Hebrews 11:17-19

17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,

18 of whom it was said, "In Isaac your seed shall be called,"

19 concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.

(New King James Version)

Breaking with my tradition of quoting scripture without comment on this blog, I feel that a few clarifying statements are required here. Firstly, the God of the Bible does not condone human sacrifice even though Abraham was commanded to sacrifice Isaac in this particular instance. The sacrifice was never carried out as God who never intended it to happen stopped Abraham before he could complete the act. There is a deeper issue as to whether God ever commands immoral acts, in effect contradicting his own nature. God generally does not do so, but we certainly observe an exception in this case. There is clearly no benefit in extracting any moral precedence from a situation so outrageous, but the enigma serves a purpose here, for it indicates the existence of a spiritual lesson beneath the literal plot. The promises of God in the life of the faithful, like Isaac is to Abraham, are in each case to be surrendered and put to death only to be kept alive by the grace of God. Lest we co-opt his promises and make them our pride instead.