(7) Isaac and Mount Moriah

 

(7) Isaac and Mount Moriah

Genesis 22:1-2 “After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, ‘Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ Then the LORD said, ‘Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.’”

God wanted to test Abraham. What was this test? It had to do with Beersheba. The well symbolized the promise, and Christ, the embodiment of that promise, symbolized it.

Exodus 15:25 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree, which he threw into the waters, and the waters became sweet. There the Lord made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he tested them.

Exodus 16:4 tells us why this test is being conducted: "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'See, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out and gather a certain amount each day, so that I may test them to see whether they will walk in my law or not.'"

Deuteronomy 8:16 says, "He fed you manna in the wilderness, something your fathers had not known, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end." Tests are conducted to reveal God's will. God tested His people to reveal the meaning of Beersheba and the fulfillment of the covenant.

Isaac wasn't an only child. Abraham had a son named Ishmael. But why an only child (yahid)? Yahid is derived from the word yahad (one), meaning "to unite" from one.

God brought forth another from Adam. Originally one, God brought forth another. God, originally one, brought forth the only begotten Christ. He speaks of Isaac as a shadow of Christ. The expression of Isaac as the only begotten Son is a representation of Christ. Therefore, it speaks of the need for reunification.

The word "Moriya" in the land of Moriya is a compound word of "ra'ah" (to see) and "ya" (meaning "Jehovah"). Moriya (Hebrew: ra'aya) means the land that Jehovah God shows. Moriya means "the revelation of Jehovah." Mount Moriya is the mountain that reveals Jehovah's will. The temple is built on Mount Moriya. Mount Moriya is associated with true worship. God reveals the reality through signs. If we focus only on signs, it becomes perishable food.

When Abraham made the covenant at Beersheba, he conceived a child at the age of one hundred. Because Abraham had conceived a child as if he were physically dead, he realized that Isaac was not his son physically. He believed he was the Son of God. Therefore, Isaac became a type of Jesus Christ.

"Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about." The mountain symbolizes the place where God dwells. It means that God can only be encountered in the place God has designated. During the Age of Law, God could only be encountered in the Temple in Jerusalem, on Mount Moriah. That was Mount Moriah, the place where Jesus Christ died on the cross—in other words, only on the cross could God be encountered. In other words, those who do not enter into Jesus Christ cannot encounter God. To enter into Jesus Christ, one must be buried with Jesus Christ.

Genesis 22:3-4 “Then Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey. He took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac. He split the wood for the burnt offering and set out for the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place in the distance.”

『Get up early in the morning (wayashchem וַיַּשְׁכֵּ֨ם: basic form is shacam)』Shacam means shoulder, and it is an image of carrying a tent on one's shoulder. Getting up early in the morning was the work of setting up an altar.

Shakam (Shechem) appears in John 4 in a conversation between Jesus and a Samaritan woman, and the city of Sychar is mentioned in the context of worship. Sychar is associated with Shechem. Rising early in the morning suggests worship.

A donkey with one hoof, unlike an ox with two hooves, is an unclean animal. Unclean animals symbolize foreigners. The two servants (naar: child) represent the Law and Moses. The child is a metaphor for those who drink milk but cannot eat mature food. The Bible describes the Law as a child, and the Gospel (the word of righteousness) as a mature person.

"Chop the wood for the burnt offering and go." The word "burnt offering" comes from the Hebrew word "ara," meaning to offer. The wood represents the cross of Jesus Christ. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, the veil between the Holy of Holies and the tabernacle was torn apart. The splitting of the wood (bakhar) symbolizes the destruction of the barrier between God and humanity. The wall of sin that separated God from Him disappears.

"On the third day." The number three (3) signifies the unity of the Father, the Son, and the Prodigal Son. Thirty is the word that unites the Father, the Son, and the Prodigal Son. This word is Jesus Christ, who began his public ministry at the age of thirty, lived for three years, and was crucified. Therefore, three signifies the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on the cross. It also signifies the death and resurrection of those who are in Christ.

The third day represents the three years of Jesus' public ministry. John 2 tells the story of a wedding feast held on the third day. Jesus also said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The number three is associated with salvation. It connects to Egypt, the wilderness, and Canaan.

"Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place in the distance." This signifies a distant time and place. In other words, God is allowing Abraham to see something that will happen in the distant future. God enters Abraham's heart and allows him to see it with the eyes of his heart.

Genesis 22:5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there and worship, and then we will come back to you.”

The child (Naar) represents Christ (Isaac) born under the law. Abraham offered a burnt offering on Mount Moriah and said he would come down with the child. Offering a burnt offering would mean the child would die. However, he said he would come down with the child. This means that Jesus Christ will die on the cross as a burnt offering, be resurrected, and return to the kingdom of God, and then return again. The returning Jesus Christ comes to restore both the Gentiles (the donkey) and you (spiritual Israel).

Genesis 22:6-7 Then Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, while he himself carried the fire and a knife in his hand. As they walked together, Isaac spoke to his father Abraham and said, “Father.” He said, “Here I am, my son.” Isaac said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

In the fire and sword, the fire symbolizes the fire of the Holy Spirit, and the sword symbolizes death on the cross. It means dying on the cross, being baptized in the fire of the Holy Spirit, and being resurrected. Abraham holding the fire and sword symbolizes the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on the cross.

A knife is used for slaughtering animals. Isaac asked his father, "The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" This statement implies that offering to God according to the law is meaningless. The burnt offering is hidden. Abraham decided to offer Isaac as a burnt offering, but he had faith that God would raise him from the dead.

Genesis 22:8-9 “And Abraham said, ‘God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.’ So they both went together to the place of which God had told him. Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.”

Abraham didn't speak because he realized the ram would appear later. He actually intended to kill Isaac. However, Abraham's words were "answering to his son that God would provide." Abraham spoke to God through the expectation of resurrection. God's message through the Bible is that life cannot be found through the law. It tells us that the burnt offering of Isaac, prepared by Abraham, cannot be a perfect sacrifice. It must be a sacrifice personally prepared by God.

As God's spokesman, Abraham sought to express God's will in this way. Abraham did not speak this content knowingly; God spoke through Abraham's mouth. God is Jehovah, and He is the One who relies on Himself. No human being can do this. Only God can do this.

In response to his son Isaac's question to Abraham, Abraham implied that Israel would have to find truth through the law, but that they would not. Instead, they would find Christ within the law—the Christ prepared by God. The question is: Where is the true lamb to be offered to God? Therefore, Abraham is the one whom God provides. Isaac is a type of Christ who must die on the cross.

The two represent the Father and the Son, or in other words, Jehovah God and Christ, who went forth. Going to the place God had appointed, setting up an altar, and cutting down the wood signifies setting aside the law. Christ is placed above the law. Therefore, Christ (Isaac) dies by the law (firewood: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil). Jesus Christ, who was born under the law, must die by the law. Those who are in Christ also die by the law. To be in Christ, one must be united with Christ, who died on the cross. Just as Christ, who died by the law, was resurrected, so too will those who are in Christ be resurrected.

Isaac's offering as a burnt offering was a sacrifice according to the Law, involving many lambs. However, the sacrifice God prepared was the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It was to wait for the coming of Jesus Christ and to have hope for the Christ who will come. This is the command not to lay a hand on the child. That is, until the Law is fulfilled, until the prophet John comes. After John the Baptist, Jesus Christ will appear in the world.

God is not testing Abraham's heart, but through that test, he reveals the heart of Abraham's faith: the belief that God will surely raise him from the dead. God is revealing to all people that, through the law, they must die under the law, but through Christ, they will be resurrected.

Genesis 22:10-11 “And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, ‘Abraham, Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’”

An angel of God appeared in haste and commanded them not to lay a hand on the boy. The boy would become the child bearing the law, meaning he would die according to the law. A ram would be sacrificed in Isaac's place. The burnt offering on Mount Moriah was the law, a shadow of Christ's death. This was to occur during the Age of Law and foreshadow the death of the Christ who would come.

The command not to kill children is because the practice of offering legal sacrifices will continue until Christ appears. Through this, the people are to discover the Christ hidden within the law. Through this, the people are to remember that God's promise will be fulfilled.

Genesis 22:12 “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.”

Abraham's faith speaks of hoping and believing in the impossible. However, God apparently intended to see the fruits of that faith in action. Even today, the fruits of faith must be demonstrated in action. The fruits of action are not acts of good deeds or holy conduct, but acts of faith that die in union with Jesus Christ. In other words, self-denial. Self-denial signifies a shift in one's identity. It means moving from the old self that died with Jesus Christ to the new self resurrected with Jesus Christ. Therefore, we are to focus on that new self.

Genesis 22:13 Then Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.

In the word ram (zakar), the root word of zakar means "to remember, to come to mind." The ram was prepared as a sacrifice prepared by God Himself. "He offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son." The word "instead" is "tachat," which means under or in place of. The word "instead" does not mean to be replaced by something else, but to be replaced by something identical. The fact that the ram was offered as a burnt offering in place of his son means that his son Isaac and the ram were the same.

God gave Abraham a ram as a gift. This gift constitutes true worship. The essence of the gift is Christ. Therefore, we offer Christ to God. It's not about offering a sacrifice based on my own devotion, but rather, dying with Christ and offering Him as Christ.

Genesis 22:14 "And Abraham called the name of that place, Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, 'On the mount of the LORD it will be provided.'"

Through Abraham's sacrifice, we discover Jehovah's Jireh. The basic form of Jireh (יִרְאֶ֑ה) is Ra'ah (רְאֶ֑ה). When Yod is added to Ra'ah, it becomes the imperfect form, Jireh.

Raah means to see or appear. Jehovah's Jireh means, "He (the Lamb: Christ) will appear on the mountain of Jehovah." Abraham saw Christ through a ram caught in a thicket. John 8:56 says, "Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad."