Abraham obeyed God to the point where he had his son tied to the altar and a
knife raised ready for sacrifice. So in his heart, and in the heart of Isaac, the sacrifice
had really taken place and there was no turning back, there was no disobedience...
And then the urgent and all comforting voice of the Angel of God spoke:
“Abraham! Abraham!”......“Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything
to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son,
your only son.”
Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram^ caught by its horns. He went over
and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called
that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord
it will be provided.”(Genesis 22: 11 - 14)
God tested Abraham and was satisfied that he would not withhold anything from
Him, not even his own life, or that of his son. God tested Isaac too who in effect
cooperated with his father, offering his own life in obedience, to be sacrificed.
When God stopped Abraham from sacrificing Isaac, we see that He also provided
a ram for sacrifice. This is deeply meaningful to the story of salvation. God was
not just playing games when He asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. He was
teaching a deep and profound truth, as early as then in the story of salvation. He
was teaching Abraham and his descendants that in the fullness of time He, God,
would have to sacrifice His only begotten Son for the sins of mankind, in order to
propagate the spiritual offspring of Abraham and of God. He was teaching them
that He did not require human sacrifice, but instead, His own Son would die as a
sacrificial ram instead of mankind, to give life to anyone who would accept for
themselves the sacrifice of Christ as our source of salvation. And so at the crucial
moment Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram^ caught by its horns. He
went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.
God did not want nor did He need Abraham to sacrifice his son. Isaac’s sacrifice
would not result in any lasting benefits in the story of salvation. God was using
this story to illustrate the sacrifice of Jesus Christ our Passover lamb, and the need
for absolute obedience at whatever cost. Isaac too needed Jesus for eternal