Bible Text: Genesis 22:1-16 | Speaker: Jonie Scruggs | ‘Provision is Always There’
Genesis 22:1-16
Pastor Jonie Scruggs
We must look up from our dilemma to see God’s provision and take our eyes off the issue in order to see His provision.  How often do we miss it when God has already provided the answer?

Genesis 22:11: Sometime later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied. 2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”

 6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”

“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied.

12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”

15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”

Verse 3 tells us that Abraham got up early to obey God. Obedience is not an option.  When they approached the place God had told him, Abraham told his servants to wait there while he and his son go to worship…and we will return.  The lesson for us is to “Say it before you see it.”  We don’t speak it in to existence but we speak in faith.  Believe God for a great destiny even before you see it.  Worship your way through pain, disappointment, discouragement or whatever the issue you are facing.

Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac’s shoulder, a foreshadowing of Christ. Isaac questioned “Where is the Lamb?” and Abraham responded that God would provide. The two of them walked on together…an example for us today that in our walk of faith, we need to do it together.

Verses 2, 12 & 16 contain the phrase “your only son” which is also a foreshadowing of Christ.  From Genesis to Jerusalem, there are signposts to the cross.

The angel of the Lord stopped Abraham as he reached for the knife to slay his son. Often we imagine Abraham had his hand already up in the air to bring the knife down and kill his son but the Scripture tells us the Lord stopped him as he reached for the knife. Then when Abraham looked up, he discovered the ram in the thicket, which had been there all the time.  God brought Abraham to His provision and not the provision to Abraham.  It is God who positions us to see His provision already there for us.  We must get our eyes off the issue and look up, lift up our eyes to see God’s provision.

Notice it was a ram and not a lamb.  Jesus is the Lamb who was slain to cover our sins and provide eternal salvation.  The provision for our salvation has been provided even before we came to know we needed it.  Provision precedes our needs. Provision is always there.