"NAME OF GOD"

In the great intercessory prayer of Jesus for His Church in John 17, the last statement He prayed was when He said; "I made known unto them Thy name and will make it known." This petition of the Master reminds us of the three times in the scripture the Name Jehovah God is mentioned with a very distinctive addition.

The first one is in Genesis 22 when Abraham called God, Jehovah-jireh, meaning 'The Lord will provide.' God said, "Take now 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." (NKJV)

Abraham rose up early in the morning to go to the land of Moriah. He did not wait, he rose up early. If there is something to do for the Lord, is that not is the best way to do it. Rise up early. Get with it and get with it now. Don't hang around all day making excuses, do it and do it now.

This was an unexpected challenge. Abraham had been challenged many times before, but here in his old age he receives the greatest test of all. Whether it be a challenge or a temptation, it is often that the greatest amount of faith is required in our old age. It was not as a young man that David was tempted as he looked on Bathsheba, but as a man in middle life. Our greatest challenge may not be in our youth. But the greatest challenge our youth have may be the lack of faith in the older generation.

God impressed on Abraham that He was asking for the sacrifice of his son, Isaac, that he loved. Abraham would rather have offered up one of his servants. That would have been hard enough. If he had said, offer up Ishmael and Ishmael had not already been sent away it would have been hard enough. No, it wasn't Ishmael that God was asking for and it wasn't a servant, it was Isaac whom he loved.

Notice that Abraham, like Paul, did not confer with flesh and blood. He did not ask Sarah what she thought about it, and neither did he seek the advice of anybody else. God had spoken. He rose up early in the morning, saddled his animal, set off with Isaac and two servants and went to the place where God had appointed.

When they got to the place on the third day, Abraham told the two servants to wait at the bottom of the hill while he and the boy go and worship. At this point Isaac had something to say.
He said, "My father, I see that you have a knife; you have the fire in your hand, I am carrying the wood, But where is the Lamb?"

Abraham did not spring it on him yet; he simply said that God would provide the lamb. It did not take Isaac long to find out that he was the sacrifice. Abraham built the altar, arranged the wood, got everything ready and then Isaac realized he was the sacrifice. His question, "Where is the lamb?" is very significant, "Where is the lamb?" I'll tell you where the lamb is.

In Acts chapter 8 the Ethiopian Eunuch was reading a passage of scripture from Isaiah that told where the Lamb was. He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, as a Lamb before His shearer is dumb, so He opened not His mouth. Where is the Lamb? The Lamb is on the cross dying for your sins. Where is the Lamb? John the forerunner of Jesus tells us when he said, "Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world." The Lamb is at the waters of baptism. Paul said, "Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?" (NKJV)

That is why we were buried with Him in baptism because that is where we contacted the blood of the slain Lamb. Where is the Lamb? The Lamb is in heaven. In The Revelation, John received a vision of heaven and he says he saw the Lamb standing as though it had been slain. That is where you will find the Lamb. At the cross, in your obedience to Him in baptism for the remission of sins, and then you will meet Him in heaven.

At the moment that Abraham would have sacrificed Isaac, an angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, "Abraham, Abraham, Lay not your hand on the lad."
Abraham saw a ram caught in the thicket by his horns and he offered up the ram. God had provided the sacrifice. Since God had provided the Lamb, Abraham called the name of the place Jehovah-jireh.

The meaning of this name could be summed up in the statement, "The Lord will provide." Abraham said, "The Lord will provide a Lamb," and God did provide.

When he left home with Isaac he may have wondered, "What will I tell Sarah when I come home and tell her I have killed Isaac?" The Lord will provide!
"What will the neighbors think about me offering up my son?" The Lord will provide!
"How can Isaac be the father of many nations if I kill him?" The Lord will provide!
"How can I know that I shall be raised up from the dead?" The Lord will provide. In every activity of God, if what we are doing is His will, The Lord will provide.
If you can believe that God provided Jesus the spotless Son of God as a substitute for your sins and are then obedient to His determined plan that will keep you from damnation, then you know the meaning of the name of God, Jehovah-jireh.

"The Lord will provide."