Abraham & Isaac – Both Powerful Atonement Symbols:  Abraham being saved and subsequently Isaac being saved from premature death are some of the most direct symbols of the Savior’s atonement. Abraham testifies, "And as they . . . might . . . take away my life . . . I lifted up my voice . . . the Lord hearkened . . . Abraham, behold, my name is Jehovah, and I have . . . have come down to deliver thee . . ." (Abraham 1:15-16) 

Abraham was brought to the "Crossroads of the East," promised a posterity like the "sands of the sea," yet Sarah was barren. Miraculously, even after the "time of women" had passed, Sarah conceived and bore a child. The miracle may have evoked laughter from the neighbors. Truly, the laughter of joy spilled from the mouths of the almost centenarians, Abraham and Sarah, as God’s promised word was fulfilled, and they brought forth new life.

A Lifetime Symbolic Name:  That child’s name, Yitzhak (Isaac in English), means laughter, delight and humor in Hebrew. Jewish tradition insists that in his early thirties, Isaac obediently followed his father Abraham who was instructed to take this miracle son and offer him as a human sacrifice. The appointed event was to take place at Mount Moriah, "Moreh-Yah," (to be taught of Jehovah). The dialogue that followed teaches us the real lesson of two humble and obedient Godly men who are taught the atonement. There are patterns that teach the ultimate sacrifice of the Lord.

The Names of the Lord Repeated Throughout the Saga:  Please note the three chiasmi are intertwined yet each one has a name of Lord as the beginning and the end as well as in the center. The imagery teaches that God will provide His son, the Lamb of God, who will take upon himself the sins that we are all caught in, we then can see Jehovah, God’s son, who will take us to His and our Father in Heaven.

". . . Abraham . . . said, Here am I, my son. And he (Isaac) said . . . where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb . . . And Abraham . . . took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the LORD . . . said, Abraham . . . and he said, Here am I.

"And the Angel of the Lord called him out of Heaven, and said . . . Lay not thine hand upon the lad . . . And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and . . . beheld behind him a ram caught in a thicket . . . and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son . . . And the Angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time . . ."

". . . seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me . . . And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: . . . In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen . . . because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son . . ." (Genesis 22:7-18)

Abraham’s life was chiastic:  first to be offered as a human sacrifice and then to be saved, later to be commanded to offer his own son as a sacrifice and then to have him saved. All this was to teach us that God, also on Mount Moriah, was to offer his Son as a sacrifice to save us all.

"It’s Not About Your Son, It’s About My Son:" Abraham and Isaac apparently knew that Isaac was a symbol of God's firstborn son. A substitute was found as a ram in the thicket. Ever since, other substitutes were offered as a symbol of Him who would pay for our sins as we repent. From that time on, other , always firstborn and unblemished, were sacrificed on Mount Moriah, always on the . (Leviticus 1:11)

Even the Crucifixion Site is a Symbol: Today on the stands an abandoned quarry with caves that give it a grotesque skull-like look. Many people consider this the Place of a Skull, Calvary or Golgotha, where the Lamb of God, the firstborn Son of God, was sacrificed when He was crucified. (John 19:17) The remarkable symbolism of time, places, and events seemed to have of Israel.