We studied Abraham who was so obedient to God that he left his city of Ur and traveled to the land of Canaan, which was not as good and attractive as his city in the flourishing Mesopotamia. He left his own land not to search for a better life but to follow God’s path.
Abraham is very important to Christianity. He is called “God’s friend” (2 Chronicles 20:7) and mentioned in the New Testament 72 times. God is referred to as “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” (Mt. 22:32) because “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” (Rom. 4:18)
God tested Abraham’s faith and obedience by commanding him to sacrifice his only and much loved son Isaac. Abraham’s faith in God was so great that he passed this test and obeyed even to the point of raising his knife to complete God’s command. Isaac, in his turn, was obeying his father and going to give up his life freely to God. Carrying wood for burnt offering on his back, he, in a sense, prefigured Christ who carried His wooden Cross in His readiness to give up His life. But God, Who loves mankind and does not desire for the work of His hands to perish, stopped the test before Isaac was harmed, and both Abraham and Isaac were blessed for their faith and obedience.
At the end of the class we built an altar out of marshmallows (representing rocks), pretzel sticks (wood for burnt offering), and orange and red gummy bears (fire).
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