Jehovah-Jireh: The Lord Will Provide (Genesis 22:6-14)

“Jehovah-Jireh, my provider—His grace is sufficient for me, for me, for me!” – Don Moen 🎁

Dear wealth wisher,

Are you desiring for dough? To grab that gold, will you go? Life is more than money—this do you know? Sure, we need it to survive, but it’s not the reason we’re alive.

We were made by God to love. Among His commands, it’s raised above. We must love God and our neighbor. Follow this and you’ll find favor. But what if God commands you to give up your loved one? It’s better said than done. Still, when you love anything more than the Lord, your place in heaven is not even one floorboard.

Let’s take a look at one great example of giving up a loved one to God.

Genesis 22:6-14 (KJ2000)

⁶ And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.

⁷ And Isaac spoke unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?

⁸ And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

⁹ And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

¹⁰ And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

¹¹ And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.

¹² And he said, Lay not your hand upon the lad, neither do you anything unto him: for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son from me.

¹³ And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering instead of his son.

¹⁴ And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.

Okay, Abraham didn’t sacrifice his son, but he was about to. If you don’t know the beginning of this story, here’s the short version: God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac on a mountain in Moriah. This was God’s test to him, and he scored 100%!

Isaac asked where the lamb was, and his father’s answer was one great prophecy: God will provide Himself a Lamb. Jesus Christ is the sacrificial Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world as the Baptist says in John 1:29 (Ryle, 1921). In our passage today, God didn’t provide a lamb, but a ram. This really shows that the Spirit lead Abraham to prophesy that a Lamb will be provided as a burnt offering. Sanchez (2018) wrote that in sacrificing a burnt offering “the worshiper identifies with the animal (through the laying on of hands), slaughters it, and then symbolically ascends to God in the smoke of the sacrifice.” Ephesians 5:2 says that Christ gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Back to Abraham’s story, he almost killed his son just to obey God, but he believed his son will live because he said in verse 5 that both of them will return. He still believes what God said in Genesis 17:19 that He’ll establish His covenant with Isaac’s descendants. What great faith he had! True enough, a replacement was provided to be the sacrifice in Isaac’s stead. This is a symbolism of God providing the Sacrifice in our place. It should have been us on the cross, but one who’s innocent must be offered there. It is detailed in Leviticus 4 the required sin offerings for different people, and the common thing needed is an animal without blemish. That is why only the Son of God can take away our sins, for He is without sin.

Praise Jehovah-Jireh, which means "The LORD Will Provide" (Got Questions Ministries). We, sinners, would be doomed to hell if Jesus didn’t come to save us. He came here that we may have life, one that’s eternal and that has meaning. Now that is real wealth, a life of abundance, but not what worldly people think. To them, abundance is being rich in material possessions. To us, followers of Christ, a life of abundance if being full of God’s love, a love overflowing too much that we have to share it with the people around us.

Praise God for His love, Love that came down to suffer for His beloved, Love that was crucified and died in our stead! Because He gave His life, He deserves ours. Let’s live right for Him, remember His scars. He humbled Himself that we may be reconciled. Let’s humble ourselves and let God make our lives worthwhile. Put Him in charge and I guarantee you’ll smile.

With love,

Celina <3

(edited Dec. 4, 2021) 

References

Got Questions Ministries. (n.d.). What does it mean that God is Jehovah-Jireh? Retrieved from GotQuestions.org: https://www.gotquestions.org/Jehovah-Jireh.html

Ryle, H. E. (1921). Genesis 22 Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges. Retrieved from Bible Hub: https://biblehub.com/commentaries/cambridge/genesis/22.htm

Sanchez, A. (2018, December 27). Jesus: The Perfect Burnt, Sin, and Guilt Offering. Retrieved from Core Christianity: https://corechristianity.com/resource-library/articles/jesus-the-perfect-burnt-sin-and-guilt-offering/

 

Next: Truth Be Told: Little Lies Aren’t Pretty (Genesis 27:19-25)

Previous: Genuine: The Realities of Christianity (Genesis 15:5-7, 13-16)

Series 3: Genesis 12-50