Why was Abraham so compliant when asked to sacrifice his son?
Hebrews 11:17-19 answers this question for me...
"17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, as good as offered up Isaac—the man who had gladly received the promises attempted to offer up his only-begotten son— 18 although it had been said to him: “What will be called your offspring will be through Isaac.” 19 But he reasoned that God was able to raise him up even from the dead, and he did receive him from there in an illustrative way."
1) It was a test....God was never going to let him carry it out.
Abraham's faith was tested to see how far his obedience would go....even in this most difficult of all requests, the only man in existence to be called "God's friend" did not let him down.
2) He had absolute faith in the resurrection because God had already told him that all of God's promises would be achieved through Isaac. He did not expect that Isaac's death would be permanent.
3) This scenario pictured the gut wrenching choice that God himself made to sacrifice a precious son when it was called for.
4) Abraham already demonstrated that he could speak up if he felt that something God had proposed to do was unjust in his eyes. He bargained with God over the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, but in the final analysis, God showed Abraham that nothing he does is unjustified or undeserved. (Genesis 18:23-33)