Powerpoint Pictures: School Exam Hall; Driving Test in Action; Eye Test Chart; Child playing Instrument; Someone doing a push up; Blood being taken; Ear

What kinds of tests do you get? [School tests, driving test, eye test, music exams, fitness tests, blood tests, hearing tests].

God had done the impossible and kept His promise to give Abraham and Sarah a son Isaac.  It looks like all is set for Abraham’s family to become a great nation.

But then comes a shock in the story.  Abraham is given a test.

“Some time later God tested Abraham.  He said to him, “Abraham!”  “Here I am,” he replied.  Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah.  Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”” (Genesis 22:1-2)

The test Abraham faced was the hardest of all.  To sacrifice or kill his son.  The one he loved.  The one he’s waited such a long time for.

This test will see whether Abraham really loved God and whether Abraham really believed God would keep His promise.  After all, if Isaac dies, how will the promise be kept?

Abraham and Isaac took at journey into the mountains with all the stuff needed to build an altar.  When they arrived at the place, Abraham constructed the altar and probably with a tear in his eye placed his son Isaac upon it.  He then lifted up his knife and just as he was about to bring it down…

A voice shouted, “Stop!  Don’t harm the boy!”

Abraham had passed the test.  He showed that he loved God more than anything and that he believed God would keep His promise.  In Isaac’s place God provided a ram to die, a substitute.

Abraham has a son but he is only the first part of the promise.  It is still a long way from being a great nation.  Also, will Isaac be the promised Saviour?

[ALTERNATIVE ENDING: Now later on in the Bible we find another occasion where a Father sacrifices His Son.  In doing so it wasn’t testing how much this person love God but showing us how much God loves us because the Father was God and the Son Jesus.  Jesus was the Son, God said ‘whom I love’.  This time there was no substitute, Jesus was the substitute.   He was dying instead of us, so that we can be forgiven of our sins and adopted into God’s family.  That’s how much God loves us.]