06.5.2. The Offering Up of Isaac
II. -- THE OFFERING UP OF ISAAC
WE have seen what were Isaac’s first trials, -- spiritually, the earliest experiences which the spirit of sonship or adoption meets here; first, judgment in the flesh, then weaning, then mocking: we are now to see its trials, when, being weaned, it has grown to somewhat of maturity. This much longed-for life, our Isaac or joy, though an heir of grace and promise, is born to be a sacrifice, not that it may perish, but that greater blessings may be reached by it through this self-sacrifice. This too is yet a stage in the way, for the way is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.
We read, "It came to pass that after these things God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee unto the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of" (Genesis 22:1-2). Ishmael is not offered, but cast out. Isaac is to be offered up as a sacrifice. This is indeed that cross of Christ, whereby the world is crucified unto us, and we unto the world; the surrender of that meek life in us, which has been formed by divine power out of faith’s nothingness, the special offering of those in whom this Son is come, and who, "if sons, are heirs, if so be that they suffer with Him, that they may also be glorified together" (Romans 8:17); a view of the cross much more inward than any known before, so much deeper and nearer to us than Abel’s lamb, or Noah’s tree which takes us through the waters, that to some it seems to be almost another thing, while yet it is the self-same cross, only now apprehended far more inwardly. And first to mark Abraham’s part in this scene, that is, the part which the spirit of faith takes in this sacrifice. Isaac yields himself, but it is of Abraham God asks him. Abraham it is who girds the ass, and cleaves the wood, and gives up his Isaac, when the Lord requires the sacrifice. For it is faith which gives up the life it has produced to Him by whose strength it has produced it. The Lord would shew how He can fill the heart; how after the flesh and world are left, faith can, if only He remains to it, give up His gifts also, and again be nothing that God may be all, assured that in being nothing it shall obtain all things. This is the trial here. Can faith give up that much loved life, that son so long waited for, of whom it had been said, "In Isaac shall thy seed be called." It is not to leave this or that outward thing; -- this was done long ago, when we came out of Ur of the Chaldees; -- it is not the trial of weary pilgrimage, wandering from day to day without a certain dwelling place; it is not even the giving up of Hagar’s son, the fruit of our own energy, to which our God now summons us. It is nothing less than to give up that life, to which all God’s promises have so long directed us, -- which He has given to be our joy, and from which He Himself has bid us expect such blessings, not to ourselves only, but to others, -- in the assurance that as He gave it at the first, He will, though now He seems to take it from us, give it back again. Faith therefore shrinks not even here, but binds its own fruit, and gives it back to God, accounting that He, who can raise up the dead, will restore the precious life which He first quickened out of our barrenness. To do this, Abraham leaves his servants and the ass (Genesis 22:5), even as faith, when it is tried, leaves behind it all those thoughts, which, like the servants, by their presence, might oppose the sacrifice. (Note: Chrysostom thus comments on this: -- "Suffer not aught of worldly thoughts to occupy thy soul then. Bethink thee that Abraham also, when offering this sacrifice, suffered nor wife, nor servant, nor any other to be present. Neither then do thou suffer any of thy slavish and ignoble passions to be present with thee; but go up alone into the mountain where he went up; and should any such thoughts attempt to go up with thee, command them with authority, and say, ’Sit ye here, and I and the lad will worship and return to you.’ And leaving the ass and the servants below, and whatever is void of reason and sense, go up, taking with thee what is reasonable," &c. Hom. v. on 2 Corinthians 2:17, p. 74 of the Oxford Translation.) Thus it travels on to Mount Moriah, that is to ground chosen of God, (Note: Moriah means "chosen of God." Heb. moriyah [H4179], a contraction for mareh yahh [H4758 H3050]. It was in after times the site of the temple. 2 Chronicles 3:1.) for faith dares not choose its own crosses, or where or when it will endure suffering. But if in the journey of life trial is appointed, so grievous as to threaten to crush that inward life which is so precious to us, -- be the trial what it may, pain, contempt, or misrepresentation, or, what is far more trying to the elect, confusion of soul, inward distraction, desolation, darkness, -- whatever it be, if it be God-appointed, let us go onward, the spirit of sonship shall not perish. But let us take heed that we are not on self-chosen ground. Self-chosen penances, self-inflicted pains, are not the sacrifice faith offers upon Mount Moriah; rather do they savour of horrid Moloch, to whom even Solomon may bow, but whose worship is abomination. Great as those sacrifices may seem which are imposed by self-will, much more precious are those which God calls us to. One day in which we yield our will to Him is of more value than years of toiling self-will. Such yieldings of our will are safe. The life which has sprung from faith cannot perish thus. For Isaac does not perish here. Being lifted up, he is, as Paul says, "received back again" (Genesis 22:12; Hebrews 11:19). The spirit of sonship does not die: having been bound upon the altar, it is brought back again, as from the dead, with greatly increased blessedness. This is that inward death and resurrection, which all who possess the spirit of sonship must know in due time; to be offered up, and yet to live; to lose our life, and yet to keep it. Thus are we crucified with Christ, nevertheless we live, yet not we, but Christ liveth in us. We bear about in the body the dying of the Lord, that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our mortal bodies. We come back to walk awhile with them who tarry with the ass, and have never reached to Mount Moriah, in the knowledge of that, of which those who have so tarried may indeed hear, and even speak about, but have never realised; as men who have endured a real death, and who by it have learned to judge all things here in the light of heaven.
Isaac, though offered, does not die; but something does die there on Mount Moriah. A ram is caught and offered there, and Abraham calls the name of the place Jehovah Jireh (Genesis 22:13-14). These beasts figure, as we have already seen, the different animal faculties and powers, which are implanted in the creature; against some of which the inward man has to fight, while others may be in measure tamed and made subservient; either, as the ass, to bear the man upon his way, or, as the ox or lamb, to pour out their blood in sacrifice. Of those whose blood is accepted of God, there are some which at times we find it hard to capture. Many a mere animal desire, which we would fain catch and bind, escapes us, even though we pursue it, till, having laid our Isaac on the altar of the Lord, the animal hitherto uncaught is suddenly placed within our reach. Then is it caught and bound by faith; then is it slain, and with joy we say, Jehovah Jireh. "In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen." Now we know that the sacrifice of our Isaac shall not destroy this meek life. What is animal only dies. The man, God’s image in us, is not only unhurt, but receives yet more blessing. And what blessing! "Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Corinthians 4:17). For "the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, and said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the sea-shore, and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies" (Genesis 22:15-17). Oh, what a gate there is within, held long by our adversary! But the seed of faith shall henceforth keep it, and the enemy be driven out. "And in thy seed shall all nations be blessed." The whole creature shall be a gainer by Isaac’s sacrifice. His birth brought blessing to the Philistines’ land. His offering shall be felt even beyond Jordan. For the promise is that many far off shall be blessed in him; and lo! at once others are fruitful and blessed in him. So we read, "It came to pass that after these things it was told Abraham, Behold, Milcah, she also hath borne children to thy brother Nahor" (Genesis 22:20-24). I do not doubt that this increase of Nahor’s line is recorded here as the commencing fulfillment of the Lord’s promise. For I know that faith cannot offer thus without great blessing coming through it on the other and lower faculties of the regenerate soul. Not even the beasts shall be barren, for God hath said, "If ye hearken to these judgments, there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle" (Deuteronomy 7:14; Exodus 23:26). The inward life shall radiate to that which is without, and even the outward man be a gainer through the grace of the spirit.
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Such is the scene within. The other fulfilments of it are well known. In the outward kingdom of the visible Church, the sons of God have laid down their lives, not to perish, but to live a higher life. Not only have God’s sons lived in spite of sacrifice, but great fruit has thence been found, even among those who before this were barren and scarcely knew God. Need I trace the same act in a higher sphere as fulfilled in Him, who above all others was the well-beloved Son. (Note: This view of Isaac’s sacrifice is common to nearly all the Fathers. Augustine continually alludes to it - Contra Maximin. Arian. l. ii. c. 26, § 7, and De Civit. l. xvi. c. 32. So too Tertullian, Adv. Jud. c. 11; Origen, Hom. viii. in Gen.; Ambrose, De Abr. l. i. c. 8, § 71 and 72; and others.) This view, as indeed the dispensational fulfilment throughout all Genesis, leads us to considerations full of deepest mystery, when we see that God Himself has sacrificed, and that not a mere creature, but His Only-begotten Son. How the sacrifice of Christ in us, when we reach to know the spirit of sonship and its offering, is but the reflection and result of the same thing in God, -- how the path of saints is therefore God’s own path, and their ways a feeble shadow of His ways, -- how every good thing in us is but His work, who, being the living and unchanging God, repeats His ways and works of love on every platform, and who, because He is love, cannot but sacrifice, for love involves sacrifice in its very nature, and God is love, -- in a word, how the patriarchal lives, figuring the divine life in man, figure the life of God Himself, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, -- may be seen in the sanctuary, but cannot well be spoken of in an evil world and by such poor tongues as ours. Blessed be His glorious name for ever. We can at least fall down and adore Him for His unutterable love, assured that the whole earth shall be filled with His glory. Amen, and Amen. And may He give unto us to know yet more the power of Christ’s resurrection through fellowship of His sufferings. Then shall these things be seen in us also. The world indeed will not know us, "for it knew Him not;" yet shall it be blessed and made fruitful by our sacrifice. Like the sun, then, far greater than we seem to men, let us shine on, though others here, deceived in us as in the light of heaven, know not our true greatness.