Abraham and Isaac

A Man Called Out, and a Promise for the World

After the flood and the tower of Babel, the nations scattered across the earth, and God turned His attention to one man. Abram's family lived beyond the river Euphrates and served other gods (Joshua 24:2). Into that home came the voice of the LORD.

“Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”GENESIS 12:1–3 · KJV

God promised a land, a great nation, a great name, and a blessing that would reach all families of the earth. Abram, seventy-five years old, packed up and went (Genesis 12:4). He went out, not knowing whither he went, and lived in tents as a stranger in the very land God had promised him (Hebrews 11:8–9).

God bound Himself to that promise with a covenant. When God showed Abram the stars and said So shall thy seed be, Abram believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness (Genesis 15:5–6). Then, in a solemn ceremony, a smoking furnace and a burning lamp passed between the pieces of the sacrifice. God alone walked that path, taking the whole weight of the oath on Himself (Genesis 15:17–18). He promised the land to Abram's seed for an everlasting possession and renamed him Abraham, a father of many nations (Genesis 17:5–8).

The promise waited twenty-five years. At last, when Abraham was a hundred and Sarah ninety, God gave them a son (Genesis 17:17; Genesis 21:5). They named him Isaac, which means he laughs, and Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh (Genesis 21:6). Everything God had promised now rested on this boy: in Isaac shall thy seed be called (Genesis 21:12).

Then came the hardest words Abraham ever heard: Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering (Genesis 22:2). Abraham rose early, split the wood, and traveled three days. When he saw the mountain, he told his servants, I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you (Genesis 22:5). He laid the wood on Isaac, took the fire and the knife, and they went both of them together (Genesis 22:6).

“And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.”GENESIS 22:7–8 · KJV

On the mountain Abraham built an altar, bound Isaac, and laid him on the wood. As he raised the knife, the angel of the LORD called from heaven and stopped him. Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught in a thicket by his horns, and he offered it in the stead of his son (Genesis 22:9–13). He named the place Jehovahjireh, and the saying grew, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen (Genesis 22:14). Then God swore by Himself: in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed (Genesis 22:16–18).