Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 1.djvu/160

128 the heart? Is that ready to be offered up to God, to ascend to him as a burnt-offering? (2.) It was a very prudent answer which Abraham gave him, v. 8, My son, God will provide himself a lamb. This was the language, either [1.] Of his obedience; "We must offer the lamb which God has appointed now to be offered;" thus giving him this general rule of submission to the divine will, to prepare him for the application of it to himself very quickly. Or, [2.] Of his faith; whether he meant it so or not, this proved to be the meaning of it; a sacrifice was provided instead of Isaac. Thus, First, Christ, the great Sacrifice of atonement, was of God's providing; when none in heaven or earth could have found a lamb for that burnt-offering, God himself found the ransom, Ps. 89. 20. Secondly, All our sacrifices of acknowledgment are of God's providing too. It is he that prepares the heart, Ps. 10. 17. The broken and contrite spirit is a sacrifice of God, Ps. 51. 17, of his providing.

8. With the same resolution and composedness of mind, after many thoughts of heart, he applies himself to the completing of the sacrifice, v. 9, 10. He goes on with a holy wilfulness, after many a weary step, and with a heavy heart he arrives, at length, at the fatal place, builds the altar, an altar of earth, we may suppose, the saddest that ever he built, (and he had built many an one,) lays the wood in order for his Isaac's funeral pile, and now tells him the amazing news; "Isaac, thou art the lamb which God has provided." Isaac, for aught that appears, is as willing as Abraham; we do not find that he made any objection against it, any petition for his life, that he attempted to make his escape, much less that he struggled with his aged father, or made any resistance: Abraham does it, God will have it done, and Isaac has learned to submit to both; Abraham, no doubt, comforting him with the same hopes, with which he himself by faith was comforted. Yet it is necessary that a sacrifice be bound. The great Sacrifice, which, in the fulness of time, was to be offered up, must be bound, and therefore so must Isaac. But with what heart could tender Abraham tie those guiltless hands, that perhaps had often been lifted up to ask his blessing, and stretched out to embrace him, and were now the more straitly bound with the cords of love and duty! However, it must be done. Having bound him, he lays him upon the altar, and his hand upon the head of his sacrifice; and now, we may suppose, with floods of tears, he gives and takes, the final farewell of a parting kiss, perhaps he takes another for Sarah, from her dying son. This being done, he resolutely forgets the bowels of a father, and puts on the awful gravity of a sacrificer; with a fixed heart, and an eye lifted up to heaven, he takes the knife, and stretches out his hand to give the fatal cut to Isaac's throat. Be astonished, O heavens, at this; and wonder, O earth! Here is an act of faith and obedience, which deserves to be a spectacle to God, angels, and men. Abraham's darling, Sarah's laughter, the church's hope, the heir of promise, lies ready to bleed and die by his own father's hand, who never shrinks at the doing of it. Now this obedience of Abraham in offering up Isaac, is a lively representation, (1.) Of the love of God to us, in delivering up his only-begotten Son to suffer and die for us, as a sacrifice; it pleased the Lord himself to bruise him. See Isa. 53. 10. Zech. 13. 7. Abraham was obliged, both in duty and gratitude, to part with Isaac, and parted with him to a friend ; but God was under no obligations to us, for we were enemies. (2.) Of our duty to God, in return of that love; we must tread in the steps of this faith of Abraham. God, by his word, calls us to part with all for Christ; all our sins, though they have been as a right hand, or a right eye, or an Isaac; all those things that are competitors and rivals with Christ for the sovereignty of the heart; (Luke 14. 26.) and we must cheerfully let them all go. God, by his providence, which is truly the voice of God, calls us to part with an Isaac sometimes, and we must do it with a cheerful resignation and submission to his holy will, 1 Sam. 3. 18.

11. And the angel of the called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said. Here am I. 12. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not with-held thy son, thine only son, from me. 13. And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt-offering in the stead of his son. 14. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day. In the mount of the it shall be seen.

Hitherto this story has been very melancholy, and seems to hasten towards a most tragical period; but here the sky, of a sudden, clears up, the sun breaks out, a bright and pleasant scene opens; the same hand that had wounded and cast down, here heals and lifts up; for though he cause grief, he will have compassion. The angel of the Lord, that is, God himself, the eternal Word, the Angel of the covenant, who was to be the great Redeemer and Comforter, he interposed, and gave a happy issue to this trial.

I. Isaac is rescued, v. 11, 12. The command to offer him was intended only for trial, and it appearing, upon trial, that Abraham did indeed love God better than he loved Isaac, the end of the command was answered; and therefore the order is countermanded, without any reflection at all upon the unchangeableness of the divine councils; Lay not thine hand upon the lad. Note, 1. Our creature-comforts are then most likely to be continued to us, when we are most willing to resign them up to God's will. 2. God's time to help and relieve his people, is, when they are brought to the greatest extremity. The more imminent the danger is, and the nearer to be put into execution, the more wonderful, and the more welcome is the deliverance.

II. Abraham is not only approved, but applauded. He obtains an honourable testimony, that he is righteous. Now I know that thou fearest God: God knew it before, but now, Abraham had given a most memorable evidence of it. He needed do no more; what he had done, was sufficient to prove the religious regard he had to God and his authority. Note, 1. When God, by his providence, hinders the performance of our sincere intentions in his services, he graciously accepts the will for the deed, and the honest endeavour, though it come short of finishing. 2. The best evidence of our fearing God, is, our being willing to serve and honour him with that which is dearest to us, and to part with all to him, or for him.

III. Another sacrifice is provided instead of Isaac, v. 13. Now that the altar was built, and the wood laid in order, it was necessary that something should be offered. For, 1. God must be acknowledged with thankfulness for the deliverance of Isaac; and the sooner the better, when here is an altar ready. 2. Abraham's words must be made