Introduction
“Abraham answered, ‘God will give us the lamb for the sacrifice my son.” Genesis 22:8
Abram did not have a son by Sarah for a long time, not until Sarah was getting old. Abram thought perhaps the blessings God had promised him and his family would come through Ishmael, which was his son by Hagar.
But God wanted Sarah to be the mother of Abram’s son, and He showed Abram it was not to be Ishmael. God repeated His promise to Abram several times. God spoke to Abram and told him He was going to change his name to Abraham, which means,
“the father of many nations”.
He changed Abram’s name. Sarah thought she was too old to have a baby. She laughed when she learned she was to have a baby. God sent them a little baby boy. They named him Isaac. They were very proud of Isaac and took good care of him. He grew into a fine, obedient boy.
One day God gave Abraham a very hard test. He wanted to see if Abraham really trusted Him and loved Him more than anything. God asked him to take Isaac and offer him as a sacrifice upon the altar.
This made Abraham very sad, for he loved Isaac very much, and it was through Isaac all nations would be blessed. He wondered about this, yet he prepared to obey God.
They set off to Mount Moriah to worship God. They took with them two servants, their donkeys, and wood for the offering. For two days and nights they travelled, and on the third day they saw the mountain.
Abram left the donkey with the servants and went up into the mountain to worship. He gave Isaac the wood they had brought for the offering, and he took the pitcher of fire. Isaac looked around and said,
“My father, here you have the fire and I have the wood, where is the animal to sacrifice?” Abraham answered, “God himself will provide a lamb for the offering, my son.”
They climbed the mountain and laid an altar of stone. Isaac must have known then that he was going to be the offering, for he allowed Abraham to bind him and lay him on the altar. Sadly, Abraham raised the knife to kill his son, the promised one whom he had waited for so long a time.
As he slowly lowered the knife, an angel of the Lord called out to him,
“Abraham, Abraham.”
With joy Abraham dropped the knife and said,
“Here am I.”
There is no need for you to kill your son, for God knows now that you love him more than anything, even your own son. This was the message of the angel.
Abram looked up. When he did he saw a ram with its horns caught in the thicket. God provided this offering. He untied Isaac and offered up the sacrifice God had given them. Abraham called the place of worship Jehovah Jireh.
Quiz
1. To what did God change Abram’s name?
2. What did Abraham name his promised son?
3. What hard task did God ask Abraham to do?
4. Where did they go to offer the sacrifice?
5. What did God do when Abraham was about to kill Isaac?
6. Who provided the sacrifice?
7. Why did God know Abraham loved him?
