Wednesday in the 10th Week of Pentecost - Commemoration of Isaac
Daily Readings
Joshua 8:30-35 Romans 14:13-23 Matthew 26:57-68Morning and Evening Psalms
79, 80 81-83Higher Things Commemoration of Isaac:“So Abraham called the name of that place, ‘The Lord will provide;’ as it is said to this day, ‘On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.’” (Genesis 22:14) Poor Isaac! Of the time we spend teaching about the Patriarchs in Genesis, it seems we almost gloss over Isaac. We hear of the miraculous birth of this “son of promise” and how his father almost sacrificed him, and we’re ready to skip to Jacob! But what about this sacrifice? This is no laughing matter. This is a great moment in Church history, when God foreshadowed His sacrifice – His Son!
“The Lamb, the Lamb, O Father, where’s the sacrifice?” (HS 98 #822) echoes the hymn. The youth for whom Abraham had waited 100 years was asking a question that cut his father to the core. Isaac knew something was wrong. It was highly irregular to make a sacrifice without the victim to provide the blood.
Intuition aside, Isaac continued on this journey. Likely, he had an idea of what was going to happen. Yet he willingly goes along with the elderly man he could possibly have overcome. He asks no further questions, but follows his father. Of course, the Lord showed Abraham the faith He had given him, then provided a ram to shed his innocent blood so that Isaac might be spared.
Although it no longer went by the name “Moriah,” amazingly, the location of this sacrifice would lie on the outskirts of Jerusalem some 2000 years later. It was then known as “The Place of the Skull”, Golgotha, Calvary. There the Seed of Abraham and Isaac – the ultimate Son of Promise – would be led to the slaughter. ”God will provide the Lamb of price.” There, the Lord provided the Once-and-for-all Substitute Sacrifice – the Lamb of God shed His innocent blood that we might be spared.
The sacrifice of Isaac is a wonderful reminder of what was to come. There is a painting depicting Isaac laid out on the altar. But instead of his hands bound together, they are bound stretched out, in the shape of a cross. This is an image worth cherishing, as we ponder how it foreshadows the Lamb that God provided!