What is the deeper meaning of Abraham and Isaac-the biblical narrative?

Three short answers.

I read
this story, didn't think much of it.  Then watched the TV series and seeing it acted out
made it so much more real.  I questioned why God would do that.  If anything, seeing it
made me reject God and the bible even more.

After some
problems in my own life, the story keeps coming back to me, and I think I've discovered
the meaning of the story, and now cherish it, after once hating
it.

There are 3 possible reasons, I think, God commanded
Abraham to sacrifice his son:

1) God isn't all-knowning,
and needed to see if Abraham was true to his faith.

2) God
is all knowning, and the test isn't for God, but for Abraham.  It was something Abraham
needed.

3) Either God knew Abraham's inevitable choice, or
not, but God needed it to be a story of faith for men to know later.  To teach men
faith, sacrifice, and what it means to cherish the Lord above all
things.

This story is incredibly powerful.  It's
DECEPTIVELY powerful!  Most people will read it, and even these explanations, and not
think further.  But maybe one day something will happen in your life, like mine, and it
will take on a new hue.  I married my wife because it was the first person in my life
that I thought loved me unconditionally and wholly.  It wasn't until she told me she
doesn't love me anymore, that this story become clear to me.  And I realized how deep
unconditional love is... unconditional love couldn't be better displayed than
sacrificing the one thing you love above all things, even yourself.  As an old man would
probably feel about sacrificing his cherished child.