1079. The Three Days' Journey

The Three Days' Journey

"And Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his ass and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he clave the wood for the burnt-offering, and rose up, and went onto the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off" (Gen_22:3-4, A. S. V.).

1. Abraham obeyed promptly. When the word came to offer up Isaac, Abraham rose up early in the morning and started out to obey God's command. Prompt obedience is the only obedience that merits praise. The commandments of the Lord require haste. Hesitancy spells disaster.

During all the ages there never was a moment that God, the Father held back from man the gift of His Son. Neither did Christ tarry by the way. Even the Garden of Gethsemane scene suggests no desire on Christ's part to loiter on the way to His Cross.

2. Abraham and Isaac went a three days' journey. Three days in the Bible speaks of death, burial and resurrection. The objective of that memorable trip had to do with the Cross of Christ.

Far back in eternity Jesus Christ began His journey toward the Cross of Calvary. He was a Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world. He was foreordained to die by the determinate council and foreknowledge of God. Long before God said, "Let Us make man," Jesus Christ was the crucified, in the will of God.

When Christ was born of Mary, He only continued the pathway toward the Cross which He had been treading for many ages.

3. Abraham placed the wood of the burnt-offering on Isaac. Even so did Christ carry His Cross. "And He bearing His Cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull" (Joh_19:17).

There are many to-day given to the wearing of tiny gold crosses. These crosses are fastened on shining chains. The Cross of Christ was rugged. He first bore the Cross and afterward the Cross bore Him.

"In the Cross of Christ I glory,

Towering o'er the wrecks of time,

All the light of Sacred Story,

Gathers round its head sublime."

4. Two young men went part of the way and then tarried behind. Christ had twelve Apostles, but as the mob came to His arrest, they all forsook Him and fled (see Mat_26:56). To be sure, as He hung on the Cross, "all His acquaintances, and the women that followed Him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things" (Luk_23:49); and John and Mary and some others stood near by at the foot of the Cross (see Joh_19:25-26) however, none could travel with Him around the cycle of His suffering. He went alone.

5. From Isaac there is no recorded word of reproach, only a question–Where is the sacrifice? Jesus Christ went unresistingly toward His Cross. He went as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep dumb before its shearers (see Isa_53:7). Only once did Christ question the Father, when He said "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?"

6. Abraham and Isaac went both. Jesus Christ could well say: "The Father is with Me" (Joh_16:31). All of the weary way from the upper room to Gethsemane; from Gethsemane to Pilate's judgment hall, by way of the home of Annas and of Caiaphas; from the hall of Pilate to the whipping post, and from the whipping post to the Cross, did the Father walk with Jesus. Yes, God was with Him.

It was only when God laid iniquity upon Him, when God made Him to be sin for us (see II Cor, Joh_5:21), that the Father hid His face.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR