His Time

I wonder what he knew. I wonder what he thought.

It took this boy three days to finally ask the question. “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” (Genesis 22:7). Isaac, the young son of Abraham that God had promised to him, was young and trusting. He had walked with his dad for 3 days and finally was told that God is going to provide the sacrifice. Unknown to him prior to arrival of the place, he was the sacrifice. God had commissioned Abraham to sacrifice this unique son that was supposed to be the beginning of the great nation promised to Abraham. 

Then there is John 13. Jesus has been ministering for what many believe to be 3 years. All through the book of John there have been reminders from Jesus that his “time had not yet come” (John 2:42; 7:6, 30; 8:20; 12:23-24). But suddenly in John 13:1 He says, “Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father…”

• Isaac was clueless that His time had come. 

• Jesus was very much aware. 

• Isaac had walked three days on a path to His sacrifice completely oblivious that his father had made a commitment to end his life. 

• Jesus walked three years in ministry absolutely aware that the Father would crush Him for us (Isaiah 53:10). 

Abraham would eventually reach the place. I can only imagine that he built the altar with tears in his eyes. I’m certain he thought long and hard about this situation as he arranged the wood. I’m sure they both had concern in their eyes as Abraham bound Isaac and laid him on the altar. But, as he lifted the knife God stopped the slaughter and provided a ram. 

Jesus’ story didn’t end the same way. As Jesus came to the place there was no altar, but there was a cross. I know that God—for centuries—had been thinking long and hard about sacrificing His unique son of promise but He did. And as the world raised their hand against Jesus, God didn’t stop it. He let the sacrifice play out because He knew we needed it.  And here is the power in both stories. Abraham never complained or questioned and if Isaac ever figured out what was happening, he didn’t either. Jesus did the same. But Jesus knew.

Jesus knew he would rise on the third day. And while Genesis doesn’t record Abraham’s thoughts, the Hebrew writer seems to indicate that Abraham knew when he packed his stuff and headed for the altar that both of them would come home alive. That even if he got to the place and he killed Isaac, God would be capable of raising him from the dead (Hebrews 11:17-19). He told his servant (Genesis 22:5) that we “will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.” 

Both Isaac and Jesus would carry the wood of their own sacrifice. Both Isaac and Jesus had fathers who would take their lives if necessary. Yet, the powerful part of this story is that both fathers knew about resurrection. The heavenly Father knew Jesus would rise on the third day and Abraham “considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type” (Hebrews 11:19). 

Their time had come. Isaac’s time had come for Him to be confirmed as the promised son that God would protect. Jesus time had come to also be a promised son. Both had to pass from life to death and back to life. God calls for us to do the same. We agree to die to ourselves, be buried with Him in baptism, and rise again (Romans 6:3-4). Why? To signify the new life we have in Him. So, has your time come? 

- Ben