Genesis 22:1-19 KJV
1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
3 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.
4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.
5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.
6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.
7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.
9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.
14 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.
15 And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,
16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:
17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
19 So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.

Every western one watches and a good guy is about to be hung his friends rescue him. I sure there one out there that does not happen, but in truth the good guy in the western does not pay with his own life usually. If the one being hung had bore the price of another, then his friends would of avenged the guilty party. Point being it would of been a western about revenge and not salvation from a crime not committed. The first sacrifice in scripture written about is about the caused murder of a brother, the sacrifice to God had to be a lamb without blemish. The second sacrifice recorded comes after the flood. The third sacrifice has to do with provision on the altar after Abraham obey God and did not with hold even his son from God, but willing went to the altar and almost killed his son, but angel stopped him. This is before the sacrificial laws that were established at the time of Moses. Jesus dies a sacrificial death one for being king, but also because of the man, Barabbas that followed and killed in the insurrection as the tables of the money changers were turned over, and Barabbas would be set free instead of Jesus. Instead God would pay for the uprising with his Son, he would sacrifice his Son from becoming king of the earth at this time, yet a day will come that he will be our coming king to rule over us and that is in our hearts and minds. God demonstrated the spiritual cross of following in his ways through his Son. What it would mean in that day and in this day in time to follow after the ways of God and Christ.

God having Abraham to crucify his Son was a test to see how far Abraham was willing to go, or to demonstrate to Abraham how far he was willing to go for God. It had to have spoken to Abraham heart even after, it had to of spoken how much he valued his relationship with His God. It had to speak volumes that he knew God would either provide a ram or resurrect his Son. Yet the killer at the time of Christ crucifixion went away free because the people were not willing to give up their religious order for Jesus. Barabbas was High Priest son at the temple. Instead they got rid of who they thought was the trouble maker and that was Jesus. We see the offspring of Abraham without the same dedication to God, but dedication to saving themselves only. The prophesy in John 11 speaks of the High PriestCaiaphas declaring one man must die for the nation. The betrayer would be Judas who would sell Jesus for 30 pieces of silver to save the Priest Son. Okay one has to do a little research to get this analogy. Read Marks account of the crucifixion, also look up Barabbas and who he was or thought to be. Why I say this because I do not believe this is traditional teaching from any sermon I have ever heard. The story makes more since of how Christ got crucified instead of Barabbas. They could only free one man by Roman law during the passover, and Jesus though innocent would pay the price, but was he completely innocent only in not killing someone or stealing from the money changers. The only thing they had on Jesus was declaration of his kingship. People were ready to make him king until the insurrection and that where people drew the line, because it seemed in opposition to the temple as they were acustome to it. God's plan to have Christ redeem us through his resurrection and to draw all people to him came to pass.

Abraham sacrifice of his Son would only count him worthy to receive the promise God had for him of his children being as numberous as the stars, the promise of future generations. The ram provided showed God's love and faithfulness to Abraham, and if his son had been resurrected, it would only have declared God's power over death. Abraham already believed it. Already had faith God could redeem. If you wonder why, the story of Lot leaving Sodom and Gomorrah was right before Abraham went to build an altar to sacrifice his son on. There Abraham had found out God would save even if it was only one and there was three that God protected from destruction, Lot's wife would of been four but she turned back and looked. The cost of sin being death. The cost of obedience being life. And Abraham obeyed God even at the cost of his son. Yet God said that is price to pay not yours. He gave him a ram instead, so that Christ would be God's sacrifice for mankind. Yet his son did not have a choice but to obey his Father as he laid on the altar. God gave Abraham a ram. The need for Jesus, who would come from heaven in the form of man to die for mankinds sins, willingly obeying his Father, something Isaac could not do for mankind. That why provision was made.

If we are willing to give all to God then we also have to be willing to die if it becomes necessary. Yet Paul was redeemed though he faced many persecution, he continue to arise and continue his journey to share his faith. The Apostles would be martyrers for there faith and rise not. Others would die as well for faith and arise not. Paul was stoned and people of faith prayed and he arose up and walked to the next village. We have to ask are we like Paul in regards of going from town to town to face the cruelty of unbelievers. If you obey the rules no persecution. Where is the persecution at by obeying the law, it when the law is like the laws of Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego faced. Christians obey the laws of the land until it goes completely against God. We got freedom in our land. Many nations respect Christ today, even if they do not believe in Christ. Nothing stops you from praying anywhere. However how you pray whether it be aloud or silent might be the issue if it is time to be silent and to work like in school. Think and use common sense, but obey the Spirit of God. You will pay a price for doing so when you are not suppose too. Teach children to pray silently but also how to share Christ if they are saved. You want to put out the fires of hell, work within the law for now. Use the weapon of faith. Do not be a sacrificial lamb because you can't follow the rules that protect your freedom. Christ paid a price that we can not bare. Continue to obey the Spirit that has no law but God's law of faith. He will provide what you need when you need it for his purpose and glory.

Dear Heavenly Father, stengthen your people to be bold for Jesus within the laws of the land as long as we have that freedom of faith and teach to move by your Spirit because Christ died for us. In Jesus precious name, Amen.

Continual Scripture Study: Romans 5:14-21 KJV
14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.
17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.