Genesis 22:1-19 That far away hill

Biblical Principles for a Better Life - Pastor Kris Davis

When we board an airliner, we’re asked to show a photo ID. For security reasons, the airlines don’t take us at our word. They want proof that we’re who we claim to be. Jesus’ critics demanded proof of His identity, thus He showed them His “photo ID.” He told them His portrait was on every page of the Old Testament. “If you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me” (John 5:46). Where did Moses write of Jesus? One place is Genesis 22. The young man Isaac is a remarkable prototype of Jesus Christ. Everything about Isaac in this passage points to his being a type or illustration of Christ. Everything about him reminds us of the Lord Jesus, and those who carefully study Genesis 22 find a remarkable series of parallels between Isaac and Immanuel.

Two thousand years before Calvary, we have the gospel story given to us in advance through a preview, a prototype. Yet Isaac himself could never have actually provided purification for sins, for he was a sinner just as we are. Two millennia later and two millennia ago, God became a man, went to the cross, and there, shedding His blood, bridged the gulf between His own holiness on the one hand, and you and me on the other. On the mountain of the Lord, it was provided. Will you believe it? Will you receive it? “He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:11–12).