Isaac points to Jesus in some of the most striking ways in the Old Testament. In Genesis 22, God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, a story that foreshadows God the Father giving his one and only Son on the cross. Both sons carried wood up a hill, both trusted their fathers, both stories point to resurrection, and in both stories God provided the sacrifice we needed.
A Father’s One and Only Son
Isaac was the son God had promised Abraham and Sarah, born when they were far too old to have children (Genesis 18:10-14). He was the child of a miracle and the heir of God’s promises. Then God made a shocking request.
Genesis 22:2 Then God said, “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 how God described Isaac: “your son, your only son, whom you love.” Centuries later, Jesus would describe his own Father’s love in similar words: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son” (John 3:16). Like Isaac, Jesus was born by a miracle, and like Abraham, the Father was willing to give up the Son he loved.
Carrying the Wood Up the Hill
Abraham placed the wood for the offering on Isaac’s back, and the two of them walked up Mount Moriah together (Genesis 22:6). Isaac asked where the lamb was, and Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb” (Genesis 22:8). Two thousand years later, another Son carried wood up a hill near the same place.
John 19:17 Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha).
Isaac didn’t fully understand what was happening. Jesus did. He knew exactly where he was going and why. In the garden the night before, he prayed, “Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39). Both sons obeyed their fathers in quiet trust, but Jesus walked toward the cross with full knowledge and full surrender.
Faith in the Resurrection
How could Abraham be willing to sacrifice the son God had promised to bless? The book of Hebrews gives us a window into his heart.
Hebrews 11:17-19 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.
Abraham believed that even if Isaac died, God could raise him back to life. In a sense, Isaac was given back to him from the dead. That was a preview of the greater story. Jesus really did die, and on the third day the Father really did raise him to life.
God Provides the Substitute
At the last moment, God stopped Abraham and pointed him to a ram caught in a thicket. Isaac was spared because a substitute took his place.
Genesis 22:13-14 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
Abraham named the place “The Lord Will Provide.” That’s the heart of the gospel. We deserve the penalty of sin, but God provided a substitute. Peter wrote that Jesus “himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness (1 Peter 2:24). Jesus is the Lamb God provided. If you want to know more about trusting him, check out How can I become a Christian?
The Takeaway
How does Isaac point to Jesus? Both were one and only sons, both carried wood up a hill, both trusted their fathers, and both stories point to resurrection. Most of all, the story of Isaac shows that God provides the substitute we need, and that substitute is Jesus.
