god provides

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GOD PROVIDES

Genesis 22 | Week of February 28 “Abraham said, ‘God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.’ So they went both of them together.” (Genesis 22:8)

We have seen how God promises final victory in the garden and

demonstrates his ability save his people from judgment through Noah. These two stories give us early hints of the gospel, but we will see it all the more clearly in the story of Abraham.

Genesis takes a rather abrupt turn when Abraham, a man from

modern-day Iraq, is told to gather his family, abandon idolatry, and head into a new land so that God might bless the world through him. Just as in Eden, God creates something out of nothing. He forms a nation that will be central to the rest of our story (Genesis 12:1-3, Romans 4:16-17), and it all hinges on the birth of Abraham’s first son (Genesis 12:7; 15:5; 17:7-8).

But Sarah is barren, and Abraham eventually gets impatient while

waiting for her to conceive. He tries to circumvent God’s plan and makes a big mess of things (Genesis 16), but God stays faithful to what he promised and eventually blesses them with their firstborn son, Isaac (Genesis 17:15-21; 21:1-7).

Despite Abraham’s sometimes-sinful impatience, God has made good

on his promise in the form of a healthy baby boy. Our story seems to be back on track until Genesis 22 where we find a painful test for Abraham.

“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.” (Genesis 22:2)

Let that sink in for a moment. For those of you with kids, imagine

the absolute unbelief you would have felt at hearing these words. Surely whatever you imagine your response to be is not what we get next from Abraham. uhbc.net/jesusisbetter



Abraham immediately leaves with all the items necessary to carry

out God’s commands, his son included. He heads up the mountain with Isaac, the one son God provided after years of waiting. Abraham is ready to offer all that he has because God has requested it. He has complete faith in God (Genesis 22:5), and it is a faith we should imitate.

But, it’s not the main point of the story.



Consider Isaac. He is the nearly silent actor in this scene who carries

the wood for his own death up a mountain and climbs willingly onto it at his father’s request. Even when he could have overcome his much older father, he allows himself to be bound to that altar, knowing that nothing but death happens in such a place as this. And just as he tenses his body in anticipation of the knife...

God provides a substitute.



Abraham lifts his eyes as God calls his name, and with the knife still

raised over his head, he sees a ram with its head caught in a thorny thicket (Genesis 22:13). God has provided another way. On this day, no one but the ram will feel the knife’s sharp edge.

In this story, we get yet another glimpse of what is to come. We see

the shadow of the Father’s willingness to sacrifice what is most precious to him and the Son’s willingness to obey even unto death.

But there is one key difference.



A son would eventually have to die. Jesus, the Son of Abraham

(Matthew 1:1), did bear the instrument of his own death up the hill, but there was no last-minute reprieve.

God did not spare his Son.



Jesus offered his life obediently for us. He walked up that mountain

at his Father’s request. And by defeating death, he secured for himself the people promised to Abraham so long ago (Galatians 3:7-9). As a Christian, you take your place in the one eternal family of God—the church—because an obedient Son was offered on your behalf.

Jesus is the better thorn-crowned ram.

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COMMIT IT TO MEMORY Romans 8:31-32: “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”

START A CONVERSATION Is there a moment were you had to live by faith in God’s future provision? What did that experience tell you about God?

SEE MORE OF THE STORY Luke 22:41-44 Romans 4:18-25 Galatians 3:7-29 Hebrews 11:17-19

A PRAYER FOR THIS WEEK Father, thank you that you did not spare your own Son. Thank you that Jesus laid down his life on my behalf in obedience to your plan. Thank you that at just the right time, your Son entered this world to make all things right by dying the death I should have died. And thank you most of all that he is not now dead. Give me opportunity this week to share the story of your provision with someone who desperately needs to hear it.

uhbc.net/jesusisbetter