Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #19 of Genesis, chapter 22, and we are reading Genesis 22:4-8:

Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. And 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. And 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.  And 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? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. 

We have been moving along as we look at this chapter, and we spent some time discussing how Abraham is a picture of God the Father; Isaac is a picture of Christ the Son; and the command of God to offer his son Isaac is pointing to the offering by God the Father of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.  The atonement is in view, whereby Jesus took upon Himself the sins of His people, and the Father slew Him for those sins, and He died.  He died, but then He rose again.

The Lord did not allow Abraham to carry it out – it was all a demonstration.  Then Abraham received his son in a figure when God stopped him.

Let us spend some time looking at verse 6.  We already discussed verses 4 and 5.  The “third day” identifies with the third day of the resurrection, as the Lord Jesus was three days and three nights in the heart of the earth and He did rise early the third day.  Then we saw the statement about the two young men and the picture they represent, and Abraham’s statement of faith: “I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.”  It was great faith that the Lord gave Abraham concerning his trust in the Word of God.

It says in Genesis 22:6:

And 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. 

He had all the ingredients.  He had the wood.  He had fire.  He had the knife.  He would lay the wood on the altar.  He would use the knife to slay Isaac, and then he would use the fire to burn him because God had commanded a burnt offering.  So these things were the necessary instruments for the offering.

We see that it says, “And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son.”  The Hebrew word translated here as “wood” is Strong’s #6086, and it is the same word that is sometimes translated as “tree.”  It is the same Hebrew word that we find in Genesis 3:22:

And JEHOVAH God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

The word “tree” is this same word, which means we could read it that way when we look for the spiritual meaning.  (Of course, it was not a full-grown tree, but wood does come from a tree)  Abraham took the tree of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son.  Abraham laid the tree upon Isaac.  That is significant because we know there are Scriptures like 1Peter 2:24:

Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

It is the same principal with the cross.  They did not have a tree with leaves that they nailed the Lord Jesus Christ on, but they cut a section of wood out of a tree and fashioned it, so they could hang a man on it.  Going along with this idea, let us turn to John 19:16-17:

Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away. And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:

The Lord was bearing His cross.  He was carrying it for a time, so the cross or the “tree” would have been laid upon Him and He bore it.  That is really a remarkably similar picture to Genesis 22:6: “And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son.”   By the way, “burnt offering” just means “of the sacrifice.”  It would be the wood used in the sacrifice, just as the cross was the wood used in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ.  So Abraham laid the “cross” upon his son Isaac.  Again, Abraham is his father, picturing God the Father, and it was the will of God that Christ bear the cross.  The Father sent the Son for that very purpose.  Remember, we read in Acts 2:22-23:

Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:

The Father determined this.  It was according to His will.  It had to happen, so we see father Abraham laying the “tree” or the “cross” (the spiritual picture) upon Isaac, his only son, just as God the Father laid the cross upon Jesus Christ, His only Son.

Then it goes on to say in Genesis 22:6:

… and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together. 

Again, Abraham is the father.  He is the one that the Lord designated to kill his own son.  I just mentioned that this was a picture of God the Father who slew His Son at the foundation of the world; that is, He slew Him and then He rose to be declared the Son.  Then God slew him again in “time” or in history as a demonstration.

So we are not surprised to see that Abraham took fire in his hand and a knife.  The “hand” in the Bible typifies the “will,” and this would represent the will of God.  God commanded it to be done.  It was the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God that Christ must die for the sins of His people.  He paid for their sins, initially, at the foundation of the world, and then he died “concerning” their sins in 33 A. D.  And the “fire” would typify the wrath or judgment of God upon sin.  And that is why the burnt offering was a burnt offering – it was as though the offering was bearing sin and it must be killed and burned up.  As the Bible tells us, “Our God is a consuming fire.”  We often read of fire regarding burnt offerings or in language where God is describing His wrath or judgment upon the sinner.  So Abraham took the fire in his hand and a knife.  The knife would be the instrument used to slay or kill the son, so it, too, would be an instrument pointing to the wrath of God, as well as the fire.

There is one other thing we can see here.  We have already clearly identified Abraham as a picture of God the Father, but he was also performing the duty of a priest.  Turn to Leviticus 1:3-9:

If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before JEHOVAH. And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. And he shall kill the bullock before JEHOVAH: and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And he shall flay the burnt offering, and cut it into his pieces. And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and lay the wood in order upon the fire: And the priests, Aaron's sons, shall lay the parts, the head, and the fat, in order upon the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar: But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto JEHOVAH.

We can see that offerings were to be carried out by the priests.  Later on, there would be no Levitical priesthood, but at this point in time Levi had not yet been born, but already God had mentioned Melchizedek earlier in Genesis 14.  And we know from Hebrews 7 (and elsewhere) that Melchizedek was a priest, as it says in Hebrews 7:1-10:

For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace; Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually. Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils. And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham: But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises. And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better. And here men that die receive tithes; but there he receiveth them, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth. And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, payed tithes in Abraham. For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him.

We can see here in Hebrews 7 that the Lord is expressing the superiority of the priesthood of Melchisedec over the priesthood of Levi, because Abraham paid tithes to Melchisedec, in Genesis 14, while Levi was still in his loins; that is, he had not yet been born.  He would come forth and descend from Abraham.  And not only Levi, but all the priests could count their descent from Levi.  All the high priests came of Levi and Aaron was the first high priest of the Levitical priesthood and, yet, they all came forth from Abraham.  And in our verse, it is Abraham that is offering a burnt offering of his own son.  I am not saying there is a priesthood of Abraham, although he was commanded to offer a burnt offering as a priest would do.  Although the Levitical priesthood would come forth from him, he was not a priest, historically.  But, spiritually, since He was representing God, God is giving us a glimpse into the counsels of eternity past regarding the atoning work that was performed at the foundation of the world when God the Father slew God the Son.  God slew God.  When God slew God, it was as though God had taken the role of the High Priest who must offer the sacrifice.  Actually, that is where Melchizedek came from, as the priesthood of Melchizedek began at that point in eternity past at the foundation of the world when God offered up God (as a sacrifice).  In offering up himself, God initiated this priesthood of Melchizedek.

How do we understand such a great thing?  I do not know.  We know Jesus said in John 10:30, “I and my Father are one,” so there is an equality, and the Jews realized that Jesus made Himself equal with God.  And that is the “mystery of the Godhead,” with three divine Persons in One God.  We are too limited as creatures to understand that.  We cannot comprehend it, but it is what the Bible says, and it is true and faithful.  God offered up God, as the declaration of Psalm 22:1: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”  God forsook God.  God slew God.  So the Lord Jesus Christ was killed by God.

And, here, Abraham is picturing that.  He is illustrating this as he takes the wood of the burnt offering and the fire in his hand, and the knife.  Then it goes on to say at the end of Genesis 22:6:

… and they went both of them together. 

They went “both of them together.”  This is also a very revealing statement, and it is made again in Genesis 22:8:

My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. 

This indicates that the “fulness of the Godhead” was involved in this glorious work of atonement.  They had their own specific roles to carry out.  The Father was to slay the Son.  The Son was to be slain.  But both went together.  The Father sent the Son into the world, and the Son obeyed, and He carried out the Father’s commandments, just as we see pictured in this historical parable.

If we go to John 8, we will see the statement that they “both went together” in action.  It says in John 8:28-29:

Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.

You see, the Father was with Him: “I and my Father are one.”  Jesus said, “The Father hath not left me alone.”  They went both of them together.  God the Father is with the Son.  There is one very important junction at which time there will be a separation: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? ”  There would come that time.

Abraham had built his altar, and he laid the wood upon the altar, and he laid Isaac upon the wood.  And he had the knife raised.  It was the Father who must slay the Son, but as far as the road they took to get there, they were together.  They are in full agreement.  The will of the Father is the will of the Son.  They were even sharing the load, as far as carrying the wood, with Abraham laying the wood upon Isaac.  There is complete identification every step of the way because the Father sent His Son to accomplish these things and to carry out His will.  And the Lord Jesus Christ was obedient, even as it says in Philippians 2:5-8:

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

He became obedient unto death, the death of the cross or the “tree” or the “wood.” 

And this is something else we see with Isaac – his obedience to his father.  His father had determined, “Let us go and offer a burnt offering.”  Now it is true, based upon Isaac’s question in verse 7, “Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” that, apparently, Abraham had not wanted to upset his son and trouble his mind, historically, so he did not tell him what God had commanded him to do in offering him as a burnt offering, but we can see the spiritual dimension in the obedience of Isaac in every way.  He was carrying the wood that was laid upon him.  He is going with his father, both together.  And that is a beautiful picture that God is showing us of the agreement and mindset of the Godhead, in perfect unity, one with another.  The Father commands and the Son obeys, even to the point of death.