When Abraham was commanded by God to sacrifice his son Isaac, Isaac asked a pertinent question of his father: where is the lamb for the sacrifice? Abraham and Isaac both needed a lamb, but neither conceived that such a lamb was possible! The idea of the substitution of a lamb to save Isaac apparently never entered their thoughts, until God suddenly provided just such a lamb to save Isaac. Abraham didn't think of a substitute lamb, and he dare not suggest it to God in any case! How could any sinner suggest that God judge his own sin in the body of God's Own Son as a substitute, and let the sinner go free? The very idea would be blasphemous, were it conceived by sinful man! It is the heart wrenching beauty of it all, that when there was no hope for Abraham and Isaac, suddenly, God provided Himself a Lamb! Isaac was spared by the Lamb that God provided! But there was another party that needed a lamb, and that was God Himself! What God "needs," or rather, REQUIRES to accomplish His purposes, those things are not ultimately dependent upon independent third parties. Rather, what God "needs," God always provides Himself! God requires for Himself a Lamb to be sacrificed for sinners. That's because sin must be judged, and crimes must be punished. God promised that judgment! The judgment for sin is death! God needed a lamb, and He provided Himself that Lamb! Indeed, God provided that Lamb, the Lord Jesus, before the world was made! Christ was designated that Lamb from eternity, but only revealed to sinners during His ministry, and upon the cross.