Abraham & Isaac (Genesis 22)
When Trust Meets Provision
Some passages of Scripture invite us to sit quietly and reflect, and Genesis 22 is one of them. It is a story filled with deep emotion — not because God delights in suffering, but because He reveals something essential about His character: He is a God who provides.
The ending shines the brightest, so we begin there.
On Mount Moriah, at the very moment Abraham needed it most, God placed a ram in the thicket. Isaac was never meant to die; God had already prepared the substitute. The entire story moves toward that moment — a moment that points forward to God’s greatest gift in Jesus, the Lamb He would one day provide for the world.
With that purpose in mind, the journey up the mountain becomes clearer.
Abraham had waited decades for Isaac — the child through whom God had promised a nation. Then came a command Abraham could not have fully understood. Scripture calls it a test, not because God needed information, but because Abraham needed a deeper encounter with the One who keeps His word.
What is remarkable is Abraham’s response. He rose early. He prepared the wood. He walked with Isaac for three days. All of this comes from a trust shaped by decades of seeing God keep impossible promises.
Isaac, now old enough to carry the wood on his shoulders, walked beside his father with quiet faith of his own.
“Father… where is the lamb?”
Abraham answered with the hope that held him together:
“God Himself will provide the lamb.”
(Genesis 22:8)
At the top of the mountain, Abraham arranged the wood. Isaac trusted him enough to remain. The emphasis here is not fear, but faith — a father trusting God, and a son trusting his father.
Just as the test reached its highest point, heaven interrupted:
“Do not lay a hand on the boy.”
(Genesis 22:11–12)
God stopped the act. He had never intended Isaac’s death. Instead, He revealed His heart in what happened next. Abraham looked up and saw the ram — the provision God had prepared.
He named the place:
“The Lord Will Provide.”
This is the heartbeat of the story. God is not distant or unpredictable. He does not take what He gives. He calls His people to trust Him, and He meets that trust with provision.
Mount Moriah points forward to another hill and another beloved Son. Where a ram took Isaac’s place, Jesus would one day take ours. The story is about divine mercy, substitution, and a love willing to give what we could never provide ourselves.
Through Jesus, God completes what He began to reveal on Moriah:
He provides the Lamb
He rescues the beloved
He fulfills every promise
“On the mountain of the Lord, it will be provided.”
(Genesis 22:14)
And in Christ, it was.
What does this story teach you about trusting God when you cannot see the whole path?
Where do you need to remember that “The Lord will provide”?
How does Isaac’s rescue prepare your heart to understand Jesus’ sacrifice for you?
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
On the mountain of the Lord, it was provided. And through Jesus Christ, that provision still stands — perfect, complete, and eternal.
Teaching Outline: Abraham & Isaac
Genesis 22, 1-18 — (New King James Version)
1 Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”
And he said, “Here I am.”
2 Then He 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.”
3 So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
4 Then on the third day, Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off.
5 And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”
6 So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together.
7 But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!”
And he said, “Here I am, my son.”
Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
8 And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.”
So the two of them went together.
9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood.
10 And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
11 But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”
So he said, “Here I am.”
12 And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
13 Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.
14 And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
15 Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven,
16 and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son—
17 blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.
18 In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
I. Introduction
Genesis 22 is emotionally weighty but deeply meaningful.
The story reveals God’s provision, not cruelty.
Isaac’s life is never taken; God’s purpose is trust and revelation.
II. Abraham’s Call and Obedience (Genesis 22:1–3)
A test of faith, not violence.
Abraham responds immediately, believing in God’s character.
III. The Journey to Moriah (Genesis 22:4–8)
Three days of trust.
Isaac carries the wood.
“God Himself will provide the lamb.”
IV. The Test Reaches Its Peak (Genesis 22:9–10)
Abraham prepares the altar.
Isaac trusts his father.
The narrative slows to highlight faith.
V. God Intervenes (Genesis 22:11–12)
The angel of the Lord stops Abraham.
God affirms Abraham’s faith and intention.
VI. The Ram Provided (Genesis 22:13–14)
God provides the substitute.
Abraham names the place: “The Lord Will Provide.”
This event reveals God’s mercy and His rejection of the practices of surrounding nations.
VII. Foreshadowing Jesus
Isaac’s rescue points forward to God providing His own Son.
Jesus becomes the true Lamb.
The story anticipates God’s ultimate act of love.
God calls us to trust Him — and He provides what we cannot. Jesus is the Lamb He promised.
Where is God calling me to trust Him?
What does God’s provision reveal about His heart?
