GOD WILL PROVIDE

Genesis 22:1:18

  

The story of the offering of Isaac in Genesis 22 is one of the most well-known passages in scripture, next to the Passover, and among the most influential in Jewish tradition. And also one of the greatest events in history that point us to the obedience of two people for the glory of God. It’s also demonstrates and reminds us, that God provides and He did by providing us His only begotten Son. The reason we can celebrate the death of the Godman, the Lord Jesus Christ, is because God demonstrated His mercy by sending His Son.

What does it mean that God provides?

There are at least 169 verses in the Bible that refer to the ways God provides for us. In Deuteronomy 8:3 Moses reminded the Israelites, “And He humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.” Paul said “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Phil 4:19. Paul also said, “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Eph 3:20-21

See! God provides…. 

The ability and the air for us to breath

Guidance and our daily necessities…like food, water and shelter

Intelligence to create and invent things that we use daily in our lives.

The ability to work and have employment.

Health and resources to stay healthy. 

Most of all He provided…His Son to be our substitute for the crimes we have committed against a holy God. We read in John’s gospel, “The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.'” John 1:29-30.  He satisfied the ransom demand for our release from captivity to sin. R.C. Sproul explains the life of Christ “From the moment of His birth, Jesus lived in the shadow of the cross. It was clearly established that Jesus was destined to die a horrible death, not simply in terms of human pain, but because He would die as a sacrifice, under the wrath of God. Jesus, even in His perfect humanity, shrank back at the utter horror of it and so cries out to His Father to remove this cup from Him.”

1. Jesus Knew That Death Is The Wage Of Sin.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Rom 6:23. “the wages of sin is death”, this is not because it is an arbitrary, undeserved appointment, but because it’s just by a holy God. Understand! This isn’t some cruel or a wicked act done by God.

“Not one pain will be inflicted on the sinner

which he does not deserve.”

Not one sinner will die who ought not to die. Sinners even in hell will be treated just as they deserve to be treated; and there is not to man a more fearful and terrible consideration than this. No man can conceive a more dreadful doom than for himself to be treated forever just as he deserves to be. Isaiah wrote, “Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him, for what his hands have dealt out shall be done to him.” Isaiah 3:11. Why did Isaiah pen this? “For Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, because their speech and their deeds are against the LORD, defying his glorious presence. For the look on their faces bears witness against them; they proclaim their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! For they have brought evil on themselves.” Isaiah 3:8-9

There are no mistakes with God with regards to; who is in Heaven or who resides in Hell, because God is over both for eternity. Jesus knew this! He knew that He would pay the total wage of sin in full. But the gift/blessing that comes from His sacrifice would bring many to Him through the forgiveness of sins in the gospel. What is this gift? “And this is the promise that He made to us—eternal life.” 1 John 5:13. We read in Romans 8:14-18, “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Rom 8:14-18

What is this gift? 

A gift that none of us could repay, because the debt is too great of one. It requires a life. Not just any life, but a perfect life, that is worthy of appeasing a holy God who demands such a sacrifice.

2. Jesus Knew That Death Is A Result Of The Judgement Of God.

“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” Rom 5:12. 

Death has entered into the world of men by sin, by the first sin of the first man. Not a physical death, but a spiritual and moral one; man, "dead in sin", deprived of righteousness because of their sin and rebellion. This death has come to us all, though we still live in breath. “all sinned,” that is, in that one man’s first sin, death reaches every individual of the human family, Jesus knew he would be that judgement for the sins of mankind. But this is why His death is so important and why the Gospel came at such a high cost.

As we read in this chapter, “But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.” Rom 5:15-19. 

It was through the death, the blood, of Christ, that we who are in Christ, 

are reconciled back to God, though His death on the cross.

3. Jesus Knew He Would Be Our Propitiation And That His Death Would Bring On Him The Wrath Of God.

“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son

to be the propitiation for our sins.” 1 John 4:10

What is John saying?

He is saying that without Jesus, we are one breath away from facing the wrath of a holy God. A God, who is just and loving in doing so; because we are the ones who have rebelled against Him, and only Him. Propitiation by definition is “To make peace; to appease one offended and render him favourable”

“Propitiation” has to do with the object of the expiation.

The prefix pro means “for,” so propitiation brings about a change in God’s attitude, so that He moves from being at enmity with us to being for us. Through the process of propitiation, we are restored into fellowship and favor with Him. See! It is God who is "propitiated" by the vindication of His holy and righteous character. The provision He has made in the death of His Son. God has dealt with sin through His Son, so that He can show mercy to the believing sinner in the removal of his guilt and the remission of his sins.

One Theologian said “Expiation is the act that results in the change of God’s disposition toward us. It is what Christ did on the cross, and the result of Christ’s work of expiation is propitiation—God’s anger is turned away. The distinction is the same as that between the ransom that is paid and the attitude of the one who receives the ransom.”

Why? God must punish sin because He hates sin. Christ did His work on the cross to appease the wrath of God.

What does that look like?

Picture yourself standing at the base of the “Hover Dam” but infinitely higher. A wall that is high as the eye can see. And all of a sudden the Dam gives way and now you have this massive force of water coming down before you. You have no where to run or hide from such destruction; so you try with all you might to run in the opposite direction but there is no way of escaping this massive wall of water.

Just when all hope is lost!

A man steps down and stands in front of you as this blanket of water come crashing forward. And it’s in this moment as the coming wave comes He, stands between you and the wave of death, absorbing every single drop of water upon Himself, and not one drop of water ever touches your shoes. You are completely dry and safe from danger.

This what Jesus did for you 

and me that day?

As God poured out His wrath upon His Son, His only begotten Son. We read in Isaiah 53:3-10, “He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.”

Charles Spurgeon said, "Jesus was God's Son, his only-begotten Son, whom he loved more than any of you can ever love your sons or daughters, for the love of God towards him is ineffable, immeasurable. It is not possible for me to tell you how much God loved his Son; but that Son, who had always given him delight, in whom he was well pleased, that Son must endure shame, and agony, and death, if sinners were ever to be saved. How could the Father give up his Son for such a purpose? I have felt sometimes as if I could almost rush in, and say, "No; it must not be, the price is too great to be paid for the rescue of such worthless worms as we are." Yet, to ransom any one of us, the Son of God must be sacrificed, and sacrificed, as it were, by his Father, for thus is it written, "It pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief." Thus, there is one point of resemblance between the offering of Isaac and the propitiatory sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ, it was the father who had to offer up his son whom he loved so dearly;"

John penned these words, “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” 1 John 4:9-10

Jesus came to rescue us from ourselves and our destruction. God provided a sacrifice for and me, in the person of Jesus Christ. R C Sproul said “Two thousand years later on this same mountain, God took His Son, His only Son, the Son whom he loved: Jesus. And He took Him to that same mountain, and He fastened Him to a vertical altar of sacrifice. But this time, ladies and gentlemen, nobody hollered, “Stop!” God brought the knife into the heart of His only begotten Son, fulfilling, in blood, in time, and in space, the promise that was dramatized and symbolized by the test of Abraham’s child of promise. God said, “Abraham, I will provide the sacrifice.” Our heavenly Father loved us so much that he provided Jesus, the only Lamb, which takes away the sins of the world.

Christ’s supreme achievement on the cross is that He appeased the wrath of God. The holy wrath which would burn against us, were we not covered by the sacrifice of Christ. Go back to the story of Abraham and his son. God called out to Abraham to “stop” (v11) and Abraham responded with “Here I am”. Then God 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." (v12) What happens next makes my heart melt with sadness and joy! 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.” (v13)

God provided the sacrifice

Why is this portion sad and joyful for me?

The answer can be found when Jesus addressed the skeptics. “Your father Abraham rejoiced that He would see my day. He saw it and was glad." John 8:56. “He saw it, and was glad”— meaning he actually beheld (observed, witnessed it first hand) it, to his joy. If this means no more than a prophetic foresight of the gospel-day, then it was enough for Abraham to be glad in. The blessed hope and promise of future things made Abraham rejoice because God provided the sacrifice.

Where is Mt Moriah?

It is said to be in the south part of Palestine, which was changed later to what? “Jerusalem or Mt Zion. Mt. Moriah, was the future location of the temple Solomon built. 2 Chron 3:1 we read “Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to David his father,” 

Many years later the people would see and we would read that God provided once again for sinful man and his rebellious heart. The Father loved the Son so much He gave us His Son to be our appeasing offering to God.

Instead of dying lying on an altar,

He hung on one; for you and me.

And God never said to the guards, “Stop” because there was no other sacrifice worthy of death for you and me. God’s Son wore a crown of thorns, just as the ram had its horns caught in a thicket. The Lord stopped the sacrifice of a mere human, signifying the insufficiency of such a sacrifice. God provided, in Jesus Christ, the perfect sacrifice for our sins. The Lord will provide. (v14)

What does that mean?

Jesus drank the cup of iniquity and took the full flaming wrath of the Father on our behalf. Jesus was forsaken by God in the moment He drank our cup. The sinless and spotless Lamb of God was killed as a substitute for our sin and rebellion. This moment in history our lives hang in the balance of this one moment in time! He took my wrath that I deserve for my rebellious heart. He bore my shame and agony for the sins I have done. He took upon Himself our punishment for our crime against the Father.

What is the crime? 

“Holy treason against the God of the universe.”

Costi Hinn said it beautifully this way, “Jesus got what He didn’t deserve so you could get what you didn’t deserve.”

Christ in all His humanity “the radiance of [God’s] glory and the exact representation of His nature went to Cross for you and me.

”Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe...”

Dear loved ones! What are you saying in your heart this morning? Are yelling out Stop, do not lay a hand on Him? NO! Leave Him alone don’t crucify my Lord” Or are you sstaying "Silent" But saying your heart “Crucify Him, because I need Him to consume the wrath I deserve for my sin? This is what Jesus did for you and me on day such as this! And when He gave up His last breath Jesus said “It is FINISHED”

And all of God’s children said “It is finished indeed!”