God tells Abraham to sacrifice Isaac

Lesson: God Provides the Lamb

1. Story:

• Tell the story of God telling Abraham to sacrifice Isaac from Genesis 22:1-19.
• Abraham was a friend of God. 
• Remember all the promises God promised Him? One of them was that God promised Abraham as many children as the stars. And though Abraham had no children for many, many years, God finally gave him a son, Isaac.
• One day, God told Abraham, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love ... Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering."
• Abraham waited so long for his son. And now he had one, God was asking him to sacrifice him?
• Abraham couldn't understand; but he knew God, he knew God loved Him, and he trusted God.
• So the next morning, Abraham took his son Isaac and set off to the place where God told him to go. He carried the fire and knife, and put the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac's back.
• As they walked up the hill, Isaac asked his father, "The fire and wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"
• Abraham answered, "God will provide the lamb."
• When they reached, Abraham then built an alter and arranged wood on it. Then he bound Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood.
• How do you think Isaac felt? He definitely couldn't understand! But he knew his father, he knew his father loved Him, and he trusted his father.
• As Abraham reached out his hand raised the knife high, suddenly the angel of the Lord called out, "Abraham! Abraham! Stop! Don't hurt the boy. I want him to live and not die. I know now that you love me because you would have given me your only son."
• Abraham must have been so relieved. He looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in the thicket. He took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son, and called that place, "The Lord will Provide."
• God then blessed Abraham again, "Because you obeyed me, even when I asked you to do a hard thing, I will richly bless you. From you will become a great nation, and all people on earth will ask you to be blessed the way I have blessed you, all because you obeyed my command."

2. Lesson: Good News for Today!

• From this story, we see God's heart and a shadow of His redemption plan.
• God:
• wants His people to live, not die
• wants to rescue His people, not punish them
• wants His people to just trust Him
• God promised that one day, through Abraham, He will give the world a sacrifice to tell them how much He loves them.
• One day, God took His son, His only son, Jesus, whom He loves, and sacrificed Him as a burnt offering.
• He put the cross on His back and made Him walk up the hill.
• Like the ram caught in the thorny bush, Jesus had a crown of thorns pressed on His brow as He took the punishment for our sin.
• God provided Jesus, the lamb of God. Jehovah Jireh!
• And because of Jesus' obedience, we all have the same blessing of Abraham.
• Let's pray: Thank you Jesus that You took our place as the sacrificial lamb. Thank you that You took all our sins and sicknesses on the cross and that You defeated death when You rose 3 days later. Thank you that we have life and blessings because of You. Amen!"