Abraham, the servant of the Most High, was so well-practiced in hearing the voice of His Heavenly Father that when He called his name, he immediately responded. This time Elohim’s still small voice rang in him as loud as thunder: “‘Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ Then He said, ‘Take now 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). An astonishing request! Yet Abraham, although a loving father, knew in his heart that obedience was always required of a firstborn in order to inherit the greater promises of the sovereign Elohim. Abraham also realized that, as a firstborn, Isaac did not, in fact, belong to him; therefore, he did not question the command for a minute. YHVH’s statement referring to the “only begotten son” makes it clear that He recognized Isaac alone as the promised seed. From experience, Abraham had already learned that the Creator of the universe, the Almighty Redeemer, could raise the dead, as He did in the womb of his aged and barren wife.
The record describes Abraham rising early, saddling his donkey, and
going to the place that Elohim had designated.
Three days later, when Abraham sees the place from afar, he and Isaac
take leave of the servants. Charging
them to wait until he and his son would return, Abraham displayed
complete trust in his Elohim. The
patriarch “took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son;
and he took the fire, in his hand, and a knife and the two of them went
together” (Genesis 22:6). As
father and son walked side by side, Abraham’s heart was bursting inside of
him. Suddenly Isaac’s voice broke the
heavy silence that enveloped the two travelers:
“‘My father!’ And he said, ‘Here I am, my son.’ Then he said, ‘Look,
the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?’” (verse
7). The voice that would now answer
Abraham’s beloved was that of a tested prophet:
“My son, Elohim will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering” (verse
8 KJV).
What did it all mean - a donkey, the wood on the back of an only
begotten son, and a sacrifice to be offered on a very specific mountain? Was this a rehearsal, a prophetic prefiguring
of a future event when YHVH would supply His only begotten Son, the Lamb riding
into Jerusalem on a donkey, who would later carry a beam of wood for the
ultimate sacrifice, in order to give up His life on a designated mountain?
Isaac was fully prepared for this occasion, as he had been taught
from earliest childhood that he belonged to his Elohim. Thus, he willingly submitted himself to his
father’s will, as well as to the command of the Almighty, where we are told
that Abraham kept YHVH’s commandments, statutes, and laws, and charged his
household likewise (see Genesis 18:19; 26:5).
When father and son arrived at the place that YHVH had appointed,
Abraham built an altar, bound his son, and laid him upon the wood. Next, he took the knife and raised it. Abraham’s heart was now fully engaged in
carrying out the will of his Master, when a voice from heaven called out his
name, “Abraham, Abraham! … Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything
to him; for now I know that you fear Elohim, since you have not withheld your
son, your only son, from Me” (Genesis 22:11b-12). The sound of the voice brought Abraham back,
as if he were returning from a temple in the heavens. He quickly removed his son from the altar and
embraced him like never before. The fear
in Isaac’s soul fled under the power of his father’s love. For Abraham, that moment in the comforting
embrace of his Heavenly Father felt like being in paradise.
The sounds of something thrashing behind them drew their attention to
a ram, whose horns were entangled in a bush.
Ecstatic, they seized the large animal and sacrificed it in place of the
“ram of Abraham,” who was destined to become the father of the chosen flock of
the Almighty Shepherd.
From Firstborn Factor Chapter 21
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