7. The Sacrifice of Isaac (Genesis 22)

After many years of waiting and trusting in God's promise, Abraham and Sarah finally had their son Isaac in their old age. He was their joy and the sign of God's faithfulness. However, the story of Abraham's faith reaches its most difficult and mysterious moment when God asks him for an unthinkable sacrifice: "Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love... and offer him up as a burnt offering." This request should not be understood as God wanting the death of a child, but as a supreme test of trust: was Abraham willing to love God even more than his own son?

Abraham did not argue with God. Early the next morning, he prepared the wood and set out with Isaac toward Mount Moriah. During the journey, Isaac asked a question that must have pierced Abraham's heart: "Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?" Abraham, with a faith that moves the soul, responded: "God will provide." These words were not an evasion, but the certainty that even in the darkest situation, God has a way out and a plan.

At the crucial moment, just as Abraham held the knife in his hand, an angel stopped him. God had seen his obedience and his filial fear. Instead of Isaac, Abraham sacrificed a ram that was caught in the thicket. This episode is what we call a "foreshadowing" of the New Testament: Isaac, carrying the wood and willing to obey his father, reminds us of Jesus Christ carrying the cross and giving His life for us. Mount Moriah is the same place where, centuries later, Jesus would be crucified, showing us that God did not ask Abraham for anything that He Himself was not willing to do for all of humanity.