And the LORD visited Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had spoken. For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him--whom Sarah bore to him--Isaac. Genesis 21:1-3

The strife that existed between Sarah and Hagar grew worse when Isaac was born. That gave way to strife between Ishmael’s descendants (Arabs) and Isaac’s descendants (Jews)—which continues to this day!

God directed Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael away. While that sounds harsh, it was God’s way of punctuating that He does not accept our works; the works of the flesh, which are our efforts to fulfill God’s promises that only God can fulfill.

When Isaac was probably around 21 years old, God commanded Abraham saying:

Genesis 22:2 "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."

This Abraham believed God and therefore he obeyed. Hebrews 11:17 offers NT commentary on this OT event:

“By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18 of whom it was said, "IN ISAAC YOUR SEED SHALL BE CALLED," [Remember: Seed = Jesus] 19 concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.) believing that since God had promised to fulfill His promises through Isaac, that even if Abraham killed Isaac, God would raise Isaac from the dead.”

God stopped Abraham at the last possible moment saying:

Genesis 22:12 "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."

Abraham and Isaac are a prophetic type of God the Father sacrificing His Son, Jesus. The difference is that by faith, Abraham was willing, whereas God carried out the plan to sacrifice His Son.

More pictures of Jesus in this event, next time.