Isaac turned to Abraham and said, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
“We have the fire and the wood,” the boy said, “but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?”
(Genesis 22:7)
You may remember this story. The Lord had blessed Abraham and Sarah with the son they had prayed for at a miraculous age far beyond child-bearing years. God promised that this son would be a blessing – not just to Abraham and his people, but to the entire world.
A few years later, God asked Abraham to do the unthinkable; to take Isaac to a special place and kill him as a sacrifice to God. We know now of course that God did not actually want the child to die (there is plenty of biblical evidence that God doesn’t want any child to die), but He was testing the man’s faith.
In God’s way, He not only used this story as a beautiful picture of Christ when He stopped Abraham from killing his son and provided a substitute, but He also planned the perfect place for this drama to unfold.
You see, what Abraham referred to as Mt. Moriah in Genesis would be referred to as Jerusalem thousands of years later. And Jerusalem is where the ultimate drama of the ultimate sacrifice took place.
Abraham showed his faith in his confidence that the Lord would provide a substitute for his son.
“God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham answered. And they both walked on together. (Genesis 22:8)
With faith we can also say Yahweh-Yirah – the Lord will provide! For Abraham there was a ram provided as a substitute for his son – for us there was a Lamb provided as a substitute for our sin.
#LoveMatters