sacrifices to atone for the sins of guilty people. And God was asking Abraham to do something that He himself had planned to do for eternity—sacrifice His own son. Indeed, the whole episode was a picture prophecy of what was to come. Isaac was dead in Abraham’s mind for three days, and there was a substitution of a ram so that his son would not have to die. For Isaac of course, there was a ram; for all people since Jesus’ death, He was and is the sacrifice. That Abraham received more specific directions