God Will Provide
Read Genesis 22:8, 14, 18. How did God fulfill His promise that He
would provide? What was provided?
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When Isaac asked about the sacrificial animal, Abraham gave an
intriguing answer: God will “ ‘provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt
offering’ ” (Gen. 22:8, NKJV). Yet, the Hebrew verbal form can actu-
ally mean “God will provide Himself as the lamb.” The verb “provide”
(yir’eh lo) is used in a way that can mean “provide Himself ” (or liter-
ally, “see Himself ”).
What we are being shown here, then, is the essence of the plan of
salvation, with the Lord Himself suffering and paying in Himself the
penalty for our sins!
Read John 1:1–3 and Romans 5:6–8. How do these verses help us
understand what happened at the Cross, which is prefigured in the
sacrifice here on Mount Moriah?
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There, at Mount Moriah, long before the Cross, the sacrificial ram
“caught in a thicket by his horns” (Gen. 22:13) was pointing right to
Jesus. He is One that is “seen” here, as Abraham explains later, “In
the mount where the Lord is seen” (Gen. 22:14, author’s translation).
Jesus Himself had pointed to Abraham’s prophetic utterance here, when
He said, echoing Abraham’s statement: “ ‘Your father Abraham rejoiced
to see My day, and he saw it and was glad’ ” (John 8:56, NKJV).
“It was to impress Abraham’s mind with the reality of the gospel, as
well as to test his faith, that God commanded him to slay his son. The
agony which he endured during the dark days of that fearful trial was
permitted that he might understand from his own experience something
of the greatness of the sacrifice made by the infinite God for man’s
redemption.”—Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 154.
How does what happened here help us better understand what
happened at the Cross and what God has suffered in our behalf?
What should our response be to what has been done for us?