Genesis 22:2
And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

Didn’t another only Son, well-beloved by His Father, make a journey up a hill to be a sacrifice?  Didn’t another promised Son go willingly forth to face the end of His own life?  Didn’t another long-awaited Son trust His Father completely and bend in total obedience to His will?  Jesus Christ, the Messiah, came in His own set time, a source of hope for God’s Word to be fulfilled through Him.  Isaac was the promised one to birth a nation, and through that nation, Jesus would come to deliver His people from their sins, to set them free, to give them eternal life.

God hadn’t asked something of Abraham that He wasn’t willing to do Himself.  God would offer up His Son on the altar of sacrifice.  He would slay the precious and spotless Lamb and spill His blood.  And God hadn’t asked something of Isaac that He wasn’t willing to do Himself.  Because Jesus willingly left His throne and took up His cross, just as Isaac carried the wood, and bore it all the way to Calvary, laying down His life.  Of course, God spared Isaac, though He spared not His Son, but it proved that both Abraham and Isaac were willing to go all the way in complete obedience, just as Jesus would one day.

So will we follow God with this same kind of complete obedience?  Are we willing to go all the way?  God Himself is our example, because He was willing to give His all for us.  He gave the best He had.  And Jesus willingly offered Himself as a sacrifice in our place.  So will we join Abraham and Isaac on that journey up the mountain and go all-in by faith to do whatever God has asked of us?  Will we willingly bring what is most precious to us up to that altar and go through with the sacrifice if necessary?

God had a perfect plan for Abraham, the one called the friend of God.  And He had a plan for Isaac, this miraculous son born to Abraham in his old age.  And He had a plan for Jesus, our precious Savior, to make the atonement for our sins.  And so God also has a perfect plan for each of us.  He’s mapped out a course.  He’s made His requests.  He’s provided all we will need.  So let us go forward in obedience to our Father, completely trusting Him, going willingly, and accomplishing much for Him wherever He may lead us.