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
The Story
Abraham loved his son Isaac, but God, seeking to test Abraham, asked him to give up his son, his one and only son with Sarah. God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac on a mountain as a burnt offering.
The very next day, Abraham set out with his son to the mountain that God told him about. After climbing the mountain and building an altar, he bound his son and lay him there. Just as he was preparing to slay his son, an angel of the Lord stopped him, knowing that Abraham would not withhold anything from God.
Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught in a thicket. He took and sacrificed it instead of his son.
The angel reaffirmed that Abraham’s offspring would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. [1]
The Significance
God promised Abraham that a great nation would come through Isaac. There was no other son that could fulfill the promise. If Isaac were to be sacrificed on that altar, then God would have to raise him from the dead to fulfill his promise.
God promised us that a savior would be born and that his kingdom would never end [2]. There was no other son that could fulfill that promise, but Jesus. When he was sacrificed on the cross, he died and then rose from the dead to fulfill that promise [3].
[1] Genesis 22:1-18; [2] Luke 2:10-11, 1:30-33; [3] Romans 4:25