Of all of the narratives in the Scriptures that tug at our heartstrings, Genesis 22:1-19 has to be among the those that tug the most. But we shouldn't let the evocative story distract us from the point of the account. The focal point is summarized in verse 8: "God will provide Himself a lamb."
Imagine Abraham's recent life experience: Isaac has been born, Hagar and Ishmael have been cast out, and Abraham continue to lives among the Philistines, and now, suddenly, God commands Abraham to sacrifice his only son as a test of his faith! And what a test is was. It went to the very heart of Abraham's faith. Everything that Abraham had done, had hoped for, and had worked for is now to become a column of smoke. There is no indication that either Abraham or Issac had done anything to deserve this, but God commanded that the innocent and promised son was to die on a hill in what would become Jerusalem by the hand of his loving father. What a glorious foreshadowing of what was to come in the sacrifice of the greater son of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Yet, having been commanded, Abraham rises early to faithfully perform his unpleasant task. How could Abraham do this? The answer is found in Heb. 11-17: "By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure."
As Abraham stands over his son with knife in hand, he is so intent on obedience, the angel of the Lord has to call his name twice before he responds. And what glorious news it is! Abraham has passed the test and God himself provides the sacrifice. The faith of Abraham which had been "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" is now manifested to his eyes. The son of promise will now live and the ram of promise will die in his place. So for the third explicit time, the covenant-making and covenant-keeping God of Heaven and earth makes covenant promises to Abraham.
The promises that were made to our father Abraham were, to a large extent, a renewal of previous promises, but the fact that the Lord commits Himself again, should not pass our notice. The Lord swears by His own name, because there is none higher, to emphatically repeat the promise of blessing (abundance). Have we thus been blessed as Abraham's children by faith? "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." (Eph. 1:3-6) That is, the answer is "yes". Is the promise of multiplication sure? "After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands..." (Rev. 7:9) That is, the answer is "yes". Will we be victorious as the Lord promised to Abraham and his seed? "For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?" (I John 5:4, 5) That is, "yes".
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