The Lord Will Provide

Genesis 22:1-14; john 3:16

God ask Abraham to sacrifice his only son and Abraham obeyed God until he was stopped at the last minute having raised his knife to sacrifice his son who also is a child of covenant. Because Isaac is a promised child and Abraham has been on the path of covenant with the Lord, the mark of which culminated in the circumcision, both Abraham and his son Isaac belong to the Lord who has promised that the whole world will be blessed through this man Abraham and his direct seed.

I see this as a typology of what is to come on later in the course of our redemption story, that is, Abraham was willing to give his only covenant and promised child away because he love and fear the Lord who made the promise of Isaac in the first place and fulfilled this promise at the right time. The typology is that I see God giving away his only Son Jesus Christ to redeem us and to consummate a new covenant of Grace to all humanity. To all the children of Abraham, God reverse the death of Isaac upon himself and placed it on his only son Jesus.

Prior to Jesus taking that place, a lamb was substituted for Isaac. The blood was shed of the lamb in place of Isaac and the Lord was the very one who provided the lamb. So the lamb took the place of death that Isaac was to go through and gave life to Isaac. The shed blood of the lamb solidifies that love and father-son-friend relationship with Abraham and all his descendants thereafter.

Jesus became the lamb that takes the sin of the world because he was the only Son of God that God was ready to let go so that Isaac will continue to live. I am that Isaac that the lamb was sacrificed for to live and the same thing with you too. We are all the Isaacs that escaped death by whiskers even though someone has to die anyways. It was the lamb that had to die after the knife had been raised to finish Isaac. It was Jesus that received the knife, the pain, the suffering, and the death so that I and you, the many descendants of Isaac can live wholly without death but in fullness of life.

It may not go down well to say but I see God as the Abraham offering his son Jesus as Isaac to die. And I feel that God had plan this long before it happened. Because Abraham did not withhold his only son to God, God did not withhold his only son to Abraham. Rather God provided for Abraham and he still has his only son alive. What was meant to turn to grieve ended up in naming ceremony because God was given the name Jehovah-Jireh, meaning “The Lord will provide”. What a joy to see our sorrows turned into joy.

In letting go the most important person in his life, Abraham got back that important person with a blessing. When I let go the most important or valuable person in my life I will surely gain back that person with a blessing that far supersede what I can fathom in life. God also gives his best for everyone who gives him the best. Abraham gave Isaac and so God waited for Isaac to multiply to fulfill the promise to Abraham that his descendants will be as the sand of the sea. Once that promise was fulfilled, God then turn to Isaac and gave his own best for which Isaac was to Abraham and God’s best was the lamb Jesus Christ who gave life to Isaac who is now not a single person but a multitude.

The question that is going through my mind is, what is the meaning of the Lord will provide? It was not Abraham that prompted the question. It was Isaac who was to be killed even though he did not know that he was the sacrifice. So as Isaac cries out asking for the sacrifice, Abraham on his part did not act as a fool but directs the question to the Lord and also channels his sons attention to God so that the son will hope in God who is the provider of all since he is the one who gave you to us he will surely provide. Even though Philippians 4:19 was not written then for Abraham to key into, his relationship with God has reached that level that he quoted the verse in advance, “ And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” NKJV. And sure it is, God did not disappoint but provided a lamb whose blood and life took the place of Isaac.