The answer to Isaac’s question

Trust Maanda
Looking at the Unseen

 

GENESIS 22:6-14

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.

 

[7] 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?

 

[8] And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

 

[9] 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.

 

[10] And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

 

[11] And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.

 

[12] 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.

 

[13] 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.

 

[14] And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah–jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.

God was trying Abraham’s faith.

 

He asked him to take his only son to a mountain he would show him.

 

Abraham, without wincing or winking an eye, took his son and embarked on a three-day journey to a place he knew he was going to kill and sacrifice his son.

Isaac carried the wood, while Abraham carried the knife and fire.

 

It was not normal for Abraham to go to sacrifice without a lamb of sacrifice.

 

Isaac became suspicious. He suspected that he was the sacrifice of the day.

 

He asked the question: “Here is the wood and the fire, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?”

Isaac asked where the lamb for a burnt offering was.

 

That question was prophetic as it was asking for a greater lamb.

 

More prophetic was the answer that Abraham gave.

 

With a tremulous squeak in his voice, Abraham replied: “God will provide Himself a lamb for a sacrifice.”

The question was prophetically asking for a lamb that would be sacrificed for humanity.

 

There was supposed to come the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, that was supposed to be sacrificed.

Isaac’s question was seeking the answer to where the Lamb of God was, which would die for the sins of the world.

 

Abraham’s answer was prophetic to mean that God would provide Himself as the sacrifice.

Isaac being the only son of Abraham, was typifying Christ. Mount Moriah represented Calvary.

 

Abraham represented God.

 

The wood which Isaac carried represented the wooden cross that Jesus would bear to Calvary, many years later.

 

Isaac was supposed to be a sacrifice, but he was only representing, Jesus Christ, the Royal seed of Abraham.

When Abraham replied that God would provide Himself a sacrifice, he meant God was going to provide Himself as a sacrifice.

God provided a sacrifice in Jesus.

 

Jesus was God who had condescended into flesh in order to bleed and die.

The ram of Abraham appeared from nowhere.

 

Jesus appeared from nowhere.

 

He was born a virgin birth.

 

He did not come from a zygote.

 

It was a creative act of God, as the ram just appeared from nowhere.

Isaac’s question was answered when John pointed Christ out as the Lamb of God.

In John 1:35-36, the Bible says: “Again, the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; [36] And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!”

John gave the answer to Isaac’s question. Jesus was the Ram that appeared. Jesus was the fulfilment of Abraham’s answer.

Indeed, in Jesus, God provided Himself as a sacrifice.

Jesus, the greater Isaac went up to Mount Calvary with wooden cross on His back.

 

The will of His Father, was the fire and knife in the hand of God.

Jesus had cried: “Not my will, but thine” when He wanted to dodge the cross.

It was the will of the Father for the Son to die as a sacrifice, a ransom for the sins of the world.

 

Jesus is the answer to Isaac’s question and the manifestation of Abraham’s answer.

 

Trust Maanda is a Gospel preacher and transformational speaker. He writes in his personal capacity. He can be contacted on +263772432646.