Good Morning.
Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. (Genesis 22:2-3)
Once again we see that faithful Abraham doesn’t delay in responding to God’s directive. He immediately takes steps to obey what God has required of him, in this case, to offer his son as a burnt offering. The Hebrew word translated as “burnt offering” is עלה olah, which is in turn related to the Hebrew phrase translated as “offer him” (as a burnt offering). That phrase is והעלהו veha’alehu which literally means “lift him up.” In other words, God instructed Abraham to bring his “only son” — the promised seed — and “lift him up” as a burnt offering.
The place he was to take him was believed to be the future site of the Temple on Mount Moriah, a word that means “to teach.” Putting this all together, it seems that the Almighty intended to teach something to Abraham but not Abraham only; this lesson was for all future generations. Isaac is a picture of the true Promised Seed, the Messiah, who was to “lifted up” in this same vicinity generations later. He testified that He was the Only Son who was to be lifted up:
“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:14-15)
“And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” (John 12:32)
As for us, it is our duty — like Abraham — to lift him up without hesitation. As His disciples, we must be witnesses of Him to this generation that He may draw all peoples unto Him and we must do it daily. In our conversation and in our deeds, we must bear witness to the fact that the only begotten of the Father, though lifted up onto a tree to die, has been raised up to live forevermore.
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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