In Genesis 20, we see Abraham making the same mistake as before. He lies about his wife being his sister. She's a half-sister, so it's a half-truth - but this is still a lie. And the king of this country still takes her away to make her his wife. But - even though Abraham does not fully trust God in everything, and sins - God still keeps His promises. God protects Sarah and she is returned to Abraham. Soon after this, Abraham and Sarah have the son that was promised to them and they name him Isaac.
FINALLY they have a child! And then what does God do? God goes to Abraham TO TEST HIM in a very big way...
(Genesis 22:2) Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”
Abraham trusts God with this. Oddly enough, Abraham would not have been too shocked at this request because human sacrifices were a common pagan practice back then. But this was a test on Abraham's faith, and would demonstrate who Abraham loved more - God or Abraham's only son.
As they walked up the mountain to prepare the offering, Isaac asks his dad, "Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" Here Abraham answers prophetically, "God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." Maybe Abraham was thinking more about how God had provided Isaac to them, rather than another provision. Either way, his statement was very prophetic - in two ways. As soon as Abraham takes the knife to slay his son, THE angel of the LORD calls to him from heaven...
(Genesis 22:12) “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
.Immediately, Abraham notices a ram nearby, caught in the thicket by his horns. God provides the sacrifice needed right at that moment... just as God provides the Perfect Sacrificial Lamb for everlasting salvation - His only Son, Jesus. When John the Baptist sees Jesus coming toward him, he says...
(John 1:29) “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"
Continuing with Genesis 22, the angel if the Lord ends His message and reminder of His covenant to Abraham with...
(Genesis 22:18) "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
Jesus would come through Abraham's descendants. And at that time Jesus would be 100% man as well as 100% God, in order to live in our place and die in our place as the everlasting payment for sin. Where there is sin, there is death - blood must be shed. Jesus would shed His blood for us. GOD PROVIDES!!! And when we trust Him for our eternal salvation, why would we not trust God for the tiniest things and all the things in the middle???
(John 3:16) For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
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