GOD WILL PROVIDE HIMSELF A LAMB

The Old Testament tells the story of Abraham who was the patriarch of the Jewish nation.  God made a covenant with Abraham telling him that He would multiply his descendants like the stars of heaven and as the sand of the seashore in number.  God said also that his descendants would become a mighty nation and that in him all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 22:17). 

 

The most profound thing that scripture says about Abraham is that he believed God, and his faith was counted for righteousness (see Genesis 15:6; Romans 4:3).  Consider how unique Abraham’s faith was for someone living where and when he did.  In Mesopotamia where he was born and raised, the people were polytheists.  They worshipped a variety of gods and goddesses who were represented by wooden, stone or metal idols.  They assigned power to each god or goddess over certain important aspects of their lives.  One governed fertility, love and beauty.  Another ruled over war.  Still another ruled over the wind, storms, and the atmosphere.  Others governed health and healing, while another watched over agriculture.  Out of this mess of deities, Abraham believed that God was not made of stone or wood, but was invisible and ruled over every aspect of men’s lives because He was the Creator of all things.  God spoke to Abraham, and Abraham heard His voice  and believed.

 

Abraham’s wife Sarah was barren, and so the couple was childless. When they were quite old, God blessed them with a son whom they called Isaac.  This was truly a miraculous birth.  God gave Abraham the strength to produce seed at 100 years old and Sarah to conceive, carry the babe to term, and go through childbirth at 90 years old!  Isaac, when he was born, became the promised seed through whom God’s words would be fulfilled.

 

Sometime after the birth of their son (we don’t know Isaac’s age at the time, but he was old enough to walk and to talk), God spoke to Abraham and told him to take Isaac up to Mt. Moriah and offer him as a burnt offering to the LORD.  This seems like a horrendous thing to ask of this man of faith.  To sacrifice his only son was bad enough, but to kill all hope of God’s promises being fulfilled in Isaac was unthinkable. 

 

Nowhere in the narrative of the story is there any indication of Abraham’s faith wavering.  In fact, rather than hesitating or delaying what God had asked him to do, scripture says that he “…rose up early in the morning…” to start the three day journey that it would take to reach Mt. Moriah (see Genesis 2:3).  It makes me ashamed when I think of the times that I have procrastinated doing something unpleasant that I knew the Lord had asked me to do.  God wants my faith to always be steadfast regardless of what He asks or how He leads me. 

 

When they reached Mt. Moriah, Isaac said to his father before they ascended the mount, “Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” (Genesis 2:7).  Abraham’s answer underscores this entire story and provides us with the foundation of his faith.  He said, “My son, God will provide Himself a lamb.”

 

Abraham’s experience with God up to this point had taught him that 1) He always does what He says and works things for good in the lives of those who love Him, 2) He always defends those who trust in Him, and 3) His ways are much higher than man’s ways.  From the first time that God spoke to Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia until now God had been faithful, merciful, and compassionate.  By his unmoving faith Abraham had gone from merely being a servant of God to being a friend.  “And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.” (James 2:23).  Scripture testifies of Abraham’s faith saying, “Who against hope believed in hope...” and “…he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God...” (Romans 4:18, 20).

 

“By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, "In Isaac your seed shall be called," concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he [Abraham] also received him [Isaac] in a figurative sense.” (Hebrews 11:17-19 NKJV). 

 

Abraham’s story is full of types and shadows that point us to Christ.  Isaac was a promised seed through whom all peoples would be blessed.  Christ was the promised Messiah Who would bless all nations with salvation.  Isaac’s birth was miraculous and an act of God.  In an even more profound way, so was Christ’s birth.  On the one hand, Abraham was given strength to produce natural seed in his advanced age.  Jesus, on the other hand, was conceived solely by the Holy Spirit without the need of a carnal, natural seed.  His mother, Mary, never knew a man before Jesus was born.  Jesus was born in fulfillment of the prophecy that said, “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14).  Sarah, who was barren all her life conceived at 90!

 

Writing about the types and shadows that exist in the story of Isaac and how they relate to Christ, 18^th century theologian, Biblical scholar, and minister John Gill said: “…as a type of the death and resurrection of Christ, whose type he was in other things, as well as in this; as in his birth, and the circumstances of it; he was long promised and expected, as Christ, was; his birth was beyond the ordinary course of nature, and attended with great joy; he was circumcised the eighth day; at his weaning a great feast was made, typical of the Gospel feast; and as he was persecuted by Ishmael, so was Christ by Herod, in his infancy: and he was a figure of him in his oblation; they were both sons of Abraham; both only begotten and beloved sons; both heirs; both carried the wood on which they were offered; both were offered on a Mount, and by their father, by whom neither of them were spared; and both by the command of God, and alone, none were with them: and Isaac prefigured him in his deliverance; Abraham stretched out his hand, but was restrained, and not a bone of Christ must be broken; not Isaac, but the ram was slain; not the divine, but the human nature suffered; both were delivered on the third day, the one as from death, the other really from death; and both returned to their father’s house. Moreover, Abraham received his son in the similitude of a resurrection; it was as life from the dead; it was like the return of the prodigal, #Lu 15:32. Abraham, looked upon him as dead to him, and Isaac thought himself a dead man; so that he that was accounted as one dead, was received alive.”

 

Abraham’s simple confession of faith that “God will provide Himself a lamb” seemed to be the end of any shadow of doubt or fear in either the father or the son.  Scripture concludes the exchange between the two saying, “…so they went both of them together.”  It implies that they were settled in their faith and in agreement as to what needed to be done.

 

Abraham’s faith might have been a primitive faith, not having the benefit of Moses’ writings, the examples of the judges, kings and priests who came after, the Psalms of David and others, the wisdom of Solomon, or the sure words of the prophets of Israel; but Abraham’s faith was a pure faith, based on what he came to know and understand about God and His ways. 

 

Centuries later, the Prophet Micah said, “Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old?  Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?  He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Micah 6:6-8).  No sacrifice that we can bring to God is sufficient.  Ten thousands of animals slain will not appease the LORD “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.” (Hebrews 10:4).  No amount of promises and resolutions can atone for our sins.  Even offering our children or our own bodies is futile.  GOD HAS PROVIDED HIMSELF A LAMB!

 

From the foundation of the world God provided Himself a lamb.  “According as He [God] hath chosen us in Him [Christ] before the foundation of the world.” (Ephesians 1:4).  “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” (Revelation 13:8).  “[Christ] verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.” (1 Peter 1:20).  Before the beginning of our world, God had it in His mind to offer up His own Son for mankind’s redemption.  We see glimpses of that intention all through the holy writ.  From the time that Adam and Eve transgressed the commandment, and God killed an innocent animal to cover their nakedness, scripture has pointed us to the one holy sacrifice that God has provided.  God required a lamb that was without spot or wrinkle, or any other blemish.  This eliminated the possibility of any human fulfilling that role because “…all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23).  Our hearts are deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. (Jeremiah 17:9).  Only a babe who was born of a virgin and conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit aside from the tainted flesh of Adam’s race could become the Lamb of God Who could atone for the sins of the whole world.  “Herein 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). 

 

God indeed has provided HIMSELF a lamb.  Modern religion may try to substitute something or someone in place of the Savior, the Messiah Jesus Christ our Lord, but it will never do.  Abraham had an inkling of this.  He chose to walk in obedience to what he understood to be His will and left the details to God.  This is why Abraham is considered the father of faith.  This is why God spoke through His Prophet Isaiah many years later and said, “Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.” (Isaiah 51:2).

 

I think the Apostle Peter summed things up nicely when he wrote, “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, Who by Him do believe in God, that raised Him up from the dead, and gave Him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.  Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” (1 Peter 1:18-23).

 

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