MONDAY 31st
Genesis 22
NIV (v14) – ‘So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.’
ESV (v14) – ‘So Abraham called the name of that place, The LORD will provide; as it is said to this day, On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.’
Fast forward a number of years after Abram had left his homeland, God made to him a promise that he and his wife Sarai would have a son, despite the fact that they were getting on in years and she was barren. At the point of the promise of a son of their own, God changed their names to Abraham and Sarah. (Genesis 17:15-21) In chapter 21, the son who is named Isaac is born, but soon Abraham was going to face a bigger challenge to test his obedience than perhaps the challenge to leave his homeland was! In chapter 22, God says to him, ‘Abraham, . . . 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.’ You can only begin to think how Abraham must have felt, he had waited for this son, for him to be born was a miracle in itself, they had spent a few years together as father and son, and yet here was God asking him to sacrifice the son he had longed for and loved. And yet such was Abrahams faith, trust, and confidence in God he went ahead to fulfil what God was asking of him. I cannot think of anything that could be more more difficult than this which God was asking of Abraham.
We know the story, at the point of when the sacrifice was about to be made, God stepped in and spoke to Abraham, ‘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.’ And Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught in a thicket, and he sacrificed the ram instead of his son. This leads to the verse that I have highlighted for today which says, ‘The Lord will provide’.
What happened in this story was a test of Abrahams faith and obedience toward God, but ultimately was a picture or a shadow of something far greater that was yet to come, God’s provision of a lamb, which was to be his only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ who would be offered up as the sacrificial lamb for the sins of the world. And when Jesus walked up to the hill called mount Calvary, it was like the moment when Abraham walked up the hill toward Mount Moriah, Abrahams heart must have been full of anguish, and I can sense the heart of God the Father weeping, as he walks alongside his Son toward Calvary, knowing the moment had come for him to be the sacrifice on our behalf, and such was the agony of the moment, as the Son hangs dying on the cross, with the sin of the world upon his shoulders, the Father turns away and his Son cries out, ‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken me.’ Such was the price of our redemption, we needed redeeming, and the one who provided the ram on mount Moriah, provided the lamb on mount Calvary. ‘I should have hung on the Cross in disgrace, but Jesus Gods Son took my place.’
Thank God for his provision, thank you Jesus for your obedience, thank you for Calvary, thank you for your sacrifice on our behalf, thank you for saving us.