God the Father Provides for us Through His Son

8And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. (Genesis 22:8)

So many of us are obsessed with trying to give God something.

But if we are honest about our state, as all of us were born dead in our trespasses (Ephesians 2:2-4), we have to recognize that we have nothing to give our loving Father of ourselves:

"But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee." (1 Chronicles 29:14)

Notice that in the above verse, David was offering sacrifices to God.

Yet what indeed could we offer, that God Himself has not already given to us?

Back in Genesis 22, what we see with Abraham and his son Isaac is a test not of Abraham's resolve to give, but rather the test that Abraham would trust God to provide all things.

Did he really trust the LORD?

The answer is yes!

Of course, Abraham's obedience to offer his own son had already occurred long before:

"And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness." (Genesis 15:6)

What occurred at Mount Moriah was the simple trust manifested:

"Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?" (James 2:21)

Remember, within the context of James' letter to the Twelve Tribes of Israel, Abraham's action justified his faith before man. His faith had already been established in Genesis 15:6, when God swore an oath that Abraham would have descendents as much as the stars in the sky or the sand on the sea.

So, what do we find in Genesis 22:8?

The proof that The LORD does indeed provide for us in our greatest need.

And  He did so for Abraham:

"11And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.12And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. 13And 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 in the stead of his son." (Genesis 22:11-13)

That burnt ram speaks of Jesus!

"The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." (John 1:29)

Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes our sin, and in whom we receive all things:

"He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32)

Of course let us not forget what Abraham called that place where God provided the lamb:

"14And 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 [lit. the Lord is Provision]." (Genesis 22: 14)