Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #21 of Genesis, chapter 22, and we are reading Genesis 22:6-8:

And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.  And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. 

We discussed in our last study the statement, “God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering.”  We saw how that is a Biblical fact: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.”   And Jesus is God.  He offered up Himself and He was broken in spirit as He bore the sins of His people, and the weight of the wrath of God came down upon Him at the foundation of the world.  That was the only time He was bearing sin and paying for sin.  He was broken and made contrite, which means He was crushed and destroyed in death.  Wonderfully, He rose from the dead because He is God, and He came out of death and back to life becoming the Saviour of His people.

We know all this is true and faithful to what the Bible says, but let us take a closer look at this word “provide,” where it says, “God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering.”  This Hebrew word translated as “provide” is Strong’s #7200, and it is normally translated as “see” or “seen” or “behold” or “look.”  It most often has to do with sight, although it is also translated this way as “provide” in 1Samuel 16:1:

And JEHOVAH said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons.

The word “provided” here is the same Hebrew word.  It is not translated as “provide” or “provided” very often, but just a handful of times.  It is translated the other ways that I mentioned (as “see,” “behold,” and “look”) many, many more times.  We can see in 1Samuel 16:1 that if we were to use one of those other words, it could read, “For I have beheld me a king among his sons,” or “I am seeing me a king among his sons.”  It would retain the same kind of understanding. 

In Genesis 22, the same word translated “provide” is also found in verses 13 and 14.  It says in Genesis 22:13-14:

And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns.  And Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of JEHOVAH it shall be seen.

The word “looked” is the same Hebrew word, Strong’s #7200, that is translated as “provide” where it says, “God will provide himself…”  

The word “Jehovahjireh” is the same word.  This is why Abraham called the name of the place Jehovahjireh,” and it goes on to say, “In the mount of JEHOVAH it shall be seen.”  It means, “JEHOVAH seen,” and that refers back to Abraham’s answer to Isaac’s question, “Where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”  Abraham responded, “God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering.”  We could replace that word and say, “God will see himself,” or “God will look upon himself,” or “God will behold himself a lamb for a burnt offering.”  I think that “behold” is probably the best translation: “God will behold himself,” because that is exactly what God did in answer to the question regarding every one of His elect: “Where is the burnt offering for this person that has transgressed my Law?”  And He comes ready to destroy and pour out His wrath to exact punishment or to kill this person because that is the sacrifice for sin, but the answer is: “God will behold himself a lamb for this person and that person.”  It is just as in the exodus.  Remember when Israel was in Egypt on the night of the Passover?  What was that all about?  Let us go back to the book of Exodus, chapter 12 and read Exodus 12:21-29:

Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover. And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. For JEHOVAH will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, JEHOVAH will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever. And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which JEHOVAH will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service. And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the JEHOVAH'S passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped. And the children of Israel went away, and did as JEHOVAH had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they. And it came to pass, that at midnight JEHOVAH smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle.

God’s Spirit came to destroy the Egyptians, and the Egyptians represent the people of the world, just the “normal” sinner as the majority of mankind remain in their sins.  All have sinned and come short of the glory of God, but those that God has saved had their sins paid for and, because of that, they are in a different category.  The rest of mankind had no burnt offering performed on their behalf – the Lamb had not been slain for them.  Therefore, they themselves are slain, and the Destroyer destroys.  That is the wrath of God, and that is what happens when a person has not had their sins paid for.

But when the Destroyer came to a house of an Israelite, He saw the blood on the lintel and the two door posts and He “passed by.”  That is why it is called the “Passover,” because He passes by because the blood is covering them.  The “life is in the blood,” the blood of the Lamb, which points to the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ given on their behalf and in their place.  Is not substitutionary sacrifice a wonderful and beautiful thing?  Without it, we would all die in our sins.  Without it, we would all have to pay our own penalty.  We would all die, and we would never come back to life again, because we lack the power and ability and might to do so.  Only the Lord Jesus could bare the sins of so many and die on their behalf, as God had provided Himself a Lamb.  What Abraham was really saying in Genesis 22:8 was this: “My son, God will behold Himself a lamb for a burnt offering.”   When He comes to one of His elect, as He is coming to destroy, He “beholds the Lamb.” 

It is interesting because this is exactly the way John the Baptist identified the Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospel of John, chapter 1.  This was the first declaration that John the Baptist made concerning Jesus, and it says in John 1:29:

The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

Then, again, it was said in John 1:35:

Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.

Behold the Lamb.  Basically, that declaration is saying, “Jehovahjireh.”  It is the declaration of the Saviour, the one who is the acceptable sacrifice.  He is the only acceptable sacrifice in God’s sight because God is not pleased with and He delights not in the burnt offerings of animals.  The sacrifices of God (and the only acceptable sacrifice) is of God Himself: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”  He is pleased with that “aroma” as offered by the Lord Jesus Christ on behalf of the ones He has died for.

Of course, this whole idea of the Lamb is carried throughout the Bible, pointing to Jesus as the Lamb, as we read in the Messianic chapter of Isaiah 53:4-7:

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and JEHOVAH hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

Here, in statement after statement, we see the substitutionary plan of God’s salvation program: “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.”  That is, the Lamb of God had our griefs and sorrows upon Him.  In verse 5, it says, “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities.”  Again, He bore our sins and transgressions.  Our iniquities were upon Him, and that is why He was wounded.  That is why He was bruised and made contrite.  That is why He was broken in heart, because He was in our place or stead, just as we saw in Genesis 22 when God stopped Abraham, and it said in Genesis 22:11-14:

And the angel of JEHOVAH called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of JEHOVAH it shall be seen.

What a beautiful ending!  What a glorious ending to this historical event.  It could have ended more terribly if Abraham had brought down the knife.  Of course, we know of all the (spiritual) pictures in view with the father slaying the son, but how grievous for the man Abraham and for his son to have it end in such a way.  Instead, there is a happy ending. 

You know, the world is very deceitful.  That is an understatement.  We all know that.  The word is full of lies and full of deception, and there is probably nothing more deceitful than the “Golden Books” or fantasy-type books that many parents read their young children, like “Goldilocks and the Three Bears.”  In these books, children are basically taught that if they live the way of the world, there will be a happy ending.  There is always a happy ending.  It is glowing at the end, with everyone living “happily ever after.”  That language comes right out of these types of children’s books and, yet, that is the biggest lie.  No one that is “of this world” ever lives happily ever after.  They die at the end.  They are destroyed at the end.  They are annihilated at the end.  They cease to exist at the end.  There is no happiness and there is no life for them “ever after.”  There is only eternal death that comes upon them.

Yet that is not the case for God’s elect people.  We, by God’s grace according to His magnificent salvation program, are the only ones that get to “live happily ever after.”  It is true that all during our lifetime we may experience very difficult and terrible things, like the beggar Lazarus.  We may go through many trials and tribulations, and we may face great affliction.  And, yes, we are persecuted for the Word’s sake constantly, so some may get the wrong idea: “These people are often cast down in soul.  They are often troubled.  They are not going to have that happy life.”  And they are wrong.  We are the only ones that will have a happy life for evermore.  We will live forever in perfect joy and peace, with perfect love.  We will have all rich and abundant blessings showered upon us to a point that we cannot fathom and to a degree we can never imagine.  This is what is in store for the people of God.

So this is nice to see here (in this passage) because it is true.  It is fitting that when we come to an account like this, there is a happy ending.  There is always a happy ending for God’s elect people.  There is a happy ending for you, as well as for me, if we are truly one of God’s elect.  We will enter into the joy of the Lord.  We will experience the goodness of God and have happiness in the fulness of what that word means, which no one in this world has even touched upon.  You know, the people of the world think they are happy if they laugh occasionally.  And, yet, they have no idea what the fulness of happiness can be (and neither do I in this life), but it is what the Bible promises, and God always fulfills His promises.  He always keeps His Word.

We will stop here.   There are some more things I would like to discuss, but I do not want to rush through it.  I think this is a good place to stop, is it not?  It is a “happy ending.”  We do not often get that in this Day of Judgment.  Oftentimes, we are looking at things that are not too happy, but here we see “substitution.”  There was a lamb, a ram caught in the thicket, that was offered up in the place of Isaac, pointing to God’s glorious substitutionary work that was performed on behalf of His chosen people.