56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Jn 8:56.
When I read this passage between the Jews (religious leaders) and Jesus I didn’t really associate Genesis 22 with it at the time. Most everyone who claims to know anything about Christianity knows about Abraham and his willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac to remain obedient to God. It was a foreshadowing of the cross and God’s willingness to sacrifice His own son, Jesus for the salvation of mankind.
At least one source says that the Hebrew word used to describe the thicket literally meant “thicket of thorns”. With this new piece of information a more detailed picture of the cross begins to form. A ram (obviously with horns) was caught by his head in a thicket of thorns. The sacrifice provided by God to stand in place of his son Isaac had a head wrapped in thorns. Wow.
Yesterday part of my reading was in Genesis 3. Adam disobeyed God and therefore the ground was cursed because of Him. The crown of thorns that was forced onto the head of Jesus symbolized that curse as He carried it to the cross. It was amazing to see God working in symbolism and in reality. Now, God opens my understanding a little more by revealing that His sacrifice for Abraham also symbolized that curse and His willingness to overcome it.
Abraham put the symbolism together as he trusted in God but what mattered was that he trusted. Jesus speaks truth so we know that Abraham rejoiced because of Jesus. We too should rejoice because those who believe in Jesus’ finished work on the cross will never see the judgement and death that condemned us before Him. Substitutionary atonement has been accomplished by Jesus on our behalf and He bore our thorns.