Passion & Last SupperModerate

The Akedah, Isaac as Type of Christ

Written: ~1400 BCFulfilled: ~AD 30

The binding of Isaac (Akedah) is the most profound type of Christ's sacrifice in the Old Testament.

Prophecy & Fulfillment

Old Testament Prophecy

Genesis 22:1-14

"Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you."... Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son."

New Testament Fulfillment

John 3:16; Hebrews 11:17-19

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life... By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice... Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death."

Commentary

The parallels between Isaac and Jesus are striking: both were the beloved only son, both carried the wood of their sacrifice up a mountain, both were offered by their father's will, and both were received back as from the dead. The ram caught in the thicket (the substitute sacrifice) prefigures Christ as the ultimate substitute. The location, Moriah, is identified with Jerusalem.