The Binding of Isaac

Genesis 22:1-14 ¶"And it came to pass after these things, that God [tested] Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am."

"And 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."

{Moriah is a hill of Jerusalem where King Solomon built the first Temple 2 Chronicles 3:1 “Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the LORD appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.”}

¶"And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his [donkey], 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."

"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 [donkey]; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you."

{Our sacrifice is worship.}

{On the third day, Abraham prophesied that Isaac would return with him, alive.}

"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."

{Just as Jesus said, “Let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me,” the wood was laid on Isaac’s back like a cross, which he carried to the place of sacrifice. Just as Jesus said, “Whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it,” the knife represented death and circumcision, while the fire represented the sacrifice consumed by fire and the Holy Ghost.}

{The wood like a cross represents repentance. Galatians 5:24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.”}

{The knife represents circumcision of our hearts which is water baptism in Jesus name for the remission (cutting off) of sins. Colossians 2:11-12 “In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.”}

{The fire represents the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Matthew 3:11b “He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.”}

"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."

{God DID provide HIMSELF a lamb! John 1:29 “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”}

¶"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."

{We choose the binding of our flesh by repentance. We offer our lives willingly as a sacrifice to Jesus.}

{Because our sins are washed away by the blood of Jesus, we are an “acceptable” sacrifice.}

{By our baptism of the Holy Ghost, we are a “holy” sacrifice.}

{It is by the “mercies of God” that we are forgiven by Jesus and not required to die for our sins. It is by his gift of the Holy Ghost that we may be a “living sacrifice”. (Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”) We are a LIVING sacrifice. Romans 12:1 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”}

{“Reasonable service” is translated “spiritual worship”.}

"And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son."

"And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I."

"And 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."

"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."

{Isaac was set free by the sacrifice of the ram!}

{It was a “ram caught in a tree” (Judaica Press Tanach). A ram is a male sheep.}

{The Hebrew word for “rams horns” is the same Hebrew word for “jubilee” – “Yovel” (Strong’s H3104)}

{Leviticus 25:10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile (H3104) unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.}

{In the Jubilee year all slaves are freed and all properties are returned to their original owners}

{Joshua 6:5 And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram's (H3104) horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.}

{The cry of the ram’s horn is a call to repentance. The Hebrew word for repentance is “teshuvah”. It means to “return” to God. The ram’s horn also represents the trumpet blast of a people’s coronation of their king. The ram’s horn (“shofar”) is sounded 100 times on Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the Ten Days of Repentance.}

{Leviticus 25:9 Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the Day of Atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.}

{Additionally, the root word for Calvary, where Jesus was crucified (Luke 23:33), means “horn” (of an animal).}

{The ram’s horn was sounded on the day of atonement, the day that the sacrifice was made in the Temple that would push the sins of the nation of Israel ahead another year. Jesus, the Lamb of God, is the atonement sacrifice that REMOVES sin in our life, by our repentance and baptism in Jesus name for the remission of our sins.}

"And Abraham called the name of that place “The Lord will see”: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen."

{In the mount Moriah there is a prophetic vision of Jesus, the ultimate substitute sacrifice, caught in the tree. At the same time there is the prophetic vision of the church as a living sacrifice set free by the ram. The call of the ram’s horn, the shofar trumpet, will always be a reminder of God’s call of love to return to him to receive his jubilee, setting us free from sin. It is the ram’s horn trumpet that we will hear at the rapture of the church, headed for heaven’s jubilee!}

{1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 – “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”}