The command
"Take thy only begotten son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and go into the land of vision; and there thou shalt offer him for an holocaust upon one of the mountains which I will shew thee."
Genesis 22:2
An only son, deeply loved, to be offered on a mountain. Hold that picture. You'll see it again.
"The land of vision" is the Douay-Rheims rendering of the Hebrew name: Moriah.
The mountain
Moriah comes up again a thousand years later:
"And Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, in mount Moria..."
2 Paralipomenon (2 Chronicles) 3:1
The place where Abraham offered his son became the site of the Temple, where Israel offered sacrifices for the next thousand years. And Golgotha, where Jesus was crucified, sits on that same ridge.
One mountain. Abraham's son around 2000 BC. The Temple around 950 BC. The cross in the early 30s AD.
The wood
"And he took the wood for the holocaust, and laid it upon Isaac his son"
Genesis 22:6
The son carries the wood for his own sacrifice up the hill. Two thousand years later: "And bearing his own cross, he went forth to that place which is called Calvary, but in Hebrew Golgotha" (John 19:17).
The question
"Isaac said to his father: My father... Behold, saith he, fire and wood: where is the victim for the holocaust? And Abraham said: God will provide himself a victim for an holocaust, my son."
Genesis 22:7 to 8
Isaac asks where the lamb is. Abraham answers that God will provide it. Then he names the place:
"And he called the name of that place, The Lord seeth. Whereupon, even to this day, it is said: In the mountain the Lord will see."
Genesis 22:14
Not "the Lord saw." The Lord will. Abraham is pointing forward. When Jesus arrives, John the Baptist answers Isaac's question: "Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).
The ram in the thorns
"Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw behind his back a ram, amongst the briers, sticking fast by the horns, which he took and offered for a holocaust instead of his son."
Genesis 22:13
The ram is caught by its head in thorny bushes, and it dies in the son's place. At the cross: "the soldiers platting a crown of thorns, put it upon his head" (John 19:2). And Jesus dies in ours.
The three days
"And on the third day, lifting up his eyes, he saw the place afar off."
Genesis 22:4
From the moment God gave the command, Isaac was as good as dead to his father. On the third day, he was given back. The New Testament says exactly this:
"By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered Isaac... Accounting that God is able to raise up even from the dead. Whereupon also he received him for a parable."
Hebrews 11:17 to 19
A son, as good as dead, received back on the third day. Two thousand years before the real one.
Why this is a big deal
God asked Abraham: would you give your only son for me? Abraham said yes, and God stopped his hand. Then God swore an oath:
"Because thou hast done this thing, and hast not spared thy only begotten son for my sake... in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed."
Genesis 22:16 to 18
Two thousand years later, God did what he had stopped Abraham from doing. Same mountain. His only Son. The wood on his back, the thorns on his head, and on the third day, given back. One was a test. The other was what the test was pointing to.