February 26, 2016

Genesis 22:13, 14

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

Only once in the Bible does Jehovah-Jireh occur, in Genesis 22:14.  God had told Abraham in verse 2 of Genesis 22:

      Take now 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.

The Scripture spares us the agony of the struggle Abraham must have had that night.  Isaac was the old man’s son of promise, the son born to him when he was a hundred years old!  But it says in verse 3, “So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took…Isaac his son…and went to the place of which God had told him.”  He was actually going to do it!  Abraham had Isaac tied up on the altar and the knife raised to plunge into his son!  It was then…

      …the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham,
      Abraham!…Do not lay your hand on the lad…for now I know that you
      fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from
      Me.” (Genesis 22:11, 12).

Now to our featured Scripture – Genesis 22:13 and 14:

      Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a
      ram caught in a thicket by its horns.  So Abraham went and took the ram,
      and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.  And Abraham
      called the name of the place The-LORD-Will-Provide [Jehovah-Jireh];
      as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”

Oh, to have the faith of Abraham!  He knew, without a doubt, The-LORD-Will-Provide!  But he did not know God would deliver his only son by substituting a ram for the burnt offering sacrifice God told him to give.  But in the ‘faith chapter’ of Hebrews 11, it says this in verses 17 through 19:

      By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who
      had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it
      was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,” accounting that God was
      able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received
      him in a figurative sense.

Abraham firmly believed, if God made the promise to bless him with a multitude of descendants through Isaac (see Genesis 15:5; 21:12), then Isaac would live to fulfill that promise, even if God had to raise him from the dead!  Hebrews 11:19 (above) tells us that figuratively speaking, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead!  For in the old man’s mind, it was settled that Isaac would die as an offering to God!

But God provided in an unusual way!  There was a ram – a little ways off, but far enough that at first Abraham had not noticed it – and it was caught in a thicket by its horns, perhaps a bramble bush.  But there that ram was, obviously provided by God, to offer in the place of Isaac!

Now here is something of which you may not have realized:  Mount Moriah, upon which Abraham offered Isaac, is thought by some scholars to be the same hill upon which Jesus was crucified!  He was the offering for sin in our place!  And through Him, God pours out to us all His marvelous blessings! (See Romans 8:32).

Jehovah-Jireh – The-LORD-Will-Provide!  Paul tells us in Philippians 4:19, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”  Do you believe that – all your need will be provided?  How big are His riches in glory?  In Psalm 50:10 through 12, the psalmist writes:

      For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. 
      I know all the birds of the mountains, and the wild beasts of the field
      are Mine.  If I were hungry, I would not tell you; for the world is Mine,
      and all its fullness.

John W. Peterson wrote a gospel song based on Psalm 5:10 through 12:

               He owns the cattle on a thousand hills,
                      The wealth in every mine;
               He owns the rivers and the rocks and rills,
                      The sun and stars that shine.
               Wonderful riches, more than tongue can tell –
                       He is my Father so they’re mine as well;
               He owns the cattle on a thousand hills –
                       I know that He will care for me.

There are many other Scriptures that tell of God’s provision (see Psalm 23:1; 37:3-5, 25; Matthew 6:24-34; Luke 6:38; II Corinthians 9:8).  Read these Scriptures!  Study them!  Memorize them!  The-LORD-Will-Provide – Jehovah-Jireh!  May you prove Him to be so in your life!