A Sample TCS Lesson
God Asks Abraham to Return the Gift of Isaac
Genesis 21: 1-7; Genesis 22: 1-18
Key Themes
-God tested Abraham’s faith.
-Abraham obeyed God even though he didn’t know how God would rescue Isaac.
-We are to love God more than anyone else.
Key Words
sacrifice
Advanced: Jehovah-Jireh -the Lord will provide
Learning Objectives
The child will agree that God wanted Abraham to give Isaac back to him.
When asked what Abraham did when God asked him to return Isaac, the child will say that Abraham obeyed God.
The child will agree that Abraham loved and trusted God more than he loved Isaac.
Materials:
A red box containing:
-A square of light brown felt, approximately 14″ x 14″
-The word Isaac written on card stock
-A small gift box
-A second small gift box of a different color. (I covered the second box with paper that featured a lamb.)
-A lamb or sheep that fits in the second box
-A figure for Abraham
-A child figure for Isaac to fit inside the first small gift box.
-A jar of rocks, about 10-15, to represent the road to the mountain
-A small mountain structure
-An altar
K-2nd: The word Jehovah-Jireh written on a larger piece of card stock with the words, “The Lord will provide” written below it.
Optional: A representation of a knife, see photo
Story: God Asks Abraham to Return the Gift of Isaac
Retrieve the story box. Our story today comes from God’s true book the Bible. Show the children the book of Genesis and turn to chapter 21. You can read this story from the Bible with your family. It is in chapter 21.
Enter storytelling mode. This is a beautiful red box. I wonder what it could be about? We haven’t had a red box before. Open the red box. Remove the brown felt and spread it out in front of you. Remove the Abraham figure and place it on the felt. Remove the gift box with the word Isaac and the peg figure.. Open the gift box and show the children the contents. Leaving these items inside the box, close the box and place it next to Abraham. Take the ram/sheep box from the box and place it behind you, out of sight of the children.
Begin slowly. Our story today is a hard story. It is the story of a huge test. And deep Inside this story is a picture of the most horrible and most wonderful story that has ever happened in the whole world. But this is not that story. We remember that Abraham and Sarah had waited so long for Isaac’s birth. Place the Abraham figure on the felt facing the children. God had promised them they would have a son many years ago. After years and years of waiting, they had a baby boy. When he was born they gave him the name Isaac, just as God had told them to. By the time he was born they were very, very old but that didn’t stop them from loving him with all their hearts. Place the Isaac figure next to Abraham.
Some of the key elements of this story:. Isaac as the gift from God placed on the altar with the second gift, the unexpected ram or sheep that would take Isaac’s place.
They watched him take his first steps and learn to walk and then run. They were with him when he began to talk. Soon he was playing and running and talking. He brought them so much joy, they probably forgot that they were so old.
As Isaac grew, his parents told him about the “One True God” who had promised his birth. Isaac learned that he was a promised child. He knew he was a gift from God promised to his parents years before he was born. I am sure he loved God and loved his parents very much.
One day God came to Abraham and asked him to do a very, very, hard, and scary thing. He asked Abraham to give the gift of Isaac back to him. Pause. He asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Isaac on an altar. He asked Abraham to give back the son that he and Sarah had waited for years and years and years to be born. Pause.
In Bible times a sacrifice meant an animal was put on an altar and killed. In this way, people remembered that their sins, all the ways that they had disobeyed God, were so bad that they should be punished and killed for doing them. Instead an animal was punished in their place and God forgave them their sins.
This photo has more elaborate elements for this story: the mountain, the stones representing the long journey, an angel, and a knife. The blue round box in the back has a drawing of a lamb on it with the substitute lamb that will take Isaac’s place on the altar.
Abraham knew God and loved God. Abraham had heard God’s voice many times in his life. He heard God when He had asked him to leave his home and travel to a new land. He had heard God’s promise to make his name great and to make his children’s children’s children as many as the stars of the sky and the sand of the sea. He and Sarah had waited 25 years for God’s promise to give them a son to come true. So when Abraham heard God’s voice this time, he knew it was God.
The Bible doesn’t say that Abraham thought about doing this hard, hard thing for weeks and weeks. It doesn’t tell us that Abraham cried and begged God to change his mind. Instead the Bible says that Abraham obeyed. The very next day Abraham, Isaac, and a few servants began a three-day journey into the wilderness to make this sacrifice. If you have a “mountain” place it by one edge of the felt. Sprinkle the stones slowly in a path from Abraham and Isaac all the way up the mountain. Slowly move Abraham, the Isaac gift box, and if you have any of the optional objects (wood sticks and knife) move these also, along the stone path and up the mountain.
As they got closer, Isaac said to his father, “We have the wood but where is the sacrifice?” By this, Isaac meant the animal that they would kill and sacrifice to God. Abraham told Isaac a remarkable thing. He said, “God will provide the lamb.” He didn’t tell Isaac that he was to be the lamb. He simply trusted God and said that “the Lord will provide.”
For the K-2nd: He told Isaac these special words, “Jehovah-Jireh” which means “The Lord will provide,” which is another way of saying that God will give what is needed. He is the gift giver. He will take care of what we need. Remove the cardstock label that says Jehovah-Jireh and place it in the front of your story. Later these words became another name for God. We too can call him Jehovah-Jireh, “The Lord will provide.” God will provide for us as He provided for Abraham.
When Abraham called God Jehovah-Jireh it shows us that during his long life, Abraham had learned that God takes care of his people. God had provided a home for Abraham when he left his family faraway in Haran. God had provided Isaac to Abraham and Sarah. Move the Abraham figure and gift box to the top or middle of the mountain.
Place the altar on the mountain in front of the gift box and Abraham. They built an altar If you have the optional wood bundle put it on the altar, Abraham tied Isaac to the altar. Place the gift box on top of the altar. If you have a knife place it next to the altar. As he was about to sacrifice Isaac, remove the angel from the story box and hold it above the altar, the angel of the Lord shouted, “Abraham, Abraham!!! “
Abraham said, “Here am I.” God said, “Because you obeyed me and were willing to give your son back to me, now I know that you love me more than your son.” God stopped the sacrifice at the very last possible moment. God did not doubt that Abraham was obeying him. Slowly remove the Isaac gift box from the altar.
At the same time, Abraham saw a sheep caught in a thick bush nearby. Slip the ram/sheep box from behind you and put it next to the altar. The animal had not been there before. Open the second gift box, remove the lamb inside of it and place it on top of the altar while putting this gift box to the side of the altar. Certainly, God had provided the gift of the lamb. Only God could make a lamb appear suddenly in the thicket. Only God could provide a substitute sacrifice for Abraham and Isaac! He was indeed Jehovah-Jireh.
Abraham and Isaac sacrificed the animal that God provided. I am sure that they wept tears of joy to God because He had provided the animal to take Isaac’s place. I am sure that Abraham was so relieved because he had obeyed God and God had provided a way out of sacrificing Isaac. God had provided a better sacrifice. God had provided a substitute sacrifice. God had provided the lamb. As you slowly put away the story you may ask wondering questions such as:
I wonder what Isaac thought during the sacrifice of the lamb.
I wonder what Isaac and Abraham talked about on the way home.
I wonder how this changed Isaac’s life and his faith.
I wonder how this changed Abraham’s life and his faith.
I wonder if this reminds you of anything wonderful that God has provided for you.