Gen 22:1-2 | KingComments | STEP | In this chapter God shows that His promises are based on the dead and risen Christ of Whom Isaac is a picture here. It is the fourth offering brought in Genesis. God brought the first offering. There the question is answered how He can accept a sinner in His presence. Abel brought the second offering. He shows the answer to the question: How can a man who is a sinner exist before God? The third offering is that of Noah. This answers the question: How can creation, where sinful people live, exist before God? As we often see in Scripture, a history can be highlighted from several angles: 1. First there is the literal meaning. In this chapter we see a father who is undergoing a severe test of his faith and how he deals with it. From this we can learn our lessons. 2. Then we can also view this history as an illustration of the way God the Father offers His Son. 3. There is also a prophetic application to make. We see this in the blessing that comes from the sacrifice of the Son. After the experiences of faith in the previous chapters Abraham now receives a test of faith. It is an enormous test of faith. It is a great test if you have to wait a long time to get what you have been promised and to be obedient to God’s Word and to keep trusting Him. It is an even greater test to obey God’s Word and trust Him if He reclaims the promised thing from you which you have received. The question then is whether you really believe that God will do what He promised. God calls Abraham by his name and Abraham immediately makes himself available to listen to what God has to say. What God asks is deeply moving and far reaching. The way in which God says who he must offer is moving. It is “your son”. But not only that. It is “your only son”. But that’s not all either. The description of who Isaac is for Abraham is not yet complete. It is “whom you love”. Finally, God calls the name of his son. It is “Isaac”, his laughter. This is the first time that the word ‘love’ appears in the Bible. It is remarkable that this is done to describe the relationship between a father and his son, which indicates the relationship between the Father and the Son. Any misunderstanding about which son it would be is excluded. It is the son he got together with Sarah as a miracle of God. They did not have other children together. It is the son who is his joy, whom he loves very much. God has promised him that he will have a great offspring in this son. Now God asks him to offer all that on the altar. The practical lesson that he and we too must learn is: Do you believe more in what I have given you or do you believe more in Me Myself? When Abraham has to drive out Ishmael, he has been given the reason. Now that he has to offer Isaac, we hear no reason to do so. Nor is Isaac a criminal who, like a rebellious son, must be brought by his parents to the elders of his city by virtue of justice and die by their hand ( ). The only reason to do it is because God says it. The only thing that matters in this case is obedience to and trust in God. Abraham must go to the land of Moriah. On one of the mountains there, of which God will tell him, he must offer his son as a burnt offering. It is obvious to think that that mountain is Mount Moriah. At that place David will later also offer and Solomon will build the temple ( ). The church, seen as a temple, that is as the house of God, is built on the basis of the offering of the Lord Jesus.

‏ Genesis 22:1-2

Introduction

In this chapter God shows that His promises are based on the dead and risen Christ of Whom Isaac is a picture here. It is the fourth offering brought in Genesis. God brought the first offering. There the question is answered how He can accept a sinner in His presence. Abel brought the second offering. He shows the answer to the question: How can a man who is a sinner exist before God? The third offering is that of Noah. This answers the question: How can creation, where sinful people live, exist before God?

As we often see in Scripture, a history can be highlighted from several angles:

1. First there is the literal meaning. In this chapter we see a father who is undergoing a severe test of his faith and how he deals with it. From this we can learn our lessons.

2. Then we can also view this history as an illustration of the way God the Father offers His Son.

3. There is also a prophetic application to make. We see this in the blessing that comes from the sacrifice of the Son.

God Says to Abraham to Offer Isaac

After the experiences of faith in the previous chapters Abraham now receives a test of faith. It is an enormous test of faith. It is a great test if you have to wait a long time to get what you have been promised and to be obedient to God’s Word and to keep trusting Him. It is an even greater test to obey God’s Word and trust Him if He reclaims the promised thing from you which you have received. The question then is whether you really believe that God will do what He promised.

God calls Abraham by his name and Abraham immediately makes himself available to listen to what God has to say. What God asks is deeply moving and far reaching. The way in which God says who he must offer is moving. It is “your son”. But not only that. It is “your only son”. But that’s not all either. The description of who Isaac is for Abraham is not yet complete. It is “whom you love”. Finally, God calls the name of his son. It is “Isaac”, his laughter.

This is the first time that the word ‘love’ appears in the Bible. It is remarkable that this is done to describe the relationship between a father and his son, which indicates the relationship between the Father and the Son.

Any misunderstanding about which son it would be is excluded. It is the son he got together with Sarah as a miracle of God. They did not have other children together. It is the son who is his joy, whom he loves very much. God has promised him that he will have a great offspring in this son. Now God asks him to offer all that on the altar. The practical lesson that he and we too must learn is: Do you believe more in what I have given you or do you believe more in Me Myself?

When Abraham has to drive out Ishmael, he has been given the reason. Now that he has to offer Isaac, we hear no reason to do so. Nor is Isaac a criminal who, like a rebellious son, must be brought by his parents to the elders of his city by virtue of justice and die by their hand (Deu 21:18-21). The only reason to do it is because God says it. The only thing that matters in this case is obedience to and trust in God.

Abraham must go to the land of Moriah. On one of the mountains there, of which God will tell him, he must offer his son as a burnt offering. It is obvious to think that that mountain is Mount Moriah. At that place David will later also offer and Solomon will build the temple (2Chr 3:1). The church, seen as a temple, that is as the house of God, is built on the basis of the offering of the Lord Jesus.