The Foreshadowing of God’s Promises To Us That Were Fulfilled in Christ # 6

Isaac was also a ‘type’ of Christ.

In Isaac, God continued to foreshadow the promise of His blessing of all the nations but specifically He imprinted in Isaac the promise of our salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior

Abraham, his son Isaac and his son Jacob were the 3 great Patriarchs of Israel through whom God promised to make a great nation and a blessing to the nations of the earth

Genesis 12: 1-3

C.F Genesis 15: 4; Genesis 17: 2, 7, 16; Genesis 50: 24; Exodus 3: 6, 15; Exodus 4: 5; Exodus 9: 5; 1 Kings 18: 36; Matthew 22: 31-32; Luke 13: 28; Acts 3: 13; Acts 7: 8, 32; Romans 9: 5

Concerning Isaac, God said to Abraham, Genesis 17: 19 ‘— Sarah, your wife, will give birth to a son for you. You will name him Isaac, and I will confirm my covenant with him and his descendants as an everlasting covenant’.

The ‘everlasting covenant’ was the promise that God first made to Abraham to make of him a great nation and a blessing to the nations of the earth

Genesis 21: 1-3

Here in the earliest narrative of Isaac’s life we are introduced to the remarkable prophetic foreshadowing of the promises of God that were fulfilled in Christ

Isaac was a ‘miracle’ baby conceived and born to Abraham and Sarah in their old age

Later, the Apostle Paul made reference to this when he said that Isaac was, Galatians 4: 28 ‘the child born by the power of the Holy Spirit’

And of course, concerning the miraculous conception and birth of Jesus the Gospel says, Matthew 1: 18 ‘This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit’.

One of the other Gospels says, Luke 1: 35 ‘The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and He will be called the Son of God’.

Only the pure and perfect holy Son of God could save His people from their sin!

Genesis 21: 4-5

8 days after Isaac’s birth Abraham circumcised him as ‘God had commanded’. Abraham circumcised Isaac as an act of faith towards God not because it was a requirement of Old Testament law; the ‘law’ would come later through Moses

Concerning the circumcision of Jesus the Gospel says, Luke 2: 21 ‘Eight days later, when the baby was circumcised, He was named Jesus, the name given Him by the angel even before He was conceived’.

C.F Genesis 17: 19

Genesis 21: 6-7

The name Isaac means to ‘laugh’ or ‘rejoice’; please notice that Sarah said (6) ‘God has brought me laughter’

And of course, it is through Jesus Christ that we find the joy of our salvation

When the pregnant Mary visited her pregnant cousin Elizabeth, Elizabeth said, Luke 1: 44 ‘When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy’.

Then Mary gave praise to God, Luke 1: 47 ‘How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!’

After the birth of the baby Jesus, Luke 2: 10-11 ‘the angel reassured them (the shepherds). “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!

And at Jesus dedication in the Temple in Jerusalem Simeon prophesied, Luke 2:34

“This child is destined to cause many in Israel to fall, but He will be a joy to many others.'

Now we come to the dramatic retelling of Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac

Genesis 22: 1-2

Please notice that the Lord referred to Isaac as Abraham’s ‘only son’

Genesis 22: 12, 16: Hebrews 11: 17

This is another reference imprinted in Isaac, that God’s ‘only Son’, Jesus Christ would save His people from their sin

John 1: 14 ‘So the Word became human and made His home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen His glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.’

C.F John 1: 18; John 3: 16, 118; 1 John 4: 9

In some of the older Bible Versions instead of using the phrase ‘only Son’ they use the phrase ‘only begotten Son’ which has become open to misunderstanding and abuse KJV21, ASV, AMP, BRG, DARBY, DRA, EHV, GNV, KJV, AKJV, NASB1995, NKJV, NMB, NTE, RGT, WYC, YLT

But as the Nicene Creed says,

‘We believe in...one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, begotten from the Father before all ages, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made; of the same essence as the Father.’

Briefly, here are some of the other imprinted likenesses in Isaac that find their fulfillment in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior

Both Isaac and Jesus were named by God

Isaac: Genesis 17: 19b ‘You will name him Isaac’

Jesus: Matthew 1: 21 ‘you are to name him Jesus’

Both Isaac and Jesus were loved by their fathers

Isaac: Genesis 22: 2 ‘Isaac, whom you love so much’

Jesus: Matthew 3: 17 ‘This is my dearly loved Son’

Both Isaac and Jesus were offered in sacrificial death in the service of God

Isaac: Genesis 22: 2 “Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”

Jesus: John 3: 14 ‘the Son of Man must be lifted up’

C.F John 12: 32; Ephesians 5: 2

Both Isaac and Jesus carried the wood they were to be sacrificed on

Isaac: Genesis 22: 3, 6-7, 9 (6) ‘So Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac’s shoulders’

Jesus: John 19: 17 ‘Carrying the cross by Himself, he went to the place called Place of the Skull (in Hebrew, Golgotha).’

Both Isaac and Jesus were accompanied by 2 men on their way to be sacrificed

Isaac: Genesis 22: 3a ‘The next morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son, Isaac’.

Jesus: Matthew 27: 38 ‘Then two thieves were crucified with Him, one on the right and another on the left.’ MEV

At the place of sacrifice God spared Isaac but NOT Jesus

Isaac: Genesis 22: 7-8, 10-13

Jesus: Romans 8: 32 ‘If He did not spare His own Son, but handed Him over to death for all of us, then don’t you think that He will graciously give us all things with Him?’ VOICE, NOG

C.F John 1: 29

Both Isaac and Jesus were raised from the dead

Isaac: Genesis 22: 14 ‘Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the Lord will provide”). To this day, people still use that name as a proverb: “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”’

“Pastor David, wait a minute!

Didn’t the Lord spare Isaac from death?”

Yes, He did

“Then how can you say God raised Isaac from the dead?”

I can say that because that’s what the New Testament says, Hebrews 11:19 ‘Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead’.

Remember, Isaac is a ‘type’ of Christ and as God spared Isaac from death and ‘in a sense’ brought him back to life, it was the foreshadowing of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Matthew 28: 6 ‘He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying.’

On Mt. Moriah Abraham named the place of Isaac’s sacrifice Yahweh-Jireh ‘The Lord will provide’. Not far from there, God provided for our salvation when Jesus was crucified and was raised from the dead on the 3rd day!

Finally, once again God confirmed His promise to Abraham, Genesis 22: 15-18