Genesis 22
McGeeCHAPTER 22THEME: God commands Abraham to offer Isaac; God restrains Abraham; God reaffirms His promises; Abraham returns to Beer-shebaIn this chapter we come to another great high point of the Bible. We are walking on mountain peaks in the Book of Genesis. Chapter 22 is the account of Abraham’s offering of his own son. God commanded him to offer Isaac on the altar and then restrained him at the last minute when He saw that Abraham was willing to go through with it. This chapter brings us to the seventh and last appearance of God to Abraham. After this, there is nothing more that God could ask Abraham to do. This is the supreme test that He brought to this man. If you were to designate the ten greatest chapters of the Bible, you would almost have to include Genesis 22. One of the reasons for that is that this is the first time human sacrifice is even suggested. It is in the plan and purpose of God to make it clear to man that human sacrifice is wrong. This incident reveals that. It also reveals that God requires a life to be given up in order that He might save sinners. There is no one among the children of men worthy to take that place. God’s Son was the only One. It is interesting that Paul said, “God spared not His own Son,” but you might add that He did spare the son of Abraham and did not let him go through with the sacrifice of Isaac. This chapter compares with Psalms 22 and Isaiah 53. The first time that I saw in this chapter these great truths which depict the cross of Christ, it was breathtaking. Not only in the birth of Isaac, but now also in the sacrifice of Isaac, there is a strange similarity to the life of our Lord. The very interesting thing is that James makes a statement concerning this incident which may seem contradictory to other parts of the Bible: “Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?” (Jas_2:21). For Paul makes this statement in Romans 4: “What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness” (Rom_4:1-3). Who is right?
James or Paul? My answer is that both of them are right. First of all, we need to note that both of them are talking about the same thingfaith. James is talking about the works of faith, not the works of law. Paul is talking about justification before God, quoting the fifteenth chapter of Genesis, way back when Abraham was just getting under way in a walk of faith. At that time only God knew his heart, and God saw that Abraham believed Him: “And he (Abraham) believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness” (Gen_15:6).
We can see that Abraham failed many times, and I am of the opinion that his neighbors might have said, “We don’t see that he is righteous.” But when the day came that he took his son to be offered on the altar, even the hardhearted Philistine had to admit that Abraham demonstrated his faith by his actions. James says that Abraham was justified by works. When was he justified? When he offered Isaac. But the question is going to arise: Did Abraham really offer Isaac upon the altar? Of course, the answer is that he didn’tbut he was willing to.
That very act of being willing is the act that James is talking about which reveals that Abraham had the works of faith. James is emphasizing the works of faith seen in this twenty-second chapter of Genesis, and Paul is talking about faith in his heart which Abraham had way back in the fifteenth chapter.
Genesis 22:1
GOD COMMANDS ABRAHAM TO OFFER ISAACThe word tempt is a little bit too strong; actually, the word means “test.” James makes it very clear in his epistle that God never tempts anyone with evil. God tempts folks in the sense that He tests their faith. God did test Abraham, and He asked him to do something very strange.
Genesis 22:2
Right after this chapter, we are told that Sarah was 127 years old when she died (see Gen_23:1). When you put that down with this chapter, you find that this boy Isaac was not just a little lad. Sarah was 90 years old when Isaac was born and 127 when she died. That means that 37 years elapsed here. Since he is called a “lad” in this chapter, you would not gather that he actually was in his thirtiesprobably around 30 or 33 years of age. “Take now thy son [notice how this plays upon the heartstrings of Abraham and of God Himself], thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest.” “Take now thy son"the Lord Jesus has taken the position of the Son in the Trinity. “Thy son, thine only son"the Lord Jesus is said to be the only begotten Son. “Thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest"the Lord Jesus said, “The Father loves Me.” “And get thee into the land of Moriah.” It is the belief of a great many that Moriahthat is, this particular partis the place where the temple was built centuries later and also the place that the Lord Jesus was sacrificedright outside the city walls. When I was in Jerusalem, I had the feeling that Golgotha and the temple area were not very far apart. They belong to the same ridge. A street has been cut through there, and the ridge has been breeched, but it is the same ridge, and it is called Moriah. Let’s not say that the Lord Jesus died in the exact spotwe don’t knowbut certainly He died on the same ridge, the same mountain, on which Abraham offered Isaac. “And offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.” The burnt offering was the offering up until the time of Mosaic law; then a sin offering and a trespass offering were given. Here the burnt offering speaks of the person of Christ, who He is. This is an offer of a human sacrifice, and, frankly, it raises this moral question: Isn’t human sacrifice wrong? Yes, it is morally wrong. Had you met Abraham on that day when he was on his way with Isaac, you might have asked him, “Where are you going, Abraham?” He would have replied, “To offer Isaac as a sacrifice.” And you would have then asked, “Don’t you know that that is wrong?” Abraham would have said, “Yes, I’ve been taught that it was wrong. I know that the heathen nations around here offer human sacrificethe Philistines offer to Molechbut I have been taught otherwise.” You would then question him further, “Then why are you doing it?” and he would explain, “All I know is that God has commanded it.
I don’t understand it. But I’ve been walking with Him now for over fifty years. He has never failed me, nor has He asked me to do anything that did not prove to be the best thing. I don’t understand this, but I believe that if I go all the way with Him that God will raise Isaac from the dead. I believe that He will do that.” This is a tremendous picture as Abraham takes Isaac with him:
Genesis 22:3
Abraham takes Isaac with him, and he takes the wood for the burnt offering.
Genesis 22:4
It took Abraham three days to get there, but remember that it was on the third day that Abraham received Isaac alive, back from the dead, as it were. That is the way that Abraham looked at it: Isaac was raised up to him the third day. What a picture we have here.
Genesis 22:5
The transaction that is going to take place is between the father and the son, between Abraham and Isaac. And actually, God shut man out at the cross. At the time of the darkness at high noon, man was shut out. The night had come when no man could work, and during those last three hours, that cross became an altar on which the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world was offered. The transaction was between the Father and the Son on that cross. Man was outside and was not participating at all. The picture is the same here: it is Abraham and Isaac alone.
Genesis 22:6
“Abraham took the wood …and laid it upon Isaac his son.” Remember that Christ carried His own cross. The fire here speaks of judgment, and the knife speaks of the execution of judgment and of sacrifice.
Genesis 22:7
Verse Gen_22:13 tells us that shortly after this there was a ram that was caught in the thicket by his horns, and Abraham got that ram and offered it. Abraham says here that God will provide Himself a lamb. But there was no lamb there; it was a ram, and there is a distinction. The Lamb was not provided until centuries later when John the Baptist marked Him out and identified Him, saying, “…Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (Joh_1:29). “God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering"it is very important to see that Abraham was speaking prophetically. Abraham is now ready to offer this boy on the altar although he does not quite understand.
Genesis 22:9
Isaac is not just a little boy whom Abraham had to tie up. He is a grown man, and I believe that Isaac could have overcome Abraham if it had come to a physical encounter. But Isaac is doing this in obedience. The Lord Jesus went to the cross having said, “Not My will, but Thine be done.” He went to the cross to fulfill the will of God. What a picture we have here!
Genesis 22:10
At this point you and I might have said, “Abraham, are you going through with it? It looks now like God is going to permit you to.” He would have said, “I sure am. I’ve been taught that it is wrong, and I don’t understand, but I’ve also learned to obey God.” This is a real crisis in Abraham’s life. God has brought this man through four very definite crises, each of which was a real exercise of his soul, a real strain upon his heart. First of all, he was called to leave all of his relatives in Ur of the Chaldees. He was just to leave the whole group. That was a real test for Abraham. He didn’t do it very well at the beginning, but, nevertheless, the break finally came.
Then there was the test that came with Lot, his nephew. Abraham loved Lothe wouldn’t have been carrying Lot around with him if he hadn’t. But the time came when they had to separate, and Lot went down to Sodom. Then there was the test with this boy of his, the son of Hagar, Ishmael. Abraham just cried out to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before Thee!” He loved that boy; he hated to be separated from him. Now Abraham comes to this supreme test, the fourth great crisis in his life: he is asked to give up Isaac.
Abraham does not quite understand all the details for the very simple reason that God has told him, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.” Abraham believed God would raise Isaac from the dead (see Heb_11:19), but as far as Abraham is concerned, he is willing to go through with the sacrifice.
Genesis 22:11
GOD RESTRAINS ABRAHAMJames wrote that Abraham was justified by works when he offered up his son. But wait just a minute. Did Abraham offer his son? Does your Bible say that Abraham plunged the knife into his son? No, and mine doesn’t read that way either. Now God knows that Abraham fears Him. How does He know? By his actions, by his works; previously it was by his faith. God sees your heartHe knows whether you are genuine or notbut your neighbors and your friends do not know. They can only know by your works. That is the reason James could say that “faith without works is dead.” Faith has to produce something. God tested Abraham. I believe that any person whom God calls, any person whom God saves, any person whom God uses is going to be tested. God tested Abraham, and God tests those who are His own today. He tests you and me, and the tests are given to us to strengthen our faith, to establish us, and to make us serviceable for Him. This man Abraham is now given the supreme test, and God will not have to ask anything of him after this.
Genesis 22:13
All the way from the Garden of Eden down to the cross of Christ, the substitution was this little animal that pointed to His comingand God would not permit human sacrifice. But when His Son came into the world, His Son went to the cross and died: “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Rom_8:32). That cross became an altar on which the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world was offered. It is very important to see that.
Genesis 22:14
Abraham now names this place which a great many people believe is where Solomon’s temple was built. Golgotha, the place of a skull, is right there on that same ridge where the temple stood. There Abraham offered his son, and it was there that the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified. This is a glorious, wonderful thing to see. Abraham calls the name of this place Jehovah-jireh, meaning Jehovah will provide. Here is where God intervened in his behalf.
Genesis 22:15
GOD REAFFIRMS HIS PROMISESI have a question to ask: Did Abraham do it? No, he did not offer his son, but God says to him, “Because you have done this thing….” You see, Abraham believed God, and he went far enough to let you and me knowGod already knewand to let the created universe know that he was willing to give his son. And so God counted it to him that he had done it. Abraham is justified by faith, but he is also justified before men by his works. He demonstrated that he had that faith. “And hast not withheld thy son, thine only son.” Notice how God plays upon thatbecause He gave His only Son. Through this incident, God is making it clear that there will have to be a Man to stand in the gap, there will have to be a Man capable of becoming the Savior of the race if anyone is to be saved. That is a great lesson given to us in this chapter. Abraham said that God would provide Himself a Lamb, and they found a ram and offered it. But God did provide a Lamb nineteen hundred years later in Christ. God stayed Abraham’s hand and did not let him go through with the sacrifice of Isaac because it would have been wrong. God spared Abraham’s son, but God did not spare His own Son but gave Him up freely for us all.
Genesis 22:17
“And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” What “seed” is God talking about here? If you go to Gal_3:16, you will find that Paul interprets what the “seed” means: “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.” Thus we have the Bible’s own interpretation of the “seed.” Going back to the eighth verse, we find that Paul says this: “And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed” (Gal_3:8). When did God preach the gospel to Abraham? God preached the gospel to him when He called upon him to offer his son Isaac upon the altar. God says here, “In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed,” and that seed is Christ. This is the gospel as it was given to Abraham, if you please. I would like to make a comment here concerning something that is customarily overlooked. We assume that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the Old Testament worthies were great men but that they were not as smart as we are, that they did not know as much as we know. However, I am of the opinion that Abraham knew a great deal more about the coming of Christ and the gospel than you and I give him credit for. In fact, the Lord Jesus said, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad” (Joh_8:56). So he must have known a great deal more than we realize. God had revealed much to Abraham, but the Savior was not yet come.
We know today that He would not come for nineteen hundred years, but there on the top of Mount Moriah where Abraham offered Isaac was a picture of the offering and even of the resurrection of Christ! After God called Abraham to offer Isaac, it was three days before he even got to Moriah. God gave Isaac back to Abraham alive on the third day; so that this is a picture of both the death and resurrection of Christ. Paul says that God preached the gospel to Abraham, and certainly it was done here. “And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” Today the gospel of Christ has gone out pretty much to all the world. There are many who have not heardthat is true even in our own midstbut nevertheless, the blessing has come to all nations. And the only blessing the nations have is through Christ. “Because thou hast obeyed my voice.” That obedience rested upon Abraham’s faith, and faith always will lead to action. “Faith without works is dead.”
Genesis 22:19
ABRAHAM RETURNS TO BEER-SHEBAThe remainder of this chapter gives us a little sidelight on the family of Abraham. Abraham had left his brother Nahor way back yonder in the land of Haran. His line will not be followed in the Scriptures, but it will cross the line of Abraham a little later on. We will go into that when we come to it. If you read the rest of this chapter, you will have quite an exercise in the pronunciation of names.