Mountain provision

Genesis 22:1-2,6-8,12-14,16-18 NLT

Some time later, God tested Abraham's faith. "Abraham!" God called. "Yes," he replied. "Here I am." [2] "Take your son, your only son - yes, Isaac, whom you love so much - and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you." [6] So Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac's shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them walked on together, [7] Isaac turned to Abraham and said, "Father?" "Yes, my son?" Abraham replied. "We have the fire and the wood," the boy said, "but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?" [8] "God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son," Abraham answered. And they both walked on together. [12] "Don't lay a hand on the boy!" the angel said. "Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son." [13] Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son. [14] Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means "the LORD will provide"). To this day, people still use that name as a proverb: "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided." [16] "This is what the LORD says: Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your son, your only son, I swear by my own name that [17] I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies. [18] And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed - all because you have obeyed me."

Mystical Moriah, that mountain of testing, becomes the mountain of God's provision.

Who can tell of the emotions tugging at Abraham's heart as he trudged up Moriah's lonely mount?

The very apple of this old man's eye was to be sacrificed? What kind of Lord first gives a miraculous son in his old age, then demands him to be sacrificed as a burnt offering?

It seems heartless and cruel on the surface. Moreover, the Lord amplifies the difficulty of the request by saying "take your son, your ONLY son, Isaac (ignoring the existence of Ishmael) whom you love so much.

Then what about Isaac's feelings, going willingly with his father to the hill of sacrifice? He asks where is the sacrifice?

Not only that, he must have willingly let himself be tied to the altar, at last realising that he was to be the sacrifice.

Are you seeing a picture, a foreshadowing of a future event of cosmic significance?

Rabbinical studies have calculated that Isaac would have been an adult between 25-37 years of age - even more of a poingnant look towards the Lamb of God.

Abraham trusted God so much that he was prepared to offer up his only son, knowing that the Lord would surely provide a sacrifice.

However, for God the Father, there was to be no stay of execution for His Son, His only Son, who willingly lay down His Life, near Mount Moriah.

His Son was the Provision, the ultimate Provision of Salvation.

Hear Jesus' piercing cry from the Cross: "My God, My God why have You forsaken me?"

Yet, through Him, that lonely Lamb of God, all nations have been and will be blessed.

Let God provide that stay of execution of your life, by Jesus being your sacrifice.