Provided on the Mountain

Genesis 22:14 ~ “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.’”
 
Many know the famed story of Abraham taking Isaac up the mountain in obedience to God’s command. If you are unfamiliar with it, I encourage you to read Genesis chapter 22 in its entirety. It is in Genesis 22:2 that we hear God’s command, “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.” It seems like an unreasonable request. Isaac was the son of promise, through whom the LORD God would ultimately bring forth the nation of Israel (see Genesis 21:12). Why would God command Abraham to end the life of his son?
 
If you know the story, or have now just read it, it was a test of faith for Abraham, to see if the patriarch feared the LORD God and would not hold back even his most precious son. We read God’s word spoken by the angel in Genesis 22:12, “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.” Abraham had become so true to God that even that which he valued most he would willingly sacrifice if God required it. Hebrews 11:19 testifies concerning Abraham’s faith, “He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.”
 
But why did Abraham call the place, “the LORD will provide?” Simple: because the LORD did provide—God Almighty provided a ram caught in a thicket that Abraham could offer a sacrifice in place of Isaac. A precious, innocent, substitute was given by God for the life of Isaac. Abraham trusted the LORD with such faith that even before he tied Isaac upon the altar he said, “God will provide for himself a lamb for a burnt offering, my son” (Genesis 22:8). And this is the part that we must cast our mind upon.
 
Many think it cruel of the LORD to command Abraham to take his son and kill him. And, from our vantage point of human understanding, it may very well look like that. However, God has the right to command the death of every single person who ever walked this earth. He is the Just Judge of all mankind, and we are all guilty of capital crimes against the LORD. God says in Ezekiel 18:4, “Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.” Paul clearly tells us in Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” And then we follow up that statement with this judgment, “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a). Dear ones, God is just and righteous and if He commands the death of someone, there is no injustice with that sentence.
 
But now we come to the profound statement of our text today: “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.” What shall be provided? Surely Abraham was not speaking of some vast quantity of earthly treasures or some wealthy enrichment of this temporary life. Several have misconstrued this text to mean that God will provide them with some measure of prosperity or worldly fortune. All you have to do is read the text and ask a simple question: what was provided on the mountain? It was the substitute, the lamb that took the place of Isaac, the ram caught in a thicket who became the sacrifice in Isaac’s stead. That, beloved, is what it means that it was going to be provided on the mountain—that your atonement and mine would be paid by another.
 
Let us look, then, to the same mountain in 2 Chronicles 3:1, “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.” There the temple was built. And from there the LORD Jesus was taken out of the city and up to Golgotha to be executed. It was there that the LORD gave His life as a substitute for us. It was there, on the mountain of the LORD that the Lamb of God was provided.
 
Before we conclude for today, it will benefit us to read Hebrews 13:12-13, “So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured.” Dear friends, let us go to Him. Wherever you are right now, stop and look up to Jesus who is the Redeemer and thank Him for taking your place and being the atoning sacrifice for our sins. And know that salvation was provided by Jesus on the mountain.
 
In His Grace,
Pastor Michael

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