6 Words That Will Change Your LifeSample

When I was young, there were times my mom would call and call my name and get no response from me. Why? I was so engrossed in what I was doing that I had no ears to hear her calling. Sometimes, I think we’re like this with God. We get so engrossed in myopic, daily life, that we miss God in the midst of it.  

So, you have to love Abraham in Genesis 22. God says, “Abraham!” and Abraham responds immediately, not only with a willing “Here I am,” but with total obedience and trust—to the point of being willing to sacrifice his beloved son, if that was what God wanted him to do. 

But this familiar story is more than just a recounting of one of the fathers of our faith being willing to sacrifice all for God. It’s also a beautiful example of God threading multiple levels of meaning into this Old Testament story, because Abraham's son Isaac is a Christ-type.  

Here’s how the Baker Dictionary of Theology describes this kind of Christ-type foreshadowing God has woven into Scripture:  “A Christ-type is a shadow cast on the pages of Old Testament history by a truth whose full embodiment or antitype is found in the New Testament revelation.”   

In what ways is Isaac a type of Christ? Let’s take a look. 

Both Isaac and Jesus were… 

1. Set apart for sacrifice 
2. Obedient to their fathers to the point of death 
3. Raised up by the power of God 

So we can see that God is unfolding the Biblical narrative on multiple levels in Genesis 22! Abraham’s willingness to obey God and sacrifice Isaac as a burnt offering is not just about Abraham’s obedience to God, it’s also a foreshadowing of the grand, sweeping, redemptive plan God is orchestrating across the pages of history.

As the father of two children whom I dearly love, the story of Abraham trekking up the mountain to sacrifice his son, Isaac, sends a chill down my spine. But perhaps that was part of God’s intent—to give us a picture we could begin to understand about the depth of the Father’s great sacrifice for us, in sending His Son, Jesus, to pay the price for our sin. 

Out of gratitude to Him, is there something He’s calling you to put on the altar and sacrifice for Him? Take a few minutes and contemplate Romans 12:1-2, then pray about what God may be calling you to sacrifice for Him.