Genesis 22 is rich in theology, while also rather disturbing in psychology! I often wonder what went through the mind of Isaac as he was bound and prepared to be a sacrifice, as well as what when through the mind of Abraham when he was called upon to offer his son, his only son, to God. It would have put an awkward strain on their father-son relationship, to say the least!
Well, putting Isaac's future therapy/counseling sessions aside, the main lessons of this passage are Abraham's willingness to trust God in faith and God's provision of the acceptable substitute offering when it was needed.
Abraham is the personification of "FAITH" in the Bible, and it was certainly on display here. To be called to take Isaac, the son of the promise, his only son with Sarah, and offer him as a human sacrifice to God boggles the imagination. The New Testament offers a clue in the book of Hebrews into the mind of Abraham that he was ready to do this because he reckoned that God could raise Isaac from the dead. So there are even shades of the resurrection in this passage, along with the other foreshadowing about the sacrifice of "the son, the only son."
This chapter is sometimes regarded as a "test" of Abraham. I'm not so sure that is accurate. God doesn't need to test us to find out what's in us. He knows already. If it was indeed a test, it was for Abraham's benefit, not God's. This was a moment when Abraham would discover something about himself and about his God.
What did Abraham learn that day about himself? That he would be willing to follow God through wherever or whatever he is called to do.
What did Abraham learn that day about God? That God actually does not desire human sacrifice, and that God can be counted on to provide for all our needs, even our need for sacrifice. "God Himself will provide the lamb," Abraham said (vs. 8).
P.S. Nobody knows for sure if this site where Isaac was nearly offered (Mount Moriah) would later become the mount known as Golgotha or Calvary, but it makes for an incredible parallel nevertheless. It could certainly be said of the location of the crucifixion of Jesus that "on the mount of the Lord it shall be provided" - for it was.
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