On The Mountain Of The Lord It Will Be Provided.

Let’s return to the story of Abram. A few weeks back, we left him in the predicament of not being able to father a son by his wife Sarai. Since having a son and heir was vitally important in those days, Sarai had taken things into her own hands, and told her husband to take her Egyptian slave Hagar as his secondary wife. We discussed Sarai’s mistreatment of Hagar when she became pregnant, and how Hagar ran away, to be met by God himself, and told to return to her mistress and be submissive.

Following these events, Ishmael is born, and both Abram and Sarai are given new names by God, who renews his covenant with them, and keeps insisting the newly named Sarah will be the one to give birth to Abraham’s son and heir, even though by this point she is 90, and her husband is 99 years old.

Since God never fails in any of his good promises, Sarah does give birth to a son, at least 13 years after the birth of Ishmael. Finally, both Abraham and his wife have what they’ve been longing for all their married lives. God has performed a miracle. Despite their efforts to engineer an heir, the Lord has done exactly what he’d promised all along. What rejoicing there must have been! No wonder Ishmael poked fun at his baby brother. I’m sure he was pretty jealous.

Soon, Ishmael and Hagar are sent away, and just the new happy family remains, with Abraham and Sarah likely marvelling over every inch of baby Isaac’s progress. I’m sure they were the ultimate doting parents. After all, this was their miracle child. He was the child of God’s promise, and the apple of their aging eyes.

The last thing Abraham could have possibly anticipated was that the Lord was about to give him the greatest test of his life, asking him to sacrifice the son he held so dear. Yet, Genesis 22 opens by telling us: “Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied. Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

The first time we read this, we might expect Abraham to argue with God. “Surely not, Lord! Surely not Isaac!” Yet, there is no record of dialogue between Abraham and his creator. We are simply told in verse 3: Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.”

Could this really be happening? Was Abraham about to sacrifice his son and heir? After all those years of waiting, was he actually going to lay Isaac on an altar and take a knife to him? It took 3 days for them to arrive at their destination in the region of Moriah, and we can only begin to guess at Abraham’s mental struggles as they journeyed.

When they arrive, he tells his servants to wait while he and Isaac go and worship by themselves. He says: “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” Is this a statement of faith from Abraham, or is he just covering his tracks, because he doesn’t want anyone to know what is about to happen?

Verse 6 tells us Abraham places the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac’s back, while he carries the fire and the knife. Isaac is a bit bemused by it all, and wonders aloud why they don’t have an animal for sacrificing. Abraham replies: “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”

What must Isaac have been feeling as he watched his father built the altar for the burnt offering, then suddenly felt himself being bound and lifted onto that altar? There is no record of him putting up a fight. Was the trust between father and son that strong? As the blade of Abraham’s knife flashed in the sun, and he prepared to plunge it into his beloved son’s flesh, did Isaac gasp in fear? Surely this wasn’t right! Surely the God they served didn’t approve of human sacrifice!

Was Abraham startled when a voice called out to him from heaven? How great must have been his relief when God told him not to lay a hand on Isaac, for now he knew Abraham would withhold nothing, not even his most precious son. Verse 13 tells us Abraham looked up, and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket, as though ready and waiting to be sacrificed. And so, this animal was sacrificed in place of his son, and father and son returned home rejoicing.

Abraham names the place where all this occurred the Lord will provide, and we are told “And to this day it is said ‘on the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.’”

This is an amazing story. We hold our breath as Abraham stands over his son with the knife, and sigh with relief when God himself stays his hand. But what does it all mean? This story is what’s sometimes called a foreshadowing. It gives us a picture of later events.

Many years later, another young man climbed up mount Moriah. This time, instead of carrying the wood for a burnt offering, he carried a cross on his back. This man was beaten and bloody, so much so that he was too weak to carry the cross, and another had to be forced into service. Yet, like Isaac before him, we are told he did not open his mouth. He went willingly and silently, all the while knowing what awaited him.

For Jesus, there would be no ram caught in a thicket to save his life. Jesus himself was the lamb of God, come to take away the sin of the world. Isaac’s life was spared, but Jesus so loved you and me that he laid down his life willingly. “We may not know, we cannot tell, what pain he had to bear. But we believe it was for us, he hung and suffered there.”

Later, in the book of Hebrews, we are told Abraham expected the Lord to raise Isaac from the dead. God had promised Abraham’s seed would come through Isaac, so somehow, Isaac would have to come back to life. Likewise, it was necessary for Jesus to be raised from the dead so he could be the first-fruit of God’s great harvest of souls.

As we think about the Lord’s death and resurrection this Easter, let’s ponder the agony the Father must have felt as he watched his son struggling to carry that cross up mount Moriah, now known to us as Mount Calvary. How it must have broken his heart when the sky turned black, because the perfect and divine Father could not look upon sin, and Jesus now carried the sin of the world.

Allow God’s love to overwhelm your heart as you look upon the cross, and take some time to thank him for Calvary. Remember that Jesus could have changed his mind and come down from the cross, but if he had, we wouldn’t have his gift of salvation. It cost him everything, so that we can have everything. It should have been us dying for our sin, but he saved us, just as the ram saved Isaac from the knife. Jesus was the one and only begotten Son of the Father, one with him in every way. Yet, he who had never committed a single sin chose to die for you, and for me.
Let’s return to the story of Abram. A few weeks back, we left him in the predicament of not being able to father a son by his wife Sarai. Since having a son and heir was vitally important in those days, Sarai had taken things into her own hands, and told her husband to take her Egyptian slave Hagar as his secondary wife. We discussed Sarai’s mistreatment of Hagar when she became pregnant, and how Hagar ran away, to be met by God himself, and told to return to her mistress and be submissive.

Following these events, Ishmael is born, and both Abram and Sarai are given new names by God, who renews his covenant with them, and keeps insisting the newly named Sarah will be the one to give birth to Abraham’s son and heir, even though by this point she is 90, and her husband is 99 years old.

Since God never fails in any of his good promises, Sarah does give birth to a son, at least 13 years after the birth of Ishmael. Finally, both Abraham and his wife have what they’ve been longing for all their married lives. God has performed a miracle. Despite their efforts to engineer an heir, the Lord has done exactly what he’d promised all along. What rejoicing there must have been! No wonder Ishmael poked fun at his baby brother. I’m sure he was pretty jealous.

Soon, Ishmael and Hagar are sent away, and just the new happy family remains, with Abraham and Sarah likely marvelling over every inch of baby Isaac’s progress. I’m sure they were the ultimate doting parents. After all, this was their miracle child. He was the child of God’s promise, and the apple of their aging eyes.

The last thing Abraham could have possibly anticipated was that the Lord was about to give him the greatest test of his life, asking him to sacrifice the son he held so dear. Yet, Genesis 22 opens by telling us: “Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied. Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

The first time we read this, we might expect Abraham to argue with God. “Surely not, Lord! Surely not Isaac!” Yet, there is no record of dialogue between Abraham and his creator. We are simply told in verse 3: Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.”

Could this really be happening? Was Abraham about to sacrifice his son and heir? After all those years of waiting, was he actually going to lay Isaac on an altar and take a knife to him? It took 3 days for them to arrive at their destination in the region of Moriah, and we can only begin to guess at Abraham’s mental struggles as they journeyed.

When they arrive, he tells his servants to wait while he and Isaac go and worship by themselves. He says: “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” Is this a statement of faith from Abraham, or is he just covering his tracks, because he doesn’t want anyone to know what is about to happen?

Verse 6 tells us Abraham places the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac’s back, while he carries the fire and the knife. Isaac is a bit bemused by it all, and wonders aloud why they don’t have an animal for sacrificing. Abraham replies: “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”

What must Isaac have been feeling as he watched his father built the altar for the burnt offering, then suddenly felt himself being bound and lifted onto that altar? There is no record of him putting up a fight. Was the trust between father and son that strong? As the blade of Abraham’s knife flashed in the sun, and he prepared to plunge it into his beloved son’s flesh, did Isaac gasp in fear? Surely this wasn’t right! Surely the God they served didn’t approve of human sacrifice!

Was Abraham startled when a voice called out to him from heaven? How great must have been his relief when God told him not to lay a hand on Isaac, for now he knew Abraham would withhold nothing, not even his most precious son. Verse 13 tells us Abraham looked up, and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket, as though ready and waiting to be sacrificed. And so, this animal was sacrificed in place of his son, and father and son returned home rejoicing.

Abraham names the place where all this occurred the Lord will provide, and we are told “And to this day it is said ‘on the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.’”

This is an amazing story. We hold our breath as Abraham stands over his son with the knife, and sigh with relief when God himself stays his hand. But what does it all mean? This story is what’s sometimes called a foreshadowing. It gives us a picture of later events.

Many years later, another young man climbed up mount Moriah. This time, instead of carrying the wood for a burnt offering, he carried a cross on his back. This man was beaten and bloody, so much so that he was too weak to carry the cross, and another had to be forced into service. Yet, like Isaac before him, we are told he did not open his mouth. He went willingly and silently, all the while knowing what awaited him.

For Jesus, there would be no ram caught in a thicket to save his life. Jesus himself was the lamb of God, come to take away the sin of the world. Isaac’s life was spared, but Jesus so loved you and me that he laid down his life willingly. “We may not know, we cannot tell, what pain he had to bear. But we believe it was for us, he hung and suffered there.”

Later, in the book of Hebrews, we are told Abraham expected the Lord to raise Isaac from the dead. God had promised Abraham’s seed would come through Isaac, so somehow, Isaac would have to come back to life. Likewise, it was necessary for Jesus to be raised from the dead so he could be the first-fruit of God’s great harvest of souls.

As we think about the Lord’s death and resurrection this Easter, let’s ponder the agony the Father must have felt as he watched his son struggling to carry that cross up mount Moriah, now known to us as Mount Calvary. How it must have broken his heart when the sky turned black, because the perfect and divine Father could not look upon sin, and Jesus now carried the sin of the world.

Allow God’s love to overwhelm your heart as you look upon the cross, and take some time to thank him for Calvary. Remember that Jesus could have changed his mind and come down from the cross, but if he had, we wouldn’t have his gift of salvation. It cost him everything, so that we can have everything. It should have been us dying for our sin, but he saved us, just as the ram saved Isaac from the knife. Jesus was the one and only begotten Son of the Father, one with him in every way. Yet, he who had never committed a single sin chose to die for you, and for me.