Day 5: Offering of Isaac

"Abraham answered, 'God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.'  And the two of them went on together." Genesis 22:8

Main Character:  Isaac
Scripture:  Genesis 22:1-19
Symbol:  Ram

The son of family friends chose to travel to Japan while in college as part of an exchange program.  His group of friends stepped off the high speed rail to meet their host.  After exchanging greetings, they learned from the guide that they would have to travel to another platform to buy the next rail ticket needed to get to their final destination.  This was an extremely daunting task as they had all their luggage in tow.  "Just leave it here.  It will be safe," explained the guide.

You can just imagine how rediculous this seemed to our friend and his companions.  Not only did his suitcases contain all his clothing for the trip, but also his laptop and new SLR digital camera.  Now here is the amazing part.  The guide proceeded to prove his point that their belongings would be safe by placing about five dollars worth of currency on the ground a few yards away.  Everyone watched in amazement as three different people found the money, picked it up and asked everyone around if it belonged to them.  When they received a negative response, they put the money back on the group where it originally laid.  The fourth person that found the money followed suit, except he turned the bill into the ticket collector for safe keeping.

Point proved, the group of Americans williningly dropped their belongings on the platform and left to purchase their new tickets.  Imagine if we lived in such a society!  The trust and obedience displayed in this experience reminds me of our scripture lesson today.

Abraham was asked to make the ultimate sacrifice.  He was told to walk a distance of about 50 miles even though he was over 100 years old.  Not to mention that the whole time he knew he was being asked to sacrifice his one and only son;  the same son God had promised to him in our previous lesson.  Honestly, I don't think I would have the strength to make that kind of journey.

Notice that Abraham's obedience was rewarded with confirmation of God's previous promise - he would provide success and salvation for Abraham's family.  The ram in this story should remind us of the Lamb of God - Jesus - who would be offered as a living sacrifice for our sins.

Ponder Points:

• This scripture passage may be a little scary or hard to explain to younger children.  We make some adaptations by saying that Abraham was going to have to "give up his son" or "send his son to go bye-bye."  It seems silly, but that's how our son can best understand.  Point out to your family how hard it would be to be separated forever.
• Why is it so hard to be obedient?  Point out that most of the time when we don't obey we are being selfish.  Is there a certain rule in your house that is hard to obey?  How can you work together as a family to encourage obedience.
• Feel free to talk about how old Abraham was and how hard it would have been for him to obey God by walking so far.  It makes our rules seem not so bad!
• Show that Isaac was also very obedient.  He followed all of Abrahams instructions with very little questioning.
• Lastly, spend some time sharing with your children how the ram is a symbol for how God provides for us.  Make sure they understand that the ram is a symbol for Jesus.  Jesus will have to be sacrified to make God's promise come true; the promise that we will no longer have to be separated from God.