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son” (Heb 11:17). The Lord Jesus is the a picture of the sinner, bound, with the
only other person who is referred to as wood representing the burden of sin. The
the only begotten Son. knife raised would picture the judgment
How wonderful, then, to read on the of God, ready to fall. The ram in the thicket
pages of the sacred Scriptures, “For God in this case would picture the Lord Jesus
so loved the world, that he gave his only taking the place of the sinner.
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth Others see Isaac as a picture of the Lord
in him should not perish, but have ever- Jesus, the willing sacrifice. The words of
lasting life” (Joh 3:16). The apostle Paul Isaiah, written prophetically concerning
reminds us in the book of Romans con- the Lord Jesus, come to mind: “He is
cerning God’s giving of His only begotten brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and
Son: He “spared not his own Son, but
delivered him up for us all” (Rom 8:32). as a sheep before her shearers is dumb,
Abraham, in willing obedience and in so he openeth not his mouth” (Isa 53:7).
complete trust in his God, bound his son In the phrase “they went both of them
Isaac upon the altar which he had made. together” (Gen 22:8), we think of the
Isaac, seeing the fire and the wood, asked, words of the Lord Jesus just prior to going
“Where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” to the cross: “Behold, the hour cometh,
(Gen 22:7). Abraham’s reply, “My son, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scat-
God will provide himself a lamb” (v8), tered, every man to his own, and shall
was prophetic in nature, pointing to the leave me alone: and yet I am not alone,
Lord Jesus and His sacrifice as the Lamb because the Father is with me” (Joh 16:32).
of God’s providing. Again, the wood represents the sin of
But just as he was about to plunge the the world and the knife the judgment of
knife into his son, the angel of the Lord God. But here, the picture falls short, for
called to him out of heaven and told him there was none to take the Saviour’s place.
not to slay his son, because the Lord had He alone would bear the judgement of
recognized the extent of his willing obedi- God on account of sin. Peter wrote, “Who
ence and confidence in the Lord’s plans, his own self bare our sins in his own body
purposes and promises. on the tree” (1Pe 2:24).
When Abraham looked up, he saw a
ram caught in a thicket, which he offered Lastly, we can also see in this amazing
in the stead of his son Isaac. It must be story a picture of the resurrection of the
noted here that when Abraham responded Lord Jesus out from amongst the dead.
to Isaac’s question regarding the lamb for When Abraham freed his son from the
a burnt offering, he had no knowledge of altar, he received him as alive from the
the ram in the thicket. His statement was dead, and thus he became a type of the
purely prophetic in view of the sacrifice Lord Jesus in resurrection. The writer of
of the Lamb of God who would bear away the epistle to the Hebrews wrote about
the sin of the world (Joh 1:29). Abraham’s faith in offering up his only
A number of suggestions have been put son: “Accounting that God was able to
forward by various individuals concern- raise him up, even from the dead; from
ing this story and what it might represent whence also he received him in a figure”
in picture and type. Some see Isaac as (Heb 11:17-19).

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