Three Days Of The Lamb

April 21, 2019

Dear Liberty,

In the Book of Genesis, God commands Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac. We read this as a test of Abraham's faith, which it is, yet God reveals a much more important lesson for us. Through this test, God presents His plan for our Savior that points directly towards Holy Week and Resurrection Sunday, providing correlations between Abraham and God, Isaac and Jesus. When we compare Genesis 22 with passages about Jesus, the puzzle begins to take shape.

To begin with, both Isaac and Jesus are described as their father’s only sons, whom they love.

Genesis 22:2 - Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Matthew 3:17 - And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

As I described in Family Feud, Muslims reject this characterization of Isaac as Hagar bore Ishmael to Abraham first. Paul addresses it in Galatians 4:23 "His (Abraham's) son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine promise."

Regardless, Muslims profess Ishmael, and not Isaac, is the true heir promised by God, thus inflaming a deadly feud between the offspring of the two brothers that has lasted since Muhammad wrote the Qur’an in the early 600’s AD. Likewise, they also believe that it was Ishmael, not Isaac, that Abraham took to Mount Moriah to sacrifice.

For three days, Abraham traveled on his way to sacrifice Isaac, understanding and likely mourning the death of his son to come. For three days, Jesus’ disciples also mourned the loss of their teacher and friend.

Genesis 22:4 - On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.

Matthew 12:40 - For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Matthew 16:21 - From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

John 2:19 - Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”

Both Isaac and Jesus carried the wood on which they were to be sacrificed.

Genesis 22:6 - Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife.

John 19:17 - Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha).

Abraham had faith that God would somehow save Isaac as God would not break His promise of providing countless descendants and our savior through his son. Therefore, with all confidence through faith, Abraham knew God would provide a substitute sacrifice or resurrect Isaac from the dead. It is why Abraham told his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”

Genesis 22:7-8 - Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

John 1:29 - The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

John 1:36 - When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

While Isaac’s actual age is unknown at this time, it is believed he is at least in his 20’s. Therefore, he could have easily overpowered his father when Abraham tied him up. However, he obediently did as his father directed, just as Jesus did, allowing himself to be bound and placed on a cross.

Genesis 22:9 - When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.

Matthew 26:42 - He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”

John 18:12-13 - Then the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. They bound him and brought him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year.

God did spare Isaac, providing a ram to be Isaac's substitute. Yet God knew the ultimate sacrifice would have to be made to reconcile humanity with Him. Therefore, He sent Jesus, who became our substitute. While He spared Abraham's son, He did not withhold His own.

Genesis 22:13 - Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.

John 10:11 - “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.”

1 Timothy 2:5-6 - For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.

2 Corinthians 5:21 - He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

On that third day, God in a sense resurrected Isaac, giving him back his life, while Christ He actually does resurrect.

Genesis 22:11-12 - But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

Mark 16:6 - “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.”

Luke 24:6-7 - He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ”

After offering the burnt sacrifice, Abraham named the area.

Genesis 22:14 - So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”

This was not a testament of faith for that moment, but for the coming Savior. If it was for the time, it would be a past tense statement. Yet Abraham recognized it as a coming promise, and named it so.

Both of these events occurred on Mount Moriah, the site of Jerusalem and the temple by Jesus' time. It was no coincidence or random chance that God instructed Abraham to go to this particular mountain. God already knew it would be the place where His son would fulfill His ultimate promise.

THREE DAYS OF THE LAMB

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