The Wednesday Word - 3 August, 2022 A.D.

 Jesus is Jehovah Jireh.

 by D.G. Miles McKee
 

I often hear preachers proclaim that Jesus, Jehovah Jireh, will provide all our material needs. I have no problem with this statement for I can personally testify of being in full-time ministry since the early 1980s, without a salary.  Jehovah Jireh has provided every need and will, by grace, continue to provide.
 
But, when this name, Jehovah Jireh, was first brought to our attention, it didn’t have to do with finances, but, rather, with substitutionary sacrifice.  The designation of Jehovah the provider is first found in Genesis 22, and it concerns the faithful provision of a substitute for Isaac.  Do you remember the story?  The Lord had told His friend Abraham to take his beloved son Isaac and sacrifice him on an altar.  Old Abraham, I’m sure was confused by this command and, if so, he had every right to be for, after all, the Lord had given him Isaac as a child of promise. 
 
Nevertheless, in obedience, the great man rose up early, took Isaac and journeyed to Mount Moriah.  Remember how, as they climbed the mountain, Isaac turned to his father asking, “Where is the lamb?” and Abraham responded, “The Lord will provide Himself a lamb.”  Abraham knew that God would provide; he knew that God would see to it.  He knew, by faith, that the Lord was Jehovah Jireh, the one who would provide a substitute for his boy. And indeed, God did provide a substitute and the place was then called Jehovah Jireh, ‘the Lord has provided’.
 
This compelling story is laced with gospel undertones.  Notice that Abraham did not pray for a Lamb.  He knew that God had seen the situation and that He would provide.  Similarly, we didn’t have to pray that God would send Christ to die for us.  God knew and saw our need and, from eternity, had already prepared the Lamb for the cross.
 
The wood, carried by Isaac, pointed towards Christ carrying the cross up Mount Calvary.  Isaac lying down on the wood without a fight, represented the Lord Jesus, submitting, in obedience, to the death of the cross. Abraham’s knife foreshadowed Jehovah’s awful blade of justice falling upon Christ! 
 
Then consider the Ram! The ram was caught by the horns in a thick, dense undergrowth comprised of interwoven thorny briars. Being that horns are a picture of strength, we see that Christ’s mighty power submitted itself to the thorny and entangled hands of evil men (see Micah 7:3).  Thorns are also a by-product of the curse and the ram being imprisoned by them points towards Christ being made a curse for us (see Galatians 3:13).  Notice, also, how the ram’s head was entangled in the briars; this pictured how Christ’s lovely head would be crowned with thorns.
 
That there are so many gospel pictures in this story, draws our attention to the fact that the greatest provision God has ever made was when He gave Himself to be the wrath offering for our sins.
 
The God who is all-holy had demanded the sacrifice of Isaac.  Isaac, like the rest of us, was a sinner and, therefore, deserved to die!  That’s a painful reality, but true!  When Isaac asked the famous question, “Where is the lamb”, he didn’t realize that the full answer to that question would not come for well over a thousand years.  The answer would have to wait until the time when a hairy prophet stood upright on the banks of Jordan, pointed to the Lord Jesus and declared, “Behold the Lamb of God.” It is as if he said, “This is the lamb about whom Isaac inquired and of whom Abraham prophesied!” 
 
Jesus is the Lamb of God’s preparation.  Jesus is Jehovah Jireh, the lamb of God’s provision.  Jesus, in Himself, is the provision for the sins of His people.  He and only He is uniquely qualified for the title of, Jehovah-Jireh, the LORD our Provider!
 
And that’s the Gospel Truth!