Your only son who you so love (Genesis 22:2)

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Yomelijah

8 min readJun 9, 2024

When Jehovah God asked Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice (which He prevented at the last moment), he used this very important expression which will be the theme of this meditation: “Take, please, your son, your only son whom you so love, Isaac, and travel to the land of Moriah and offer him up there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I will designate to you” (Genesis 22:2). Obviously, Jehovah God, through this painful request for Abraham, made him play out in spite of himself the prophetic drama of the future sacrifice of his Only Son, Jesus Christ (without Abraham being aware of it): “These things may be taken as a symbolic drama” (Galatians 4:24). To do this, Jehovah God asked to go to the Mount Moriah, the place where Jerusalem was built and the place where, a few centuries later, Jesus Christ would die as a sacrifice for the world (John 3:16).

After three days of walking, seeing the mountain from afar, Abraham and his son Isaac finally made the journey together to the place of the sacrifice. The situation was so strange for Isaac, his son, that finally he asked his father this question: “Then Isaac said to his father Abraham: “My father!” He replied: “Yes, my son!” So he continued: “Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?” To this Abraham said: “God himself will provide the sheep for the burnt offering, my son.” And both of them walked on together” (Genesis 22:7,8). According to the narrative, he did not directly answer the question, apparently in order not to be too abrupt in his response. Does this mean that Isaac was in ignorance, even until the last moment? Several elements show that Abraham informed Isaac of the situation and that his son cooperated with his father.

In Genesis 22:5, Abraham refers to his son as a “boy”, does this mean that Isaac was just a helpless little child, having no choice but to follow his father? The context of Genesis chapter 22, on the contrary, shows that Isaac must have been a man of very great physical strength: “So Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and put it on his son Isaac. Then he took in his hands the fire and the knife, and the two of them walked on together” (Genesis 22:6). At the time, Abraham was at least 120 years old, or even more than 130 years old, and he was no longer able to carry the wood necessary to make the fire for the burnt offering. In addition, they were going to have to climb to the top of Mount Moria, which shows Isaac’s physical condition. In Genesis 22:9 it is written: “Finally they reached the place that the true God had indicated to him, and Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac hand and foot and put him on the altar on top of the wood”. It seems obvious that the young man Isaac let his father tie him up and then make him lie down on the altar. Therefore, it is obvious that Abraham informed his son sufficiently in advance. The book of Genesis does not mention to us the intimacy of the conversation between the father and the son. Isaac agreed to cooperate, because he had the physical means to stop his father from tying him up and then making him lie down on the altar.

Furthermore, to use the expression of the apostle Paul, in Galatians 4:24, if Jehovah God enacted a prophetic drama, Abraham representing the Heavenly Father, and Isaac, his Only Son Jesus Christ, why not think that Isaac would have been the same age as Christ when he died in sacrifice, namely 33 years old? Obviously, God did not allow Abraham to go through with his action: “Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son. But Jehovah’s angel called to him from the heavens and said: “Abraham, Abraham!” to which he answered: “Here I am!” Then he said: “Do not harm the boy, and do not do anything at all to him, for now I do know that you are God-fearing because you have not withheld your son, your only one, from me”” (Genesis 22:10–12). By this act of faith, Abraham, associated with his beloved son Isaac, became the father of those who have faith (Romans 4:11). During the time of this prophetic drama, Abraham suffered emotionally at the thought of having to sacrifice his son. Nevertheless, the outcome has been happy for him and Isaac: “At that Abraham looked up, and there just beyond him was a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering in place of his son. And Abraham named that place Jehovah-jireh. This is why it is still said today: “In the mountain of Jehovah it will be provided”” (Genesis 22:13,14).

However, by this simple phrase “Take, please, your son, your only son whom you so love”, and by this prophetic drama, maybe Jehovah God and his Son Jesus Christ want us to understand better the emotional suffering of the Heavenly Father in having sacrificed his only-begotten Son, to save humanity: “For God loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

What were the feelings of the Father when he saw his Son deeply saddened and anguished, shortly before the long hours of suffering until his death, that he was going to undergo? “On leaving, he went as was his custom to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples also followed him. On arriving at the place, he said to them: “Carry on prayer so that you do not enter into temptation.” And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw away, and he bent his knees and began to pray, saying: “Father, if you want to, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, let, not my will, but yours take place.” Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. But he was in such agony that he kept praying more earnestly; and his sweat became as drops of blood falling to the ground. When he rose from prayer and went to the disciples, he found them slumbering, exhausted from grief” (Luke 22:39–45).

Jesus Christ was deeply distressed knowing the sadness that God would feel, seeing what men were going to inflict on him. God sent an angel to comfort his very saddened and distressed Son, before abandoning him to death at the hands of Satan the devil and his human sons.

How did the Father feel when he saw his Son treated with disrespect, insulted, slapped, some spitting on him: “What is your opinion?” They answered: “He deserves to die.” Then they spat in his face and hit him with their fists. Others slapped him on the face, saying: “Prophesy to us, you Christ. Who struck you?”” (Matthew 26:66–68). The expression “Prophesy to us, you Christ. Who struck you?”, suggests that they had blindfolded Jesus Christ as they hit and spat on him.

What were the feelings of the Father when he saw that the people had preferred to free a criminal, rather than his Son? How did the Father feel when he saw his Son flogged, and then insulted, and beaten by the soldiers?

“Then he released Barabbas to them, but he had Jesus whipped and handed him over to be executed on the stake. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s residence and gathered the whole body of troops together around him. And disrobing him, they draped him with a scarlet cloak, and they braided a crown out of thorns and put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying: “Greetings, you King of the Jews!” And they spat on him and took the reed and began hitting him on his head. Finally, after they had mocked him, they stripped him of the cloak and put his outer garments on him and led him off to be nailed to the stake” (Matthew 27:26–31).

The flogging caused great loss of blood, which caused anemia to Jesus Christ, consequently he no longer had the strength to carry the load of his stake, unlike the two other criminals who accompanied him: “As they were going out, they found a man of Cyrene named Simon. This man they compelled into service to carry his torture stake” (Matthew 27:32).

How did the Father feel when he saw the Roman soldiers nailing the hands and feet of his Son, to hang his body? It is very likely that Jesus Christ, at that moment, thought about the feelings of his Father, when he said: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). Indeed, how can a father feel when he is in the presence of someone who attacks or try to kill his son?

How did the Father feel during the six hours of suffering and at the time of the death of his Only Begotten Son? “And Jesus called out with a loud voice and said: “Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit.” After he said this, he expired” (Luke 23:46).

Jehovah God, the Father, prophetically pictured the emotional suffering of Mary, the mother of Jesus, at the time of the death of her Son: “Also, Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, the child’s mother: “Look! This child is appointed for the falling and the rising again of many in Israel and for a sign to be spoken against (yes, a long sword will be run through you), in order that the reasonings of many hearts may be revealed” (Luke 2:34,35).

This image of a “sword running through” Mary, to describe the violence of the emotional pain that she would have, following the death of her Son on earth, gives us an idea of the deep feeling of sadness that the Father felt. In this circumstance, in response to the most abject act of humans, God responded with the highest act of Love, giving his Son to save mankind: “For God loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

The Promise of God. The complete explanation of Genesis 3:15.

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