“7) And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? 8) And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. 9) And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. 10) And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.” (Genesis 22:7-10) Isaac knew that a lamb was necessary for a burnt offering. Isaac also knew that his father believed God and had a close relationship with him. Without questioning what his father was doing or what his motives were, Isaac followed his father’s faith. His only question was, “Where is the lamb?”
Abraham had complete confidence in God and faith in God’s promises. He knew that the sacrifice of an animal could not pay the price for sin, that it was only a temporary substitute, a reminder that the wages of sin is death, and a reminder of God’s promise to send a perfect lamb to deliver man from his sin. Isaac ‘s faith, therefore, was strengthened as he observed his father’s faith. Even when his father bound him, laid him on the altar, and took a knife to slay him, he did not question or shrink back in fear. He fully trusted his father as well as his father’s God.
We know certainly that God did provide a lamb in place of Isaac. This passage in Genesis continues, “11) And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. 12) And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. 13) And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.” (Genesis 22:11-13)
Just as God provided a lamb to die in the place of Isaac, He surely did provide Himself a Lamb – the precious Son of God without spot and without blemish – to die in our place, paying the penalty for our sins on the cross. “18) Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19) But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: 20) Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, 21) Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.” (I Peter 1:18-21)