Isaac as a Type of Christ

Isaac is a type of Christ meaning that his life in many ways foreshadows the coming of Christ. Following are some of the ways in which Isaac points us toward the coming of Christ.

Isaac was the son of promise. In Isaac all the promises God made to Abraham (innumerable descendants, becoming a great nation, blessing all the families of the earth) would be fulfilled, and without Isaac, none of the promises God made to Abraham could possibly come true. Jesus is THE Son of Promise, by whom our inheritance is made sure. Without Christ, God could not redeem a sinful people, and none of the redemptive promises in Scripture could be fulfilled. The miraculous way in which Isaac is conceived by a 90 year old barren woman, even hints that our Savior will not come to us by ordinary means. (I love though that while Sara laughed in her heart when she heard God’s plan that she would bear a child, Mary treasured it in hers.)

When God called Abraham, childless though he was, God promised Abraham that in him “all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). How is it that in Abraham, all the families of the earth are blessed? Abraham’s son of promise, Isaac, points to THE Son of Promise, Jesus, who brought the blessing of salvation to all who would believe. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). This is the blessing- that through the son of promise, Isaac, would someday come THE Son of Promise, Jesus, and with Him salvation for all who would believe. The angels say it this way when celebrating the birth of Christ, “glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” Christ made it possible for us to have peace with God. Our sin puts us at enmity with God, and Christ’s humiliation, sacrifice, and resurrection buy us peace at an incredible price to Him, yet available to us for free. This is certainly cause to celebrate, is it not?

Then there’s the offering up of Isaac, the son of promise, by his father, which foreshadows the offering up of Christ, THE Son of Promise, by His Father. Isaac, continuing as a type of Christ is obedient to his father, willing to be the lamb offered on the altar that he built together with his father. There’s even the implication of the resurrection since Abraham believes God will keep His promise to make his descendants innumerable through Isaac even if it means raising him from the dead. “In Isaac your seed shall be called, concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense” (Genesis 21:12, Hebrews 11:18-19). God was gracious to Abraham and spared Isaac, his son, providing a substitute at the last minute. But aren’t we blessed that, “He who did not spare His own son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32)