And Abraham galled the name of that place Jehovah-Jireh: as it is
said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen. Genesis
22:14. -
YouTube - Jehovah Jireh
Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-Jireh, or Jehovah will
see it, or Jehovah will provide, or Jehovah will be seen. We are
offered a variety of interpretations, but the exact idea is that of seeing
and being seen. For God to see is to provide. Our own word provide, is
only Latin for to see. You know how we say that we will see to a
matter. Possibly this expression hits the nail on the head. Our heavenly
Father sees our need, and with divine foresight of love prepares the
supply. He sees to a need to supply it; and in the seeing he is seen, in
the providing he manifests himself.
I believe that the truth contained in the expression Jehovah-Jireh was
ruling Abrahams thought long before he uttered it and appointed it to be
the memorial name of the place where the Lord had provided a substitute
for Isaac. It was this thought, I think, which enabled him to act as
promptly as he did under the trying circumstances. His reason whispered
within him, If you slay your son, how can God keep his promise to you
that your seed shall be as many as the stars of heaven? He answered that
suggestion by saying to himself, Jehovah will see to it! As he went
upon that painful journey, with his dearly beloved son at his side, the
suggestion may have come to him, How will you meet Sarah when you return
home, having imbrued your hands in the blood of her son? How will you meet
your neighbors when they hear that Abraham, who professed to be such a
holy man, has killed his son? That answer still sustained his heart
Jehovah will see to it! Jehovah will see to it! He will not fail in his
word. Perhaps he will raise my son from the dead; but in some way or other
he will justify my obedience to him, and vindicate his own command.
Jehovah will see to it. This was a quietus to every mistrustful thought.
I pray that we may drink into this truth, and be refreshed by it. If we
follow the Lords bidding, he will see to it that we shall not be ashamed
or confounded. If we come into great need by following his command, he
will see to it that the loss shall he recompensed. If our difficulties
multiply and increase so that our way seems completely blocked up, Jehovah
will see to it that the road shall be cleared. The Lord will see us
through in the way of holiness if we are only willing to be thorough in
it, and dare to follow wheresoever he leads the way. We need not wonder
that Abraham should utter this truth, and attach it to the spot, which was
to be for ever famous: for his whole heart was saturated with it, and had
been sustained by it. Wisely he makes an altar and a mountain to be
memorials of the truth which had so greatly helped him. His trials had
taught him more of God, had, in fact, given him a new name for his God;
and this he would not have forgotten, but he would keep it before the
minds of the generations following by naming the place Jehovah-Jireh.
Observe as you read this chapter that this was not the first time that
Abraham had thus spoken. When he called the name of the place
Jehovah-Jireh he had seen it to be true, the ram caught in the thicket
had been provided as a substitute for Isaac: Jehovah had provided. But he
had before declared that truth when as yet he knew nothing of the Divine
action, when he could not even guess how his extraordinary trial would
end. His son Isaac had said to him, Behold the fire and the wood, but
where is the lamb for a burnt offering? and the afflicted father had
bravely answered, My son, God will provide. In due time God did
provide, and then Abraham honored him by saying the same words, only
instead of the ordinary name for God he used the special covenant title
Jehovah. That is the only alteration; otherwise in the same terms he
repeats the assurance that the Lord will provide.
That first utterance was most remarkable: it was simple enough, but how
prophetic! It teaches us this truth, that the confident speech of a
believer is akin to the language of a prophet. The man who accepts the
promise of God unstaggeringly, and is sure that it is true, will speak
like the seers of old: he will see that God sees, and will declare the
fact, and the holy inference which comes of it. The believers childlike
assurance will anticipate the future, and his plain statement God will
provide will turn out to be literal truth. If you want to come near to
prophesying, hold you hard to the promise of God and you shall prophecy
according to the measure of faith. He that can say, I know and am sure
that God will not fail me in this mine hour of tribulation, will, before
long, drop pearls of divine confidence and diamonds of prediction from his
lips. Choice sayings which become proverbs in the church of God are not
the offspring of mistrust, but of firm confidence in the living God. To
this day many a saying of a man of God is quoted among us, even as
Abrahams word was quoted. Moses puts it, As it is said to this day, In
the mount of the Lord it shall be seen; and we might mention many a
sentence which is said unto this day which first fell from the mouth of a
faithful spirit in the hour of the manifestation of the Lord. The speech
of the father of the faithful became the speech of his spiritual seed for
many a year afterwards, and it abides in the family of faith unto this
day. If we have full faith in God, we shall teach succeeding generations
to expect Jehovahs hand to be stretched out still.
True faith not only speaks the language of prophecy, but, when she sees
her prophecy fulfilled, faith is always delighted to raise memorials to
the God of truth. The stones which were set up of old were not to the
memory of dead men, but they were memorials of the deeds of the living
God: they abundantly uttered the memory of Gods great goodness. Abraham
on this occasion did not choose a name which recorded what he had done,
but a name which spake of what Jehovah had done. It is true Abrahams
faith was worthy to be remembered throughout all generations, for there he
believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness, and the Lord
said to him, And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be
blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. There the patriarch had
endured the extreme test: no gold was ever passed through a hotter
furnace. But true faith is always modest; from her gate boasting is
excluded by law. Abraham says nothing about himself at all, but the praise
is unto God, who sees and is seen; the record is, Jehovah will
provide. I like that self-ignoring; I pray that we, also, may have so
much strength of faith that self may go to the wall. Little faith is very
apt to grow proud when, to its own astonishment, it has wrought
righteousness; but strong faith so completely empties itself, and so
entirely depends upon the all-sufficiency of God, that when anything is
achieved it remembers nothing but the divine hand, and lays the crown
where it ought to be laid. Growing in experimental acquaintance with the
God of the covenant, faith has a new song and a new name for her God, and
takes care that his wonderful works shall be remembered.
Note yet further, that when faith has uttered a prophecy, and has set up
her memorial, the record of mercy received becomes itself a new prophecy.
Abraham says, Jehovah-Jireh, God will see to it; what was he doing
then but prophesying a second time for future ages? He bids us know that,
as God had provided for him in the time of his extremity, so he will
provide for all them that put their trust in him. The God of Abraham
liveth, and let his name be praised, and let us rest assured that, as
certainly as in the patriarchs distress, when there seemed no way of
escape, the Lord appeared for him and was seen in the mount, even so shall
it be with all the believing seed while time endureth. We shall all be
tried and tested, but in our utmost need God will see us, and see to our
deliverance, if we will but let faith have her perfect work, and will hope
and quietly wait the moment when the Lord shall be seen working salvation.
The Lord is the Preserver of men and the Provider for men. I long for all
of us to get this truth firmly fixed in our hearts, and therefore I shall
try to show that Gods provision for Abraham and Isaac typified the far
greater provision by which all the faithful are delivered from death; and
that God, in providing in the mount, has given us therein a sure guarantee
that all our necessities shall be provided for henceforth even for ever.
Consider, then, that the provision which God made for Abraham was symbolic
of the greater provision which he has made for all his chosen in Christ
Jesus. Jehovah-Jireh is a text from which to preach concerning
providence, and many have been the sermons which have been distilled from
it, but I take the liberty of saying that providence, in the ordinary
sense of the term, is not the first thought of the passage, which should
be read with some sort of reference to its connection, and the more so
because that connection is exceedingly remarkable.
I. When Abraham said Jehovah will provide, He meant us, first of
all, to learn that The Provision Will Come In The Time Of Our Extremity.
The provision of the ram instead of
Isaac was the significant type which was before Abrahams mind, but our
Lord tells us, Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it, and was
glad; and surely if ever Abraham saw the day of Christ, and was beyond
measure glad, it was at that moment when he beheld the Lord providing a
substitute for Isaac. At any rate, whether Abraham understood the full
meaning of what he said or not, he spoke not for himself; but for us.
Every word he uttered is for our teaching, and the teaching is this: that
God, in the gift of his Son, Jesus Christ, made the fullest provision for
our greatest needs, and from that we may infer that whatever need shall
ever occur to us, God will certainly provide for it; but he may delay the
actual manifestation thereof till our darkest hour has come.
Just in the last distressing hour
The Lord displays delivering power;
The moment of danger is the place
Where we shall see surprising grace.
The Lord gave our Lord Jesus Christ to be the Substitute for men in view
of the utmost need of our race. Isaac was hard pressed when God interfered
in his behalf. The knife was lifted up by a resolute hand; he was within a
second of death when the angelic voice said, Lay not thine hand upon the
lad. God provided instantly when the need pressed urgently. Beloved, was
Isaac nearer to death than sinful man was near to hell? Was that knife
closer to the throat of the beloved Isaac than the axe of the executioner
was near to the neck of every sinner, aye, to the neck of the whole race
of man? We have so sinned and gone astray that it was not possible for God
to wink at our transgressions; he must visit our iniquities with the just
punishment, which is nothing less than death eternal. I constantly meet
with persons under the convincing power of the Spirit of God, and I always
find that in their apprehension the punishment of sin is something
terrible and overwhelming. When God deals with men by his convincing
Spirit, they feel that their sin deserves nothing less than the wrath of
God in hell. So it was with our race; we had altogether destroyed
ourselves, and were shut up under condemnation by the law, and it was in
that dread hour that God interposed and proclaimed a Savior for men.
While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. I would to God we all
felt what a dreadful thing it is to be lost; for then we should value the
provision of the Savior much more than we do now. Oh, sirs, if no Redeemer
had been provided, we might have gathered here this morning, and it you
could have had patience to hear me, all I should have been able to say
would have been, Brethren, let us weep together and sigh in chores; for
we shall all die, and, dying, we shall sink into the bottomless pit, and
shall abide for ever under the righteous anger of God. It must have been
so with us all if a substitute had not been found. If the gift of the
loving Father had not been bestowed, if Jesus had not condescended to die
in our place, we must have been left for execution by that law which will
by no means spare the guilty. We talk about our salvation as if it were
nothing very particular: we have heard of the plan of substitution so
often that it becomes commonplace. It should not be so; I believe that it
still thrills the angels with astonishment that man, when he had fallen
from his high estate, and had been banished from Eden, and had become a
rebel against God, should be redeemed by the blood of the Heir of all
things, by whom the Divine Father made the worlds. When death and hell
opened their Jaws to devour, then was this miracle completed, and Jesus
taken among the thorns was offered up a sacrifice for us.
God not only interposed when the death of Isaac was imminent, but also
when the anguish of Abraham had reached its highest pitch. The patriarchs
faith never wavered, but we must not forget that he was a man like
ourselves, and no father could see his child offered up without an inward
agony which surpasses all description. The anguish of so perfect a man as
Abraham, a man who felt all the domestic affections intensely, as every
truly godly father must feel them, and who loved his son as much as he
loved his own life, must have been unspeakably great. What must have been
the force of faith which enabled the man of God to master himself, to go
contrary to the current of human nature, and deliberately to stand ready
to sacrifice his Isaac! He must have been wound up to a fearful pitch of
anguish when he lifted up the knife to slay his son; but just then the
angel arrested his hand, and God provided the ram as the substitute in the
moment of his utmost misery.
Surely the world had come to a great state of misery when at last God sent
forth his Son, born of a woman, that he might become the sacrifice for
sin. At any rate, this I know, that as a rule men do not see Christ to be
their substitute nor accept him as their Redeemer till they feel that they
lie at hells door, and till their anguish on account of sin has become
exceeding great. I remember well when I first beheld the lamb of God who
suffered in my stead. I had often heard the story of his death; I could
have told it out to others very correctly; but then I did not know my own
pressing need, I lad not come to feel the knife at my throat, nor was I
about to die, and therefore my knowledge was a cold, inoperative thing.
But when the law had bound me, and given me over to death, and my heart
within me was crushed with fear, then the sight of the glorious Substitute
was as bright to me as a vision of heaven. Did Jesus suffer in my stead
without the gate? were my transgressions laid on him? then I received him
with joy unspeakable, my whole nature accepting the good news. At this
moment I accept the Lord Jesus as my Substitute with a deep, peaceful
delight. Blessed be the name of Jehovah-Jireh for having taken thought of
me, a beggar, a wretch, a condemned criminal, and for having provided the
Lamb of God whose precious blood was shed instead of mine.
II. Secondly, upon the mount The Provision Was Spontaneously Made for
Abraham, and so was the provision which the Lord displayed in the fullness
of time when he gave up his Son to die.
The ram caught in the thicket was a
provision which on Abrahams part was quite unsought. He did not fall down
and pray, O Lord, in thy tenderness provide another victim instead of my
son, Isaac. Probably it never entered his mind. But God spontaneously,
from the free grace of his own heart, put the ram where Abraham found it.
You and I did not pray for Christ to die. He died for us before we were
born, and if he had not done so it would never have entered into our mind
to ask for so great a gift. Until the Lord sought us we did not even seek
to be saved by Christ, of the fact of whose death we had been made aware.
Oh, no; it is not in man by nature to seek a Savior: it is in God to give
a Savior, and then the Spirit of God sweetly inclines the heart to seek
him; but this seeking comes not of man. When we were yet without
strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. It is ours to sin, it
is Gods to save. We have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord
hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Ours is the wandering, but the
laying of those wanderings upon Jesus is of the Lord alone: we neither
bought it, nor sought it, nor thought it.
In Abrahams case I believe it was an unexpected thing. He did not reckon
upon any substitute for his son, he judged that he would have to die, and
viewed him as already dead. As for ourselves, if God had not revealed the
plan of salvation by the substitution of his only-begotten Son we should
never have dreamed of it. Remember that the Son of God is one with the
Father, and if the Holy Ghost had not revealed the fact that the offended
God would himself bear the penalty due for the offense, it would never
have occurred to the human mind. The brightest of the spirits before Gods
throne would never have devised the plan of salvation by the sacrifice of
Jesus. It was unexpected. Let us bless the Lord, who has done for us
exceeding abundantly above what we asked or even thought in giving to us
redemption through the death of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I may say of Christ what I could not have said of Abrahams ram, that not
only was he unsought for by us and unexpected, but now that he is given he
is not perfectly comprehended.
Much we talk of Jesu blood,
But how littles understood!
Of his sufferings, so intense,
Angels have no perfect sense.
I am often ready to beat upon my own breast as I study the wondrous
mystery of atoning love, for it seems to me so mean a thing to be so
little affected by such boundless grace. If we fully felt what God has
done for us in the great deed of Jesus death, it might not be wonderful
if we were to die under the amazing discovery. Such knowledge is too
wonderful for me, it is high, I cannot attain unto it. The immortal God
undertakes to bear death for man! The incarnate stands in the sinners
place. The well-pleasing Son is made accursed for those who else had been
accursed for ever. He who was above all shame and sorrow laid aside his
glory and became the Man of Sorrows, despised and rejected of men.
Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor. It is more
extraordinary than romance! Poets may sing their loftiest stanzas, but
they shall never reach the height of this great argument. Paradise
Lost a Milton may compose, and fascinate a world with his majestic
lines; but Paradise Restored by the divine substitution is not to be fully
sung by mortal mind. God only knows the love of God. All the harps of
redeemed men and all the hymns of adoring angels can never set forth the
splendor of the love of Jehovah in providing for our need, providing for
our salvation, providing his only-begotten Son, and providing him of his
own free love, unsought, and undesired of men.
III. But, thirdly, we ought to dwell very long and earnestly upon the
fact that for mans need The Provision Was Made By God Himself.
The text says, Jehovah-Jireh, the
Lord will see to it, the Lord will provide. None else could have provided
a ransom. Neither on earth nor in heaven was there found any helper for
lost humanity. What sacrifice could be presented to God if a sacrifice
could be accepted? Behold Lebanon, as it rises majestically toward heaven,
white with its snows; see the forests which adorn its sides! Set these all
on fire, and see them blaze as the wood of the altar of God. Yet Lebanon
is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt
offering. Take the myriads of cattle that roam the hills, and shed their
blood till you have made a sea of gore, but what of that? It is not
possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Men
may themselves die, but in death each man who dies only pays his own debt
to nature; there is nothing left for another. None can by any means
redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him. Where shall a
redemption be found by which it shall be possible that the multitude of
the elect shall be effectually redeemed from death and hell? Such a ransom
could only be found by God, and he could only find it in himself, in him
who was one with himself, who lay in the bosom of the Father from old
eternity. The provision was made by God himself, since none other could
provide. God alone could say, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I
have found a ransom.
But was it not singular that the Lord Jehovah should provide it? When law
has been broken, and its honor has to be retrieved, it would not be judged
likely that the aggrieved party should make the sacrifice. That God,
against whom all the blasphemy and sin and wickedness of a ribald world
was aimed, shall he himself make expiation? Shall the judge bear the
penalty due to the criminal? Lay it on the sinner; for it is his due;
so justice cries aloud, Lay the penalty on the transgressor; but if
a substitute can be permitted, where can one be found able and willing to
become surety for the guilty? Found upon the throne! Found in the majesty
that is offended! Brethren, I am beaten down by my subject; forgive me
that I cannot speak of it as I would desire. There is no room here for
words; it is a matter for silent thought. We want the fact of substitution
to strike us, and then the cross will grow sublimely great. In vision I
behold it! Its two arms are extended right and left till they touch the
east and west and overshadow all races of men; the foot of it descends
lower than the grave, till it goes down even to the gates of hell; while
upward the cross mounts with a halo round about it of unutterable glory,
till it rises above the stars, and sheds its light upon the throne of the
Most High. Atonement is a divine business; its sacrifice is infinite, even
as the God who conceived it. Glory be to his name for ever! It is all that
I can say. It was nothing less than a stretch of divine love for Jesus to
give himself for our sins. It was gracious for the Infinite to conceive of
such a thing; but for him to carry it out was glorious beyond all. What
shall I say of it?
I will only interject this thought here let none of us ever interfere
with the provision of God. If in our dire distress he alone was our
Jehovah-Jireh, and provided for us a Substitute, let us not think that
there is anything left for us to provide. O sinner, do you cry, Lord, I
must have a broken heart? He will provide it for thee. Do you cry,
Lord, I cannot master sin, I have not the power to conquer my
passions? He will provide strength for thee. Do you mourn, Lord, I
shall never hold on and hold out to the end. I am so fickle? Then he
will provide perseverance for thee. Dost thou think that after having
given his own dear Son to purchase thee He will let that work fail because
thou canst not provide some little odds and ends to complete the work? Oh,
dream not so; dote not on such a folly. Whatever thou wantest, poor
sinner, if thou believest in Christ the Lords provision of a Savior in
Christ warrants thy believing that God will provide it. Salvation begins
with Jehovah-Jireh, the cross and the bleeding Savior. Dost thou think it
will afterwards drivel down into thy providing this and that? Oh, thy
pride! Thy insane pride! Thou art to do something, art thou? What! and
yoke thy little something with the Eternal God? Didst thou ever hear of an
angel failing to perform a duty until he was assisted by an emmet? Hast
thou ever heard of Gods great laws of nature breaking down till some
childs finger could supplement their force? Thou to help thy God to
provide! Get thee out of the way, and be nothing, then shall God come in
and be everything. Sink! It is the Lord that must rise. He shall be seen
in the mount, and not thyself. Hide thyself, and let the glory of the Lord
be manifested in thee. I wish that every troubled one here could catch
this idea, and hold it fast. Whatever you want to put away your sin,
whatever you want to make you a new creature, whatever you want to carry
you to heaven, Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord will provide it. He will see to it.
Trust thou in him, and ere long thou shalt see the divine provision, and
Jehovah shall be glorious in thine eyes.
IV. But I must pass on. That which God prepares for poor sinners is A
Provision Most Gloriously Made.
God provided a ram instead of Isaac.
This was sufficient for the occasion as a type; but that which was
typified by the ram is infinitely more glorious. In order to save us God
provided God. I cannot put it more simply. He did not provide an angel,
nor a mere man, but God himself. Come, sinner, with all thy load of sin:
God can bear it; the shoulders that bear up the universe can well sustain
thy load of guilt. God gave thee his Godhead to be thy Savior when he gave
thee his Son.
But he also gave in the person of Christ perfect manhood, such a man as
never lived before, eclipsing even the perfection of the first Adam in the
garden by the majestic innocence of his nature. When Jesus has been viewed
as man, even unconverted men have so admired his excellence that they have
almost adored him. Jesus is God and man, and the Father has given that
man, that God, to be thy Redeemer. For thy redemption the Lord God has
given thee the death of Christ; and what a death it was! I would that
troubled hearts would oftener study the story of the Great Sacrifice, the
agony and bloody sweat, the betrayal in the garden, the binding of the
hands, the accusation of the innocent, the scourging, the thorn-crowning,
the spitting in the face, the mockery, the nailing to the tree, the
lifting up of the cross, the burning fever, the parching thirst, and,
above all, the overpowering anguish of being forsaken of his God. Bethink
thee, O soul, that to save thee the Son of God must cry, Lama
sabachthani! Bethink thee that to save thee he must hang naked to his
shame between heaven and earth, rejected of both; must cry, I thirst,
and receive nothing but vinegar wherewith to moisten his burning lips.
Jesus must pour out his soul unto death that we might live. He must be
numbered with the transgressors, that we might be numbered with his
saints in glory everlasting. Was not this a glorious provision? What
greater gift could be bestowed than one in whom God and man are blended in
one?
When Abraham on the mount offered a sacrifice it was called a burnt
offering, but when the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary died it was not only
a burnt offering, but a sin offering, a meat offering, and a peace
offering, and every other kind of sacrifice in one. Under the oldest of
all dispensations, before the mosaic economy, God had not taught to men
the distinctions of sacrifice, but an offering unto the Lord meant all
that was afterwards set forth by many types. When the venerable patriarch
offered a sacrifice, it was an offering for sin, and a sweet smelling
savor besides. So was it with our Lord Jesus Christ. When he died he made
his soul an offering for sin, and put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself. When he died, he also offered unto God a burnt offering, for we
read, And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given
himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling
savor. When Jesus died he gave to us a peace offering; for we come to
feast upon him with God, and to us his flesh is meat indeed, his blood
is drink indeed. One would need many a day in which to expatiate upon
the infinite virtues and excellencies of Christ, in whom all perfections
are sweetly hived. Blessed be his name, God has most gloriously provided
for us in the day of our need. Jehovah-Jireh!
V. Fifthly, The Provision Was Made Effectively. Isaac did not die; the
laughter in Abrahams house was not stifled; there was no grief for the
patriarch; he went home with his son in happy companionship, because
Jehovah had provided himself a lamb for a burnt offering.
The ram which was provided did not
bleed in vain; Isaac did not die as well as the ram; Abraham did not have
to slay the God-provided victim and his own son also. No, the one
sacrifice sufficed. Beloved, this is my comfort in the death of Christ I
hope it is yours, that he did not die in vain. I have heard of a
theology which, in its attempt to extol the efficacy of Christs death,
virtually deprives it of any certain efficiency; the result of the
atonement is made to depend entirely upon the will of man, and so is left
to hap-hazard. Our Lord, according to certain teachers, might or might not
see of the travail of his soul. I confess that I do not believe in this
random redemption, and I wonder that any persons can derive comfort from
such teaching. I believe that the Son of God could not possibly have come
into the world in the circumstances in which he did come, and could not
have died as he did die, and yet be defeated and disappointed. He died for
those who believe in him, and these shall live, yea, they do live in him.
I should think that Isaac, the child of laughter, was solemnly joyous as
he descended the hill and went home with his father. Methinks both of them
tripped along with happy step towards Sarahs house and their own loved
home; and you and I this day may go home with like joyousness. We shall
not die, for the Lamb of God has died for us. We shall never perish, for
he has suffered in our stead. We were bound on the altar, we were laid on
the wood, and the fire was ready for our consuming; but no knife shall
touch us now, for the sacrifice is offered once for all. No fire shall
consume us, for he who suffered in our stead has borne the heat of the
flame on our behalf. We live, and we shall live. There is therefore now
no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. This is an effectual
and precious providing. I do not believe in a redemption which did not
redeem, nor in an atonement which did not atone; but I do believe in him
who died in vain for none, but will effectually save his own church and
his own sheep for whom he laid down his life. To him we will all render
praise, for he was slain, and he has redeemed us unto God by his blood out
of every kindred and people and nation.
VI. Turn we then, sixthly, to this note, that we may well glorify
Jehovah-Jireh because This Provision Was Made For Every Believer.
The provision on the Mount of Moriah
was made on behalf of Abraham: he was himself a man of faith, and he is
styled the father of the faithful; and now every faithful or believing
one may stand where Abraham stood, and say, Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord will
provide. Remember, however, that our faith must be of the same nature as
that of Abraham, or it will not be counted to us for righteousness.
Abrahams faith worked by love; it so worked in him that he was willing to
do all that the Lord bade him, even to the sacrifice of his own dear son.
You must possess a living, working, self-sacrificing faith if you would be
saved. If you have it, you may be as sure that you are saved as you are
sure that you have sinned. He that believeth on him is not condemned,
because Christ was condemned for him. He that believeth on him hath
everlasting life: he cannot die, for Christ died for him. The great
principle upon which our security is based is the righteousness of God,
which assures us that he will not punish the substitute and then punish
the person for whom the substitute endured the penalty. It were a matter
of gross injustice if the sinner, having made atonement for his sin in the
person of his covenant Head, the Lord Jesus, should afterwards himself be
called upon to account for the very sin which was atoned for. Sin, like
anything else, cannot be in two places at once: if the great God took my
sin, and laid it on his Son, then it is not on me any more. If Jesus bore
the wrath of God for me, I cannot bear that wrath; it were contrary to
every principle of a just moral government that the Judge should cast our
Surety into prison and exact the penalty of him, and then come upon those
for whom the suretyship was undertaken. By this gospel I am prepared to
stand or fall; yea, by it I will live or die: I know no other. Because I
believe it, I this day cry from the bottom of my heart, Jehovah-Jireh,
the Lord has provided an effectual redemption for all those who put their
trust in him whom God has set forth to be a propitiation. It is true, as
it is written, He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. It is
true that the faith which worketh by love brings justification to the
soul.
VII. But now I close with a remark which will reveal the far-reaching
character of my text.
Jehovah-Jireh is true concerning
all necessary things. The instance given of Abraham being provided for
shows us that the Lord will ever be a Provider for his people. As to the
gift of the Lord Jesus, this is A Provision Which Guarantees All Other
Provision. He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us
all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Abraham
learned that; for, as soon as he had slaughtered the ram, the covenant was
repeated in his ears, and repeated as he had never heard it before,
accompanied with an oath. God cannot swear by any greater than himself,
and so he said, By myself have I sworn. Thus was the covenant ratified
by blood and by the oath of God. Oh, that bleeding Sacrifice! The covenant
of God is confirmed by it, and our faith is established. If you have seen
Jesus die for you, your heart has heard God swear, Surely in blessing I
will bless thee! By two immutable things, wherein it is impossible for
God to lie, he hath given us strong consolation who have fled for refuge
to the hope set before us in the gospel. Let us fall back on this eternal
verity, that if God has provided his own Well-beloved Son to meet the most
awful of all necessities, then he will provide for us in everything else.
Where will he provide? He will provide for us in the mount that is to say,
in the place of our trial. When we reach the place where the fatal deed of
utmost obedience is to be wrought, then God will interpose. You desire him
to provide for you when you lift up your eyes and see the mount afar off.
He does not choose so to do; but in the mount it shall be seen, in the
place of the trial, in the heat of the furnace, in the last extremity
Jehovah will be seen, for he will see to it, and it shall become a proverb
with you, In the mount Jehovah shall be seen. That is to say, when
you cannot see, the Lord will see you and see to your need; for his eyes
are upon the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry. You will not
need to explain to God your difficulties and the intricacies of your
position, he will see it all. Joyfully sing that revival ditty
This my Father knows.
As soon as the Lord has seen our need, then his provision shall be seen.
You need not climb to heaven or descend into the deep to find it: the
Lords provision is near at hand, the ram in the thicket is behind you
though you see it not as yet. When you have heard God speak to you, you
shall turn and see it, and wonder you never saw it before. You will
heartily bless God for the abundant provision which he reveals in the
moment of trial. Then shall the Lord himself be seen. You will soon die,
and perhaps in dying you will be troubled by the fear of death; but let
that evil be removed by this knowledge that the Lord will yet be seen,
and when he shall appear you shall be manifested in his glory. In the day
of the revelation of the Lord Jesus your body shall be raised from the
dead, and then shall the divine provision yet more fully be discovered.
In the mount it shall be seen, and there shall God himself be
manifested to you, for your eyes shall behold him and not another.
There is a rendering given to my text which we cannot quite pass over.
Some read it that in the mount the people shall be seen, in that
mount in years to come the multitude would gather to worship God. Gods
presence was in the temple which was built upon that spot, and thither the
tribes went up, the tribes of the Lord to worship the Most High. I dwell
in a house not made with hands, but piled by God of solid slabs of mercy.
He is building for me a palace of crystal, pure and shining, transparent
as the day. I see the house in which I am to abide for ever gradually
growing around me. Its foundation was laid of old in eternal love, in
the mount it shall be seen. The Lord provided for me a Covenant Head, a
Redeemer, and a Friend, and in him I abide. Since then, course upon course
of the precious stones of lovingkindness has been laid, and the jewelled
walls are all around me. Has it not been so with you? By-and-by we shall
be roofed in with glory everlasting, and then as we shall look to the
foundations, and the walls and to the arch above our head, we shall shout,
Jehovah-Jireh, God has provided all this for me! How we shall
rejoice in every stone of the divine building! How will our memory think
over the method of the building! On such a day was that stone laid, I
remember it right well: I was sore sick and the Lord comforted me. On
such a day was that other stone laid, I was in prison spiritually, and
the heavenly visitor came unto me. On such another day was that bejewelled
course completed, for my heart was glad in the Lord and my glory rejoiced
in the God of my salvation. The walls of love are still rising, and when
the building is finished and the topstone is brought out with shoutings of
Grace, grace, unto it! we shall then sing this song unto the Lord
Jehovah-Jireh! The Lord has provided it. From the beginning to the end
there is nothing of man and nothing of merit, nothing of self, but all of
God in Christ Jesus, who hath loved us with an everlasting love, and
therefore hath abounded towards us in blessing according to the fullness
of his infinite heart. To him be praise world without end. Amen, and Amen.
(Our
Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by
permission. All rights reserved)
