3 JULY GENESIS 22

The Test of Faith – The Father, the Son, and the Lamb

Genesis 22 presents the climactic moment of Abraham’s spiritual journey: God asks him to offer up the very promise He had fulfilled. This is not a story of divine cruelty—it is a revelation of faith, obedience, and substitutionary grace.

Genesis 22:1–2 (NIV) "Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, ‘Abraham!’ ‘Here I am,’ he replied. 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.’"

The language is deliberate: “your son, your only son, whom you love.” This foreshadows another Father who would give His only Son, whom He loved, not as a test—but as a sacrifice for the world. John 3:16 (NIV) "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." Abraham obeys immediately and silently.

Genesis 22:3 (NIV) "Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When He had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, He set out for the place God had told him about." The journey took three days, a prolonged test of resolve and trust.

Genesis 22:4–5 (NIV) "On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, ‘Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.’" Notice Abraham’s words: “we will come back to you.” He believed in resurrection, that even if Isaac died, God would raise him. Hebrews 11:17–19 (NIV) "By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice… Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death."

As they walk, Isaac asks the most piercing question. Genesis 22:7–8 (NIV) "Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, ‘Father?’ ‘Yes, my son?’ Abraham replied. ‘The fire and wood are here,’ Isaac said, ‘but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?’ Abraham answered, ‘God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.’ And the two of them went on together." Abraham’s answer, “God Himself will provide the lamb,” is more than prophetic, it is messianic. On this very mountain range, Mount Moriah, God would one day provide His own Son, the Lamb of God.

Genesis 22:9–10 (NIV) "When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son." Isaac, now likely a young man, submits to being bound. There is no record of resistance. His obedience to the father reflects Christ’s own submission to the Father’s will. Philippians 2:8 (NIV) "And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross!"

But God intervenes. Genesis 22:11–12 (NIV) "But the angel of the Lord called out to him from Heaven, ‘Abraham! Abraham!’ ‘Here I am,’ he replied. ‘Do not lay a hand on the boy,’ He said. ‘Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from Me your son, your only son.’" God did not desire Isaac’s death—He desired Abraham’s complete trust. The test reveals that Abraham would not withhold anything from God.

Then comes the substitution. Genesis 22:13 (NIV) "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." A ram is sacrificed in place of Isaac—a clear picture of substitutionary atonement. Genesis 22:14 (NIV) "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.’"

YHWH Yireh – “The Lord Will Provide”. On this mountain, provision came. And centuries later, on that same mountain, God provided His Lamb, Jesus Christ. God affirms the covenant with intensified blessing.

Genesis 22:16–18 (NIV) "‘I swear by Myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore… and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed Me.’"

This covenant now carries a messianic guarantee, through Abraham’s line, the Saviour will come.