1081. Isaac Bound

Isaac Bound

"And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built the altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, upon the wood" (Gen_22:9, A. S. V.).

1. Abraham took the wood and laid it upon Isaac. Even so did God "lay on Him the iniquity of us all." God placed our sins upon our Isaac. He put Him to grief. Sometimes the question is asked, Who crucified the Saviour? Peter said: "Ye have taken, and with wicked hands have crucified and slain." But Peter prefaced his words with: "Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God." Thus while man crucified Christ God let man have his way, that thereby He might fulfill His will.

2. Abraham bound Isaac. From the foot of the Cross the mockers cried, "Let Him now come down from the Cross, and we will believe Him" (Mat_27:42). They also cried: "He saved others, Himself He cannot save" (Mat_27:42).

Both of these accusations were true, but they were true from a different view point than that in which they were spoken by those blasphemous Jews.

Jesus Christ did not hang on the Cross because He was helpless to resist the onslaught of His enemies. They were no more to Him than the chaff on a summer threshing floor before the wind. One breath from His mouth would have swept them all away.

Neither men, demons nor devil could have nailed Christ to the Cross against His will. They prevailed only because Christ opened not His mouth. They overcome Him because He yielded Himself to their cruelties.

The reason Christ died was because His Father bound Him and laid Him upon the Cross. He could not break the Father's will, for He Himself was wholly one with the Father. Therefore Christ could say, "I lay down My life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. * * This commandment have I received of My Father" (Joh_10:17-18).

3. Abraham took the knife to slay his son. This is just what God did. "He hath put Him (Christ) to grief." "Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin" (Isa_53:10).

Some may wish to charge God with cruelty. To such we would say, "Be not rash with thy mouth." God certainly sent His Son to be the Saviour of the world (see Joh_4:14). God certainly delivered Christ to die on the Cross (see Act_2:23). God sent forth His Son to redeem them that were under the Law (see Gal_4:4-5).

The wickedness of the men who crucified the Lord is not at all lessened by the fact that the Cross was predestined of God. The men who crucified the Lord were free moral agents; they took Christ of their own stubborn will, and with wicked hands they crucified Him. In no sense were they forced to carry out God's will and plan. God did not enter into their hellish conspiracy; God did not sit in their conclaves, as they went about to slay the Lord.

However, if God had no part in the death of Christ, and if therefore our Lord was overpowered and slain a martyr to a holy cause, then Jesus Christ is robbed of His Deity and left a weak and helpless man.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR