Jehovah-Jireh "the Lord will provide"

Genesis 22:4-8

Abraham and Isaac and the two young men are in the third day of the journey and Abraham sees the mountain of Moriah.  The trip is only about thirty miles in some rough country, Abraham is over one hundred years of age and it has been a long three days; I am sure the enemy of his soul has been telling him, “did God really say” and Abraham is holding on to the promise that God has made to him.

The Scripture does not address them as anything but “two of his young men” but you wonder are they friends of Isaac, did they grow up with him?  I can only imagine the excitement of the three boys, we are going with Abraham to the land of Moriah, it would contrast the excitement that I felt as a youth on our first trip to the mountains of New Mexico.  It was also an honor, of all the people, he had chosen them to make the trip, and the real excitement was that they were going to worship God, and they all knew Abraham was a friend of God.

What the two young men did not know was that they could not make the final leg of the journey, it was only for the father and his only son.  Verse five gives us this account; “Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.”  At first blush it looks as if old Abraham has just told the young men a big one, but it is important to remember that the Bible is the best commentary on itself.  Hebrews 11:19, “He (Abraham) considered that God was able to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking he did receive him back.”  Abraham is God’s friend and he knows that his friend keeps his promises; the book of James gives this account.  James 2:21-23, “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?  You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness” – and he was called a friend of God.”

It is the final few miles of the journey, Isaac begins to understand it is a father and son day and for many years he has been the center of his dad’s heart, he has total trust and admiration for his father.  I’m sure they have talked about the pagans living around them and how they sacrificed their sons and daughters to the pagan gods, and how evil that action was.  Taking back up in verse 7,8, “And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!”  And he said, “Here am I, my son.”  He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”  Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering my son.” So they went both of them together.”

It is impossible to read this and not understand that God did provide the lamb, his name was Jesus, and like Isaac, He was the only Son, not of man but of God.  It is of the utmost importance to see the picture that God has painted, Isaac had the wood put on his back for the final part of the journey, Jesus also had the wood of the cross on His.  The apostle John records in John 1:29, these words from John the Baptist; “The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”  The apostle Peter states, “but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.  He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for our sake.”  (1Peter 1:19,20,)  That may not blow you away but it should, before He created us, He already had a plan in place to redeem us!

Abraham was looking forward to Jehovah-jireh, “the Lord will provide,” you and I are looking back, God has provided the Lamb, for whosoever will confess their sins of trying to live a life independent of Him, and believe that Jesus is the only way to the Father.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice