⁹ When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. ¹⁰ Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. ¹¹ But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” ¹² He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” ¹³ And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴ So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

1) What parallels does this instance have with Jesus’s death?
Because God intentionally used this event to point forwards to a time when He would sacrifice His one and only Son, there are several similarities between the two occurrences.
a) Genesis records, “When they came to the place of which God had told him…”
a) Matthew, Mark, and Luke record of Jesus, “When they came to the place that is called The Skull…” Both locations had been pre-ordained for sacrifice.
b) Abraham used a wooden altar
b) The cross was made of wood
Both were altars intended for sacrifice out of obedience and love.
c) Genesis notes that Abraham did not “withhold (his) son, (his) only son.”
c) John notes that “God gave his only Son” and again Paul states that God “who did not withhold His only Son” By sacrificing his son, Abraham gave everything he had, his inheritance, his hope, and his beloved. So it is with God’s sacrifice.
d) God graciously provided Abraham with a ram, caught in the thicket by his horns.
d) God graciously provided humanity with Jesus, the perfect lamb of God, crowned with thorns. Both took the place of another, purchasing life and freedom by their death and both were provided intentionally by God.
e) “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided,” said Abraham,
e) Similarly, Christ’s sacrifice on a hill outside Jerusalem was God’s provision for mankind. Only through Christ’s sacrificing atonement for our sin are we able to find redemption and restoration!

2) What does Abraham’s sacrifice tell us about sin and sacrifice?
In Micah 6, the prophet is lamenting over the hopeless state of his soul and his complete inability to redeem it because of sin. In a mournful cry to God, Micah lists out to God everything he could potentially sacrifice in order to gain God’s favor. Burnt offerings, perfect sacrifices of rams or oil, even thousands of them would do nothing to assuage God’s righteous just wrath due Micah and Israel for their sin. Then Micah desperately asks, “Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for my sin?” Abraham, like Micah, like all of us, are incapable of bringing a sacrifice large enough, valuable enough, good enough to atone for our sin. In Micah 6:8, the Lord responds to Micah saying that He requires Micah to “walk humbly with God.” In New Testament language, walk humbly with God, means submitting our will to His and accepting His gift of grace and salvation through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

3) Why did God test Abraham like this?
God tested Abraham to see if he truly loved God most in his life, that he feared and revered God higher than anything or anyone else. While there was nothing that Abraham could do or give up to earn righteousness, God counted Abraham’s faith as righteousness (Genesis 15:6).

1) What parallels does this instance have with Jesus’s death?
Seeing the parallels between an Old Testament story and Christ’s New Testament sacrifice, should whet our appetites to further study God and see His big picture. God’s intentional plan to restore our broken relationship with Him that was caused by sin spans from the very beginning of time all the way through the New Testament, through today, and beyond into the future. The Old Testament is brought to fulfillment by the New Testament and without its foundation, the New Testament is shallow. Studying both parts of Scripture is essential! We understand, though, that some Old Testament portions can seem boring or easily be confusing. Do you have an Old Testament question that you’ve never really understood? We’d love to join arms with you and study through it together! Send us an email!

2) What does Abraham’s sacrifice tell us about sin and sacrifice?
We don’t literally sacrifice children in our culture today, and even in biblical times, it was a practice that God vehemently forbade His people to do. Multiple times in Scripture, God makes it clear that He hates child sacrifice. The point in this scenario is to clearly display that there is nothing we can do or give to attain righteousness before God. Consider your own life. In what ways are you working to make God happy? Striving hard to do enough right things and less wrong things to earn God’s favor? Only Christ’s sacrifice is good enough to cover our sin!

3) Why did God test Abraham like this?
In the same way that Abraham’s faith in God was credited as righteousness, our faith in God’s saving work through Jesus is our means of salvation. Is Jesus yours? Or are you depending on a balance of “good” to outweigh the “bad” in order to be saved?

Share your thoughts from today’s Journey Study!
Can we pray for you?
Sign up to receive every Journey Study!

We love getting help while we study and www.studylight.org is one of many excellent resources.  Just type in the verse you’re looking at and Boom! It’s right in front of you in English and Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament), which are the original languages the Bible was written in.

Want to know more about a specific word in a verse? Click on “Strong’s Interlinear Bible” then click the word you’d like to study. Find super awesome stuff like “origin”, “definition”, and even all the different ways that single word has been translated into English! If you want to be geeky, you can even click the word and hear its original pronunciation – That Is Awesome!

Want to get more background on a word or phrasing or passage? Click “Study Tools”, then pick a few commentaries to read their scholarly approach, keeping in mind that just because a commentary says it, doesn’t mean it’s true. (just like the internet :-))

Finding the original meaning is a huge deal when we study Scripture and can make all the difference in our understanding as we apply God’s truths to our everyday lives.

In our modern-day relationships, we want people to understand our original intention as we communicate; how much more so between God and humanity?!

Here’s a little bit more on why we take Digging Deeper so seriously.

Embracing God’s fullness in our lives is rooted in scripture and memorizing His word is vital to our continued growth and depth with Jesus.
Download this week’s verse and make it your phone’s lockscreen!
Tap and hold on your mobile device to save.

Looking for other journeys from this theme?
See all past studies in Passionate!