The Sacrifice Appears

Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.
GENESIS 22:13
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The Sacrifice Appears
It does not seem to have been a rash statement on the part of the fathers when they said that the ram was provided from the beginning of the world; for they knew about Christ, the woman's Seed, and understood this ram to be a figure of Him. For Christ existed before the creation, as Paul says (Titus 1:2): "God, who never lies, promised ages ago." Hence before the ages, from eternity, Christ was destined by divine providence to crush the head of the serpent, to become the sacrifice for the human race, to kill sins, and to give us life. But He waited until the predetermined time of His appearance arrived. This is a sufficiently good allegory. I do not disapprove of it. But after they had seen the ram—no matter how he had been brought there by God—Abraham took him and offered him as a burnt offering in his son's place. There Isaac was the acolyte and assisted his father in bringing the sacrifice. Moreover, that assist a sign by which Abraham was convinced that the ram was to be offered, not Isaac. Thus some sign is always attached to the Word, for Abraham realized at once that the ram had been provided by God for the sacrifice.
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