There are some striking similarities in the spiritual implications of Isaac and Jesus. I am sure their personalities were very different. Jesus, the Son of God taking his brief journey on earth was confident of His mission given by His Heavenly Father. Isaac on the other hand does not come across as the spiritual man of faith like his father Abraham, yet he was a link in the eternal blessing culminating in the Messiah, Jesus.
So let’s look at the comparison between Isaac and Jesus:
Isaac and Jesus were both, a son of promise.
Genesis 18:13-14 NKJV
(13) And the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’
(14) Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”
Isaiah 7:14 NKJV
(14) Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.
The conceptions of Isaac and Jesus were miraculous.
Sarah was a barren woman at about 89 years old when Isaac was conceived.
Genesis 17:17 NKJV
(17) Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”
Romans 4:19 NKJV
(19) And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.
Mary was a young virgin perhaps 15-18 years old when she conceived.
Luke 1:34-35 NKJV
(34) Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”
(35) And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.
There was a long time between the promise of their birth and the fulfillment of the promise.
There was approximately 25 years between the promise of Isaac and his birth. There was approximately 1400 years between Moses and Jesus.
One of the first prophetic words about the Messiah was from Moses.
Deuteronomy 18:15 NKJV
(15) “The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear.
The mothers of Isaac and Jesus had some questions.
Genesis 18:12 NKJV
(12) Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”
Luke 1:34 NKJV
(34) Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”
Both were named before their birth.
Genesis 17:19 NKJV
(19) Then God said: “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.
Matthew 1:21 NKJV
(21) And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.”
Both were obedient unto death.
We have mental pictures of Isaac being a ten-year old boy but in truth he was a grown man perhaps 25 to 37 years old. The next chapter (chapter 23) records Sarah’s death at 127 years old; she gave birth to Isaac at 90 so at his mother’s death he would be 37 years old. Abraham was 100 years older than his son, so it would be hard to imagine the old father physically subduing a young man of 25 to 37 years of age. I believe Isaac submitted to his father’s will, trusting that his father had truly heard from God.
Jesus was 33 years old when He was crucified, and Isaac was possibly close to that age when he and Abraham made the trip to Moriah.
Philippians 2:8 NKJV
(8) And being found in appearance as a man, He [Jesus] humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
Both were considered only sons.
The Hebrew word for beloved son is “yachid” [yaw-kheed], an only child, beloved son, life as not to be replaced.) Isaac and Jesus were both a “yachid”.
Genesis 22:2 NKJV
(2) Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
John 3:16 NKJV
(16) For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
1 John 4:9 NKJV
(9) In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.
The journey up the mountain of sacrifice had its own similarities for these two men.
Abraham and Isaac began the journey to the mountain with a donkey, two servant boys, wood, fire, and a knife. At the base of the mountain, he placed the wood on his son and went to the top with a knife and fire (possibly a censer with coals). The two servants stayed at the bottom of the mountain and Abraham tells them basically, “Stay here. We will go. We will worship. We will return” (paraphrased).
So as Abraham placed the wood on his son, and in this we see Jesus carrying the cross. The knife represents the killing of the sacrifice. The fire represents the consumption of the sacrifice. Jesus gave up His life (loss of life-the knife) and took upon Himself the sin, shame, infirmities, and lost-ness of the world (suffering-the fire).
The two servants at the base of the mountain, could be viewed as symbolic of the “Law and the Prophets” of the Old Testament. The justice of God (the Law) required death for sin and the destiny of God (the Prophets) foretold of the Suffering Servant as represented in Isaiah 53:4-5 (NKJV), “Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. / But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.”
Both places of sacrifice were on the mountain range of Moriah.
The word Moriah means “the place where Yahweh sees/appears/provides. This place of Abraham’s altar of sacrifice, Temple, and Calvary where Jesus was crucified were on the same mountain range of Moriah.
Genesis 22:2 NKJV
(2) Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
Genesis 22:2 NKJV
(2) Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
Luke 13:33 NKJV
(33) Nevertheless I must journey today, tomorrow, and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem.
The resurrection from the dead is a dynamic that relates to both.
Matthew 28:6 NKJV
(6) He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
Hebrews 11:17-19 NKJV
(17) By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,
(18) of whom it was said, “IN ISAAC YOUR SEED SHALL BE CALLED,”
(19) concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.
The blessing to all nations is part of the life of both Jesus and Isaac.
Genesis 26:4 NKJV
(4) And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed;
Revelation 7:9 NKJV
(9) After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands.
I love this scripture in the Book of Revelation where this great multitude is described. It is the Family Photo of the Kingdom of God who are “of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues standing before the throne and the before the Lamb” and I see myself in that photo. I pray you see yourself in that Family Photo of God. We are in Christ and we are in the Family Photo.
(Full Biblical Story) Genesis 22:1-19 NKJV
(1) Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
(2) Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
(3) So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
(4) Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off.
(5) And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”
(6) So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together.
(7) But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
(8) And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.
(9) Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood.
(10) And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
(11) But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” So he said, “Here I am.”
(12) And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
(13) Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.
(14) And Abraham called the name of the place, The-LORD-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”
(15) Then the Angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time out of heaven,
(16) and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son—
(17) blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.
(18) In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
(19) So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.
Yours on the Journey,
Harry L. Whitt
Pathway Journey 