Where is the Lamb Gen 22:1-14 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
In the passage before us we see Isaac, who is a great type of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament, ask a remarkable question. The question is, “but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” The reason that he is asking this question is because God has instructed Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. In this Isaac becomes a type of the Lord Jesus Christ with Abraham being a type of God the Father. God sacrificed his only begotten son so that you and I could be saved and live forever with him in heaven.
Isaac as a type of Jesus Christ :
1) He was called Abraham’s only son (verse 2)
- This is interesting because Abraham also had Ishmael. But the promises went to Isaac and not Ishmael this is why God referred to him as his only begotten son.
2) The mount in the passage is most likely mount Calvary where Jesus was crucified.
3) Note the 3rd Day mentioned in verse 4.
- The 3rd day is connected with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
4) The wood was laid upon him (verse 6)
- Jesus bore his own cross at Calvary.
5) Abraham answered Isaac’s question with God will provide himself a lamb (verse 8)
Now what makes this even more interesting is when we look at the reason that Abraham was willing to sacrifice his only son. God had promised Abraham a seed and Isaac was that seed. God had also promised him that from that seed there would be a great nation. Therefore Abraham believed that God would raise up Isaac from the dead if he sacrificed him. This is shown to us in Hebrews 11:19.
If we make a spiritual application in regards to Jesus Christ then this question becomes for us where is the Lamb. Jesus Christ is the only way to get to heaven and without his shed blood there is no other way. Therefore for us to be saved we must have Jesus Christ as our savior because he is the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.
After Salvation we must also have the Lamb of God (Jesus Christ) first and foremost in our lives to accomplish things for him. Now we will make some spiritual application to the things that we see Isaac say he has to things in our lives that we may have but without the Lamb they do not really mean much. Remember that Isaac said he had the wood, the fire, and the knife but where was the lamb. All those things were necessary for the sacrifice but without the lamb it was kind of pointless. Without Jesus being the head of the things in our lives they will also be pointless
What Isaac had without the lamb?
1) Wood – This represents potential.
- When you cut down a tree to get wood it has a lot of potential. It could be a desk, shelf, door, pulpit, chair etc.
- Many saved people today have all the potential in the world. Some are great teachers, some are great preachers, some are great witnesses, some are great givers, but the question is where is the lamb?
- Without Jesus Christ being in control potential doesn’t do much good for him.
2) Fire – This represents zeal.
- Zeal is great but it must be coupled with knowledge (Romans 10:1-4).
- You can have all the zeal in the world but without Jesus it will just fizzle out.
3) Knife – This pictures the word of God.
- You may have a King James Bible and know how to rightly divided it and quote all kind of passages from it. But the question is where is the Lamb?
- Without a personal relationship with the Jesus Christ the word of God will not be as effective in our lives and we will also not be able to use it effectively either.
So the question for both lost and saved people alike is Where is the Lamb?