Abraham is the man in the middle; according to chronology, he is the watershed of the Old Testament. That being so, Genesis chapter 22 is the highest peak in the lofty range that makes up the life of this outstanding character.
From a human standpoint, it was Abraham who took the initiative to make the journey. The son was doing the will of the father that historic day. Nonetheless, Abraham’s and Isaac’s ages being what they were, Isaac would not have gone if he had not gone willingly. Abraham carried the fire and the knife, but Isaac had the wood. The wood was the fuel, the energy of the sacrifice, and he bore that himself.
‘And they went both of them together’, v. 6, is the record at the beginning of the trek up the mountain. ‘So they went both of them together’, v. 8. Using the causal ‘so’, suggests a clarified purpose on the part of Isaac. He was not climbing toward the heights in ignorance. He understood the necessity of Elohim’s provision of a lamb for a burnt offering.
‘Never were the Father and the Son so united in desire and purpose as when the Son cried, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?"’, H A IRONSIDE. This was the moment for which the Father and Son had planned in eternity. And for Abraham and Isaac this was the reason for the long journey to Moriah. If Abraham was marked by an attentive ear, v. 1, instant obedience, v. 3, and wholehearted devotion, v. 16, so was his son.
Isaac was bound, v. 9. On Israel’s altars there were horns on the corners, but sacrifices needed not to be bound to them because the animals were dead before placed there. We only read of two sacrifices being bound – and they both came to the altar willingly. One was the type, the other the Antitype; ‘… Bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar’, Ps. 118. 27.
How could Isaac be the same after seeing the knife poised over his breast? How could he live a self-centred life after watching the crimson life of the ram flow for him? We too have been saved – by sacrifice – for sacrifice. ‘For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s’, 1 Cor. 6. 20.
