There are many that hold that the Gospel and Grace are something new that God reveals in the New Testament. Nothing could be farther from the truth. We see God's marvelous grace demonstrated throughout the Scriptures even if it is not called that and the Gospel is woven throughout the fabric of the Old Testament as well as the New Testament. Genesis 22 is one of those passages that serve as a lesson in the Gospel long before the writings of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
Genesis 22 is a narrative of Abraham's offering of Isaac as a sacrifice to the Lord. In this narrative we see many parallels to God the Father's offering of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, as propitiation for sin. Let us take a look at a few of those parallels as we unpack the Gospel of God in Genesis.
Abraham is called in 22:2 to offer Isaac his only Son as a burnt offering for sin on a mountain that God will show him. This is a foreshadowing of God's offering of His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, (John 3:16) as an offering for sin. In 22:4 we see that Abraham must take a three day journey to get to the place where the offering will be made. Where have we heard of three days in the Gospel? That's right the Lord Jesus declared that for three days and three nights he would be in the heart of the earth (Matthew 12:40) after dying on Calvary. In 22:6 we see Isaac carrying the wood that he would be laid on as an offering to God up the hill. Does this not call to our remembrance the Lord Jesus' walk up Calvary bearing the cross that he would be crucified upon (John 19:16-18) for our sins. Verse 9 finds Isaac bound to the wood ready to be offered as a sacrifice much like the Lord was bound to the rugged cross (Mark 15:25) to give Himself an offering for our sins. Abraham in 22:10 stretches forth the knife to slay his son. Here Abraham and you and I are brought face to face with what our salvation required of God the Father. It required that God the Father kill His only begotten Son to justify sinners. What a wonderful picture of the Gospel!
I read a blog written by someone yesterday describing this scene in the most unflattering terms. She claimed to be an atheist and determined that God would have no right to place such a requirement upon anyone and that she would not esteem obedience to God worth more than any one of her two children. She said that anyone who would ask such a thing would be a lunatic. These statements show that she has missed the entire message of Genesis 22. The message is not that God wants us to sacrifice our children for our sins. The message is that God was willing to pay a higher price for our salvation than even we are willing to pay for our salvation. God gave Abraham back his son Isaac and gave a ram caught in the thicket as a substitute but that substitute would cost God far more than the price of a ram because that ram was just a foreshadowing of the day that God would give His Son as the payment for our sins. Selfishness blinded the writer to the selflessness of God in the Gospel and robbed her of the blessing of salvation. Maybe the challenge for us today is do we see the requirements of God upon us for service and obedience as the demands of a lunatic, or do we see them as the selfless request of a gracious God who has already given us His All? Could it be that we too have some things that we think are more precious than the Lord Jesus Christ? Are we willing to follow Abraham's example and give all to the Lord, or will we like the blogger hold on selfishly to what God has given us and miss the blessing of eternal life and peace with God that God wants to give us?
Daily Devotional: Exodus 20:1-17 The Law of God
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