This morning our pastor (Pastor Ray) preached on Genesis 22. In this well known story God tests Abraham’s faith by asking him to sacrifice his most precious treasure…his one and only son. I can’t even begin to imaging the sacrifice that God was demanding from Abraham. And what’s more, Abraham did it without a single question and no hesitation! Hebrews even highlights this amazing display of faith.
It was a great sermon with a great message (that you can listen to online): What is God asking us (me) to sacrifice? Is there anything in my life that’s more important than God? All great questions to ponder this week…but that’s not what this particular post is about.
This is a classic Old Testament story, but while I was listening and chewing on it this morning I noticed a few parallels between this story and one that occurred a couple of thousand years later…Jesus’ story. I can’t say that I’m the first to ever come up with them (I’m certain that’s not the case) and I’m not sure why I’ve never noticed them before. That aside, here are the similarities I noticed and thought I’d share (and I’d like your thoughts on this too…did I miss any?):
- God asks Abraham to sacrifice is only son.
God actually does sacrifice his one and only son. - Isaac carries the wood for the sacrifice on his back.
Jesus carried the wood for His sacrifice too (the cross). - Isaac willingly laid his life on the line (he became the sacrifice).
Jesus willingly gave His life for pay for our sins (He became our sacrifice).
Of course, there is one big difference in the two stories…Jesus actually went through with it and became our sacrifice while Isaac was spared and God provided a substitute sacrifice. Come to think of it, that’s the parallel with our story…Jesus became our substitute sacrifice! And thank God (everyday) that He did!
It is so interesting to me how Jesus (The Messiah) is talked about throughout the entire Bible, not just the first 4 Books of the New Testiment. Once you realize that, it makes reading the Bible so much more meaningful. That was cool what you said about the similarities with Abraham and Isaac and God and Jesus. Thanks for sharing that!
You’re right about Jesus being in more of the OT than we realize. As our church has been going through Genesis He is everywhere! Sometimes it’s easy to forget that He always has been.