Abraham is 100 years old. It has been twenty-five years since God first promised him an offspring, but he and Sarah have borne no children. Something has to give. It does. The Lord is gracious, and Sarah becomes pregnant. At 100 years of age, Abraham becomes the father of Isaac. When Isaac is weaned, Abraham throws a great feast. This provides an occasion for Ishmael to mock Isaac, which infuriates Sarah. She insists that Abraham send Ishmael and his mother away. This is crushing to Abraham because Ishmael is also Abraham’s son, but only through Sarah’s handmaiden. God tells Abraham to send Ishmael away, and God will not only make sure he survives, but also become the start of a great nation. Genesis 22 is one of the most crucial chapters in the Bible. It tells the story of God testing Abraham by commanding him to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, to God. Abraham obeys God, takes Isaac to Mount Moriah, places him on an altar. As he brings the knife to Isaac, his hand is stayed by an angel, and Isaac is saved. They spot a ram caught in a nearby thicket and sacrifice it instead. That story raises a long list of questions. Did God really want Abraham to make a human sacrifice? How could Abraham have enough faith to sacrifice Isaac, when it was the son through whom God was going to fulfill so many promises? How could Isaac have enough faith in his father to willingly lay on the altar? How much does this story foreshadow the story of Jesus’ death on the cross? Perhaps the answers to many questions about that story can be addressed by looking at a New Testament scripture, Hebrews 11:19: “Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from the dead.” Absolutely astounding. Abraham had so much faith in God that he reasoned God could raise somebody from the dead. Never been done before, but that was the only way God could fulfil his promises to Abraham. Raising a son from the dead? Yes, just as God will do with his own son.