"By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son," (Hebrews 11:17 KJV)
"So the promise is received by faith. It is given as a free gift. And we are all certain to receive it, whether or not we live according to the law of Moses, if we have faith like Abraham's. For Abraham is the father of all who believe. That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, "I have made you the father of many nations." This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing." (Romans 4:16-17 NLT)
Over the past two days, I have heard several different messages about those who believed that Jesus was who He said He was, and about all of the historical things that were made to represent His time here on earth. As it goes, there appears to be a time, possibly before the dark ages, when most of humanity was honoring Christ, in all sorts of ways. The actual time of history was counted, based upon His birth and the time of His departure, B.C. and A.D., which have recently been altered to mean something else.
I am saying this because there is some proof that the idea and belief in God sending His one and only begotten Son to save us from our sins, has been something that was known, in some form or fashion, ever since Adam sinned in the Garden. They might not have seen the whole picture, before He came and was the sacrifice for our sins, but they knew that He would be coming!
It has been said that the place where God told Abraham to go; the place where he was to sacrifice his son, was the same place where Jesus was crucified on the cross. It has also been told that this was the place where David paid for the threshing floor, to build an altar. Without a doubt, the whole reason for the test that God put Abraham through, was also a window to the place for Jesus to be crucified, right there in the same location.
There is more evidence of these being the last days, between the changing of the times of Jesus coming and going, to the way things are speedily getting stranger and technology is changing the way we live; this should be something that brings everyone who believes to a know that He will soon come for His bride! I really do hope that we all will be ready!
One other thing, that really should make this story more alive, is that Abraham said something to Isaac when he asked his father, "Where is the sacrifice for the offering?" The answer is sometimes not told by some the way that it should be. Some say that Abraham said, "God will provide the sacrifice," while others, say, "God will provide Himself a sacrifice." Based upon what I know, I choose the later, but regardless, they both are correct...
"Isaac turned to Abraham and said, "Father?" "Yes, my son?" Abraham replied. "We have the fire and the wood," the boy said, "but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?" "God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son," Abraham answered. And they both walked on together." (Genesis 22:7-8 NLT)
