He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
Genesis 22:2
It is remarkable that God identified Issac in the manner that He did.
- “Your only son”
- “Whom you love”
First, these words are incredibly powerful from the perspective that God knows how dear Issac is to Abraham and therefore how painful this sacrifice will be. It is the ultimate in letting go of one’s control and trusting God even when what God is doing seems to be contrary to God’s former promises. Issac was presumably the path to the fulfillment of that promise, and God was telling Abraham to sacrifice him.
Second, it is a clear and powerful foreshadowing of the sacrifice that God Himself will make when He puts his only son, whom he loves, on the cross to die for the sins of all humanity.
This foreshadowing cannot be missed in this part of Abraham’s story. Abraham represents God. Issac represents Jesus, and the sparing of Issac’s life represents the resurrection of Jesus which brought about the beginning of the Kingdom of God. It was that kingdom that God promised Abraham a quarter of a century or more earlier.
This story is also a reminder that God knows us and can empathize with us in our love for others and in our sorrow over their loss. He also knows what it is like to make the greatest sacrifice for others. We can trust him with our greatest sorrows and are most profound need.
