Where is the lamb?

I was just pointed to something in Genesis 22 that I'd never noticed before (thanks to Tabletalk). As Abraham leads Isaac to Mt. Moriah to offer him as a sacrifice, Isaac asks the obvious question, "Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"

Abraham of course answers that God himself will provide the lamb. Indeed, just as the angel intervenes to stop the sacrifice, Abraham lifts up his eyes (v. 13) and sees ... wait for it ... a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. The ram is offered, and Tabletalk writer Warren A. Gage suggests that Moses intentionally leaves Isaac's question hanging in the air. Where is the lamb that God will provide?

The question is never directly answered in Moses' writings, nor in the prophets nor the Psalms. It hangs in suspense for 1,400 years or so, until John the Baptist cries, "Behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world."

Gage notes striking parallels between the almost-sacrifice of Isaac and the completed sacrifice of Jesus Christ. When Abraham leaves the young men behind with the donkey (v.5), he lays the wood for the sacrifice on Isaac's shoulders. 1,400 years later, Jesus will carry the wood for his. And from Abraham having Isaac carry the wood, we can reasonably infer that Isaac is the stronger of the two. Surely Isaac could have resisted his father, but he doesn't. He willingly offers himself to bound and laid on the altar -- on Mt. Moriah, in what would become Jerusalem (2 Chron. 3:1).

Unlike Isaac, however, Jesus' life was not spared. And what a gift -- our substitute!

Merry Christmas, friends!