Akedah point us to a deeper understanding of God’s mercy and
grace and to His forgiveness in spite of our human failure to
merit atonement. This teaching of classical Judaism, in a sense,
points us to the merit earned on our behalf by Jesus, God’s Son,
at the cross.
As the Apostle Paul writes, “But God demonstrates His own
love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”
(Romans 5:8).
JOHN 3:16 AND GENESIS 22 – A COMPARISON
The story of the binding of Isaac and its themes of mercy,
grace, and God’s provision for sin, remind me of a verse in the
New Testament well known throughout the ages and found in
the Gospel of John: For God so loved the world, that He gave His
only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish,
but have eternal life" (John 3:16).
The comparisons between this text and the story of Isaac
are profound and give us insight into the continuity of God’s
plan between the Old and New Covenants. They also further
unlock the mystery of God’s grace during this holiest season of
the Jewish year.
In Genesis 22:2, we are brought into a conversation between
God and Abraham. God spoke to Abraham and said,
“Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go
to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on
one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”
God calls upon Abraham to sacrifice his son as a burnt
offering. He describes Isaac as Abraham’s only son, and Jesus
is described the same way in John 3:16. In John 17:24,
Jesus acknowledges that He is loved by His Father, “For You
loved Me before the foundation of the world.”
This is only the beginning of the similarities. We also
should note the willingness of Abraham to offer his son. In
Genesis 22:1, Abraham says, Hineni, literally, “I am here” and
available to do whatever you ask. This was Abraham’s response
to God’s calling before he ever knew what would be required
of him. This is a striking parallel, as God, the Father of our
Messiah Jesus, is also willing to offer His only Son as a sacrifice
because He is motivated by His love for us.
There are also many ways in which Isaac points to the
“only Son,” Jesus, in John 3:16. Both Jesus and Isaac are
children of a promise. The birth of Isaac was predicted in a
prophecy in Genesis 15:1-5. Jesus’ birth was also predicted in
the prophecies of Isaiah 7:14 and 9:6-7. Both Isaac and Jesus
were born in miraculous ways. Abraham and Sarah were well
past childbearing and Mary was a virgin.
Both Jesus and Isaac were innocent. Though Isaac was not
sinless, nor was he an innocent child, he certainly did not deserve
to be sacrificed. Jesus WAS sinless and did not deserve to
die because of His sins. The prophet Isaiah also predicted this
in chapter 53:6-9.
Both Jesus and Isaac were obedient to their father.
During the binding of Isaac in verse 9, Isaac did not struggle
or wrestle with his father who was an old man by this time.
Isaiah prophesied that the Servant—Jesus—would submit to
God’s will without struggle (Isaiah 53:7). We see this prophecy
fulfilled in Luke 22:39-42 where Jesus says to His Father, “Yet
not My will, but Yours be done.”
It is also curious to see that Isaac carried the wood for
the sacrifice up the mountain. “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 the two of them walked on together”
(Genesis 22:6). Isaac carried the means of his own sacrifice to
the place where he would be slain. In a similar manner, Jesus
carried the cross up the mountain to Calvary, where He would
be crucified on the very wood He carried.
There is one further point of comparison between
John 3:16 and Genesis 22. The sacrifice of Isaac is a prophetic
picture of the death and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah. In
Genesis 22:5, Abraham has the other young men, who are accompanying
the two of them, remain with the donkey while he
and Isaac continue on their journey. Abraham is either revealing
the magnitude of his faith or he is in some way trying to trick
these other men by implying that he and Isaac would return
after whatever he was to do on the mountain was complete.
It is clear to me that Abraham, a man of great faith, believed
that, though Isaac would die, somehow he would live as well.
God had promised that Isaac would be the father of an entire
nation and Abraham believed that God kept His promises.
Abraham seemed to believe in the resurrection of Isaac; just
one more way Isaac was a type—a prophecy—of His greater
son, Yeshua, who would clearly die and rise from the dead.
This is what is meant in Hebrews 11:17-19: “By faith Abraham,
when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the
promises was offering up his only begotten son; it was he to whom it
was said, ‘In Isaac your descendants shall be called.’ He considered
that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he
also received him back as a type.”
We might wonder why God would go to such lengths to
show us all of this by making such an odd request of an old man
to sacrifice his only son. The answer is evident. The Lord was
teaching Abraham, and us, that forgiveness of sin doesn’t come
through the sacrifice we provide. Only through the sacrifice He
provides in His own beloved Son, Yeshua the Messiah, can men
and women, Jews and Gentiles, find atonement for their sins.
In so many beautiful ways, the story of the binding of Isaac is a
prophetic portrait of the true Messiah to come!
I pray that you will have a blessed holiday season. Please
remember to pray for Your Mission to the Jewish People as we
share the Good News of the Messiah’s death and resurrection
during our High Holiday services and outreach efforts during
this sacred time.
And we rejoice that, as John wrote, “For God so loved the
world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes
in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
Jesus perfectly fulfilled this passage and, through faith in
Him, we receive the gift of everlasting life, which is our prayer
for the Jewish people during this very special season of the year.
SEPTEMBER 2018 / THE CHOSEN PEOPLE - 3
In Messiah,
Mitch