The Church of God
(La Iglesia de Dios)

Postcript To: Was Isaac A Type of Christ? - By: Don Roth


POSTSCRIPT TO: WAS ISAAC A TYPE OF CHRIST?

 

Since writing this article it has been brought to light that there are two important references that give a compelling reality to the story of Isaac being a type of Christ. 

 

First, Isaac allowed himself to be bound by his father and placed on the sacrificial wood that he had carried for the offering.  This was done without any physical act of defiance by Isaac; just as in Isa. 53.7 where it shows that Christ was led like a lamb to the slaughter, demonstrating Isaac’s absolute confidence, knowing that he would be resurrected.  It is the ultimate act of faith. Matt. 16:24-25. “Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.’”

 

We must have the same faith in the promise of our own resurrection.  He was the only son of Abraham and Sarah, and was steeped in his miraculous birth and God’s promise that great nations would come from him. Isaac realized that for that to happen God would resurrect him.

 

Some background information is necessary before going to the second point, having to do with the location of the temple which conflicts withthe preponderance of present day beliefs.  The central point revolves around the belief that the Muslim’s Dome of the Rock sits over the stone on which Isaac was supposed to be sacrificed.  Overall, the belief is that this Moslem edifice sits on what has been called “the original foundation of the temple.” This is in direct conflict with the present desire of the Jews to again build the temple on its original site.

 

The temple was a necessary part of their beliefs, and it was the place where the Jews went to to resolve their sins because they do not recognize the first coming of Christ and His atoning sacrifice for sin. This is the reason they believe that another temple must be built. If it cannot be built on that exact spot it must be built somewhere on what is known as the temple mount. 

 

In their misguided zeal, as the Jews are prone to do, they follow tradition rather than the actual eye-witness recorded history.  They have accepted as fact what their mortal enemy, the Muslims told them, instead of relying on their own Bible recordas recorded in Gen. 22:9.“Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an alter there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the alter, upon the wood.”

 

Here is a statement in which God plainly withholds a defined location of the proposed sacrifice of Isaac. It is ludacris to think that a false religion would know the site where God would have the sacrifice of Isaac when God did not reveal it to His own people. Why?The answer: Because the location of this place must be hidden and the reason is clear. If that place was defined it would have become a revered site and a place of worship, or a place to be worshipped. The  most important reason is clear. God used this exact location to sacrifice His Son, completing in Isaac a type of Christ by using it for both sacrifices.It would only be possible if the place of Abraham’s sacrifice was unknown to anyone until the time of Christ’s sacrifice.

 

The New Testament defines the place of the crucifixion and also points out the location of the temple. God uses a most unlikely person – a centurion of the Roman army – for the purpose of showing thetemple location. Remember that this man undoubtedly witnessed many crucifixions and terrible deaths of men in battle.  It is an important fact because it directly affects the centurion’s astonishment as he witnessed this event and gave an in person report.It was not Christ’s excruciating death which impressed him and that he reported, but it was the events that followed which caused him to declare that Christ was the Son of God.  Mark 15:33, 37-39. “Now when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.  Verses 37-39. “And Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and breathed His last. Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. So when the centurion who stood opposite Him, saw that He cried out like this and breathed His last, he said, ‘Truly this Man was the Son of God!’”

 

The first thing that put the centurion on alert was the darkening of the area. Two points to consider that dispel the idea that the darkness was caused by an eclipse of the sun. The Passover and the first high day Sabbath always occur on the full moon. It is impossible to have an eclipse because sun and the moon are opposite one another. Also, the dark part of the eclipse lasts only about seven minutes.  This darkness was a miraculous work of the Father, showing that the light of the world was to be extinguished.  Then the centurion witnessed the tearing of the veil at the death of Christ.

 

 Luke 23:44-48 also records this event. “Now it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And when Jesus cried out with a loud voice, He said, ‘Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit’. Having said this, He breathed His last. So when the centurion saw what had happened he glorified God, saying, ‘Certainly this was a righteous Man!’And the whole crowd who came together to that site, seeing what had been done, beat their breasts and returned.” The centurion plainly saw the veil being torn – he was an eye witness, along with all those who came to witness the crucifixion. 

 

The next recording of Christ’s death is in Matt. 27:45 and 50-54. “Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land.”Verses 50-54.“And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that happened, they feared greatly, saying, ‘Truly this was the Son of God!’”These three reports were from eye witnesses as to what took place as Christ died. 

 

As was recorded by all three gospels, the first thing that happenedwas the darkness of the noon day. Then at Christ’s death the veil which was several inches thick tore.  In the book THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JESUS THE MESSIAH by Alfred Edersheim it states the veil was sixty feet long and thirty feet wide and the thickness of the palm of a man’s hand.

 

The sound of the veil tearing, which God miraculously caused, would have been like an explosion coming out of the temple entrance, across from the site of the crucifixion. It brought everyone’s attention to the temple and was followed by an earthquake.  The earthquake did not cause the veil to tear.  Some think it was the breaking of the stone lintel that caused the tearing.At best this may have caused a minor tear as it broke and fell.  Remember, it was torn from top to bottom BEFORE the earthquake as the three scriptures plainly state.

 

The temple mount is located on the highest point in the city. If the temple is located on the top of the wall, which is sixty-two feet high, it would be several hundred feet back from the edge, making it impossible to see into the temple what the eye witnesses reported. Their reports place the temple directly opposite the crucifixion site at a level that allowed them to see into the temple.  The Bible account, in absolute terms, makes it impossible for anyone at the crucifixion site to see these things happening if the temple was located on top of the temple mount.  It is literally a physical impossibility.

 

The crucifixion site was located outside of the city of Jerusalem. Heb. 13:11-12. “For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate.”  The site of the crucifixion site was across the Kedron Valley, placing it outside the city.

 

There is no record in the Bible of an exact location for the temple. However, in the crucifixion account the temple location is shown to be south of the Temple Mount, allowing the eye witness account to be fulfilled. This location proves the Biblical report to be accurate - the inspired word of God. As previously pointed out, it was the final completion of Isaac being a type of Christ by having the site of Isaac’s sacrifice  the same site as the site where Christ was crucified. 

 

Clearly the temple would not be placed on the same site where Isaac’s sacrifice was to be. That site was reserved for the crucifixion of Christ.

 

08-30-22