Faith's Willing Subjection

by PRASHER, G. | Category: The Patient Patriarch | Jul 2003

Isaac's growth through boyhood to teens and young manhood must have fascinated his father. For this was his only son by Sarah, uniquely marked out by God as the one who would be heir with Abraham of God's promises, both regarding the land of Canaan and the Seed in whom all the nations of the world would be blessed. God had promised to establish His covenant with Isaac for an everlasting covenant for his seed after him (Gen.17:19).

Besides satisfaction with Isaac's physical growth and mental development, Abraham must have found deep satisfaction in the lad's spiritual appreciation of God's covenant promises. For the father would share with this son whom he loved the experiences he'd known in walking with God from that first wonderful revelation of the divine glory in Mesopotamia (Acts 7:2). Isaac would marvel as he learned about Ur of the Chaldees and the call of God which led his father first to Haran and then to the land of Canaan. Abraham would describe occasions when God had appeared to him, and explain the importance of the covenant by which such outstanding blessings were assured to his descendants.

With what result? The unfeigned faith which had developed in Abraham and Sarah was imparted by God's Spirit to Isaac also. So it was, centuries later, with Lois, Eunice and Timothy (2 Tim. l:5) and so it may continue to be as parents and others patiently impart to young people the treasures of divine revelation in Scripture - a reality of immense encouragement to God-fearing people of all generations.

That Isaac's personal faith had developed remarkably seems implicit in the young man's admirable submissiveness when his father was told by God to offer him as a burnt offering on Mount Moriah. We say 'young man' advisedly. For although Isaac is described as 'the lad' in Genesis 22:12, we are not told his exact age, and he may well have been in his late teens or early twenties. The Hebrew word 'naar' is used of Benjamin at the time he was taken to Egypt with his brothers in response to Joseph's demand: he was then probably about twenty-two. Points in the narrative of Isaac's journey to Mount Moriah with his father are also significant. From Beersheba to Moriah was about fifty miles, an arduous undertaking for a small boy in travel conditions of that time. Then, it was on Isaac that his father laid the heavy load of wood for the burnt offering; this must be carried up to the place of sacrifice, a task demanding considerable strength.

May we reasonably assume, then, that Isaac was at least in his late teens as the two of them went together to the place of which God had told Abraham? Isaac's question, '"Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"' showed that he was familiar with sacrificial procedure. His father was a man of 'tent and altar', on pilgrimage in fellowship with God. From earliest days, Isaac had learned the need for the blood on the altar to make possible communion with God. Abraham now replied with sensitive care to Isaac's question as to the immediate offering. At the same time his response had deep prophetic significance in relation to divine provision of the Lamb of God who would one day take away the sin of the world: '"My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering."'

The inspired narrative in Genesis 22 gives no detail of how Abraham finally disclosed to Isaac that it was he who was to be the sacrifice; simply that 'he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood'. Remembering that Abraham was an elderly man, about one-hundred-and-twenty, it seems clear in view of Isaac's youthful strength that he must have cooperated submissively to being bound; that he must in faith have accepted God's will, sharing Abraham's assurance 'that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead' (Heb.11:19). How rich this type of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was obedient to His Father, even unto death, yes, the death of the cross!

For ourselves, the example of Isaac's submission to God's will bears home to our hearts the first importance of trusting Him, whatever the cost. As He said to the disciples, '"If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it"' (Luke 9:23,24).

PRASHER, G. | Jul 2003
The Patient Patriarch