Genesis 22:13 & 14 say this: “And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 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.”
Before we jump into the text, I want to begin by telling what the main point of these verses are. They parallel what God has done for us through Jesus. I want to show you that God providing a ram for Abraham to sacrifice in the place of Isaac is what God did for each one of us. But before I show you that parallel, I want to make three foundational points.
I want you to see that God faithfully provided a sacrifice in the place of Isaac, just as Abraham said God would. If you think back to verses 7 & 8, when Abraham and Isaac were making their way up to the mountain where God would test Abraham with Isaac, Isaac asked Abraham, “Where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham responded, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” God did just that! God was faithful to provide the sacrifice, not in the form of a lamb, but in the form of a ram, and Abraham was faithful and hopeful that God would provide a sacrifice in the place of his only son, Isaac.
Based on that, I also want to point out, that’s what faith is. By definition, according to Hebrews 11:1, “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Faith is having the assurance that what you hope is there will be there and the conviction of what you cannot see is real. For example, in Abraham’s case, he had the hopeful assurance that God would provide a sacrifice in the place of his son, and had the conviction that an alternative sacrifice would be there, even though God had not provided it yet.
This is the same faith God calls us to have. The faith that God calls us to have is to have the assurance that what we hope for is there and the conviction that what we have not seen is real. That we have the hopeful assurance that God does exist. That we have the hopeful assurance that God created the universe and the world by His spoken Word. That we have the hopeful assurance that Jesus Christ is God’s only begotten Son, who died and was resurrected for the forgiveness of our sins. That we have the hopeful assurance that Jesus is the only means of salvation. That we have the hopeful assurance that whoever believes in the Son of God will spend eternity in heaven with Jesus. And that we are convicted and convinced of these things, even though we have never physically seen them.
That is the kind of faith God calls us to have. It’s the kind of faith that saves. It’s the kind of faith that compels us to fearfully and faithfully obey God, just as Abraham did.
I also believe that it is worth pointing out, for the sake of our conversation, the difference between Genesis 22:7 & 8 with Genesis 22:13. Genesis 22:13 tells us that God provided a “ram”. In Genesis 22:7 & 8, Abraham said God would provide a “lamb”. Why did God provide a ram instead of a lamb, like Abraham said God would? Was Abraham wrong in saying that God would provide a lamb? The answer is no. It’s no because intact, non-castrated, adult male sheep are considered rams. Therefore, God did in fact provide a lamb just as Abraham said God would.
Now, with that said, with some foundational points laid out, what I want to do is show you four ways Genesis 22:13 & 14 parallel what God has done for us through Jesus. It’s pretty spectacular!
The ram God provided for Abraham points to Jesus. In the sacrificial offerings, the animals that were sacrificed were young lambs. In this case, the ram that God provided was an adult, male lamb. This represents Jesus, because when he died, he was a man. Also in sacrificial offerings, the animal had to be spotless, without blemish, and without defects. This ram that God provided for Abraham had to be the same or else the ram would not be suitable to offer for sacrifice. Which is why this ram also represents Jesus. Jesus was perfect, he was without blemish, and he was without defect. Meaning that Jesus was without sin when he died.
This is why we call Jesus the Lamb of God. A Lamb, the Lamb, is who Jesus is. Isaiah the prophet, seven hundred years before Jesus, in Isaiah 53:7, referred to Jesus as “a lamb that is led to the slaughter.” It’s why John the Baptist, in John 1:36, as he saw Jesus walking along the Jordan River said, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” It’s why Peter, in 1 Peter 1:19, said that Christ “is that of a lamb without blemish or spot.” Just as the ram was Abraham’s sacrifice, so Jesus is God’s sacrifice.
The location for which all this happens also points to Jesus. Notice how Abraham uses his words in Genesis 22:14. On the one hand Abraham calls the name of Mt. Moriah, “The LORD will provide”. The word “will” is the emphasis here. It’s a present tense auxiliary verb. Which means that it’s not a matter of ‘if’ God will provide a sacrifice. It’s a matter of “will”, as in God is going to provide the sacrifice. Abraham is referring to what God had done or has done, past tense for us, present tense for him.
But then notice Moses writes that the place of Mt. Moriah is still called that even in his day, which is well past Abraham, saying, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided”. Moses is speaking of the future.
And we can take it a step further than Moses, and I believe Moses was referring to an event that surpassed him. On the same mountain that God provided Abraham a ram to sacrifice in the place of Isaac, 14 generations later which is a little more than 2,000 years, God provided a better sacrifice through His only Son Jesus Christ, who would be sacrificed on an old rugged cross.
As God provided a ram for Abraham to sacrifice in the place of Isaac, so God provided His own Son to be sacrificed in our place. We call this substitutionary atonement. What is substitutionary atonement? Substitutionary atonement is simply substituting one sacrifice for another to offer forgiveness. Again, for example, God provided Abraham the ram to be sacrificed in substitution for Isaac.
Now, something else you need to understand about substitutionary atonement is that it is a central doctrine to the teaching of Christianity. It is an essential doctrine. A necessary doctrine. In other words, this is one of those doctrines you cannot disagree on. Essential doctrines are doctrines that deal with the deity of Jesus and salvation, and are therefore non-negotiables. A non-essential doctrine is something like the spiritual gift of tongues. What you believe about tongues will neither save you or not save you. So, you can disagree on whether tongues are a spiritual gift that is in use today, but there is no disagreement on the doctrine of substitutionary atonement. I will still worship God with someone who doesn’t believe in tongues or someone who doesn’t believe in free will; but when it comes to the doctrine of substitutionary atonement and other essential doctrines like it, that is a dividing line for me and should be for you.
What does substitutionary atonement teach? Why is it so essential? It teaches that Jesus took our place on the altar of the cross. That God substituted His only Son, Jesus, in our place. That God allowed Jesus to die the death we deserve for the forgiveness of our sin.
Peter put it like this in 1 Peter 2:24, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.” Which simply means this: Christ died for our sins, in our place, on a wooden, old rugged cross, so we would not have to suffer the punishment we deserve. Peter, in 1 Peter 3:18 also said this, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.” That means Jesus, who was sinless, died in the place of sinful people, so that sinful people, like you and I, can have a personal relationship with God through Jesus. Seven hundred years before Jesus was ever born, the prophet Isaiah declared in Isaiah 53:5, “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” That means Jesus took the piercing we deserve in the form of nails and a crown of thorns, he took on the crushing weight of the cross and our sin, so that we could have peace with God, and be healed from our wickedness.
In summary, God substituted His only Son for us on the cross so that we can live in righteousness by faith in Jesus. God substituted Jesus for us, so that we can have peace with God and have a personal relationship with God. God substituted Jesus in our place, so that we can find healing from the guilt of our wrongdoing and forgiveness of sin.
And if God did not substitute Jesus in our place then none of what I just mentioned would be possible. That’s how important and essential this doctrine is. Without the death of Jesus we could not die to sin. Without the death of Jesus we could not live in righteousness. Without the death of Jesus we could not go to God or have a relationship with Him. Without the death of Jesus we would not be made right in the sight of God. Without the death of Jesus there’s no way we could find healing from our sins, because our sins could never be forgiven. If God did not substitute Jessu on our behalf, in our place, all of humanity would be hopeless and we would die in our sin. We would all be doomed to eternal condemnation.
While God stopped Abraham from sacrificing his only son, God did not spare His only Son. Paul put it this way in Romans 8:32, “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all…” Again, God spared Abraham’s only son, but God did not spare His only Son. God refrained Abraham from doing physical harm to his only son, but God did refrain doing physical harm to His only Son.
Also notice Paul’s words, “gave him up for us all”. Meaning, that God did not spare Jesus for a few good men. God did not refrain Jesus from physical harm, and even death, for a few worldly people. God gave up his only Son for all of the world!
It’s why John the Baptist shouted, when he saw Jesus coming toward him as he was baptizing people in the Jordan river in John 1:29, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” So Jesus is God’s sacrificial lamb, to atone for the sins of the world. He is God’s provided sacrifice. He is God’s burnt offering.
But why would God substitute His only Son in our place? Why would God not spare His own Son for us? I have three answers for that.
Because God loves us. The Bible says in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son…” The Bible says in Romans 5:8, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God did not spare His only Son because He loves us, and nothing can separate us from the love that God has for us.
Because a better sacrifice was needed. A better sacrifice was essential. A better sacrifice was required. But why was Jesus needed to atone for our sin? According to Hebrews 10:4, it’s because, “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” Therefore, God provided for us, as He did for Abraham, a better sacrifice, which was Jesus.
By the shedding of Jesus’ blood our redemption has been made eternally secure (Hebrews 9:12). By the shedding of Jesus’ blood our sin has been put away once and for all (Hebrews 9:26). By the shedding of Jesus’ blood we have been made perfect and can draw near to God (Hebrews 10:1). By the shedding of Jesus’ blood we have been sanctified, which means we have been made pure (Hebrews 10:10). By the shedding of Jesus’ blood we have been ransomed (1 Peter 1:18-19). The shed blood of animals could never do any of these things.
God provided a sacrifice so we will not have to be. I deserve death. I deserve the cross. I deserve to be sacrificed. All because of my sins. But God, in his steadfast love and everlasting mercy, has provided a better sacrifice so I don’t have to die.
That’s what God accomplished for us through the death of His only Son. He provided Jesus in order to pay for our sin so that we might not perish but have everlasting life. Romans 6:23 tells us “The wages of sin is death”, which God provided payment for our sin through the death of Jesus.
As we close, I want to remind you this is why studying Genesis is so important. It’s why studying the Old Testament is so important. As I have told you many times, just about every New Testament doctrine is established first in the Old Testament. The doctrine of Substitutionary Atonement is no different. It’s not first established in the New Testament, it is first established in the Old Testament right here in Genesis 22. And my prayer is that you, having read this, will have a better understanding of that; and a better understanding of what God has accomplished for you through Jesus.