A Sacrifice At Moriah

1 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 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 22:1-2 ESV

This is one of the most perplexing passages of Scripture. It is here that the Lord God appears to Abraham and asks him to offer his only son as a burnt offering on a mountain in Moriah. Consider this command of God to Abraham in light of the Old Testament law as recorded in Deuteronomy 18:

10 There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer 11 or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, 12 for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD. And because of these abominations the LORD your God is driving them out before you. - Deuteronomy 18:10-12 ESV

The law of the Old Testament was clear about this practice. It was an “abomination to the Lord.” No Israelite was to “burn his son or daughter as an offering.” Yet here in Genesis 22 we see the Lord asking Abraham to do just that. This leads us to assume, therefore, that there must be a specific reason for this command of God. Let’s consider a few details in this story in an attempt to discover that reason.

A Son of Promise

Consider first that Isaac was no ordinary child. He was miraculously born to a one-hundred year old father and a ninety-year old mother. God promised this son to Abram and told him that through this young boy, people from every nation on the earth would be blessed. He would become the father of the chosen people of God, the nation of Israel.

The New Testament recounts the story of another promised son, miraculously born of a virgin, who was promised for years by the prophets of Israel to be a blessing to every nation. In fact, the true fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham would be seen through this prophesied child of promise, the Lord Jesus Christ. Both Isaac and Jesus were sons promised by God.

An Only Son

Notice a second detail in Genesis 22:2:

2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love

The wording of this verse is peculiar. If Abraham only had this one son, God could have simply said, “Take your son.” There was no need to specify which son he meant as Isaac was the only one living with him at that time. The addition of the phrase, “your only son Isaac,” is added for emphasis. It is repeated again in both verses twelve and sixteen. It was important to God that people who read this account see this point. God was asking Abraham to offer his “only Son” to Him.

The phrase, “only son” is quite familiar to New Testament readers. In John 3:16 we read:

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. - John 3:16 ESV

The Lord Jesus, was also the only Son of God, offered up as a sacrifice for our sin. The second similarity cannot go unnoticed.

A Mountain in the Land of Moriah

Notice that the Lord called Abraham to sacrifice his son on a mountain in Moriah:

“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 ESV

We read about Moriah three times in the Scripture. The first occurrence is here where God calls Abraham to offer his son on an altar.

The second time we read about Moriah is when David sins against God by taking a census in 1 Chronicles 21. This resulted in God sending a plague that would wipe out 70,000 people. In 1 Chronicles 21:18 we read:

18 Now the angel of the LORD had commanded Gad to say to David that David should go up and raise an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. - 1 Chronicles 21:18 ESV

David listened to the words of Gad the prophet and purchased a piece of land from Ornan the Jebusite, and built an altar there to the Lord to appease the anger of God for His sin:

26 And David built there an altar to the LORD and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings and called on the LORD, and the LORD answered him with fire from heaven upon the altar of burnt offering. 27 Then the LORD commanded the angel, and he put his sword back into its sheath. - 1 Chronicles 21:24,26-27 ESV

Seeing this offering, the Lord withdrew His judgement from the city of Jerusalem. David’s offering on that piece of land saved many lives that day. What does this have to do with Moriah? The answer comes in 2 Chronicles 3:1-2:

1 Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to David his father, at the place that David had appointed, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. - 2 Chronicles 3:1 ESV

The land David bought from Ornan the Jebusite to build an altar to save his people from God’s judgement was on a mountain in Moriah. This very location would now become the location of Solomon’s temple where regular sacrifices would be made to David’s God.

It was also in this region, not far from the temple, where Jesus would become the sacrifice for sin. In the very region where Abraham took his son and laid him on an altar, the Lord God would offer His Son for our sin.

A Burden of Wood

Abraham, obedient to the Lord, prepared for the three-day journey to Moriah. Very likely that preparation involved packing food for the journey and wood for the sacrifice. Note what happened when they arrived at their destination.

6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. - Genesis 22:6 ESV

There in Moriah, Abraham took fire, and a knife to kill the offering he would lay on that altar. As for the wood required for that offering, Genesis 22:6 tells us that he laid it on Isaac, his son and Isaac carried it to the location of the sacrifice.

Once again there is something very familiar with this picture. We see an only son being required to carry the wood upon which he would be sacrificed. John 19:16-17 tells us that Jesus left Jerusalem toward the Place of the Skull, “bearing His own cross”:

16 So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, 17 and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. - John 19:16-17 ESV

Like Isaac, Jesus carried the wood upon which they would lay Him to be sacrificed.

A Son Laid Out On an Altar

When they arrived at the place of sacrifice, Abraham built an altar to the Lord God and, taking His son, bound him and laid him on top of the wood.

9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.

Note that it was the father who laid his son on that altar. The sacrifice would not have happened without Abraham’s willingness to obey the Lord God. Consider the words of the prophet Isaiah speaking about the coming Messiah who would lay down His life for the sins of His people. Observe the intention and will of the Father in this prophesy:

10 Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;

he has put him to grief;

when his soul makes an offering for guilt,

he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;

the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. - Isaiah 53:10 ESV

Isaiah tells us that it was the will of the Lord to crush His son and make Him an offering for our guilt. While the Son willingly surrendered his life, the Father had His sacrifice to make as well. It would not have been easy for Abraham to bind his son and place him on that wood but he was willing to do it if this was the purpose of God. Abraham’s willing sacrifice is a picture of what the Father would do in the sacrifice of His Only Son.

A Substitution

Observe that when Abraham bound his son on the altar, he lifted up his knife to slay him as a sacrifice to the Lord. While Abraham had to be ready to slay his son, God would not permit him to do it. As he stood there, knife in hand, ready to plunge it into his son’s body, the angel of the Lord called out:

11 But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”

God would not allow Abraham to slaughter his son on that altar. As admirable as Abraham’s devotion to God was, his son was not an acceptable offering. There was only one son who could be a sacrifice for sin and that was the Son of God alone. Writing to the Romans, the apostle Paul said:

32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? - Romans 8:32 ESV

I wonder if the apostle was thinking about Isaac when he wrote those words. Isaac was spared. By sparing him, God was showing that the life of Isaac, the promised son He had chosen to be the father of the tribes of Israel was unacceptable as a sacrifice for sin. God, however, did not spare His own Son, but gave him for our sins. He alone was worthy to be the sacrifice for sin.

God then provided a substitute for Isaac. There behind him at that very moment was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. Abraham offered that ram in Isaac’s place.

13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. - Genesis 22:13 ESV

When Abraham saw what took place that day, Genesis 22:14 tells us that he called that place, “The Lord will provide.” When people heard what happened, they began to use the saying: "On the mountain, the Lord will provide,” in reference to Isaac’s experience that day. Those words were prophetic, because years later, the Lord God would do just that in that very region, He would provide His Son on the mountain as a substitute for our penalty.

The Father’s Anticipation

There is one more point I would like to make here. Note the words of Abraham as he took his son up the mountain to make his sacrifice.

4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.”

The words of Abraham are perplexing. God had asked him to take his only son up the mountain and to “offer him there as a burnt offering” (Genesis 22:2). How could Abraham honestly say to his young servant, “I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you,” if he was going to offer Isaac as a burnt offering as God commanded? The answer to that question comes in the book of Hebrews where we read:

17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, 18 of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 19 He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. - Hebrews 11:17-19 ESV

We read here that Abraham was looking to the promise of God that through this son he would receive a family that would bless the entire world. He trusted God’s promise and though his faith in that promise was being tested at the time, believed that even if he had to slaughter his son on that altar, God could raise him from the dead to fulfill His promise. In fact, the writer to the Hebrews tells us that Isaac was “figuratively speaking” risen from the dead.

The apostle Paul repeats this same thought when he says about Abraham:

17 as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. 18 In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” - Romans 4:17-18 ESV

Abraham believed in a God who “gives life to the dead.” He trusted in the promise of God, against all hope, that he would become the “father of many nations.” Abraham anticipated that His son would live to be the fulfillment of God’s promise and if necessary, God would raise him from the dead to fulfill that promise.

What was the expectation of the Father God when His son went to the cross? I am convinced it grieved Him to see His Son suffer and die. God, however, knew that it was not possible for His righteous Son to be held by death.

24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. - Acts 2:24 ESV

The Father knew Jesus would rise triumphant over sin and the grave. He too anticipated overwhelming victory over death. Isaac illustrated the resurrection of our Lord Jesus and ultimately the victory we will have through Him. Way back in the days of Abraham, before the birth of the Jewish nation, God had a plan through His Son for all the nations of this earth. Through Isaac, the nation of Israel would come into being. They would give birth to the Saviour. Through His sacrifice and resurrection, illustrated here in Isaac, blessing, salvation and overwhelming victory over sin and death would become a reality for all who would trust in Him.

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