The Special Son

The methods by which God reveals His plans to mankind are truly fascinating. I have taught through the Bible multiple times (I have initiated at least one new class each year since 1979) and this experience has been a wonderful education for me. It has become evident that God began to reveal the role of Messiah Jesus in the redemption process from the very beginning. Through Abraham and Sarah, God revealed the truth of the supernatural conception of Jesus, the method by which the atonement would be accomplished and the ultimate union of Jesus and His Church. There is no indication that Abraham and Sarah had any idea that these revelations were taking place through them. This is a great mystery in itself. As you study through this article, consider the awesome means that God has used to reveal His purpose. If God acts in such an awesome way in revealing His purpose, is He less likely to insure that His purpose will ultimately be fulfilled?

There is no indication that Abraham and Sarah had any idea that these revelations were taking place through them.

Covenant Relationship Between God and Abraham
God called Abraham out of Mesopotamia to come to a specific land. We have pointed out in previous articles that God obviously chose the land before He chose the man. God began making bold promises to Abraham as part of the covenant relationship. We see those promises in three specific areas: (1) Blessing - Abraham would be greatly blessed by God, (2) Land - the land of Israel would be entrusted to Abraham and his descendants after him, and (3) Ministry - All the families of the earth would be blessed through Abraham and his descendants. In order for these promises to have practical ongoing significance, Abraham would have to have an heir. Eventually he began to question God on this matter: "And Abram said, O Lord God, what wilt thou give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus" (Genesis 15:2, NAS)? God simply affirmed the promise without telling him how or why the process was not occurring in a manner by which Abram could readily understand. So Abram waited for a son, a Special Son. Now, as we study the Bible, it becomes evident that the Lord was in the process of revealing something crucial about the nature of the Messiah. At this point, hardly any aspects of the Messiah had been mentioned. From our perspective today, we know that the Messiah was supernaturally conceived and thus called the unique "Son of God". So the conception of the "Special Son" would have to be supernatural. This would be accomplished by waiting until Sarah was well beyond childbearing age before she conceived. The miracle here had to do with Sarah not Abraham. Indeed, Abraham continued having children through another wife long after Sarah’s death. Year after year passed without any apparent developments toward fulfillment of the promise. Eventually, the faith of Abraham and Sarah wavered. They concluded that they could not have a child of their own. We will speculate that they reached this conclusion because Sarah had experienced menopause. As a result, they resorted to the practice of the age of raising up an offspring through Sarah’s maidservant, Hagar. This, of course, led to confusion in the revelation of God’s purpose. Ishmael and his descendants would forever be enemies of the covenant. We may even see a foreshadowing of "Anti-Christ" in Ishmael. Finally, thirteen years after Ishmael’s birth, God was ready to move.

Sarah was 89 years of age. At this point there is no question whatsoever about Sarah’s capacity to conceive.

Sarah was 89 years of age. At this point there is no question whatsoever about Sarah’s capacity to conceive. Indeed, when God revealed what He intended to do, both Abraham and Sarah laughed, hence, the name, Isaac, that would be given to their son. It is in this way that we see a picture revealed about the ultimate, supernatural conception of the "Special Son". One final note about this revelation that is worth noting: on two occasions, when Abraham was faced with the danger of losing his life as a result of a king's desire to take his wife, he misrepresented his relationship to Sarah. In both cases the king took Sarah and, in each case, God boldly intervened to preserve her dignity. God did not want Sarah to be violated by another man. Such a violation would have eventually added credibility to the charge against Mary concerning her purity.

Isaac’s life foreshadows Messiah Jesus in other ways
The Special Son would also foreshadow the process by which God would accomplish the atonement. God spoke to Abraham to take his son to Moriah (Jerusalem) to offer him as a burnt offering there. The language here is very instructive: And He said, "Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah; and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you" (Genesis 22:2, NAS).

... the Bible had just declared in the preceding chapters that Abraham had another son, namely, Ishmael. From the perspective of God’s revelation of His purpose, Abraham only had one son, Isaac.

Obviously, the Bible had just declared in the preceding chapters that Abraham had another son, namely, Ishmael. From the perspective of God’s revelation of His purpose, Abraham only had one son, Isaac. We can get a sense of the confusion that was injected in this picture due to the unbelief of Abraham and Sarah in bringing forth Ishmael through Hagar. At any rate, Abraham, the father, brought his only son, Isaac, to Jerusalem for the purpose of sacrificing him there. Only at the very last moment did God intervene and provide a substitute on the altar. Two thousand years later, God, the Father, would bring His only Son, Jesus, to the same place for the same purpose. This time there was no substitute.

Another picture of the Messiah is seen in the process by which the Special Son obtained a wife. When Isaac was 40 years old, his father sent his servant to find a bride for him. The servant returned to the "home country" and found Rebecca and presented a proposition to her, inviting her to come with him to be joined to the special son of his master Abraham. She left her family and everything she had and followed the servant. Upon arriving in the land, Isaac took her in his mother’s tent and they were married. It seems evident that this story is intended to foreshadow the pursuit, call and union of the bride of Messiah with Jesus at the end of the age. So, we conclude that from the very beginning God began telling the story of the Special Son that would become the "Redeemer of the World". The Bible develops the prophetic picture of the Messiah in many other ways so that, today, we can look reflectively at the Biblical history of the progressive revelation of God and His purpose and be struck with awe. How marvelous is our God!