Types of Christ

God, Christ, & The Holy Spirit
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jaydam
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Location: Portland, OR

Re: Types of Christ

Post by jaydam » Sat Feb 21, 2015 7:19 pm

Rough conclusion...

Thank you all for your input. My final understanding as I move on is this:

The story of Abraham offering up Isaac does not present any substitutionary atonement lesson.

Isaac was sacrificed to God on the day Abraham laid him on the altar. Abraham made Isaac as good as dead the moment he went past the point of no return to raise the knife over his son. With Isaac as good as dead, God stopping the killing, amounts to resurrecting Isaac in type. This is easily understood from Gen 22:1-12 and Heb 11:17-19.

Thus, no substitution was made for Isaac that day, rather Isaac was truly sacrificed. The altar was Isaac's place of sacrifice.

In appreciation for raising Isaac from the dead, Abraham makes another sacrifice. He sacrifices the ram, not IN PLACE OF Isaac, but in THE place of Isaac (v13). The place identified just previously with Isaac' offering up and resurrection from the dead.

Some teach that Abraham named the place "The Lord will Provide" because the Lord provided a substitute sacrifice, but I believe the sacrifice of the ram and the naming coincide with the Lord providing Abraham with his son back from the dead. Abraham expected the Lord could give his son back, and Hebrews teaches that God did just that with a symbolic resurrection.

I believe if you read through the Gen 22 account, even in absence of the Heb 11 clarification, it can be seen that no substitution took place. Thank you Robby for drawing my attention to Hebrews which does further support my reading of Gen 22.

Ultimately, this makes Isaac the complete type of Christ, as Robby pointed out:

-Isaac is figured to be an adult who could have stopped his being offered up, but submitted to his father's will
-An only begotten son
-Who carried the wood of his offering
-To be sacrificed on a hill
-Was as good as killed
-Then was resurrected from the dead

nancyer

Re: Types of Christ

Post by nancyer » Wed Jun 10, 2015 11:05 pm

Forgive me if this has been addressed but my first thought upon reading the OP is that Isaac was "let off the hook" (really, Abraham was let off the hook, as Isaac's father) not because of Abraham's fear of God but faith in God. He did what God told him to do, obeyed Him because he had faith that God wouldn't ask him to do anything that wasn't for the ultimate good.

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Homer
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Re: Types of Christ

Post by Homer » Thu Jun 11, 2015 10:34 pm

Hebrews 10:1-3 (NASB)

Brenden wrote:
I will have to agree with Dizerner's thoughts here about not getting too caught up in what each thing means, nor expecting the ant-type to fit perfectly in every respect.
Very good points by Dizerner and Brenden. I think the idea of a shadow makes the type idea clear. A shadow gives a dim outline of that which it represents and only presents some information, just as a man's shadow only gives a bare outline and depending on the angle of the sun the shadow is distorted. The types and shadows have something in common with prophecies regarding the future: they are best understood after fulfillment. An old elder used to say we will all have flat foreheads in heaven from our frequent slapping our hand to our forehead while exclaiming "that's what that meant"!

Doesn't the following imply something Christ's sacrifice accomplished?

10: 1.For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. 2. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? 3. But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year.

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