“God put Abraham to the test. He called to him, ‘Abraham!’ ‘Ready!’ he replied. Then God said: ‘Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him up as a holocaust on a height that I will point out to you.’ ” —Genesis 22:1-2
Abraham waited twenty-five years to have the son God had promised him. Then, as a test of faith, God told him to offer up the boy as a sacrifice. However, the angel of the Lord stopped Abraham at the last moment from sacrificing Isaac. This was a prefigurement of God the Father loving us so much as to sacrifice His Son on the altar of the cross. But unlike Isaac, Jesus was not spared. Instead, He suffered and died for us.
Prayer: Father, thank You for loving us so much as to give Your only-begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him will have everlasting life (Jn 3:16). I offer my body to You as a living sacrifice (Rm 12:1).
Promise: “I swear by Myself, declares the Lord, that because you acted as you did in not withholding from Me your beloved son, I will bless you abundantly and make your descendants as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore.” —22:16-17