GP.CE

OFF

ISAAC.

E all know how precious an only child always is to its parents; but there was a special reason why Isaac was dearly loved by Abraham and Sarai.

God had promised to Abraham that 'his seed,' that is, his children and his children's children to many generations, should be as the stars of heaven, which are so many that we cannot number them. God had said, too, that it was not the descendants of Ishmael, but those of Isaac, that were to be an honour and glory to Abraham; and so we may be sure that Abraham dearly loved his son Isaac.

And when we think of this love, we may more fully admire the way in which Abraham obeyed God and trusted God, when God said to him, 'Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt-offering on one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.'

As you may read in this beautiful story, so simply told in the twenty-second chapter of Genesis, Abraham obeyed at once; he knew that God's command must be right, and he believed that God had power even to raise Isaac to life after he was dead.

So Abraham arose in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two servants with him, and Isaac, and the wood for the fire on which the offering was to be burnt, and he went to the place which God showed him.

1.P.C

દ

After three days, they saw afar off the mountain where Isaac was to be offered. Then Abraham said to the servants, Stay here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.'

As they walked along, Isaac said, 'My father, behold the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?' With sad heart Abraham answered, 'My son, God will provide Himself a lamb' so they went on till they came to the place of which God had told Abraham: and there Abraham built an altar and put the wood upon it, and then he bound Isaac, and took the knife to slay his son ! But at that moment the Lord called out of heaven and said, 'Lay not thine hand upon the lad, for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me.'

Then Abraham looked and saw a ram caught in a bush by the horns, and he offered the ram for a burnt-offering instead of Isaac; and the voice of the Lord called again unto Abraham out of heaven and said, 'Because thou hast done this thing, in blessing I will bless thee, and I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea-shore; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.'

In the birth of Jesus, which on Christmas-day we celebrate, One was born of the seed of Abraham, by Whose birth and death all nations of the earth may be blessed; and Isaac was a type, or picture beforehand, of Jesus.

Isaac was a stripling and his father was an aged man when they went together to the mountain of Sacrifice, and yet Isaac did not resist his father's will, he was obedient even unto death; and so, willingly and meekly, Jesus, obedient to

the will of His Father, was 'led as a lamb to the slaughter,' and for our sakes He yielded up His life upon the cross, on that very same mountain on which, nearly two thousand years before, Isaac had been laid upon the altar of wood.

Surely, we should truly love and ever try to serve our Lord Jesus, Who so freely gave Himself for us; surely we should love and adore Our Father in heaven,' in that He 'sent His Son to be the Saviour of the world.' God has given to us far more than Abraham was ready to give to God by sacrificing his son Isaac; for God gave up to death for us His beloved and only-begotten Son. How should we love Him Who has so loved us? Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.'

с