The Lord will take care of it

Abraham faced a great challenge when he was told: "Take Isaac, your only son, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on a mountain that I will tell you" (1. Moses 22,2).

Abraham's journey of faith to sacrifice his son was marked by deep loyalty and trust in God. The preparation, the journey, and the moment when Abraham was ready to perform the sacrifice ended abruptly when the Angel of the Lord intervened. He discovered a ram caught by its horns in a bush and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son. Abraham named the place: "The Lord will provide it, so that today they will say: The Lord will provide it on the mountain!" (1. Moses 22,14 Butcher Bible).

Abraham was determined and radiated a certainty of faith: "With such confidence, when God tested him, Abraham offered his son Isaac as a sacrifice. He was ready to give God his only son, even though God had promised him and said: Through Isaac you will have descendants. Because Abraham firmly believed that God could also raise the dead to life. That's why he got his son back alive - as a pictorial reference to the future resurrection" (Hebrews 11,17-19 Butcher Bible).

Jesus said: "Abraham your father was glad to see my day, and he saw it and was glad" (John 8,56). These words emphasize that Abraham's test of faith was a foreshadowing of the future events that would one day take place between God the Father and His Son.

Unlike Isaac, for whom a ram was prepared, there was no other way for Jesus. In deep prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane he accepted the impending ordeal with the words: "Father, if you wish, take this cup from me; “Nevertheless, not my will but your will be done” (Luke 22,42).

There are numerous parallels between the two sacrifices, but Jesus' sacrifice is incomparably higher in its meaning and scope. The return of Abraham and Isaac, accompanied by the servants and the donkey, joyful as it undoubtedly was, cannot be compared with Jesus' triumphant appearance before Mary at the open tomb, where he conquered death.

The ram that God provided to Abraham was more than just an animal for the burnt offering; he was a model of the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus Christ would make. As the ram came to the right place at the exact hour to replace Isaac, so Jesus came into the world when the time was ripe to redeem us: "But when the time was full, God sent forth his Son, born of of a woman and under the law, that he might ransom those who were under the law, that we might receive children" (Galatians 4,4-5).

Let us grow together in this trust and celebrate the overwhelming hope we have through Jesus Christ.

by Maggie Mitchell

More articles about Abraham:

The descendants of Abraham

Who is this man?