This is proved by verse 12 in which the angel of the Lord said to Abraham, "I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me." The "me" here is God Himself. Notice that the angel of the Lord did not say "from him," but "from me." Abraham, the father, put his son to death, but the angel of the Lord raised him up from the dead. In like manner, Acts 2:24 says that God has raised up Christ from the dead.
Isaac was replaced by a ram, that is, by a lamb. Verse 13 says, "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." Here we see that the son was not killed, but the ram, the lamb, was. Who was killed on the cross — the Son of God or the Lamb of God? It was the Lamb of God who was killed. Christ is the Son of God, but when He was killed on the cross, He was replaced by the Lamb of God. John 1:14, speaking of the Son of God, says, "We beheld His glory, glory as of an only begotten from a father." But John 1:29 says, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" Here we see that the Son of God was replaced by the Lamb of God. The Lamb of God, not the Son of God, was crucified. In crucifixion, the Son was replaced by a ram.
In 22:8 Abraham prophesied that God would provide a lamb for a burnt offering. The eternal Lamb was ordained by God from eternity (1 Pet. 1:19-20). In 22:13 we see "a ram caught in a thicket by his horns." In the Bible horns signify fighting power. Christ has the fighting power, but it was caught by a thicket. The thicket signifies humanity. We are the thicket, and Christ, the Lamb of God, has been caught in us and cannot escape. He has been caught by His human nature that He might be offered as our substitute. Christ as the Lamb of God was willing to have His horns caught by humanity. When we see this clear picture, we all must say, "Lord, thank You. You were willing to be caught by us."
The Son of God was replaced on the cross by the Lamb of God. In a positive, divine sense, the Son of God was never crucified. The Lamb of God was crucified. No one could crucify the Son of God. Praise Him that He was willing to be a little lamb putting His horns among human beings and being caught by us. Thus, we see that not only did this Son of God become the Lamb of God, but that He was replaced by the Lamb of God. Although we do not have such a picture in the New Testament, we see it in the Old Testament. Along with the clear words in the four Gospels, we need the pictures in the Old Testament.
The ram who replaced the son on the altar was provided by Jehovah-jireh (v. 14). The title Jehovah-jireh has two meanings: Jehovah will provide and Jehovah will see. There is not only a provision but also a vision. Within the provision, we have the vision. Look at the cross: what provision and vision we have there. I can testify that at the cross I have received both the provision and the vision. Before the cross, I was lacking, but at the cross I obtained the divine provision. Before the cross, I was blind, having no vision, but at the cross, through the provision, I can see. Now my sight is so clear. I have not only been provided for but also enlightened. Even many of the young people can testify that before they came to the cross, they were poor and blind. But one day they came to the cross and found the provision and the vision. May the Spirit of wisdom help us to realize the depth of the significance that is in the fact that the Son of God was replaced by the Lamb of God whose horns were caught by humanity.
The Lamb of God who replaced the Son of God was our substitute (1 Pet. 3:18). As the ram was killed instead of Isaac, so the Lamb of God suffered crucifixion for us. When as a boy I heard the preaching of the gospel in which we were told that Christ suffered death on our behalf, I could not understand it fully. Only when I saw the clear picture in Genesis 22 was I able to understand how Christ was our substitute. The ram was killed for Isaac. This is a picture showing that Christ, the Lamb of God, was crucified on the cross for us. We all should have gone to the cross, but God replaced us with the Lamb of God. To this we all must say, "Praise the Lord! The Lamb of God, who is the Son of God, was our substitute."
Because the Lamb of God became our substitute, He became great and significant. In Revelation the unique title of Christ is the Lamb. When in Revelation 5 the Apostle John saw the scroll which no one in heaven or on earth was worthy to open, he wept. Then one of the elders said to him, "Do not weep; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome to open the scroll and its seven seals." Immediately after this, John saw the Lamb: "I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb standing." In Genesis 22 we have the seed of that Lamb. This seed grew up in John 1:29 and is harvested in the book of Revelation. Eventually, the throne of God becomes the throne of God and of the Lamb out of which proceeds the river of water of life with the tree of life growing in it (Rev. 22:1-2). All this proves that the Bible is not a manmade book. It certainly is the divine revelation. What a picture of Christ is revealed in Genesis 22!
Abraham was blessed by God. The blessing here is not that of material things. Many of us have had the wrong impression in the past, saying that receiving a good job or material benefit means that the Lord has blessed us. We have all been told to count our blessings one by one, counting such things as our degree, promotion, wife, house, and children. Although I do not say that such things are not blessings, I do say that they are not golden blessings, but muddy blessings. In Genesis 22, God did not bless Abraham in this way. Rather, He blessed him with the multiplied seed, saying, "In blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore" (v. 17). I do not care for material blessing. I care for multiplication. I would firstly like to see fifty churches in the United States, then a hundred, and then a thousand. I would also like to see that from the United States the multiplication would spread to Africa, Australasia, Europe, and even back to Jerusalem. This is the blessing I want to see.
Abraham was blessed with two categories of people, one likened to the stars of the heaven (v. 17; 15:5) and the other to the sand upon the seashore (v. 17), which is also likened to the dust of the earth (13:16). If you know history and the prophecies regarding Abraham's descendants, you will see that they are of two categories, one heavenly and the other earthly. We, the Christians, are the stars, the heavenly descendants of Abraham; and the genuine Jews, God's earthly people, are the sand, the dust. Eventually, the Jewish people will be God's priests on earth and will teach all the nations. This is prophesied clearly in Zechariah 8:20-23. Why are the Jews described both as the sand and as the dust? The sea signifies the world corrupted by Satan, and the dust is of the earth created by God. The Jews have been restored to God's creation. Hence, they are signified by the sand which is the dust beside the sea. Although they are an earthly people, they are not the dust under the sea, but the dust, the sand, by the seashore. They are separated from the corrupted sea, Satan's corrupted world. However, the stars are not only separated from the corrupted world but are also heavenly.
According to Revelation 20:8 and 9, at the end of the millennium Gog and Magog will fight against the camp of the saints and the beloved city. The camp of the saints is the camp of all the heavenly stars, and the beloved city, Jerusalem, is the city of the separated sand. The two categories of Abraham's descendants, who at that time will be caring for God's interests in the universe, will be attacked by Gog and Magog under Satan's instigation. That will be the last war in the universe, a war between the devilish people and Abraham's descendants.
The star is sown as a seed in Genesis 22 and will be harvested in Revelation 20 and 21. The New Jerusalem is composed of the twelve tribes of Israel, representing the Old Testament saints, and the twelve Apostles, representing the New Testament believers. Those represented by the Apostles are the heavenly stars, and those represented by the twelve tribes are the sand of the seashore. These two peoples eventually will be built together into the eternal New Jerusalem. Hence, the eternal New Jerusalem will be the ultimate consummation of Abraham's seed. This is God's blessing to Abraham.
After seeing this, we need to say, "Praise the Lord, God's blessing is not a good house, car, degree, promotion, wife, or child. It is the multiplication of the saints in God's recovery and the multiplication of the churches." I hope that one day a part of the New Jerusalem will be our multiplication as God's blessing to us. At that time, all the cars and houses will be gone. Only the multiplication in God's blessing will remain forever. We shall see the blessing in God's multiplication in the New Jerusalem for eternity.
Here in Genesis 22 we see a basic principle, that is, whatever God gives us will be multiplied. God gave Abraham one Isaac, and Abraham offered him back to God. Then this one Isaac was multiplied into numberless stars and sand. If Abraham would not have offered Isaac back to God, he might have had only one Isaac. But having been offered back to God by Abraham, Isaac was multiplied into the New Jerusalem. This is the way to have God's gift multiplied in us — offer back to God what He has given us.
God's blessing of Abraham eventually issues in Christ as the unique seed in whom all the nations of the earth shall be blessed (v. 18; Gal. 3:16). In Galatians 3:16 Paul speaks of only one seed — Christ. We all are included in this one seed. Are we not all in Christ? Do you know the true significance of the short phrase "in Christ"? This phrase is used many times in the New Testament. In Christ we have been justified. In Christ we are sanctified. In Christ we have the sonship. Everything concerning us is in Christ. Hallelujah, we are in Christ! We are actually a part of Christ. Ultimately, all the heavenly stars and the earthly sand will be in Christ. As we have pointed out in the past, the New Jerusalem will be a great, corporate Christ. In the four Gospels we have the individual Christ, but at the end of Revelation we have the corporate Christ including all true believers.
In this one seed, Christ, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. Have not the United States, Germany, Japan, China, and Great Britain been blessed? This is God's blessing. May we all expect that the blessing which we shall receive of God will be the multiplication that will issue in Christ, the unique seed. The multiplication that will spread to Europe, Africa, and throughout the earth must simply be Christ. All the churches on earth will just be the multiplication of Christ.
In Genesis 22 Christ is revealed in three ways: as the angel of the Lord (vv. 11-12, 15-18; Exo. 3:2-6), as the ram (v. 13; John 1:29), and as the seed of Abraham (v. 18; Gal. 3:16). When Abraham stretched forth his hand to kill Isaac, the angel of the Lord prevented him. Then Abraham saw a ram and killed it, offering it in Isaac's place. Afterward, it became a blessing in multiplication. This multiplication issues in Christ as the unique seed. Here we see the angel of the Lord stopping, the ram replacing, and the seed bringing the blessing. All three are Christ. This is too mysterious because Christ is everything. Christ was the One who told Abraham not to kill his son. Then He immediately became the ram caught in a thicket to replace his son. After the crucifixion, He became his unique seed in God's blessing. The angel of the Lord, who was Christ, provided the ram, a type of Christ, which eventually issued in the seed, who is also Christ. Christ is everything. We do not have a small, limited Christ. We have a great and unlimited Christ who is everything. Praise the Lord!
