The Lord Will Provide

THE LORD WILL PROVIDE

An Exposition of Genesis 22:1-14

By Pastor Brian Wilbur

Date: February 19, 2023

Series: The Book of Genesis

Note: Scripture quotations are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

THE SCRIPTURAL TEXT

Holy Scripture says,

¹ After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 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.” ³ So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. ⁴ On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. ⁵ Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” ⁶ And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together.⁷ 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.

⁹ When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. ¹⁰ Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. ¹¹ But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 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.”¹³ And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴ 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.” (Genesis 22:1-14)

INTRODUCTION

As we come to Genesis 22, Abraham had been walking with God for several decades. God called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldeans some years before Abraham turned seventy-five, and he settled in Haran. When Abraham was seventy-five, he made the journey from Haran to Canaan (Genesis 12:4). When Abraham was eighty-six, his son Ishmael was born (Genesis 16:16). When Abraham was one-hundred, his son Isaac was born (Genesis 21:5). Since then, several years have passed, because Isaac was now old enough to carry “the wood of the burnt offering” (Genesis 22:6). Since Genesis 12, Abraham has been walking with God for four decades. He is a seasoned believer. Through all kinds of circumstances, Abraham has learned to trust God and obey God and stay the course.

And Abraham’s life has been punctuated with deliberate acts of worship. Genesis 12:5-8 emphasizes that once Abraham arrived in Canaan, he worshiped the Lord by building altars in two different locations and “[calling] upon the name of the LORD” (Genesis 12:8). Prior to Genesis 22, the last thing we were told about the “many days” that Abraham sojourned “in the land of the Philistines” is that he “called… on the name of the LORD” (Genesis 21:33). These two passages, Genesis 12:5-8 and Genesis 21:33, bracket Abraham’s life in the greater Canaanite region and communicate to us that worshiping God was the foundation and framework for Abraham’s life. Abraham was an obedient and faith-filled man who worshiped the Lord.

As we follow in Abraham’s footsteps, worshiping the Lord and obeying the Lord’s instruction, we can expect to be tested at times. These tests test the quality of our heart? Is our faith genuine? Have we matured? Have we made progress on the path of discipleship? Do we truly love the Lord more than we love anyone or anything else? Are we clinging to the Lord and holding loosely to everything else? Specific, concrete tests bring the inner workings of our heart to the surface and reveal what is really there. If we have a heart for God, the test will make it clear. If we are stuck on ourselves and only treat God like a useful genie to get what we want, then the test will expose that ugliness.

GOD TESTS ABRAHAM (v. 1-2)

First, God tests Abraham. God is the One who does the testing. God is the examiner: He creates the test, hands out the test to the student, and grades the student’s work. It is important to differentiate ‘testing’ from ‘tempting’. A well-known verse in James says, “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.” (James 1:13) The point is that God doesn’t tempt or entice His people to sin. God doesn’t seek to allure or draw His people into wickedness. God is obviously not tempting Abraham in Genesis 22. But testing is a very different matter. God tests and examines Abraham in order to bring the condition of Abraham’s heart to light. The test is not designed to lead Abraham into sin, but to prove whether or not he is the kind of person who will obey the Lord at all costs.

After getting Abraham’s attention in verse 1, God gives the instruction in verse 2. Just this single verse is worthy of extensive meditation. God is instructing Abraham to slaughter his son Isaac as a burnt offering, as a sacrifice and act of worship to the Lord. This instruction is striking for several reasons.

First, God calls attention to the preciousness of Isaac to Abraham. Isaac is Abraham’s son, his only son, his beloved son. Technically, Isaac is not Abraham’s only son, for Abraham also fathered Ishmael. But since Ishmael was not the son of promise, and since Abraham had to cast out Ishmael from his household a few years earlier (Genesis 21:8-14), going forward it was as if Ishmael was no longer Abraham’s son. As far as God’s covenantal promise was concerned, Isaac was Abraham’s only son. As far as Abraham’s functioning household was concerned, Isaac was Abraham’s only son. God instructed Abraham to lay on the altar that which was uniquely precious and beloved to Abraham. Do you trust God enough to offer to Him your most dearly beloved?

Second, in the background to this instruction we remember that Isaac is the son of promise. Abraham’s childlessness and Sarah’s barrenness had cast a shadow over their lives. God promised to give the land of Canaan to Abraham’s offspring, but Abraham had no offspring (Genesis 12:7). Abraham thought that his inheritance might have to go his servant Eliezer, since Abraham had no son (Genesis 15:2-3). But God promised Abraham a son (Genesis 15:4). Some time went by, and there was still no son. So Abraham and Sarah got creative, and Abraham had a son with Sarah’s maidservant Hagar. Now Abraham got to thinking that his inheritance would pass to Ishmael (Genesis 17:18). But God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac.” (Genesis 17:19) And God made it clear: “I will establish my covenant with Isaac” (Genesis 17:21). In due course, God fulfilled His promise and Isaac was born (Genesis 21:1-3). Therefore, Isaac literally embodies God’s promise to provide Abraham and Sarah with an heir. God instructed Abraham to lay on the altar that which embodied the very promise of God. Do you trust God enough to give back to Him the promised gift that He Himself gave you? Who do you love more: the God who gave the gift, or the gift that He gave?

Third, some people may struggle with the fact that God instructed Abraham to kill His son as an act of worship. Of course, once we get the full account in view, along with later Scripture that clearly condemns child sacrifice, we can be confident that God will never command you to slaughter your child. But the fact remains that God did command Abraham to slaughter his son, and Abraham intended to obey the instruction, and Abraham is commended for having intended to obey the instruction. So, we have to be honest about the fact that God’s instruction to Abraham is right. The simplest way to explain this is by taking to heart God’s sovereign authority over all life. As the sovereign Creator, God has the right to give life and take it away, God has the right to sustain life and withdraw life, at any time, and for any reason, and He owes us no explanation. So long as a man is truly operating under God’s specific authorization, the man is justified to do whatever God has authorized to be done. The reason why it is right for God to take life whenever He chooses, and it is wrong for us to take life without divine authorization, is because God is sovereign over all flesh, all breath, all life, and we are not sovereign.

Fourth, it is interesting to place this instruction alongside the first command that God gave to Abraham back in Genesis 12.

“Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.”” (Genesis 12:1)

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

Genesis 12:1 and Genesis 22:2 have at least two things in common: 1) Abraham had to prioritize the call of God over family relationships (over his kindred and father’s house in Genesis 12, over his beloved son Isaac in Genesis 22); and 2) Abraham would be shown more information about where he was to go after he started his journey (“to the land that I will show you” in Genesis 12, “on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you” in Genesis 22). It is as if the test in Genesis 22 is designed to reveal if Abraham is still on the path of discipleship that had begun ten chapters and forty years earlier. The imperative of discipleship is always the same: “Follow Me”! In other words, follow the Lord and prioritize His call upon your life over every other desire or demand.

The instruction to offer Isaac “as a burnt offering” continues the Scriptural theme from Genesis 4 onward, that God has ordained that human beings worship Him through a blood sacrifice. “Abel… brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions” (Genesis 4:4). “Noah built an altar to the LORD and took some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.” (Genesis 8:20) In Genesis 15, when God made a covenant with Abraham, God’s presence passed through the cut pieces of the animals that had been sacrificed (Genesis 15:7-21). In the Book of Leviticus, Chapter 1 is devoted to instructions about burnt offerings. Whether a bull, or sheep or goat, or turtledove or pigeon, the animal was to be slaughtered, drained of blood, and then burned on the altar. Through the burnt offering, the worshiper offered something of value to the Lord; atonement was made for the worshiper; and the Lord was satisfied with the pleasing aroma. Worship that pleases God is not a matter of lip service, of going through the motions, or of giving him our leftovers. The Lord God Almighty doesn’t need anything from us, but His incomparable worth demands our very best offerings: an unblemished bull or an unblemished ram, or – to raise the stakes considerably – a man’s beloved and only son. Worship is not play. We must approach God on His terms, not ours, and with the sacrifice that He requires, not one that our own wisdom has devised.

The test assignment has been given. Now we await Abraham’s response.

ABRAHAM OBEYS GOD’S INSTRUCTION (v. 3-10)

Tellingly, Abraham obeys the Lord straightaway, as verses 3-10 make clear. It is important to call attention to the fact that the text doesn’t delve into the inner workings of Abraham’s heart and mind. We might assume that Abraham’s heart was torn and stretched to the breaking point, but the emphasis in the text is Abraham’s obedience, not his internal deliberations (whatever those might have been). This emphasis on Abraham’s obedience is itself very instructive for us. We live in a sentimental hyper-emotional age, and if I took fifteen minutes to speculate about Abraham’s emotional ride through this act of obedience, a lot of people in our society would applaud the speculation. But as far as the text is concerned, Abraham’s emotional life is beside the point, except for the rather obvious detail that Abraham wasn’t ruled by his emotions. Abraham was ruled by God’s Word, and that meant walking in obedience – and not only obedience, but prompt obedience.

There is no delay on Abraham’s part: “Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.” (v. 3)

Assuming that Moriah was in the area that would eventually be named Jerusalem, it would have been about 50 miles north of Beersheba. So, it makes sense that Abraham and those with him would have arrived in the land of Moriah on the third day of travel: “On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar.” (v. 4)

At this point when the mountain could be seen from afar, Abraham did not want the two young men to accompany him and Isaac any farther. What had to take place on Mount Moriah had to be a private scene involving Abraham and Isaac in the presence of God, with no one else around: “Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” (v. 5)

The word translated “boy” in verse 5 in reference to Isaac is the same word translated “boy” in Genesis 21 in reference to Ishmael, who was at least seventeen years old at the time. This word is versatile in terms of age: it could refer to a boy, a youth, an older teenager, a young man. I reckon that Isaac was at least past the age of ten (for he was old enough to carry “the wood of the burnt offering”, v. 6), and he might have been much older.

What Abraham says to his two servants in verse 5 is very important. Abraham says “I and the boy” – and the next three verbs are all written in the first-person plural. So, the sense is we (Isaac and I) will go over there and we (Isaac and I) will worship and we (Isaac and I) will come again to you. Exactly how Abraham envisioned returning to the young men with Isaac, after he had slaughtered Isaac, is not made clear in Genesis 22. But we get additional insight in Hebrews 11:

“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, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figurately speaking, he did receive him back.” (Hebrews 11:17-19)

On the one hand, Abraham knew that God had promised that He would establish His covenant with Isaac. There was no way that God was going to fail to keep His promise. On the other hand, Abraham knew that God had told him to offer up Isaac on the altar. So, how would God keep His promise to establish His covenant with a living Isaac after Isaac is dead? By raising him from the dead. Nothing is too difficult for the Lord. If you believe that God created the world and everything in it out of nothing by His own powerful Word, then it is a straightforward application to believe that God can bring a dead person back to life.

The point in all this is that Abraham was walking in obedience by faith, trusting all of God’s promises and obeying all of God’s instructions. Abraham was not despairing but had confidence that God would keep His promises and God would work out all the details. Obey the Lord, and trust Him to work out the details. By faith, Abraham would offer to God the act of worship that He had commanded: “I and the boy will go over there and worship”. The word “worship” literally means ‘bow down’: we will go over there and bow down before the Lord and honor Him as our great and mighty King.

The father-son relationship comes to the fore in verses 6-8. Abraham and Isaac leave behind the other two men and the donkey: “And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together.” (v. 6)

It is obvious to Isaac that he and his father are heading to the mountain to worship the Lord with a burnt offering, but Isaac wonders where the animal is for the sacrifice. Isaac doesn’t know what Abraham knows; Isaac doesn’t know that he is supposed to be the sacrifice. Abraham hasn’t told him yet, and Abraham doesn’t tell him now either:

“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?”” (v. 7)

Where is the lamb? What a great question!

“Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.”” (v. 8)

Abraham is speaking with restraint and discretion. Basically, Abraham is inviting Isaac to join him in trusting the Lord. In terms of the context of Genesis 22 and the related passage in Hebrews 11 that I shared earlier, there is no reason to think that Abraham expected the Lord to provide a lamb in Isaac’s place. As far as Abraham knew, Isaac was the lamb. Abraham fully expected to sacrifice God’s appointed lamb, Isaac, on the mountain. But Abraham wasn’t ready to break the news to Isaac. So, he simply encourages Isaac to trust God: God presides over the burnt offering, and He will provide. Thus oriented to trust the Lord, they pressed on to their destination (v. 8).

At some point after verse 8 and in the midst of verse 9, Abraham somehow communicated to Isaac that he was the burnt offering. It must have been a breathtaking moment, but Scripture isn’t interested in narrating that interaction. Once again, the emphasis falls on Abraham’s obedience: simple heartfelt obedience is the matter of great interest from God’s perspective. So:

“When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.” (v. 9)  

Abraham the man of God stood before the altar, and Isaac the beloved son and embodiment of God’s promise lay bound on the altar, and the sacrifice was ready to be made:

“Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.” (Genesis 22:10)

Abraham was resolved to not withhold his only son, but to offer Him up as a sacrifice to God. Abraham was ‘all in’. It is crucial to be ‘all in’. Jesus said: “whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” (Matthew 10:37) Abraham loved Yahweh more than he loved Isaac. And if the One he loved more demanded the one he loved less, Abraham would give it. The knife was ready to fall.

THE ANGEL OF THE LORD CALLS OFF THE SACRIFICE (v. 11-12)

At this moment, when it was obvious beyond all doubt that Abraham was totally resolved to do what was required of Him, the Lord forestalled the slaughter:

“But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 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.”” (v. 12)

As a side note, it is because of passages like this that many Bible teachers that “the angel of the LORD” is a reference to the preincarnate Son of God, because “the angel of the LORD” speaks as if He is equal to God. God had instructed Abraham to offer up Isaac, and yet “the angel of the LORD” says to Abraham “you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” Therefore, it seems that “the angel of the LORD” shares divine status with “the LORD” (v. 14).

Even so, the primary point of verse 12 is that Abraham passed the test. Abraham’s fullhearted obedience had been brought to the surface with great clarity. Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac and trust God with the future, was beyond dispute. Abraham’s fear of God was revealed in clear daylight. Given that Abraham had passed the test, there was no need for Isaac to actually be sacrificed. So, having in principle entrusted Isaac without reservation to the Lord, the Lord gave Isaac back to Abraham.

Verse 12 teaches us something very important about fearing God. Fearing God doesn’t mean to be paralyzed with crippling fear when you think of God. Instead, fearing God means that you are overwhelmed at the majesty and weightiness of God. You take God with utmost seriousness. You find God utterly compelling and captivating. One Bible teacher describes fearing God in terms of “awed trust”: God is awesome and trustworthy. Fearing God involves being irresistibly drawn to God’s ways, and being repelled by the deceitful promises of sin. And fearing God means, in the context of Genesis 22, that you love Him more than anyone or anything else. If you fear God, you would rather follow God in costly obedience than to look for an easy way out. There is no easy way out, if you’re going to walk with God. Why? Because He is God, and His claim upon us is total: “whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” (Matthew 10:38)

Regarding the phrase “now I know that you fear God” – although God had already known the depths of Abraham’s heart and had already known what was going to happen, here God – through the angel of the Lord – is speaking to Abraham in real time in a moment of fellowship between God and Abraham. In this moment, God commends Abraham with a clear word of divine approval in response to Abraham’s actual obedience.

THE LORD PROVIDED A SUBSTITUTIONARY RAM (v. 13)

Even though Isaac’s life was spared, it was still God’s intent for Abraham to worship Him through a burnt offering. Therefore, God provided a substitutionary ram to be sacrificed in Isaac’s place: “And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.” (Genesis 22:13) What a beautiful picture of God’s provision: the ram is offered in Isaac’s place. The sheep dies, but Isaac lives.

ABRAHAM GIVES A NAME TO THE PLACE (v. 14)

In light of God’s provision, Abraham names the place where this remarkable substitutionary sacrifice was provided. Notice that Abraham isn’t assigning a new name to the Lord. Instead, Abraham is assigning a new name to the place: “So Abraham called the name of that place, “The LORD will provide”” (v. 14). This mountain in the land of Moriah is called Yahweh Yireh, or Jehovah Jireh, or “the LORD will provide”. After telling us what Abraham named the place, the Holy-Spirit-inspired editor of the Book of Genesis included an editorial comment that highlights the abiding significance of the place that Abraham had named: “as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”” (v. 14) The phrase “as it is said to this day” reflects what Israelites were saying hundreds of years after Abraham had named the place. On Mount Moriah, the holy mount, the mount of the Lord’s choosing, “the mount of the LORD” – in this chosen and set apart place, “it shall be provided”. What shall be provided? The sacrifice that the Lord requires. Who shall provide it? The Lord. Why is it provided? So that the people called by the Lord’s name can worship the Lord in a manner that is pleasing to the Lord.

APPLICATION: TWO VITALLY IMPORTANT LESSONS FOR OUR WALK WITH GOD

This passage teaches us two vitally important lessons for our walk with God. The first lesson is about discipleship, and the second lesson is about worship – and it is good and right to consider these two lessons side by side.

The Lesson about Discipleship

Let’s first consider the discipleship lesson. If we would truly walk with God, then we must have unreserved and unqualified devotion to the Lord. The initial call upon Abraham in Genesis 12 to leave behind native land and extended family in order to become the blessed man who puts God first, is reinforced in Genesis 22: Abraham must not allow anything, not even the love he has for his only son, to interfere with his devotion to the Lord. Trusting God, fearing God, and loving God means obeying Him no matter what the cost and not withholding anything from God. This basic lesson about discipleship is a straightforward application of the first two of the ten commandments: “have no other gods” (Exodus 20:3) and worship the Lord only (Exodus 20:4-6). The same lesson flows from Jesus’ articulation of what He called the greatest commandment: love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength (Mark 12:28-30). When Jesus invited people to become His disciples, He made it clear that He alone was to have first place in their hearts and lives, outweighing all other loyalties and relationships (Matthew 10:37-39). The apostle Paul understood this, for he confessed:

“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him” (Philippians 3:8-9).     

If we are Christians, then we understand these things, at least in principle. But we always have to remember that it is often good things that present the greatest danger. It is one thing when God told Abraham to cast out Ishmael, since Ishmael wasn’t the son of promise and Ishmael had actually been conceived through fleshly scheming. But it is another thing when God told Abraham to lay Isaac on the altar. Isaac was the son of promise, the one who would carry the Abrahamic Covenant forward to the next generation. Isaac is manifestly a good gift from the Lord to Abraham. But we must never forget that the Lord retains a rightful claim on every gift He gives to us.

Perhaps the Lord has given you a gift, and you know it came to you from His generous hand. Perhaps the Lord worked a miracle of healing in your body. Perhaps the Lord gave you a spouse or a child when you thought it would never happen. Perhaps the Lord blessed your efforts with remarkable success. Perhaps you had a burden from the Lord – a dream, a vision, a passion, something like that – and you saw Him bring it to fruition. Perhaps the Lord brought you into a very fruitful season of ministry, and you got to thinking that you’d like to camp out there forever. But then the Lord comes to test you, to prove you, to reveal what’s in your heart. There is nothing you have that you haven’t received. There is nothing you have that isn’t on loan to you from the Lord. There is nothing you have that you have an absolute right to. And the Lord comes and tells you to give it up, or lay it down, or let it go. Or the Lord comes and takes it away. The gift is removed. The cancer returns. The loved one dies. The relationship disintegrates. The business fails. The dream is shattered. Ministry becomes a dry and barren land. And the whole thing is a test: do you fear God because of the good things He can put into your lap, or do you fear God because He alone is worthy of your complete trust and devotion no matter what? Sometimes the obedience that the Lord wants to see in us is the obedience of letting go, of relinquishing our grip, or surrendering that thing or that person or that aspiration. For some of you, this might be the application you need to reckon with today: quit trying to hold on to something that the Lord has told you to surrender.

Ultimately, the thing that the Lord requires you to surrender is you ­– all that you are. The call to put his beloved son on a literal altar to slay him, was an awesome demand placed upon Abraham. And that specific demand will never be placed upon you. But each and every one of us is called to put our own self on the altar of unqualified devotion to the Lord: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” (Romans 12:1)

The fourth verse of the hymn “Trust and Obey” hits the nail on the head:

“But we never can prove

The delights of His love,

Until all on the altar we lay;

For the favor He shows,

And the joy He bestows,

Are for them who will trust and obey.”[1]

The Lesson about Worship

For the second application, let’s consider the lesson about worship. If we would truly walk with God, then we must worship Him through the sacrifice that He provides. In Genesis 22, the question isn’t whether Abraham will worship the Lord through a burnt offering, the only question is whether the burnt offering will be Isaac or a substitute? Graciously, the Lord provides a ram in Isaac’s place: the ram dies, but Isaac lives.

The Lord’s provision of a substitutionary sacrifice in Genesis 22 becomes a springboard for something much bigger. Abraham named Mount Moriah “The LORD will provide”. Now I don’t know about you, but I would like to go to the place that is called “The LORD will provide” in order to receive the Lord’s provision. This place has an abiding significance, for hundreds of years later the Israelites were saying, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.” God’s provision of a sacrifice is to be found in a certain place, namely, “[on] the mount of the LORD”, which is Mount Moriah, which is Mount Zion in Jerusalem.

Many hundreds of years after the Lord provided a ram for a burnt offering in Isaac’s place, the Lord provided burnt offerings and peace offerings in the same place in order to turn away His wrath upon Israel. The Lord sent a plague upon Israel, and tens of thousands of Israelites died. A sacrifice needed to be made in order to stop the plague, and King David made it: “And David built there an altar to the LORD and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings and called on the LORD, and the LORD answered him with fire from heaven upon the altar of burnt offering. Then the LORD commanded the angel, and he put his sword back into its sheath.” (1 Chronicles 21:26-27) “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”

Sometime later, David’s son Solomon built the temple in that place: “Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to David his father, at the place that David had appointed, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.” (2 Chronicles 3:1) The temple, God’s appointed house in God’s appointed place, was the place of provision, the place of sacrifice, the place where God met His people with mercy.

Many of us are familiar with 2 Chronicles 7:14 – a wonderful promise to God’s covenant people who have gone down the path of rebellion. That verse starts with the words “if my people who are called by my name humble themselves”. It is a beautiful verse, but we really ought to read it in the context of verses 12-16:

“Then the LORD appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place [the temple] for myself as a house of sacrifice. When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time.” (2 Chronicles 7:12-16)

The emphasis on “this place” and “this house” is crucial. Woe to us if we ever think that we sinful people can ever make an appeal to God for mercy without regard for the place of sacrifice, the place where He has promised to see and hear and forgive and heal. For not just anywhere, but “[on] the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.” Is it mercy and grace, forgiveness and renewal, that you seek from the Lord? Then meet Him in His temple.

Now at this point someone might ask, ‘Do I need to make a pilgrimage to the mount of the Lord?’ Yes, as a matter of fact, but not in the way you might think. The temple on Mount Zion – its priesthood and sacrifices – was always intended to be a preview of the ultimate priest who would make the ultimate sacrifice.

And so, when the time was right, God the Father sent His Son, His only Son, His beloved Son Jesus, to be the perfect atoning sacrifice, His body broken and blood shed for the sins of His people. The Father chose and consecrated His Son to accomplish all that the temple had previewed. This perfect sacrifice took place in close proximity to where the other sacrifices took place – on a hill outside of Jerusalem. Thus the Father transferred the promises associated with the temple from the temple to the person of His Son. Therefore, “the mount of the LORD” finds consummate fulfillment at Mount Calvary, where God the Father did not withhold His only Son “but gave him up for us all” (Romans 8:32; also see John 3:16).

Though we must come to God with repentant and surrendered hearts (as the discipleship lesson made clear), we dare not come to God on the basis of our own righteousness. On the basis of our own righteousness, it shall not be provided. On the basis of our own wisdom, it shall not be provided. On the basis of our own track record, it shall not be provided. On the basis of our own good works, it shall not be provided. On the basis of our productivity and fruitfulness, it shall not be provided. If you would worship God rightly, through the sacrifice that He requires and provides, which cleanses us from all sin and satisfies God’s justice and establishes us in peaceful fellowship with God forever, then you must look to Mount Calvary, for there and there only “it shall be provided.”

Where is the lamb? Where is the lamb who will die in Isaac’s place? Where is the lamb who will turn away God’s wrath upon a sinful nation? Where is the lamb who will take away your sin? Where is the lamb whose shed blood will guarantee the fulfillment of all of God’s promises? Where is the lamb? Behold Jesus Christ, God’s Lamb, who made peace through His blood, and who died so that you might live now and forever as a fruitful participant in His everlasting kingdom of grace.

As we come to our closing hymn (“When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”), I simply want to call attention to the fact that this hymn captures both the discipleship lesson and the worship lesson, which is why I chose this hymn. The first three verses celebrate “the wondrous cross” and “the Prince of glory” who died upon it. Then the fourth verse shows us that there is only one proper response to Christ’s infinitely worthy sacrifice: “Were the whole realm of nature mine, / That were a present [or offering] far too small: Love so amazing, so divine, / Demands my soul, my life, my all.”[2]

Brothers and sisters, let’s worship our holy God through the perfect sacrifice that He has provided. If you have come to service this morning with an acute awareness of your need for mercy, forgiveness, restoration, or strength, don’t reach out to God in some kind of generic and vague manner. Go to the Lord of the cross; go to Mount Calvary; plead the blood of God’s Lamb; and lay hold of blood-bought mercy, blood-bought forgiveness, blood-bought restoration, blood-bought strength and grace for every conceivable need. And then, in response to God’s gracious and incomparable provision, let’s all of us be totally abandoned to God’s call upon our lives.

FOOTNOTES

[1] The hymn “Trust and Obey” by John H. Sammis.

[2] The hymn “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” by Isaac Watts.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Assohoto, Barnabe and Samuel Ngewa, “Genesis.” In Africa Bible Commentary: A One-Volume Commentary Written by 70 African Scholars. Tokunboh Adeyemo, General Editor. Zondervan Edition (first edition published in 2006).

Fruchtenbaum, Arnold G. The Book of Genesis (Ariel’s Bible Commentary). Fourth Edition. San Antonio: Ariel Ministries, 2020.

Steinmann, Andrew E. Genesis (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries). Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2019.