Lamb of God

  
"He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth."

--Isaiah 53:7

"Suddenly, Abraham saw a ram caught in some brambles - the sacrifice.  God had given them what they needed just in time.  The ram would die so Isaac didn't have to.  And so Abraham sacrificed the ram, instead of his son.

And as they sat there on the mountaintop, watching the embers of the fire die in the cool night air, the stars above them sparkling in the velvet sky, God helped Abraham and Isaac understand something.  God wanted to rescue his people, not punish them.  But they must trust him.

"One day Someone will be born into your family," God promised them.  "And he will bring happiness to the whole world."  God was getting ready to give the whole world a wonderful present.  It would be God's way to tell his people, "I love you."

Many years later, another Son would climb another hill, carrying wood on his back.  Like Isaac, he would trust his Father and do what his Father asked.  He wouldn't struggle or run away.  Who was he?  God's Son, his only Son - the Son he loved.  The lamb of God."

--from "The Present: The Story of Abraham and Isaac, from Genesis 22" in The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones