"Now I know that thou fearest God, seeing that thou hast not withheld
thy son, thine only son from Me."--_Genesis 22:12._
BY-AND-BY Abraham had a son--one only son, whose name was Isaac. All
the promises God had made were to be for Isaac's children after him:
and Abraham loved God, and hoped all the more.
But then God called Abraham to do a strange and terrible thing. He was
to go and take his dear son Isaac to the top of a hill, and there to
offer him up to God as if he had been a calf or a lamb. Of course, in
general, to do such a thing would be shockingly wicked; but Abraham
knew that when God commanded a thing, it must be right to do as he was
bidden, however dreadful it was to him.
So they set out together. Abraham took the knife, and a vessel with
fire in it and Isaac carried the wood with which the sacrifice was
to be burnt. On the way Isaac said, "My father, behold the fire and
the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" And Abraham
answered, "My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt
offering."
[Illustration: ABRAHAM OFFERING ISAAC AS A SACRIFICE.--Gen. 22:11, 12.]
Isaac soon knew he was to be the lamb, for his father put the wood
in order, and bound his limbs, and took the knife. And Isaac did not
complain or struggle. He was ready, like his father, to do the will of
God. But just as Abraham had the knife ready to slay his son, an angel
called to him out of Heaven: "Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither
do thou anything unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God,
seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from Me."
[Illustration: ABRAHAM'S SERVANT MEETING REBEKAH AT THE WELL.--Gen.
24:17.]
[Illustration: REBEKAH SEES ISAAC COMING TO MEET HER.--Gen. 24:64, 65.]
Then Abraham unbound his son, and was glad as if Isaac had really risen
from the dead. And he saw a ram caught in the thicket by its horns;
so he took that, and offered it up instead of Isaac. Thus God really
provided a lamb for a burnt offering.
And He blessed Abraham more and more, and promised again that his
children should have the land, and that in his Seed should all the
nations of the earth be blessed. That Seed was our blessed LORD JESUS
CHRIST, who, you know, was really given by His Heavenly Father to die,
and then came back from the dead, that all people might be saved by Him.