Genesis 22: 2: "Then He (God) said, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you." What? Does God want Abraham to perform a human sacrifice? What kind of test is that? Isaac was the child of promise and now his dad is going to kill him? That might be a typical response. However, when we read the text in Hebrew it has a different connotation. It actually reads, "Abraham, would you take." God is not giving a harsh command but rather a request. God never intended for there to be a human sacrifice. Hebrews 11: 19 states that Abraham believed that God would raise Isaac from the dead if He had to. The point is that God was testing Abraham's faith. Sometimes, God will want us to give things back to Him as a sign of our love for Him. He doesn't intend to hurt us, but rather to develop our faith in Him. When God provided the ram for the sacrifice so Isaac could be set free, how strong do you think Abraham's faith was at that point? And, that was God's point.
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