From The Pulpit: God Will Provide A Lamb

By Rev. Mike Scott

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 the knife; and they went both of them together.  And Isaac spake unto Abraham his faither, 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 (Genesis 22:6-8).

            The patriarch Abraham has two sons—Ishamel by the bond-woman, Hagar, and Isaac by his wife, Sarah.  Isaac is the child of promise, which means it is through him that Jehovah God will establish the nation of Israel; but on a certain occasion the Lord speaks to Abraham and commands him to “…Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering…” (Genesis 22: 2).  Being the great man of faith he is, Abraham immediately obeys the Lord’s command.  The book of Hebrews informs us that Abraham “…when he was tried, offered up Isaac…Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead…” (Hebrews 11: 17, 19); therefore, Abraham is convinced that the plan and purposes of God will be fulfilled even if Isaac is slain.

            As Abraham and his son make their way up Mt. Moriah, Isaac begins to question his father.  We don’t know how old Isaac is at this particular time, but most scholars believe him to be somewhere around twelve or fourteen years of age.  He has seen Abraham offer many animals to the Lord in the past; therefore, he was well aware of the procedure.  Isaac realizes that the essential elements of fire and wood are present, but that which he doesn’t see is the sacrificial lamb.  When Isaac asks his father where is the lamb for a burn offering (v 7), Abraham responds with the words God will provide himself a lamb (v 8).  Eventually God does indeed provide “…a ram caught in a thicket by his horns…” (Genesis 22: 13), and his ram is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ.  God has indeed provided a Lamb in the person of His Son, and the ram in the thicket reminds of us of three great truths concerning Christ the Lord.

            First of all, the Lamb was sent.  When Abraham and Isaac arrive at the summit of Moriah and he (Abraham) goes through the process of offering Isaac upon the altar, he has no idea whatsoever that the ram is there; but the truth of the matter is God has it in place at precisely the right moment.  In much the same way God has sent His Son to this Earth at the exact time according to His divine timetable.  The apostle Paul informs us that “…when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law” (Galatians 4: 4), which means Jesus wasn’t born either too early or too late; instead, He came at the time of God’s choosing. 

            As we contemplate God sending His Son to this Earth, we need to realize that He is sent in fulfillment of divine promises. Throughout the Old Testament there are numerous Messianic Prophesies, which are God’s assurances that a Saviour is to be born.  The first of these Messianic Prophesies is found is found immediately after Adam and Eve commit the original sin in that the Almighty proclaims concerning the serpent (Satan) “…I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Genesis 3: 15).  By declaring the seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent, God is saying the Messiah (Christ) is going to deal a death blow to Satan.  Through His death, burial and resurrection the Lord Jesus Christ has defeated both hell and the grave as well as robbed the devil of his authority.  The enemy of our soul is powerless in his attempts to destroy us, for “…Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down…” (Revelation 12:10).

            There are many other Messianic Prophesies following this one as we are told of Christ’s virgin birth (see Isaiah 7:14), the exact location of that birth (see Micah 5: 2), the scope of His ministry (see Isaiah 9:6-7, 61:1-2), His triumphant entry into Jerusalem (see Zechariah 9: 9), His betrayal at the hands of Judas (see Psalm 41: 9; Zechariah 11: 12), the agony of His death (see Isaiah 53:4-5), His glorious resurrection (see Psalm 16: 10) and His ascension into Heaven (see Psalm 68:18).  Every prophecy is a promise of God, and every promise is fully fulfilled.

            Another point of emphasis concerning God’s sending His Son to Earth is the fact that He was sent for a purpose.  When He was alive Christ preached many sermons, taught through parables as well as performed miraculous deeds such as turning water into wine, healing the sick, casting out demons, calming troubled seas and raising the dead; but none of these activities are the primary purpose for His birth.  As “…the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13: 8) Christ’s main mission was to die on Calvary’s Cross and thereby shed His precious blood as the atonement for humanity’s many sins.  Jesus came to this Earth so that lost souls might be saved, set free and assured of Heaven once their life is over. 

Not only is the ram caught in the thicket sent, but it is second of all a substitute for Isaac.  Instead of Abraham plunging his knife into the heart of his son, the patriarch used the ram in his place.  Likewise, Jesus Christ has become our substitute in that He died our death, paid our price and suffered our hell. The apostle Paul states “…the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6: 23); therefore, because there is sin in our lives we are destined to face the second death, which is eternal separation from God in the lake of fire.  But Jesus Christ has taken our place as He allowed Himself to be nailed to the Cross and thereby suffer in our stead.  It is as the prophet Isaiah says when he writes “…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” (Isaiah 53: 5).

            There are three additional Scripture texts that speak of Christ’s being our substitute, and the first of these is “who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed” (1 Peter 2: 24).  A familiar Gospel song contains the lines “I should have been crucified, I should have suffered and died.  I should have hung on the cross in disgrace, but Jesus God’s Son, took my place,” and this verse from St. Peter’s epistle reflects that truth.  A second verse which speaks of Christ dying in our place is “…Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just of the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit” (1 Peter 3: 18), and this indicates the truth that He was sinless (just) and thereby didn’t deserve any punishment at all.  But because of the great love wherewith He loved us, Jesus willingly gave Himself to the Cross.

            The final verse of Scripture that speaks to Christ being our substitute is “…we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and hounour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man” (Hebrews 2: 9).  Being Jesus has died for every man, it stands to reason that all people ought to be saved.  But the sad reality is the vast majority of individuals reject the salvation He has provided and thereby die in their sins.  By refusing to accept Christ Jesus as Lord and Saviour lost humanity despise their only hope of redemption and find themselves facing a hopeless eternity in the lake of fire.

            Thirdly, the ram caught in the thicket is slain as its blood is shed on an altar of sacrifice.  Likewise, Christ Jesus is forced to die the cruelest death ever devised by sinful humanity as He is crucified on the old rugged Cross and is lifted up between Heaven and Earth to suffer, bleed and die for our many transgressions.  We are all too familiar with the physical aspects of Christ’s suffering as He is whipped by the Roman soldiers, spat upon, brutalized with the crown of thorns and nailed to the Cross, but have we ever stopped to consider the full extent of His suffering.

            Beyond the physical anguish the Master is forced to endure, there is the mental agony of knowing the very people for which He is dying are mocking and ridiculing Him.  The Jewish religious leaders who have put Christ through the mockery of a trial and have turned Him over to Pontius Pilate to be put to death are at the foot of the Cross taunting Him and relishing in His suffering.  Likewise, the Roman soldiers who have placed Him on the Cross are cruel, callous men who have no regard whatsoever for human life.  To them killing is nothing more than a sport to be savored and enjoyed.  But beyond this there is the mental anguish of being abandoned by God.  When Jesus cries out “…My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me” (Mark 15: 34), it is believed this is the very moment the Almighty pours out His righteous indignation against humanity’s sins.  In other words, Jesus experiences the hell every sinner deserves as God’s righteous wrath is being satisfied. 

            Jesus not only suffers physically and mentally, but He likewise suffers spiritually as He becomes the very thing He hates the most.  The Bible doesn’t say Jesus simply bore our sin; instead, it declares that God has “…made him to be sin for us…that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5: 21).  In doing so Jehovah God has “[blotted] out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross” (Colossians 2: 14).  As the hymn writer says “My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought; my sin, not in part but the whole; is nailed to the cross, and I bear it not more; praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Oh my soul”!

            In conclusion, as Abraham and Isaac make their way up Mt. Moriah, Isaac asks his father, where is the lamb for a burnt offering (v 7), to which Abraham responds, my son, God will provide himself a lamb (v 8).  God has indeed provided a Lamb in the person of His Son, and like the ram caught in the thicket Christ Jesus is sent, a substitute and slain.  

This message was preached from the pulpit of the Juniper Chapel FWB Church on August 23, 2020