22:8 a lamb. Though Abraham was fully prepared to slay Isaac, he evidently comprehended the ultimate meaning of the divinely-ordained principle of substitutionary sacrifice, practiced ever since God shed the blood of the first sacrificial lamb to provide a covering for Adam and Eve. He knew that, one day, the “Lamb of God” must be offered by God to “take away the sin of the world” (John 1:29) and thus to make possible the fulfillment of all His eternal promises.