God tested Abraham to see if his heart was true to God. He told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, his beloved son. Abraham prepared to obey, but at the last moment God sent a substitute, a male sheep, to be the sacrifice. The redemption of Abraham’s Isaac became an object lesson that involved every “Isaac” in Israel.


Moses introduced the lesson in Exodus
34:19-20 with God’s decree that every firstborn son, animal or human, belonged to Him. The animals could be sacrificed or redeemed. But the firstborn human sons, the “Isaacs” of Israel, must not be sacrificed but redeemed by the substitute of a sheep.


Every time Israel redeemed their beloved sons, God taught them this lesson. He taught it for centuries until He completed it in Jesus Christ. The act of offering one’s own son was reserved for God alone. Humanity had been told to redeem their beloved sons, but God sacrificed His beloved Son to redeem humanity. All who believe became “Isaacs,” redeemed from the curse of sin by a substitute: God’s own Son.