Genesis 22:13 says, "Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son." Read this material from my book, A Father Offers His Son, to see how the ram died in Isaac's place, prefiguring Jesus's substitutionary atonement for us.

Table of contentsJesus's Substitutionary Atonement Means He Died for Us and As UsThe Ram's Substitutionary AtonementJesus and the Ram's Crown of ThornsWhy Did God Provide a Ram Instead of a Lamb?Abraham Saw Jesus through IsaacGod revealed the New Covenant to AbrahamDiscussion Questions

Substitutionary atonement refers to Jesus dying in the place of sinners. The Bible teaches that all men are sinners (Romans 3:23), and the punishment for sin is death (Romans 6:23).

Romans 6:10 says, "For the death Jesus died he died to sin, once for all." There must be a death for our sins, but God is so gracious in that it doesn’t have to be our deaths, at least not eternally. Christ is willing to die in the place of wicked sinners, and this is substitutionary atonement.

Jesus's Substitutionary Atonement Means He Died for Us and As Us

We say Christ died “for us,” which is to say He died as our substitute. This is true, but He also died “as us,” which is to say He died as our representative. His death became our death. When He died, it’s as though we died. Therefore, the death that’s owed for our sin has been paid.

Consider the story of a young man who didn’t want to serve in Napoleon’s army:

“When he was drafted a friend volunteered to go in his place. The substitution was made and his replacement died in battle. Through a clerical error the young man was drafted again. He told the officers, ‘You can’t take me, b/c I’m dead. I died on the battlefield.’ They argued that they could see him standing in front of them, but he insisted they look on the roll to find the record of his death. Sure enough, there on the roll was his name w/ another name written beside it. The case was finally brought before Napoleon himself, who after examining the evidence said, ‘Through a substitute, this man died; therefore, there’s no claim on him.’”

D.L. Moody

The man was freed because someone died in his place. The same is true for us! We’re freed from the death we deserve because Jesus died in our place. We deserved to be the ones placed on that cross because we are the ones who sin. But Christ took the judgment on Himself in our place. He substituted Himself for us and received the punishment we deserve:

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.

1 Peter 2:24

A few verses later:

For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit.

1 Peter 3:18

Not only do these verses teach that Jesus died as our substitute, they also teach He made atonement. This means He satisfied the payment our sins deserve.

The Ram's Substitutionary Atonement

One of the clearest examples of substitutionary atonement occurred when the ram died in Isaac's place. After the Angel of the Lord stopped Abraham from sacrificing Isaac, we read:

Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

Genesis 22:13–14

The words “instead of his son” are the language of substitutionary atonement. Earlier, in Genesis 22:7, Isaac asked, “Where is the lamb?” Abraham replied, “God will provide a lamb” (Genesis 22:8). The ram they found was not the lamb:

The Hebrew word for “lamb” in verses 7 and 8 is seh,