This week in Sunday School, the discussion reminded me of the connection between Abraham and Isaac and the Crucifixion of Jesus.  As I have thought about it this week, it still intrigues me.  So, I have been reading about the connections again and want to share how they are linked.

Let’s begin with Genesis 22, where we are told that God tested Abraham’s faith.  In the first 19 verses of this chapter, God directed Abraham to go to the Land of Moriah and sacrifice his son, Isaac, born to Sara, his wife.  He did as God instructed; he took Isaac and traveled three days before seeing the place to which God was directing him at “a great distance.”  We believe he went to Mt. Moriah.  And there, he built the altar and placed the wood. He then tied Isaac up and placed Isaac on the wood.  Now Isaac was at least a young man; we know this because he was the one to carry the wood “a great distance.” 

As Isaac took the knife in his hand, God spoke to Abraham through an Angel: “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, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”

God then provides the Ram, who is caught in the thicket, which becomes the sacrifice offered to God on Mount Moriah. 

Later, God ordered Moses to order the sacrifice of Lambs and the use of their blood (essence) to cause the Angel of Death to pass them by (see Exodus 12).  The sacrifice of the Ram as a substitute for Isaac prefigures the sacrifice of lambs to save the firstborn sons of Abraham and Isaac’s descendants in Egypt, which become the Passover that Jesus and the disciples celebrate the night before His Sacrifice.

2 Chronicles 3:1 says: “Then Solomon began to build the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father, David. It was on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, the place provided by David.”   (This was the same threshing floor mentioned in Ruth 3:2-8.)  And once the temple is built, it becomes the only place where His people make sacrifices to the God of Abraham.  The Temple on Mount Moriah!

Jesus’ crucifixion was on Mount Moriah.  Therefore, the spot where God substitutes the ram for Isaac, the ram being a perfect full-grown sheep.  God also substitutes, His Son, a full-grown man, Jesus, for you and me. 

Why does God do this? Because this is how He can save us.  Our first parents sinned against God in the Garden; we have been broken and filled with sin ever since.  The penalty for sin is death Romans 6:23.  Also read John 3:16-18 where Jesus teaches that God had sent Him so that the world could be saved through him.  Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”

This is because God cannot pretend that our sin does not exist, for He is just.  But He is also merciful and gracious!  So He sent His Son to become one of us so that Jesus, as the perfect one who was Human, was also not blemished by sin and, therefore, could take upon Himself all the sins of all of Humanity. He became the sacrifice that paid the debt and suffered the cost of sin so that His blood sacrifice makes those who believe He is Lord and Savior righteous. 

This is Substitutionary Atonement theology: Christ substituted Himself for us on the Cross on Mount Moriah, the same mount where God provided a ram to substitute for Isaac.  God’s capacity for providing the proper sacrifice is connected by God’s overwhelming mercy and the place He chooses for the sacrifice.

Glory Be to God!