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Biblical Parallels: Abraham, Isaac, and Christ’s Sacrifice

THE PARALLELS BETWEEN ABRAHAM AND ISAAC’S STORY AND CHRIST’S DEATH

Abraham and Isaac’s StoryChrist’s Crucifixion Account
Mount Moriah in Jerusalem
Gen. 22:2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.		Crucified near Mount Moriah in Jerusalem: Golgotha and Mount Moriah aren’t the exact same spot, but they’re pretty close to each other. Mount Moriah is traditionally linked to the site of the Jewish Temple, where sacrifices took place. The whole area, including Golgotha, holds deep meaning in God’s redemptive story. According to Jewish tradition, Mount Moriah was home to the Holy of Holies, where God’s presence dwelled in the temple (2 Chronicles 3:1). Both places clearly reflect the strong connection between sacrifice and atonement.
Abraham was the fatherGod is Jesus’ Father: John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Isaac was the covenant sonChrist is the only begotten Son of God
Two unnamed men were there: Gen 22:3 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.May represent the two unnamed men crucified on Golgotha: John 19:18 Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.
Saw the mount on the third day: Gen 22:4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.Jesus was raised from the grave on the third day: 1 Corinthians 15:4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
The wood was laid on Isaac: Gen 22:6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.The cross was laid on Christ: John 19:17 And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:
Isaac got up off the altar Gen 22:13 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.Christ arose from the grave: 1 Cor. 15:3-6 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.
A ram replaced Isaac Gen 22:13 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.Christ was sacrificed in our place: Hebrews 10:9-12 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
God will provide a lamb: Gen 22:8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.Christ is the “lamb of God”: John 1:29  The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.


Abraham takes Isaac to the same land where, years earlier, he had met the king-priest Melchizedek (Gen. 14). When Isaac asks, “Where is the lamb?” Abraham assures him that God will “provide Himself a lamb.” Yet, it’s a ram—not a lamb—that takes Isaac’s place. Upon the ram’s appearance, Abraham names the place Jehovah-Jireh, meaning “the Lord will see to it.” Moses writes, “In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen” (Gen. 22:14). So, what will be seen there? I believe, through the revelation of the Holy Spirit, Abraham glimpsed something not recorded in the story—he knew a lamb would one day appear on that mountain to bring redemption. That lamb is Christ, the One Jesus referred to when He said, “Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it” (John 8:56).

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The Story of Jacob and Esau: A Biblical Analysis

Jacob and Esau
It was through Isaac that God had promised to raise up descendants to Abraham, Isaac’s wife, Rebekah, had two sons, Esau and Jacob. Like Cain and Abel, these two sons were quite different. The Lord had said to Rebekah, “Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people and the elder shall serve the younger” (Genesis 25:23).
Esau the elder son was a cunning hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a man of the plains who lived in tents.

Esau Sells His Birthright

  • Jacob, the younger of the two, was making stew one day when Esau came in from the field. Esau was hungry and said. “Feed me, I pray thee with that same red pottage for I am faint” (Genesis 25:30). Esau appears to have been a who was concerned with fleshly, physical things. He was guided by his senses. When he was hungry satisfying his appetite was the most important thing in the world to him.
  • Jacob, on the other hand, had an appreciation for spiritual things, although he was by no means perfect. In response to Esau’s request, Jacob demanded, “Sell me this day thy birthright” (Genesis 25:31).The birthright was the privilege given to the oldest son. It gave him preferred treatment in the family, including first claim on the inheritance. Esau was so oriented to the present, rather than the future, that he answered, “Behold, I am at the point to die and what profit shall this birthright do to me?” (Genesis 25:32).
  • “Swear to me this day.” Jacob insisted, and Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for bread and stew of lentils. Then Esau arose and went his way, having sold out a most valuable blessing for a temporary, fleshly satisfaction (Genesis 25:33-34).
  • How sad it is that when confronted with a choice of preparing for the future eternity or receiving a small measure of satisfaction right now, many will choose the present. Such people are looking at things that are seen and not things that are eternal (II Corinthians 4:18).

Jacob Steals the Blessing

  • The dramatic scene of Jacob gaining Esau’s birthright was not their last encounter over family blessings. When Isaac was old and his vision dim so that he could not see, he called Esau, his favorite of the two boys, and asked Esau to go into the field with his bow and arrows for some venison. Isaac enjoyed the meat and wanted to eat some prior to bestowing upon Esau the blessing due to the firstborn.
  • Rebekah heard Isaac’s instructions to Esau, and she instructed Jacob, who was her favorite son, to bring her two kids of the goats. She prepared the meat that Isaac liked and disguised Jacob by putting the goat skins on Jacob’s hands and neck and giving him Esau’s clothing to wear.
  • Then, pretending to be Esau, Jacob went into his blind father and presented Isaac with the meat. Isaac was surprised that Esau had returned so soon with the meat, and he was a bit skeptical. He called Jacob near in order to feel of him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau” (Genesis 27:22). But Isaac was unable to distinguish that it was Jacob, and he gave Jacob Esau’s blessing.
  • Shortly thereafter, just as Jacob had left his father, Esau came in. Isaac was very disturbed that he had been deceived. Esau cried with a bitter cry, but the blessing could not be removed from Jacob. Esau hated Jacob and planned to kill him in revenge. Rebekah heard of his plans and urged Jacob to flee to Haran, where her brother, Laban, lived.

Jacob’s Encounter with God (Genesis 28:10-22)

  • As Jacob traveled, he came to a place called Luz, where he prepared to stay the night. While he slept, he dreamed of a ladder set up on the earth with its top reaching heaven. The angels of God were going up and down on the ladder. Above the ladder stood the Lord, who said, “I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 28:13-14).
  • Jacob awoke and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not. Being afraid, he continued, “How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven” (Genesis 28:16-17).

Jacob Remembers the House of the Lord

  • Early in the morning, Jacob rose and set up a pillar from the stones he had used for pillows. He poured oil on the pillar and called the name of the place Bethel, which means “house of God.” Jacob vowed, “If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God: and this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee” (Genesis 28:20-22).
  • Thus, God renewed with Jacob the covenant that He had made with his father, Isaac, and his grandfather, Abraham.

Jacob Wrestles with the Angel of the Lord

  • Twenty years later, after Jacob had spent time with his Uncle Laban and had begun his family, he was on his way back to see his aged father. He heard that Esau was coming to meet him, and fear rose up in his heart as he remembered his brother’s pledge to kill him. Sending his family on, Jacob stayed behind. An angel of the Lord wrestled with him until daybreak. When the angel saw that Jacob was not going to release him, he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh, permanently shrinking the sinew and causing him to limp. The angel said, “Let me go, for the day breaketh.” Jacob answered, “I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.” The angel asked, “What is thy name?” “Jacob” “Thy name shall be called no more Jacob,” said the angel, “but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed” (Genesis 32:24-28).
  • Because of his persistence, Jacob received the blessing that he desired and left that place a different man. His former name, Jacob, meant “supplanter” and had the connotation of trickery and deceit. His new name, Israel, meant “he who strives with God.” There was also a physical difference: every time he took a step, the limp reminded him of his encounter with the angel of the Lord.
  • Certainly, when a person comes into the presence of God and determines to receive God’s best, a miraculous change takes place. He is never the same!
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God’s Promise to Abraham: The Birth of Nations

The Time of the Patriarchs

a chart about the Patriarchs
  • Abraham
    • As in the days of Noah, God looked upon the earth and found a man with whom He could make a covenant. This man had come from Ur of the Chaldees with his father, Terah. The man’s name was Abram. The Lord told Abram to leave his country; his kindred, and his father’s house to journey to a land that God would show him. The Lord promised, “I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing; and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:2-3).
    • Abram obeyed the Lord and left his home in Haran when he was seventy-five years old. He took his wife, Sarai, and his nephew, Lot, and they traveled to the land of Canaan. When the Lord called Abram, he had no children. Part of God’s promise was that He would make of Abram a great nation. This promise was subsequently fulfilled, as seen in Deuteronomy 4:6; 1 Kings 3:8-9; and Joshua 21:43-45.
  • The Arab Nations
    • The days passed, however, without any physical sign that God was keeping His promise. Finally, as human beings often do, Abram and Sarai decided to take matters into their own hands. Sarai, who had an Egyptian handmaid named Hagar, said unto Abram, “Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing I pray thee, go in unto my maid, it may be that I may obtain children by her (Genesis 16:2). Abram acted on his wife’s counsel, which was according to the custom of the time and Ishmael was born of this union.
    • By trying to help God out because they could see no visible sign of His promise coming to pass, Abram and Sarai brought many sorrows to their family, Ishmael and their son, Isaac, would have conflicts. The seeds were sown for conflict between the Arabs and the Jews, nations who sprang from these two men.
  • God’s Covenant with Abraham
    • When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee and will multiply thee exceedingly” (Genesis 17:1-2). As Abram fell on his face before God, the Lord continued to talk with him. God renewed His promise to make him the father of many nations and changed his name to Abraham. Abram means “high father: Abraham means “father of a multitude” He also changed Sarai’s name to Sarah. Sarai means “princess”; Sarah means “my princess” Then God gave a token of His covenant. He said. “This is my covenant, which ye shall keep between me and you and thy seed after thee: every man child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin and it shall be a token betwixt me and you” (Genesis 1710-11). Abraham took his son Ishmael with all the male members of his household, and they were all circumcised the same day in obedience to God’s Word.
  • Separation
    • Strife developed between the herdsmen of Abraham’s cattle and those of Lot. The problem was that both Abraham and Lot were very rich, with many flocks herds, and tents, and the land simply was not able to bear them. Abraham said to Lot, “Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen; for we be brethren. Is not the whole land before thee! separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then i will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left” (Genesis 13:8-9)
  • Lot’s Choice
    • Abraham was very gracious in allowing his nephew to make the first choice. Lot observed the well-watered plain of Jordan and chose that for himself. He then journeyed east, separating himself from Abraham and pitching his tent in the direction of Sodom. This proved to be a mistake for Lot, for the people of Sodom were wicked and terrible sinners in the Lord’s eyes (Genesis 13:13). It is always dangerous to go in the direction of sin.
  • Judgment against Sin
    • God observed the mounting wickedness in Sodom and Gomorrah, where Abraham’s nephew, Lot, lived with his family. The Lord appeared to Abraham and informed him that the cities would be destroyed. Abraham, knowing that his relatives lived in the doomed city of Sodom, sought the Lord to spare the city. He agreed to do so, if only ten righteous people could be found. But sadly, Sodom and Gomorrah were so wicked that not even ten righteous people could be located (Genesis 18).
  • Angels of Mercy
    • The angels visited Lot and removed him, his wife, and two unmarried daughters from the city. God sent angels of mercy to Sodom that day. The prayers of Abraham did not save the cities, but they did save Lot. Lot was blessed to have an uncle who stayed close to the Lord. But Lot’s grievous error in moving into this wicked city took its toll. He had to leave behind daughters who had married men of Sodom. In disobedience to the angel’s commands his wife looked back as they were fleeing and turned into a pillar of salt. However, Lot and his two unmarried daughters fled for their lives.
    • Because of the great wickedness of these cities, God destroyed them with fire and brimstone. Today, they have been wiped off the face of the earth. Some Bible students believe the destruction of these cities may have been connected with the formation of the Dead Sea.
    • The judgment of God upon Sodom and Gomorrah stands forever as a solemn warning to any who would violate God’s Word. “And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly” (1 Peter 2:6).
    • As one author noted, “The teachings of Christ are not unlike a river that flows for a long time smoothly and noiselessly between its banks and then suddenly takes the tremendous plunge of the cataract. In the utterance of Jesus about the coming of His kingdom we have the cataract note of His preaching. The same lips which pronounced the Beatitudes and spake the quiet parables of growth and development tell of the coming of His kingdom and the great and terrible day of the Lord.” Judgment is coming! It is time to prepare!
  • Isaac, the Promised Son
    • At last, in God’s time, Sarah conceived and gave birth to a son. Abraham named the child Isaac and circumcised him when he was eight days old. Abraham was one hundred years old when Isaac was born. God had kept His promise, but He was not yet finished trying Abraham’s faith.
  • Abraham’s Faith Tested
    • God said to Abraham, “Take now they son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of (Genesis 22:2). What thoughts must have gone through Abraham’s mind! God had promised him a son. The promise had taken many years to be fulfilled, and now God commanded him to sacrifice that son! Abraham was a man of great faith in God, however. He knew that Isaac was the promised son that God had given him. He believed that through Isaac God would raise up countless offspring as He had promised. He knew that, even if he offered Isaac to God, God was able to raise him up from the dead in order to keep His Word.
    • As Hebrews 11:17-19 says, “By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure”
  • Abraham’s Obedience
    • “And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him” (Genesis 22:3). On the third day of their journey, Abraham saw in the distance the mountain upon which God had commanded that he offer Isaac. He told the servants to stay behind while he and Isaac went to worship.
    • Abraham’s faith is clear in the statement that he made to his servants: “I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you” (Genesis 22:5). He believed that God had a divine purpose in the task that he hadbeen asked to perform.
  • Abraham’s Continuing Faith
    • As Abraham and Isaac traveled toward their destination, Isaac noticed that they had everything but the sacrifice. He asked, “Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering!” Abraham responded with statement of eternal significance: “My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering” (Genesis 22:7-8).
    • After they had prepared the altar, Abraham bound his son and placed him on the altar. Then Abraham stretched forth his hand with the knife to slay his son. At that moment, the angel of the Lord called, “Abraham, Abraham!” “Here am I,” he answered. “Lay not thine hand upon the lad,” said the angel, “neither do thou anything unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me” (Genesis 22:12). Abraham’s faith had been tested by what was dear to him, and he came through the trial victoriously. After Abraham heard the voice of the angel, he turned and saw a ram caught by its horns in the thicket nearby. God had provided a sacrifice. Abraham’s statement was prophetic in that many years later Jesus Christ, who was God manifest in the flesh, came as the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world John 1:29; 1 Timothy 3:16). What a marvelous thing is faith!
    • In the history of our country men traveled by horseback and had to cross rivers swollen by the rains. If they looked at the swirling waters around them, they would become dizzy and possibly fall from the saddle and be swept away. But if they fixed their eye upon the other bank, a tree, a large rock, or a hillside, they would rise safely through.
    • Similarly, in the storms of life, faith is the balance that gives calmness and victory. It is important to fix our eyes, not upon the shifting scene around us, but upon the solid Rock, Jesus Christ.
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