04.17. SHADOW: Isaac- The Promise of a Son

SHADOW: Isaac- The Promise of a Son

Genesis 22:1-14 AUDIO http://www.exposingtheword.com/SHADOWS/MP3s%20Shadows/17%20Shadow-%20Isaac%20the%20Promised%20Son.mp3

At Christmas time we are always reminded of the Son of God that was incarnate in flesh and walked among us. We are reminded of the present God gave us by the presence of His Son who dwelled among men. If you were to think about the individual in the Old Testament who is the greatest foreshadowing of Christ who would you choose? One of the greatest stories that give us a foreshadowing of Messiah is the son that was promised and born to Abraham. Isaac gives us a picture in type that is amazing and very picturesque in a lot of ways. Perhaps Isaac is one of the most complete shadows of the Lord Jesus that we have. Genesis 22:1-14 "And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. ²And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. ³And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. ⁴Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. ⁵And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. ⁶And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together. ⁷And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? ⁸And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. ⁹And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. ¹⁰And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. ¹¹And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. ¹²And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. ¹³And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. ¹⁴And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen." Let us look a few things that lead us up to the point in our text that make Isaac the great foreshadow he is.

I- Promised Child:

    The promise to Abraham of a son is found recorded in Genesis 17:19-21 "And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. ²⁰ And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. ²¹But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year."

    The promise was given that a year later the son of promise would be born to Abraham and Sarah his wife. You may recall Abraham when he knew of the promise of God tried to pass the lineage through his servant. Then Sarah brought Hagar to him and Ishmael was born. Neither of these was God’s plan. Finally God promised a son would be born. Look at how this pictures for us the promise of the birth of a Child.

    Notice two promises in the Prophet Isaiah. Isaiah 7:14 "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."

    Isaiah 9:6 "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."

    The fulfillment of this is found in two places in two different ways. First was the promise to Mary. Luke 1:26 ;31 "And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, … ³¹ And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS."

    Next we find a promise of seeing the Son given to Simeon who was an old man in the temple. Luke 2:26-27 "And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. ²⁷And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law." He saw the promised Child some 40 days old. This reminds us the promise of a child was to the world.        

II- Miracle Birth

    We see that both the birth of Isaac and Jesus were miraculous births. Genesis 17:17 "Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?" Abraham was 100 and Sarah 90 when Isaac was born. Both well past the age of expectation of a child. God gave them Isaac as a miracle baby. This pictures for us the miracle birth of Jesus.

    The reason the birth of Jesus was a miracle you will recall was that Mary was a virgin. It was physically impossible for Mary to have had a child. Remember again that Isaiah had said, "Behold, a virgin shall conceive…"

    Luke 1:27 "To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary."

III- Replaced Law

    I don’t have time to develop the support that is really needed for this point. Let me simply give us a few verses and then explain them.

    Galatians 4:21-24 "Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? ²²For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. ²³But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. ²⁴Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar."

    Ishmael represents the law as we see and Isaac was the replacement for the law. Law is bondage and grace is freedom.

    Jesus fulfilled the law as we know. He kept it perfect. The only man who ever did. Matthew 5:17 "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil."

IV- Both Willing Sacrifices

    Some think that Isaac was only a small lad when these events took place. While we cannot be sure of the age of Isaac many claim that he was at least a teenager. Remember Abraham was 100 plus the age of Isaac. Isaac could certainly have ran away. But he willingly allowed his father to place him on the altar.

    Genesis 22:9-10 "And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. ¹⁰And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son."

    We might ask why was Isaac a willing sacrifice. I think a lot of it had to do with his trust in his father and wanting to do anything his father asked. Oh! what a picture of Jesus.

    Remember in the Garden when Jesus prayed? Matthew 26:42 "He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done."

    John 10:14-17 "I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. ¹⁵As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. ¹⁷Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again."

V- Sacrifice in the Thicket

    Let me give us just one more thing about the story of Isaac that is not necessarily a picture that Isaac gives us but one that the sacrifice that was substituted for Isaac gives us. I remind us all that Jesus was the ultimate substitute for Isaac.

    Genesis 22:13-14 "And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. ¹⁴And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen."    

    God provided a ram for a burnt offering in the place of Isaac. Go with me now to the place of Christ crucifixion and look at the Lamb of God. Matthew 27:29 "And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!"

    Beloved even the Ram caught in the thicket which was the substitute for Isaac shadows the crown of thrones on the head of Christ.