God will provide the lamb · Isaac’s question and God’s answer
A Bible story to tell as a family · Genesis 22:1–14 · ages 6–12 · 10 min
The story
Abraham was already very old when God kept an old promise: Isaac was born, the son they had waited for so long. Imagine the joy in that tent! Isaac grew into a young man, and Abraham loved him very much. One day God called: “Abraham!” And he answered right away: “Here I am.” But what God asked was the hardest thing Abraham had ever heard: to take Isaac to the land of Moriah and offer him as a burnt offering, a sacrifice burned whole on the altar.
Pause here for a moment. The Bible tells us in the very first sentence that God was testing Abraham, that is, putting his faith to the test. The reader already knows something Abraham did not: God was not going to let Isaac die. Later, in the Law, God would say plainly that he hates it when nations offer their own children to their gods (Deuteronomy 12:31). Without understanding, Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, split the wood and set out with Isaac and two helpers. Clip, clop, clip, clop: three days of walking.
On the third day, Abraham saw the place in the distance. He told the helpers to wait with the donkey, because he and the boy would go and worship and then come back. Notice that: he said both of them would come back! Then Abraham put the wood on Isaac’s back and carried the fire and the knife in his hands. And the two of them went on together, up the mountain, step by step, in silence.
Halfway up, Isaac broke the silence: “My father!” And Abraham said: “Here I am, my son.” Isaac looked at the wood, looked at the fire and asked the question that runs through the whole Bible: “The fire and the wood are here,” he said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” What a question! Abraham answered: “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” To provide means to supply, to give exactly what is missing.
At the top, Abraham built the altar, arranged the wood, bound Isaac and laid him on the wood. Hearts are pounding... Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife. And then, from heaven, a voice: “Abraham, Abraham!” It was the angel of the LORD: “Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him.” Phew! God stopped everything just in time. He never wanted Isaac to die; he wanted to show Abraham, and us, who it is that provides.
Abraham looked up and saw, right behind him, a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. Baaa! He took the ram and offered it in place of his son. Isaac came down from that altar alive and well. And Abraham gave the place a new name: “The LORD Will Provide”. God had done exactly what Abraham had said on the way: he provided the sacrifice.
After that, God renewed his promise: through Abraham’s offspring all the nations of the earth would be blessed. Father and son went down the mountain. But Isaac’s question kept echoing for centuries: where is the lamb? Much later, on the banks of the Jordan River, John the Baptist saw Jesus coming and answered: “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
1Some time later God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he answered. 2“Take your son,” God said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.” 3So Abraham got up early the next morning, saddled his donkey, and took along two of his servants and his son Isaac. He split the wood for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had designated. 4On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5“Stay here with the donkey,” Abraham told his servants. “The boy and I will go over there to worship, and then we will return to you.” 6Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac. He himself carried the fire and the sacrificial knife, and the two of them walked on together. 7Then Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” “Here I am, my son,” he replied. “The fire and the wood are here,” said Isaac, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” 8Abraham answered, “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two walked on together. 9When they arrived at the place God had designated, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He bound his son Isaac and placed him on the altar, atop the wood. 10Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. 11Just then the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 12“Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him,” said the angel, “for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.” 13Then Abraham looked up and saw behind him a ram in a thicket, caught by its horns. So he went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son. 14And Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. So to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”
What the Bible says
- v. 8: Abraham tells Isaac: “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”
- v. 12: the angel of the LORD stops Abraham: the boy must not be harmed at all.
- v. 13: Abraham offers a ram in place of his son, and then names the place “The LORD Will Provide.”
What we learn
God did not want Isaac to die: he himself stopped Abraham’s hand and provided the sacrifice. The New Testament says explicitly that Abraham offered Isaac by faith, believing that God could even raise the dead, and that figuratively he received him back (Hebrews 11:17–19). Seeing in the ram that dies in the son’s place a picture of Jesus, the Lamb God provided (John 1:29), is a traditional Christian reading, and a very ancient one. The difference is moving: on the mountain, God spared Abraham’s son; on the cross, he did not spare his own Son (Romans 8:32).
Questions to talk about
For little ones
- What did Isaac carry on his back as he climbed the mountain?
- What did God give to take Isaac’s place?
For kids
- Isaac asked: where is the lamb? Who is the Lamb God gave for us?
- Abraham trusted God even without understanding everything. When is it hard for you to trust?
For teens
This story bothers a lot of people, and it’s okay to admit that. What changes when you notice that the text says from the start that it was a test, and that God stopped the sacrifice? What questions are still left for you?
For adults
- What are you holding on to so tightly that it would be hard to entrust it to God’s hands?
Activity
Lamb hunt: an adult hides a stuffed animal or a cotton ball with little paper ears somewhere in the house. The kids carry a bundle of wooden skewers or twigs (Isaac’s wood) and search, asking out loud: where is the lamb? Whoever finds it reads Genesis 22:8. To finish, write on a piece of paper and stick it on the fridge: Jesus is the Lamb God gave.
To memorize: Genesis 22:8
Prayer
Father, thank you because you see ahead of us and provide what is missing. Thank you for Jesus, the Lamb you yourself gave for us. Teach us to trust you when we don’t understand the way. In Jesus’ name, amen.