Teenage Sunday School and Abraham's Sacrifice

Actually today we did a lot of Abraham -- a brief review of God's covenant, and of his rescue of Lot. But we spent the most time on the near-sacrifice of Isaac.

Challenge for the class: during the reading, listen for the answers to these two things:

1. Where did all this happen?
2. What's the promise associated with the place?

Read Genesis 22:1-14.

1. Where did all this happen? Moriah
   
2. Who picked the place? God did
   
3. What's the promise associated with the place? God will provide the sacrifice. (We also did a brief review of the fact that "God will provide" is what "Moriah" means.)
   
4. Sometimes authors draw on the Bible for inspiration, particularly Christian writers. Can anybody think of a book or movie with a place called "Moriah" in it? Not enough Lord Of The Rings fans in class today, only one got the reference to the mines of Moriah, and to Gandalf's sacrificing himself to save the fellowship there.
   
5. Does anyone know whether, in later times, sacrifice was important to Abraham's descendants in Israel? Yes, it was.
   
6. Does anyone know where they made the sacrifices? At the temple.
   
7. Does anyone know where they built the temple? On a mountain. In Jerusalem.
   

Read 2 Chronicles 3:1

Then Solomon began to build the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to his father David. It was on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, the place provided by David.

1. Where exactly did they build the temple? Mt. Moriah. The same place Abraham went to sacrifice Isaac.
   
2. Who picked the place? God.
   
3. What was the promise that goes with the name "Moriah"? God will provide the sacrifice. (Which was a giveaway, it was still on the board, but I wanted them to see the connection.)
   
4. When it says "God will provide the sacrifice," what is the ultimate promise about? Jesus