God keeps repeating his promise to Abraham that he will have a son and one day, that promise is fulfilled. Sarah conceives, the pregnancy is successful, a miracle in her old age. God blesses them with their own son and so remembering how they had laughed previously, they call him “Isaac” (Genesis 21).
Then in Genesis 22, something shocking happens, that seems to interrupt and threaten the plan and the promise. God tells Abraham to take his Son and sacrifice him at Mount Moriah. I don’t want to focus too much on that now. To cut a long story short, Abraham demonstrates his faith in God, that God can keep his word, even by bringing Isaac back from the dead. God steps in and provides a substitute sacrifice instead. Isaac returns with Abraham, he has indeed come back from the dead.
What I want to focus in on here is the words right at the start of the chapter. In verse 2, God says to Abraham:
“Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”
Notice first, the echo back to Genesis 12, Abraham is to go to the place God will show him. Like in Genesis 12, he will build an altar, like in Genesis 12, he takes someone with him but instead of Lot, the potential heir, it is the true heir, the promised offspring.
Notice too, the look forward. Abraham’s son is his only son, his beloved son. This is the same language as John 3:16, where God sends his one and only, eternally begotten, beloved son. As well as being encouraged to see the covenant promise of people, provision/protection and place/presence under threat, we are also encouraged to see how the promise will be finally and completely fulfilled in Jesus.
Faithroots 