II. Unfolding Portrayal to Abraham Included Resurrection

As we have seen, the entire worship system of the patriarchal age centered, in fact, in the rite of sacrifice as typifying the Great Sacrifice that was to come. As such it was an enacted ceremonial prophecy, or type, of the gospel realities to follow. In this divine institution the offerer acknowledged the forfeiture of his own life in the death of the substitutionary victim he offered to God, and placed his hope in the promised Sacrifice to come, when man’s Redeemer would give up His own sinless life to redeem sinners from death.CFF1 87.4

And in it all the shed blood was the essence and foundation of the doctrine of substitution and atonement—for, as observed, “without shedding of blood [in which is the life (Genesis 9:4)] is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22).CFF1 87.5

All through patriarchal times the sin offering represented Christ’s bearing the believer’s sins, taking the sinner’s place, and dying in his stead—the sin offerings being both substitutionary and expiatory (Matthew 26:28; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Peter 3:18; 2 Corinthians 5:21). Thus Abraham’s “sacrifice” of Isaac was a dramatic portrayal of the great prophesied sacrifice of Christ for the redemption of mankind (Hebrews 11:8-10, 17), for Abraham “rejoiced to see my [Christ’s] day: and he saw it, and was glad” (John 8:56). Let us scrutinize this historic episode in some detail.CFF1 88.1

1. ABRAHAM’S TEST OF FAITH IN GOSPEL PROVISION

Abraham’s test of faith with the paralleling submission of Isaac in faith was a conspicuous example of this basic principle in the patriarchal age. Isaac, actually a child of miracle, was portrayed as Abraham’s “only son” (Genesis 22:16)—a significant term. But looking beyond the strange command on Mount Moriah, Abraham grasped the implications of the divine word, in “accounting that God was able to raise him [Isaac] up, even from the dead” (Hebrews 11:19).CFF1 88.2

When Isaac asked, “Where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham’s response was, “God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering” (Genesis 22:7, 8). And when Abraham’s hand was lifted to slay, it was stayed by the voice calling, “Abraham, Abraham” And the words followed, “Lay not thine hand upon the lad ... : for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me” (Genesis 22:11, 12). One can almost hear the pathos in those words, for when God’s only Son died on Calvary there was no hand to stay!CFF1 88.3

Then it was that Abraham saw “a ram caught in a thicket” (Genesis 22:13). And taking this substitute, he offered it “in the stead of his son.” So it was that Abraham gave a new name to the place—“Jehovah-jireh” (“the Lord will see, or, provide, Genesis 22:14, margin). And here on Mount Moriah, God renewed His covenant. Thus was the gospel preached unto Abraham (Galatians 3:8). That is why Christ said to the Jews, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see [“that he should see,” margin] my day; and he saw it, and was glad” (John 8:56, RN.). But there is another important angle.CFF1 88.4

Picture 3: The Offering of Isaac:
The Obedience of Abraham and Isaac Was Rewarded by the Provided Substitute Ram Seen in the Nearby Thicket. Christ Died in Our Stead.
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2. PROVISION OF RESURRECTION RECOGNIZED BY PATRIARCHS

By faith Abraham “offered up Isaac,” “accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure” (Hebrews 11:17, 19). While the binding and laying of Isaac upon the altar prefigured the sufferings and death of Christ, Isaac’s being taken thence alive clearly signified Christ’s resurrection from the dead. With highest propriety, then, Abraham may be said to have witnessed, in figure, the raising of Isaac from the dead. So the principle and provision of the resurrection were known likewise both to Abraham and to Isaac. Indeed, the hopes of all the patriarchs of old in a life to come were founded upon this expectation of a resurrection from the dead.CFF1 89.1

Thus David spoke of his flesh resting in hope because God would not leave his soul in she’ol (“the grave”), nor suffer His “Holy One to see corruption” (Psalm 16:10)—and this was in the eleventh century B.C. Later, in the time of the prophets, Isaiah expressly declared: “Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead” (Isaiah 26:19).CFF1 90.1

By the time of Christ’s first advent, man’s coming resurrection to eternal life was so thoroughly established as a belief among most of the Jews that Martha, in reply to Christ’s assurance of the resurrection of Lazarus, responded: “I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day” (John 11:24). So belief in the resurrection had been known from antiquity. And in Daniel 12 there is explicit declaration of the awakening of some of the righteous from among those who “sleep in the dust of the earth” (Daniel 12:2).CFF1 90.2

Clearly, then, Isaac the son was a type of Christ, “obedient unto death” (Philippians 2:5-8); and Abraham a type of the Father, who “spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all” (Romans 8:32). And the ram was a symbol of substitution—Christ as our offering, in our stead (Hebrews 10:5-10), and then the resurrection was prefigured (Hebrews 11:17-19).CFF1 90.3

3. ONLY THE DAWN; NOT YET THE NOONTIDE

The eleventh chapter of Hebrews is an important witness to the immemorial antiquity of this belief—the patriarchs “all died in faith,” looking “for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Hebrews 11:13, 10). The entire chapter is a declaration of the faith of the fathers in a future life for the saints, and in a resurrection from the dead. And in time, after the resurrection of Jesus, the resurrection came to have the central place in the gospel plan of redemption.CFF1 90.4

Picture 4: The Mystic Ladder:
Jacob’s Mystic Ladder, Connecting Earth With Heaven, Was a Symbol of Christ, Both God and Man-Our Sole Hope of Heaven and Source of Immortality.
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Picture 5: Abraham Looking to the Promised Messiah:
Abraham, Father of the Faithful, Believed God and Looked for a Coming Redeemer and the Restoration of the Lost Eden and Forfeited Life.
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But the patriarchs’ expectation of receiving an everlasting inheritance must be distinguished from their understanding of the precise method. A ray of divine light, as in the dawn, shone upon them. But the opening and unfolding of the noontide floodlight of truth, and the full or detailed explanation of its provisions through the spectrum of the New Testament, were not as yet seen. Christ, in the purpose of God, was both the life and the light of the world from the day of Adam’s sin. But the glories of His coming were only gradually perceived by the saints of old. As Peter says:CFF1 91.1

“Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into” (1 Peter 1:10-12).CFF1 92.1