Good & Evil Animation - Clip 4

Transcription

[music]

Isaac:  Father, why do you kill these pretty, little lambs and burn them on the piles of rocks?

Abraham:  The God of heaven and earth is holy and pure—far too pure for a sinful man like me. The first man, Adam, disobeyed God. The human race has been sinful ever since. God told Adam that if he sinned, he would die. But after Adam sinned, God killed animals and used their skins to cover Adam and Eve's shame.

When I kill a lamb and offer it to God, it is a statement that I recognize my sinfulness and offer the innocent lamb to die in my place.

Narrator:  Isaac grew strong and learned to trust the God of his father. Abraham loved him dearly, and they often went together to worship and offer sacrifices. The lamb was killed and placed on the altar where it was burnt.

God:  Abraham, I want you to take your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and offer him as a burnt offering to me.

Abraham:  God, how could you ask me to do such a thing? This is not like you. The heathen offer human sacrifices. You said you would make a great nation from my son Isaac. If I kill him, your promise will not come to pass. But you are God. I do not understand, but I will obey you.

[To his wife] It is a three-day journey, so we will be gone about a week.

Abraham's Wife: Do take care. I will pray for my two men.

Narrator:  Three days later . . .

Isaac:  Father, there is the mountain! We will be there before nightfall.

Abraham:  Yes. We will go and worship and return again.

Isaac:  Father, we brought the wood, and you have built the altar. But where is the sacrifice?

Abraham:  Isaac, you remember how I told you of God speaking to me and causing your mother and me to have a child in our old age? Well, he spoke to me again. This time, he said I am to offer you as a burnt offering.

Isaac:  Me, Father? Are you sure? Didn't God tell you that I was to be the heir? Head of a great nation? That my children would be as many as the stars of the heaven? If I die now, what of God's promise?

Abraham:  I have learned that what God promises, he is able to perform. If he says you'll be the father of a great nation, then you will. Even if you die.

Isaac:  How could it be if I am dead?

Abraham:  I don't know, unless he raises you from the dead.

Isaac:  Father, we must obey God no matter what.

Narrator:  Though Abraham knew that he was obeying God, it must have made his heart sad and his hands tremble. As he followed the normal procedures of offering a burnt offering. He tied his son's hands and feet, and laid him on the altar. The next step was to plunge the knife into his throat. With a prayer of faith to God, Abraham lifted the knife.

As he was about to plunge downward, suddenly, he heard a voice from heaven . . .

God:  Abraham! Abraham! Don't harm the child. Now I know that you trust me since you were willing to obey, even to the point of giving me your only son.

Narrator:  When Abraham looked up, he saw a ram caught in a thicket.

Isaac:  Father, look! God provided a ram to take my place.

God:  Abraham, because you have done this thing in not withholding your only son, I will bless you and multiply your children as the stars of heaven. Your children shall take this land and destroy your enemies. Also, through one of your children, yet to be born, all nations of the earth will be blessed.

Isaac:  Father, he is a merciful God, just like you said. [music]