Portraits of the Trinity: Isaac

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Portraits of the Trinity: Isaac; Son of the Father’s Love and Heir of Promise

And Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac. But Abraham gave gifts to the sons of the concubines which Abraham had; and while he was still living he sent them eastward, away from Isaac his son, to the country of the east. Gen. 25:5-6.

In Genesis 15, there was this remarkable story of a discourse between God and Abraham. Even when Abraham was yet to have a son, God told him to gaze into the stars, for as the stars are so shall his descendants be. This was about thirteen years before the birth of Isaac. In Abraham, was a multitude of nations as vast as the sea of the seashore even as yet he had not one son.

Even as He elected us in Christ before the foundation of the world but He was revealed for us in the fullness of time:

That in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are on earth- in Him. Eph. 1:10.

Isaac was the son of promise. He was born to Abraham in his old age and at the time appointed. The Lord had appeared to him besides the tree of Mamre barely a year before Isaac was born. At the age of about thirteen years, Abraham took him to the Mount of Moriah as a burnt offering to the Lord. This signifies the death of Christ as a sacrificial offering for the sins of mankind.

When he was forty years of age, Abraham made Eliezer the chief of his servants to swear an oath to get a wife for his son among his kindred and not from the Canaanites where he dwelt. The servant was diligent in his assignment and got Rebecca for Isaac. They were barren for twenty years and Isaac begged God for his wife and God heard. She conceived but while the two were in the womb, she was troubled and she sought God’s face to know why. The Lord told her that there were two nations in her womb and the elder shall serve the younger.

We have maintained from the very start that these portraits were faint reflection/ mirror of the Godhead but it was God’s will to reveal His nature and being through them. The birth of Esau and Jacob is so instructive for us today. The church (visible church) composes of two kinds: Esau and Jacob. Esau represents the professors of faith while Jacob represents the possessors of faith. Esau was a man of the field but Jacob stayed at home. Isaac loved Esau, his firstborn but it is not coincidental that it was Isaac himself who pronounced the doom on Esau after Jacob had deceitfully taken the blessing. This will be same when the Lord in a sterning look will say to them, “Depart from Me, I never knew you, you workers of iniquity.” Jesus tells about the separation of the sheep from the goats, the harvest of the wheat and weeds, and the parable of the net full of fishes to all affirm that there are two kinds of people in relation to Him, that is, the professors (Esau) and the possessors (Jacob).

It is significant to know that Isaac’s birth was announced just like Jesus birth was. In Genesis 17 and 18, the birth of Isaac was announced to come in the fullness of time. It reveals the incarnation and much more, the pre- Incarnate Christ visited Abraham in the heat of the day to reveal this to Abraham and his wife Sarah but she laughed since it transcends all human ability.

Jesus Christ, the God man, came in the fullness of time to perfect the redemption of man which had been pre determined even before the world was made and sin ever existed. He is the Word made flesh and He lives forever, the eternal God man. When we get to heaven, we shall see Jesus. He I shall see and be satisfied for He is both the transcendence and immanence of God.

Moreso, we shall be like Him in His resurrection because He is the firstfruit and firstborn from the dead. John 20, 21 and Rev. 1 as well as 1 Corinthians 15 gives us a clue of how our resurrection bodies will be like. John says that as yet, we do not know in full details how we shall look or be but it is sufficient or comforting to know we shall look like Him. Therefore, everyone who has this hope purified himself just as He is pure. 1 John 3:2-3. He is not speaking out of sheer ignorance for he has seen the resurrected Lord and has a picture, though not perfect of how we would look like. This is our hope that makes us persevere even in the face of trials, tribulations and persecutions of this life. Howbeit, we are kept by the power of God to persevere to the saving of our souls and bodies even as our spirits have been saved.

Who are the possessors of the faith?

1. They have believed the gospel which leads to repentance from dead works and turning to God in living faith through Christ.

2. They have obeyed the gospel which produces abiding in the life of Christ and producing fruit unto righteousness and sanctification, that is the fruit of the Spirit evidenced by love.

3. They persevere, continue in and are kept by the gospel having a full assurance of the eternal inheritance to which they were called not by good works but by the merit of Christ.

How are these contrasted by the professors of faith?

1. They have heard the gospel and have a “resemblance” of the confession of faith. All the twelve spies went to the land of Hebron. They both saw the good land and the giants. However, ten saw that they were grasshoppers before the people of the land while the other two saw the giants as their bread. Paul later writes that the same gospel was preached to them but it did not profit them because it was not mixed with faith. They could not enter the land because of unbelief.

2. They have denied the gospel. For they have a form of godliness but deny the power therein, that us the gospel. Like Esau, the root of bitterness and profanity takes hold of them and despised his birthright. It is obvious he sought it with tears but could not find it. They profess to love and be followers of the gospel but do not exhibit or produce it’s fruit.

3. They forsake the gospel. Thus, they do not have the assurance or hope that the gospel offers. As such, they turn to have the world and it’s gain as their anchor. This leads to embracing false gospels and produces false hope.

© Purpose Media Publications, 2020