WHO GOD IS: God Himself Will Provide

"Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” Genesis 22:8 (NIV)

We have been made holy by what God wanted…because Jesus Christ offered his body once and for all time. Hebrews 10:10 (NLT)

God’s command that Abraham offer up Isaac—his only son, whom he loved—is one of the most difficult stories from the Hebrew Scriptures. But don’t miss the radical faith of Abraham in the midst of this test, and what he declares in it about God’s character. When Isaac asks him about the animal for the sacrifice, Abraham doesn’t hesitate: “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”

And God did! At the last moment, God provided a ram for Abraham to sacrifice instead of his son (Genesis 22:13). And in response Abraham called the place, “The Lord will provide” (Genesis 22:14). This name was a prophetic whisper of another, greater provision yet to come.

That greater provision arrived about 4000 years later. In Jesus, God provided his only Son, whom he loved (Matthew 3:17; John 1:14). In the incarnation, he gave Jesus a body as an expression of his will for Jesus to offer that body instead of the sacrifices offered according to the Law (Hebrews 10:7-10). The blood of bulls and goats had never been able to secure the redemption of human beings (Hebrews 9:12-14; 10:14). So, God the Father provided a sacrifice that would. And God the Son willingly offered his body for our sake, once and for all time (John 10:18; Hebrews 10:7, 9).