Jehovah Jireh Genesis 22:7-14
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Introduction: Human sacrifice and covenants.
Gen 2 - God sacrificed an animal to cover Adam and Eve.
Gen 4 - Cain - fruit of the ground - and Abel his brother brought - firstling of the flock - as offerings to the Lord.
Gen 8 - After the flood Noah used some of the clean animals as burnt offerings to the Lord. Because of the fragrant aroma of this offering God decided to never destroy every living thing again. He placed a rainbow in the sky as the promise of the covenant.
Gen 15 - God made a covenant with Abraham to give his ancestors the land that he was living in at the time. Genesis 15:9-10
9 So He said to him, “Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”
10 Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds.
Sacrificing animals to the Lord was a common practice for the people of God. But Abraham would soon be tested by the Lord in a way that was not common for God’s people. How obedient would you be in such a situation?
Our passage for this morning is Genesis 22:7-14
7 Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.
9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
10 Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
12 He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
13 Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son.
14 Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the Lord it will be provided.”
Transitional Sentence: So that’s the test. Sacrifice your only son to prove your faithfulness.
So what’s the Story?
Offer your son - your only legitimate son. As a burnt offering that is pleasing to the Lord. Did Abraham know this was a test? Genesis 22:1-2
1 Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
2 He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”
What??? But I won’t have a legitimate son anymore?
How can the promise be fulfilled?
This is human sacrifice like the heathen nations practice.
This is murder.
What will Sarah think, my servants and others?
How long did he think about it, how long did he struggle with it? Have you ever thought God was telling you to do something that you just couldn’t wrap your head around. Like leave your home and preach the gospel somewhere.
Vs 7 - The BIG question - Genesis 22:7
7 Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
Where is the sacrifice?
Vs 8 - Abraham’s answer to the BIG question - Genesis 22:8
8 Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.
Abraham’s answer shows the strength of his faith. God will provide for Himself the Lamb.
b. So why would this be such a hard thing for Abraham?
The answer to that question would be that this would be ritualistic:
HUMAN SACRIFICE. The ritual slaying of one or more human beings to please a god. This was widely practiced by many cultures in antiquity. Although the frequency of the practice is difficult to determine, the fact is that such rituals were performed for various reasons. For example, both Egyptians and Sumerians before 2000 b.c. killed servants and possibly family members to bury them with deceased kings to allow those who had served or been near the official in life to accompany him to the realm of the dead. In Mesopotamia, and perhaps elsewhere, the remains of animals and humans offered as sacrifice were deposited within foundations to protect the building from evil powers, a practice possibly reflected in 1 Kings 16:34.
34 In his days Hiel the Bethelite built Jericho; he laid its foundations with the loss of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates with the loss of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the Lord, which He spoke by Joshua the son of Nun.
So take a guess as to when Abraham lived. He lived around 2000 years before Christ. So this is something the nations around him did. The Egyptians and Sumerians. Abraham left Ur. Ur was a Sumerian city in Mesopotamia where they practiced such things. He left this stuff behind but he probably saw it all around him in the land in which he travelled. Then out of no where here’s His God telling him to do the same things that they do. That’s rough.
In a few years this kind of behavior would be specifically forbidden in the law of Moses.
No ritualistic human sacrifice is acceptable. But still, they would do it anyway. 2 Kings 3:27
27 Then he took his oldest son who was to reign in his place, and offered him as a burnt offering on the wall. And there came great wrath against Israel, and they departed from him and returned to their own land.
c. And then we have God’s answer to the BIG question. Genesis 22:13
13 Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son.
God provides for Himself an offering. It cost Abraham nothing to do what God wanted him to do. Sacrifice an offering as a fragrant aroma pleasing to the LORD.
How many times has God asked something of you? Did He provide what was necessary for you to do what He asked of you? Ability, money, time, desire, He doesn’t ask and then leave us hanging to wonder how it will happen. God will provide.
And then so this place receives its name. Genesis 22:14
14 Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the Lord it will be provided.”
Jehovah Jireh The Lord will provide.
2. The Meaning
a. Jehovah Jireh
The Lord (Yahweh) will provide.
to provide — to give what is needed, especially support, food, or sustenance.
This is God literally acting on behalf of Abraham to provide for his need at the moment so that he didn’t need to slay his son. This same support is available for each of us on a daily basis. Philippians 4:19
19 And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
So God supplies or provides for our needs. He supplies the big things and the little things. (Tell a George Muller story - bread and milk truck...)
He does it out of His riches. He doesn’t get it from someone else - after all, it all belongs to Him anyway.
So, what are needs?
(Add Maslow’s hierarchy of needs picture) Explain it.
b. The next question would be why? Why did God provide for Abraham in this way? Well, Abraham was obedient. Genesis 22:12 says:
12 He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
Abraham was told to offer his son as a burnt offering. Abraham was going to do. The knife was raised and poised over his son. Was God going to come through or would he have to do it?
Would you be that obedient?
So is obedience a requirement for God to provide what is needed? How much obedience is necessary? Would simple faith the size of a mustard seed do the trick? Or do we have to do something? Or will He provide as a need arises when we are acting obediently to His call?
c. So exactly what did God provide at this moment?
Obviously He provided a Ram for the offering in place of Isaac. The ram dies, Isaac lives. The ram was a propitiation for Isaac. A replacement.
There is no requirement for a regular sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins in the book of Genesis for Abraham. However, God said do it - so he did it. Sacrificial offerings were nothing new. There has been offerings all along. There simply isn’t a recorded requirement. That is why Isaac knew to ask about it. They've done it before.
Just like Abraham said, God provided an offering for Himself. But this is bigger than one simple act of provision for one small boy. This is a foreshadowing of what is to come. This is an indication of something that will happen in the future. This particular event points to the coming of another sacrificial lamb that will come in the future. This lamb to come is Jesus. He is the offering that God, Himself, would provide to deal with our sin problem. A sacrificial lamb that will replace each of us for the forgiveness of our sins.
10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
The ram was the propitiation for Isaac at the time. Jesus is the propitiation for everyone else! God provides for us during our lives but He also provides for us in death.
Sin carries a death sentence. A death sentence that will, when this body dies separate the unrepentant from God forever. That is the whole point of the gospel message. The good news. The good news that those who believe in Christ Jesus will not be separated from God forever but will live in His presence forever. That is eternal life. The forgiveness of sins through the shedding of blood. The forgiveness of your sins through the shedding of His blood. The Lamb of God the propitiation provided by God Himself. Jehovah Jireh, The Lord will provide.
3. So how should we respond.
a. First, know Him as your provider. He knows our needs before we even ask. Matthew 6:7-8
7 “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.
8 “So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
Make your needs known simply and without a lot of extra words. He knows what you need and will provide it.
Walk in faith as Abraham did. He will provide all that is needed. After all He has already provided the one thing we can’t provide ourselves. The sacrifice that takes away our sins.
b. Second, call upon Him as Lord and Savior because He is the Lamb of God. John 1:29 says:
29 The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
With sin comes guilt and shame. Adam and eve sinned and they realized they were naked and hid. So God covered them. God provided for them. God spilled blood in the Garden of Eden to cover Adam and Eve after they ate the forbidden fruit. Ever since the shedding of blood has been necessary for reconciliation to God. However, now there is no reconciliation to God except through faith in Christ Jesus. Only His blood washes away sin. Bulls, lambs and goats will no longer cover sin.
c. And third, prepare for your death. Each one of us can work to provide for ourselves the things we need in this life. But there is only one way to prepare for life after death during this life.
Abraham was prepared to offer up Isaac and trusted that God would provide for the sacrifice. God wants each of us to offer ourselves to Him as a living sacrifice. Trusting that He will supply everything that we need each and every day. However, many of us have trouble trusting and so we work and toil to make sure that we have enough for today and tomorrow and the distant future. It’s a consequence of that original sin. Genesis 3:17 says:
17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life.
And so we look down at the ground and toil for what we need to make it from day to day. What if we were to look up? What if we were to trust God to provide for our needs? Would we eat something more than bread?
As we work and toil let’s remember to look up. God is the provider. Even though we are working to get by remember that God is providing. Even though we are working for it, He is providing it. Be prepared for the things of this life, but don’t forget to prepare for the end of this life. The only preparation we can make for that time is to believe that the work is already done. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you do or have done. It only matters who He is and what He has already done. He was the sacrifice. The work He did on the cross is what matters. So accept and believe in Him and then repent of your sins and you too shall have eternal life.
Exit: Jehovah Jireh - the Lord will provide.
Throughout scripture there are stories of God’s provision for His people. Throughout history there are stories of God’s provision for His people. Stories like that of George Muller. Look back at your own life and you will probably see God’s hand on your life providing for you as you have need. Sometimes before you ask and sometimes only after you take the time to ask.
We can work and toil to provide for our lives in this life. We can take credit for what we have because of our work and toil. But we can’t provide for our life when this life ends.
What we need when this life ends only God provides. In fact it has already been provided. The Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. That is the only thing necessary to prepare for life after death.
Call upon the name of the Lord and you shall be saved. Accept Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior and you shall have eternal life. He is the one thing that God provides for our lives that we can’t in any way provide for ourselves.
Pray:
