First, it’s good to take a moment to think about how you would answer this question. From what you know about God and how God and Jesus talk about children throughout the Bible, what do you think? Was God in the habit of asking people to offer their children as sacrifices to Him?
Hopefully your answer to that question was no, but if it wasn’t, just let this be a reminder to read your Bible more!
People may debate about the meaning of this story in Genesis, but there are some things we can know. The first thing is, God hates the idea of humans offering other humans as sacrifices. Look up Deuteronomy 12 and read what God said to His people about sacrifice, and especially what He said in verse 31. Second, God loves and values children—just read what Jesus said about children in Matthew 19:14. Lastly, it’s important to realize the purpose behind acts of sacrifice. God made us. He knows us. And He knows how we think, how we learn, and how we remember. He knows that we are more likely to remember things we act out and experience ourselves than things we just see or hear or think about. Ask yourself this: Which means more to you: when someone tells you about some nice things they thought about doing for you (but never did) or when someone actually does an act of kindness for you? Which do you remember more?
God has often illustrated His faithfulness and His grace through practices acted out by humans in real life. Throughout the Bible, you’ll see God’s prophets living out experiences (sometimes in very strange ways!) to illustrate God’s words and help people understand His message. Jesus’ whole life was one big walking, breathing, living (and dying) picture of God’s love for us.
God asked Abraham to do a hard thing. Abraham agreed to act out the hard thing because he believed in and trusted God. As he told his son, “God himself will provide the lamb.” And God did. God will never ask us to do something sinful. We can have faith that what He asks us to do will be good.