God Has Provided

Question of the day:  What is something that you know for sure?


God has provided!  Do you believe that?

This morning we are looking at 2 chapters.

Genesis 22 and 23.

We will read together the first part of Genesis 22.

Abraham Tested

22 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”

6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”

“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.

“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram[a] caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”

15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring[b]all nations on earth will be blessed,[c] because you have obeyed me.”

19 Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba.

This is perhaps one of the most amazing stories in the bible.  It is difficult to understand, difficult to relate to, incredible in every way.   

In the very first sentence, what does it say God is doing?

So there is no question what this is.

Perhaps the question number 1 on the exam is do you know my voice when I call your name?

This is something that I yearn to know.  When God is speaking to me do I recognize it?  To me this is the base or key to this whole passage.  KNOWING God's voice. 

How do we today KNOW God's voice?

Is there a time when you KNOW you heard him speak to you?

"Your only son"

If you noticed this is repeated several times by God.  Why is this emphasized?

"your only son, whom you love."

Where else do we hear this. 


The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

Remember when we started studying the book of Genesis we said that we were going to be looking for the redemptive story.  The story of our loving Savior who gave his son for us.  Well I think there are parts of this story that remind us and even take us to that redemptive story.  It isn't that hard to find here!

What are some other things we see? 

1. One and only son.
2. Isaac the one who was to be sacrificed carried the wood the last part of the way.  He carried the wood.
3.  A willing father
4.  "God himself will provide the lamb."
5.
6.

Then there is Isaac.  Wow.  This son no matter his age was remarkable.  Can you imagine, the moment when he realized why he was there.  What it must have taken for him to believe his father.  I'm telling you I am not sure I would believe my parents, especially if my parent was over a hundred years old.  

Ellen White writes about this moment so beautifully, "At the appointed place they built the altar and laid the wood upon it. Then, with trembling voice, Abraham unfolded to his son the divine message. It was with terror and amazement that Isaac learned his fate, but he offered no resistance. He could have escaped his doom, had he chosen to do so; the grief-stricken old man, exhausted with the struggle of those three terrible days, could not have opposed the will of the vigorous youth. But Isaac had been trained from childhood to ready, trusting obedience, and as the purpose of God was opened before him, he yielded a willing submission. He was a sharer in Abraham's faith, and he felt that he was honored in being called to give his life as an offering to God. He tenderly seeks to lighten the father's grief, and encourages his nerveless hands to bind the cords that confine him to the altar. 

Thinking back to the redemption story, and Jesus coming to die for us.  Can you imagine the moments between him and our heavenly Father as he left.  Can you imagine our heavenly father hearing his son say, "Father why have you forsaken me?" 

Why did God have Abraham go all the way up the mountain, a man well over 100 years old?  Why this track, why go through all that?  Why did it go as far as the knife being raised? 

Have you ever gone on a journey that you wondered why God took you all that way just to bring you back to where you started?  What is the point here of the journey?

1.  At many points along the way I am sure Abraham was questioning himself, and what he had heard.  He may have been questioning his ability to go through with it, to be strong enough to tell Isaac.  All of these questions were answered not just for God but for both Abraham and Isaac, and us!  God took it to the point of no question.  Why?

I see this as kind and loving.  God was willing to have Abraham and Isaac go through that because he would never take the choice away from them.  The choice as to whether they would obey or not was never compromised.  They always had choice to change their mind and run! 

We don't serve a God who will force us to choose Him.  That is the beauty and the risk of it all! 

The end of the chapter is a list of names....

Nahor’s Sons

20 Some time later Abraham was told, “Milkah is also a mother; she has borne sons to your brother Nahor: 21 Uz the firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel (the father of Aram), 22 Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph and Bethuel.” 23 Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. Milkah bore these eight sons to Abraham’s brother Nahor. 24 His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also had sons: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash and Maakah.

Let's move on to chapter 23.

The Death of Sarah

23 Sarah lived to be a hundred and twenty-seven years old. 2 She died at Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep over her.

3 Then Abraham rose from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites.[a] He said, 4 “I am a foreigner and stranger among you. Sell me some property for a burial site here so I can bury my dead.”

5 The Hittites replied to Abraham, 6 “Sir, listen to us. You are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb for burying your dead.”

7 Then Abraham rose and bowed down before the people of the land, the Hittites. 8 He said to them, “If you are willing to let me bury my dead, then listen to me and intercede with Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf9 so he will sell me the cave of Machpelah, which belongs to him and is at the end of his field. Ask him to sell it to me for the full price as a burial site among you.”

10 Ephron the Hittite was sitting among his people and he replied to Abraham in the hearing of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city. 11 “No, my lord,” he said. “Listen to me; I give[b] you the field, and I give[c] you the cave that is in it. I give[d] it to you in the presence of my people. Bury your dead.”

12 Again Abraham bowed down before the people of the land 13 and he said to Ephron in their hearing, “Listen to me, if you will. I will pay the price of the field. Accept it from me so I can bury my dead there.”

14 Ephron answered Abraham, 15 “Listen to me, my lord; the land is worth four hundred shekels[e] of silver, but what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.”

16 Abraham agreed to Ephron’s terms and weighed out for him the price he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weight current among the merchants.

17 So Ephron’s field in Machpelah near Mamre—both the field and the cave in it, and all the trees within the borders of the field—was deeded18 to Abraham as his property in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of the city. 19 Afterward Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre (which is at Hebron) in the land of Canaan. 20 So the field and the cave in it were deeded to Abraham by the Hittites as a burial site.

This chapter is one that begs, why?  What do we need to know from this.  Why is this information important.  I will be honest.... I have no idea!  

It is interesting to know how old she was and that Abraham went and wept over her.  

Let's just wrap this up like this...

Sarah an amazing woman lived to be 127 years old.  She had one son Isaac, and a husband Abraham who dearly loved her.   His love expressed by weeping over her body and then going to a lot of trouble and expense so that she could have a proper resting place. 

Abraham had to go through a lot of negotiating because he was in a foreign land and they were reluctant to sell to him. 

I think we can simply say, Sarah (like all amazing God fearing women) was worth the hassle! 


Final words - Perhaps as a parent and now grandparent, before I had only looked at this story from the perspective of Abraham and Isaac and not God the Father.  This story helps me to understand the agony that God must have felt giving up His son.  Oh we say it all the time, but it doesn't read the same as this story.  The thoughts of being Abraham gives me a physical reaction.  Yet Abraham never had to go through with it.... God our heavenly father did and he did it for me!  He was willing to give up his ONE and ONLY SON!

I come away from this lesson feeling like I KNOW Love just a little more!

KNOW LOVE.
LIVE LOVE.
SHARE LOVE.