Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition of your fathers. But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
1 Peter 1:18-19
Principle: Just as God provided a ram to die in Isaac’s place, so he has provided the perfect sacrifice, his Son, to die in our place. Jesus is our redeemer.
Through the Bible for Children
Lesson #22, Genesis 22:1-19, God Will Provide Download Craft
God promised Abraham a son, and through that a son, the Lord said he would bless all the world. Now Abraham waited for a very long time to see God’s promise of this special son fulfilled. In fact, Abraham was one hundred years old, and his wife Sarah ninety years old, when Isaac was finally born. That in itself is miracle, for they were both well past the age when it is possible to have children. They had waited for him for such a very long time!
After all the waiting, and then the special day of Isaac’s birth, Abraham and Sarah enjoyed each day that they spent with their son. They watched him grow become strong. They taught him about the Lord and the special promise that he, Isaac was from the Lord. Then one day the Lord put a test before Abraham. He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. When you get there I want you to sacrifice Isaac as a burnt offering to me on the mountain that I will show you.”
So Abraham got up early in the morning, and saddled his donkey. He took two of his servants with him, and Isaac his son. He cut the wood for the burnt offering, and went to the place that God told him. He did not put off until later obeying God. Neither did he argue with God or beg God to change his mind. He just got up and did what God had told him to do Abraham shows to us the end of obedience that God expects from each of us.
On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place a far ways off. He told his young men to stay with the donkey, while and Isaac went on ahead to worship the Lord. He said, “After we worship, we will return here to you.”
Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering, and put it on Isaac’s shoulders to carry. He took the fire in his hand, and the knife. “Father? Here is the wood and the fire, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Then Abraham said to his son, “The Lord will provide himself a lamb for the burnt offering.” And so they tow continued on until they came to Mount Moriah, the place that God had told Abraham to go.
There Abraham built an altar. He laid the wood in order upon it. Then he tied his son Isaac and laid him on the altar. He began to raise his knife in order to kill his beloved son, when just at the very moment, the angel of the Lord called to him out of heaven. “Abraham, Abraham! Don’t harm the boy. For now I know that you fear God, because you have not kept back your son, your only son, from me.”
Then Abraham looked up, and saw a ram caught in the brush by his horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it unto the Lord for a burnt offering in the place of his son. Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah Jirah, which means “the Lord will provide.”
Once again the angel of the Lord called to Abrahm saying, “By myself, I have sworn, says the Lord. Because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son: That blessing I will bless you. In multiplying your seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand on the seashore. Your seed shall triumph over his enemies In your seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed, because you obeyed my voice.
So Abraham returned to his home, knowing that he had obeyed the Lord, and because of his obedience are blessed.
When we obey the Lord, we bring blessings not only to ourselves, but also to those around us. Let’s use Abraham as an example for our lives. And let’s remember, how the Lord provides. He provided a ram to die in the place of Isaac. And He provided his only begotten son to die in your and my place, so that we could be called his sons and his daughters.