Patrick Looby Men of the Bible Abraham Journal Ms.

Susan Kesler 9/20/11 As the two walked on together, Isaac spoke to his father Abraham. Father! he said. Yes, son, he replied. Isaac continued, Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice? Son, Abraham answered, God Himself will provide the lamb for the sacrifice. - Genesis 22:7-8 There is no doubt that the climax of the life of Abraham is the test of faith that God put him through. At first glance it seems to be a very disturbing test with very little meaning other than some sort of sick cruelty on the part of God. To ask a father to kill his son in order to prove his fidelity seems to be out of place for an all-loving God. But, as with all things having to do with the inspired Word of God, one must look a little more closely at the text and with an eye for typology to understand why God asks Abraham to undergo this specific test. The scene in Genesis 22 is the scene of the first covenant that God will make with Man. It is here that Abraham will become the father of Gods religion, first given for the benefit of the Israelites, and then finally for the benefit of all who will follow Christ. It all starts right here in this test of Abraham. Taking a close look at the details reveals something incredible about this first covenant that gives us a foreshadowing of the second covenant which will be established on the cross 2000 years later. First of all, the test itself is obvious. A father is asked to sacrifice his only son. Right away the Christian should understand what God is doing. Even though we are very early in the history of man, God knows that he will eventually need to become man and die on a cross for all of humanity. So, he chooses to establish this first covenant in a very deliberate way to give clues that will help reveal the truth of Christ when he comes in the future.

Every year, one week before Easter Sunday, our Church reads the part of the Scripture where Jesus rides into Jerusalem while people throw palm branches before him. One of the details of that story that always has people wondering is the fact that Jesus wanted to ride into Jerusalem, the place of his sacrifice, on a donkey. Well, the reason is that this is exactly how the first covenant was established with Abraham. Abraham and his only son set out to the place of sacrifice on a donkey. And it says that on the third day they reach the spot. Next, Abraham says to his companions to wait here while the boy and I go over here to pray, which is almost exactly the words that Christ uses in the Garden of Gethsemane to the Apostles. Isaac is then made to carry the wood for his own sacrifice up the hill, just as Jesus will do. And then, one of the most prophetic words of the Old Testament are uttered by Abraham in the quote above. God Himself will provide the lamb. He probably had no idea how true his word would end up being. The last connection is the ram that is found after Isaac is spared. The ram has its head caught in the thorns, just as Jesus will be given a crown of thorns.

The bottom line is that God wanted all of these details to be present when he established his first covenant with man through Abraham so that when Christ came people would recognize him as the fulfillment of the covenant by also enduring some of the same details. Taken together, we see that God truly is the architect of history and that the Scriptures are a brilliant display of Gods providence.