The first point is found in God's command, Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will tell you (Gen 22:2 NASB). Compare this verse with John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
Abraham was asked to sacrifice the one thing he held most dear, the son whom he had longed and waited for. This was the son of promise, and now he was asked to offer him up to God. Likewise, God offered up His one and only Son Jesus for us. Because of His great love for a sinful, lost world, He was willing for Jesus to die as a sacrifice for our sins, so that we could be reconciled to Him.
Next I see that Abraham took a three day journey and then he saw the mountain in the distance. He asked the men travelling with him to wait while he and the boy went to worship, then they would return (Gen 22:4-5). This is faith. On day one Isaac was as good as dead in Abraham's eyes. He had already determined in his heart to obey God as they set out. Now three days later he says we will worship then return. We read in Hebrews 11:17-19 that Abraham offered up Isaac in faith, believing that God is able to raise the dead. Therefore he received him back as a foreshadowing of the resurrection. Jesus was crucified on our behalf, was buried, then on the third day He arose from the dead and lives forever more.
I see God's provision of the perfect sacrifice in the substitution of the ram (Gen 22:13-14). At the last moment the angel of the LORD stops Abraham. He then sees a ram caught in a thicket and offered that up instead, naming that place "The LORD will provide". As for us, there is no one to make sacrifice for our sins. There is absolutely nothing you or I can do to become right with God, except for the atoning sacrifice of the lamb of God, the sinless Savior Jesus Christ. He died to make atonement for our sins against a holy God, and was risen to prove to the world that He is God in the flesh and His sacrifice was perfect, acceptable to the Father. We deserve the death that Jesus died, but He was the substitute for us. Truly the LORD will provide!
It is up to us to believe this; to surrender our lives to Jesus by faith, and from here on live only for HIM! He will cleanse us from our sin, change our hearts, and reconcile us to God.
