Genesis 22 God Will Provide

God provides the Lamb for those He calls.

Working through the text this week and I couldn’t help but think about lottery winners losing it all. You read about it all the time. It is almost enough to keep you from playing!

You see the stories, the huge amount of money ends up being more than they know what to do with. For a brief moment, their “dreams come true,” but almost always investments go wrong, estranged family members reappear in desperate need, bad habits get worse, and it's gone.

The really sad bit is, that for many, life is actually worse than before they held up that big check.

We come to Genesis 22 and within two verses we think this is Abraham’s story. Has it all, promise, relationship with Yahweh… But the hits have come. First Ishmael is gone, and now Isaac, the child of the promise, the heir through whom all nations would be blessed, is demanded as a burnt offering.

Outrageous story. Well known. Well told.

It is a soaring account of unhindered obedience, the pairing of faith and works of Abraham dangled before us as an unachievable standard.

Maybe that’s not the point, or fully the point of the story.

Maybe it is primarily to highlight who God is and what he does.

That’s our angle this morning, and we will attack it in three measures: He is a God who desires all, He is a God who provides what is needed, and the call is yours to answer.

God provides the Lamb for those He calls.

He is a God Who Desires All

As I was studying I kept zooming back out from this interaction thinking through the arc of Genesis so far; creation, fall, covenant. How the stories reflect the first revelation of Yahweh to his creation.

Then I thought of the first audience of Genesis, Israel, freed from slavery in Egypt, traversing the wilderness on their way to the land Abraham was promised his offspring would flourish in.

To both Abraham and Israel, God is giving a clear picture of who he is and how starkly he stands out against other gods.

Establishing worship for Abraham, re-awakening it for Israel. And he uses this “test” or training, or teaching of Abraham to set himself further above all others.

By saying “God tested Abraham” we think the Patriarch is the main character but truly he is the reflection or image of God at work in the whole redemptive story that Scripture is telling. It is God that shows up in a miraculous way.

Still, this is part of Abraham’s rock tumbler!

What is behind the request doesn’t surprise us, but the demand itself does, and the command is part of what sets Yahweh apart.

Genesis 22:2 “He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” (ESV)

Tragic, awful. Give his son as an offering?

To an ancient Middle Easterner, “burnt offering” suggested a process: first cutting the offering’s throat, then dismemberment, and then a sacrifice by fire in which the body parts were completely consumed on the altar.

Think of the flow here. Isaac is now his “only son” because at God’s command, Abraham sent Ishmael away, so now, you want this son too?!

We have nothing here telling us about Abraham’s emotions, his thinking. But if you have heard a sermon about this story I am sure the preacher tried to get inside of Abraham’s head.

Moses as the author though doesn’t give us any of that. But he does show us how fast Abraham responds.

That morning he loads up what he needs along with teenager Isaac and two others. Then he cuts the wood for the burnt offering and off they go.

This is the same guy that pleaded with God to spare Sodom if he could find just ten righteous… he knows how to negotiate with God. None of that here.

I don’t doubt Abraham was significantly troubled. But something horrific to us was actually pretty normal to him.

Human sacrifice, especially child sacrifice, was regular in Canaanite religions. In the era, Carthaginians were known for excessive child sacrifice, believed to be influenced by near middle-eastern spirituality. The story of the Greek general Agamemnon sacrificing his daughter to Artemis in order to win the Trojan War.

Children were seen as objects, property, not as humans with agency. It will actually be Judeo-Christian beliefs that will radically change the world’s view of children.

Not that Abraham was for it, but he wouldn’t have been surprised by it. Evenso, there is a trust that the Lord is up to something bigger.

Yahweh is making clear for those that worship him, human sacrifice is not the way. He is not like the other gods.

“Far from approving human sacrifice, God’s stopping the hand of Abraham in a culture where human sacrifice was common clearly indicates that God did not approve worship that sought to appease him with human suffering or effort.”

And being unique, he won’t share worship. No divided loyalties. Desires all, full out commitment.

Genesis 22:12 “He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” (ESV)

Of course he knew, but now we do. We know that’s what he is after. Whole-hearted commitment that drives behavior, sacrifice.

“The Bible affirms over and over that God knows everything in a man’s heart. So it is not that God is learning something new about Abraham. The point of this test is to confirm—really, concretely, and not only in the abstract—both to Abraham and to the world around him that his faith in God is true and immovable. Through his obedience, Abraham’s faith is made visible. It is put on display.”

Nothing can come before him, no idol, not self, and not even offspring. This will be the perennial challenge for Israel, for humanity in the redemptive story.

Abraham has learned this over time, from the first call out of Ur, the first time he looked at the stars and heard that his offspring would be more numerous. Faithfulness that follows, that trusts, because God desires exclusivity, such that obedience isn’t questioned.

This is still the way, he still desires all, an obedience that doesn’t withhold. It is just motivated and made sufficient on the other end of what comes next.

He is a God Who Provides What is Needed

The potential sacrifice of Isaac places in jeopardy God’s prior promises to Abraham (cf. 17:19; 21:12).

“The command of God apparently contradicts the promise of God. The command of God is just. There’s a debt of sin that needs to be paid, but the promise of God was that through Isaac the world would be saved… What is Abraham thinking? He is saying … What? How could a God of command also be a God of promise? How could a God of holiness also be a God of grace? How can God, who rightly can call in this debt of service, this debt of sin, also be the God who says, “Through Isaac, all the nations of the world will be blessed”? How is this going to happen? What’s going to happen?” Timothy J. Keller

The tension is there. And it is only broken by faith.

Abraham tells the two young men they leave with the donkeys, “We will worship and then we will come back to you” (v. 5). In the light of God’s instruction, Abraham’s remarks are noteworthy. Abraham anticipates that Isaac will return with him.

Reading the text, twice the phrase “so they went both of them together” is used to describe the action of this father and son.

Isaac is fully engaged here. He doesn’t know, likely, what God had commanded but trusts his father enough to go along, to carry the wood on his back and ascend the hill with Abraham, never trying to leave in fear or refusal.

Genesis 22:7–8 “And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” [8] Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.” (ESV)

This is the most important verse, maybe in the whole of the Old Testament!

More than being acquainted with the practice, Abraham can go because he has such faith in Yahweh.

Hebrews 11:17–19 “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, [18] of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” [19] He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.” (ESV)

There it is faith in resurrection, but by his own words in Genesis, he knows “God will provide for himself the lamb…”

“Abraham’s “God will provide for himself” is at the same time a declaration of trust, an expression of hope, and a prophecy of the future. And it is breathed in a submissive spirit of prayer. As we shall see, Abraham’s declaration of faith is going to effect a mighty echo in our doctrine of God.” Hughes

It is God’s nature to provide what he requires (even a gracious sacrifice).

Reality, Isaac is guilty of sin, he deserves what could come, death. Wrath against sin to be met. Abraham’s faith is rooted in this God who will provide for himself, to satisfy the need.

Bound and ready, with the knife raised, provision comes.

Yahweh speaks, “Abraham, Abraham… don’t lay a hand on the boy, now I know you fear God, seeing you have given all.”

Abraham looks up and finds the ram caught in the thickets, this was the offering.

Parallels the well provided for Hagar and Ishmael. But with more weight, this is to be an offering.

“There, close by them, was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. His father, as usual, had been right; the Lord did provide; the ram was released from its predicament, Isaac was released from the altar, and he experienced the wonder of substitutionary salvation. No-one had to tell Abraham to substitute the animal for his son; the principle of substitution was so well established as to be taken for granted.” Joyce G. Baldwin

Brings us back to Genesis 15 when God, as smoke and lightning went through the remains of animals as covenantal proof saying “I will do it, I will accomplish my promise.”

Here he provides.

Think again of the first audience, Israel. Acquainted with a lamb being slain instead of the first born of the family. Having come out of Egypt following the passover, their salvation, God providing the lamb for himself would have been not only a reminder of their deliverance but booster shot to their faith.

Because it was not the strength of Abraham’s faith that saved Isaac, it was God’s provision of the lamb.

D.A. Carson, 2016 pastor’s conference:

“The day before the first Passover they’re having a little discussion in the land of Goshen, and Smith says to Brown, “Boy, are you a little nervous about what’s going to happen tonight?”

Brown says, “Well, God told us what to do through his servant Moses. You don’t have to be nervous. Haven’t you slaughtered the lamb and dobbed the two door posts with blood—put blood on the lintel? Haven’t you done that? You’re all ready and packed to go? You’re going to eat your whole Passover meal with your family?”

“Of course I’ve done that. I’m not stupid. But, it’s still pretty scary when you think of all the things that have happened around here recently. You know, flies and river turning to blood. It’s pretty awful. And now there’s a threat of the first-born being killed, you know. It’s all right for you. You’ve got three sons. I’ve only got one. And I love my Charlie, and the Angel of Death is passing through tonight. I know what God says; I put the blood there. But it’s pretty scary, I’ll be glad when this night is over.”

And the other one responds, “Bring it on. I trust the promises of God.”

That night, the angel of death swept through the land. Which one lost his son?

And the answer of course is: neither.

Because death doesn’t pass over them on the ground of the intensity, or the clarity, of the faith exercised. But on the ground of the blood of the lamb. That’s what silences the accuser.”

Micah 6:7…And yet, in the end, only a human sacrifice would atone for sin. The ram was unmistakably substituted for Isaac, and in the prescribed sacrifices of a later age the substitutionary idea was most certainly present. The words of Abraham, ‘God will provide himself a lamb,’ are prophetic, and John the Baptist had evidently meditated on them when he said, Behold, the Lamb of God!’ (Jn. 1:29, 36). He may also have had in mind the Passover lamb, and the lamb led to the slaughter (Is. 53:7),

The Ram foreshadowing the Lamb… He provides.

The name of the mountain is not, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be obeyed.” The name of the mountain is, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.” On the mountain of the Lord, not, “I will do it.” On the mountain of the Lord, “God will do it.”

This will always be the central reality of his relationship with his people, he provides, and it will always be heading toward the “offspring” promised in verse 18.

Genesis 22:18 “and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” (ESV)

This expectation is in keeping with the idea that a single offspring of Eve will overcome the serpent.

“Not only is this a marvelous account of the mercy of God in keeping his promises to his people, it is also a striking foreshadowing of another substitutionary death centuries later. Abraham was called to sacrifice his one and only son, but was spared from finally going through with this horrific act. God himself, however, sacrificed his one and only Son (John 1:14; 3:16) without sparing him. Christ himself is the substitute sacrifice for all who would renounce their own moral record and look in trusting faith to him.” GTB

Searching the Scriptures for Jesus, we see him in the ram, provided by the Father as our substitute.

And in Abraham we see a picture of God the Father, not sparing his own son. He provides the Lamb for himself…

“We overcome by the blood of the lamb. There is the ground of all human assurance before God. There is the ground of our faith. Not a guaranteeing intensity of faith—so fickle are we. It’s not the intensity of our faith but the object of our faith that saves.” Carson

Makes giving it all worth it. It is forgiveness, life, freedom, blessing, and keeps us through our testing and training.

The Call is Yours to Answer

In this story we learn that it was never God’s intention to sacrifice Isaac; so why the test? To reveal faith?

“Faith is not merely belief, but action that persists in the face of trials and tests, demonstrating our trust in God's plan.”

Abraham exhibits great faith, as a model for us. Like him we can know testing will come, it’s part of the process.

James 1:2–4 “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, [3] for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. [4] And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (ESV)

We get through these tests and trials by being enamored by his provision.

“If Abraham had been at the foot of Calvary the moment Jesus died, do you know what he would have done? He would have taken the words of God to him in verse 12 and turned them around…He would have looked up at the Father, and he would have said, “Now I know! Now I know! Now I know that you love me, because you did not withhold your Son, your only Son, whom you love, from me.” How do you know God loves you and values you and delights in you so much that you can really rest in that and be free from the enslavement to people, enslavement to situations, enslavement to circumstances? How can you know? How can you know he loves you like that?

Not abstractly. Not by saying, “I’m just going to trust in him.” By the Spirit, you have to see Abraham and Isaac going up the mountain was a picture of the price the Father paid at Calvary. It has to move you, and it has to change you. You have to, from the bottom of your heart by the power of the Spirit, say, “Now I know. Now I know! Now I know that you love me, because you gave your Son. You did not withhold your Son, your only Son, whom you love, from me.” Timothy J. Keller

Realizing this love we become so convinced there is nothing better. He has the words of life. And like Abraham we hear his call to come to him and we do, forsaking all the little gods we thought would satisfy.

The idols that demanded we sacrifice our family, our children, our lives, for them and have only left us empty.

“Life is going to come and take away everything eventually that you put your hopes in. Every time something like that happens, every time a difficulty comes, it’s God saying, “Listen to the call. Your heart says you have to have this to be happy. Your heart says you have to have this to be of importance. Your heart says you have to have this to have meaning in life, but all you need is me.”

You’ll never be able to live like Abraham by trying. You have to first believe in the one to whom Abraham points… the One who took on the cross for you.

He provides the Lamb for those he calls. Follow him, give him all.

That’s the example of Abraham.

“By an oath God gave and confirmed the promise to Abraham that “all nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using the name of your descendents.” With what comfort may we suppose the good old man and his son went down from the mount and returned unto the young men! With what joy may we imagine he went home and related all that had passed to Sarah! And above all, with what triumph is he now exulting in the paradise of God and adoring rich, free, distinguishing, electing, everlasting love, which alone made him differ from the rest of humankind and rendered him worthy of that title he will have so long as the sun and the moon endure, the “father of the faithful!”’ George Whitefield

God provides the Lamb for those He calls.

Receive What he Provides - Jesus Himself. Trust in this Lamb who died on the cross for you for the forgiveness of sin. Drop the weight of sin you are carrying and cling to Jesus.

Follow Him - Obey, Trust in trials and tests. His way is better. His Spirit will keep you, comfort you, empower you for what is ahead. And He will give you a community to follow him with. To carry each other.

Abraham won the lottery, in terms that matter, relationship with God, provision and promise for all of life.

These are the last words Yahweh will speak to Abraham. He has responded to the call in faith, and the promise goes on, his offspring will bless all people. The ram, right on time. A picture of a greater provision to come.

“The Genesis record of Abraham’s testing, then, is rather like the first drawing of a great artist, who has in mind a master work. The pencil sketch is perfect in its own right, yet the finished painting far surpasses the original drawing in which the same hand can be seen to have been at work. The way of faith, tested by ‘fire’, continues to reveal the genuineness of God’s servants, and to bring glory to him (1 Pet. 1:6–7).” Joyce G. Baldwin

Romans 8:32 “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (ESV)