ISAAC BEING THE SON
We have seen the meaning of the God of Abraham. Abraham himself was a father. On the one hand, God led him to realize that He is the Father. On the other hand, He made Abraham a father. Abraham’s original name was Abram, which means "father." Later he was called Abraham, which also means "father," but in a more superlative form; it means the father of many nations. Abraham knew God as the Father, and as a result, he also became a father. He was a father in every sense of the word. As far as God’s recovery work is concerned, Abraham was the initiator, and as such he was the father. As far as God’s selection is concerned, he was the first to be chosen as one of God’s people, and therefore, he was also the father. As far as his acts were concerned, he was the first one to cross the river, and therefore, he was also a father. For two thousand years after Adam, who among all men was a Hebrew? Who did God call to leave his country, kindred, and father’s house to go into Canaan? Abraham was the first. Have we heard of anyone who communicated with God and who was so intimate with God that he was called a friend of God? Abraham was the first. Have we heard of anyone who begot a child after passing the age of child begetting? Abraham was the first. Have we heard of anyone who had a son when he was a hundred years old, and who later offered the son as a sacrifice? Abraham was the first. We see from the Bible that many things were first done by Abraham. Indeed, Abraham is the father.
Now that we have seen Abraham as the father, we have to go on to see Isaac as the son. No one’s history depicts the Lord Jesus as the Son as much as Isaac’s history. Isaac’s birth was not according to the flesh but according to God’s promise. The first two chapters of Matthew in the New Testament correspond with Genesis in the Old Testament. There was only one person in the New Testament who was not born according to the flesh, and there was only one person in the Old Testament who was not born according to the flesh. Not only was the Lord Jesus born apart from the flesh, but He was an only begotten Son, One who was the beloved of His Father. He was placed on the altar and received back from the altar as the One who had come back from the dead (Heb. 11:19). He is the Son whom God loves, who died and resurrected. His Father also sent a servant to His own country and own kindred to find a wife for Him. Those who study the Bible carefully know that this is the Holy Spirit seeking out the church for Christ. The church is according to the Lord’s will; it is begotten of God and belongs to the same household of the Lord Jesus. Isaac and Rebekah were of the same household. God’s children, the church, are begotten of God in the same way that the Lord Jesus was begotten of God.
Abraham left Canaan once to go into Egypt, and Jacob spent his entire old age in Egypt. But Isaac was born in Canaan and died in Canaan; he never left Canaan. This is the Son, who was born in Canaan, raised up in Canaan, and died in Canaan. The Son is the One who "descended out of heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven" (John 3:13). He is "the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father" (1:18). When He was on earth, He expressed the Father, yet He never left the bosom of the Father. Hence, in typology, Isaac is the best figure of the Son.
(The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Chapter 7, by Watchman Nee)
