Isaac of the Old Testament and Jesus Himself hold many similar characteristics. If you recall, Isaac was the promised son of Abraham that God had given him and his wife Sarah in their old age. From Isaac would be born Jacob and from Jacob, twelve sons who would become the the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel.
Just as Isaac was the beginning of a people that God would call His own, Jesus was the beginning of the Church or the bride of Christ.
So what similarities did these two share?
- Both were sons of promises given many years prior to their birth (Genesis 18:1-14; Isaiah 7:14).
- Both were born of women who could not have possibly conceived apart from a miracle.
- Both were first born sons.
- Both were greatly loved by their fathers.
- Both carried their own wood to their own sacrifice. (Genesis 22:6; John 19:17).
- Both willingly laid down their lives to their fathers. (Genesis 22:6-10; John 10:17-18)
- Both were laid down as an offering for sin.
- Both were brought back from the dead (Isaac figuratively and Jesus literally).
This is just one of many examples how the Old Testament provides patterns of the New Testament.
