What does it mean that God provides?

Appropriately, Abraham named that place “Jehovah Jireh,” meaning “the Lord will provide.” Added to this we are told it is “the mount of the Lord.” Later Mount Sinai and Mount Horeb are called “the mount of God” and “the mount of the Lord,” for the expression speaks of the height from which God deals with mankind. But this mountain, speaking of the grace of God in the gift of His Son, is the first mentioned, for it is nearest to God's heart. The law must take a lower place.

So it is found that "in the mount of the Lord, it shall be provided" (Gen. 22:14; see R.V.); and so the place is named JEHOVAH-JIREH. The name Jehovah was taken by God as showing the relationship which He would maintain by faith: it means I AM, and whatever is needed can be, by faith, added to that "I am — ." It is like a signed cheque which is left for the possessor to fill in the amount as he requires. Thus we find the word Jehovah linked with qualifying terms several times, and on each occasion the qualifying term grows out of the character of the circumstances and suits it. In the passage before us, there is a position of extreme need, — Where is … ? and therefore we find JEHOVAH-JIREH, I am thy provider. In Ex. 17, the people of Israel, unorganised and undisciplined, was attacked by a powerless and ruthless foe; and they required a rallying point, a banner, JEHOVAH-NISSI. Again, in the beginning of the book of Judges, the position is one of continual turbulence: in the sixth chapter "the mighty man of valour" was threshing "a handful of wheat by the winepress "to hide it from the Midianites." When he sees the departing angel, he cries in an agony of fear, "Alas, O Lord God!" But the Lord said, "Peace … fear not:" so the name of the altar is JEHOVAH-SHALOM =I am thy peace. Then in Jeremiah 23 the sin complained of is so great that the very pastors are seen to be wholly corrupt — "Woe be unto the pastors!" there is no hope when the rulers have thus become vile, until a heavenly light shines forth from the well-known and well-loved words JEHOVAH TSIDKENU. [ That is, It is from the verb br. los. to be; it means self-existence.]

Abraham recognized the wonderful way in which God had provided the lamb for a burnt offering, and signalized it by naming the place Jehovah-jireh, meaning, "The Lord will provide." And out of that sprang a saying which was still current when some four centuries later Moses wrote these things: "In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen," or "shall be provided." That was the language of faith, for another four centuries, or so, after Moses, there stood on Moriah the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, and years after that Solomon's temple was built there, and so it became the place for Jewish sacrifices. That to which all these sacrifices pointed took place "without the gate," for the Lord Jesus was the rejected One.

Abraham also experienced this when the Lord provided for his needs and directed his eyes toward a substitute for his son (Gen. 22:13). In remembrance of this he called the name of that place, “The LORD will provide” (v. 14a), which is just one word in Hebrew, “Jehovah-jireh”. Abraham used a compound name of the Lord which indicates that it is one of His glorious attributes to act in this way and to provide Himself the lamb for a burnt offering. This wonderful name of God is the first one of a series of compound names that are revealed in the Old Testament:

There upon the altar was the victim bound. There, too, near by was the substitute, the ram caught in the thicket, provided to be the substitute for the human life. It came about that the ram took the place of Isaac, but in God's estimation Abraham had fully performed the act of worship in the presence of His name; there at the altar he learned the name of Jehovah — in the mount of the Lord it was seen. Jehovah was the great Provider, the One Who was everything to Abraham, and this significance was expressed in his act of surrender, the act of worship.

Isaac spared, Abraham discovered a ram caught in the thicket by its horns, and offered it up as a burnt-offering. Isaac had asked about a lamb. Abraham assured him that God would provide one. But instead of a lamb, there was a ram brought by God to that spot; and having offered it up for a burnt-offering instead of Isaac his son, Abraham's work on the mountain was ended. What feelings must have filled his heart we can well imagine. How thankful he must have been to the Lord who provided the substitute for his son. Never surely did he forget all that he had passed through during those three eventful days. Never was that place to be forgotten, nor its association with the Lord's goodness to him to drop out of remembrance. So he called it "Jehovah-jireh;" i.e. the Lord will provide. For the words in which he had answered Isaac had in the fullest way come true. "My son, God will provide," he had said. (v. 8.) The Lord did provide, he could ever after declare. But once more the angel of the Lord addressed him, and in language which he could not have expected. "By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea-shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice." (vv. 16-18.)

Then with keen prophetic gaze he looked beyond the coming centuries and called the name of the place “JEHOVAH-JIREH” (the Lord will provide 4). Faith mounted up with eagle’s wing, and cried aloud in exultation, “In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.” On the sad journey he had replied to Isaac, “God will provide Himself a lamb”—in other words, the Lord will provide.

And yet hundreds buy the text, JEHOVAH-JIREH, hang it on their parlour wall, and think it means the Lord will provide for their needs, the rent, food, clothing, etc. How selfish are our hearts, and how we naturally drag things down to suit our mean horizon. We have plenty of scripture to assure us on that line. For instance, “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” This is grand indeed, meeting our need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Chronicles highlights this great event. God's counsels can be fulfilled only at Moriah (2 Chron. 3:1). As far as the promises of God were concerned, that had already been revealed in figure to Abraham at this same place when Isaac was sacrificed. Without the Father's “one beloved Son” (Mark 12:6), no sacrifice for sin could be provided. Hence the name of this place: “On the mount of Jehovah will be provided” (Gen. 22:14). In type, grace had found a way of displaying itself in its fullness at the altar on Mount Moriah, where Isaac, the father's son, had been offered; and not at the brazen altar which belonged to the order of Sinai and which could never take away sins. At Moriah grace met righteousness, and there God found the means (He alone could do so) to make these two apparently irreconcilable attributes of His Being kiss each other. Thus triumphant grace reigns through righteousness; thus God's counsels are fulfilled!

Jehovah-Jireh. What relief and joy would he Abraham's when God provided the ram, caught in the thicket, to be offered up instead of Isaac his son. And what shall we say as to the wonderful provision that God has made for us in the Person of His Son. What relief and joy have come to our hearts in knowing that God spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. God has provided for our eternal blessing, putting away all our sins, and bringing us near to Himself in richest grace. He has not only provided for our sins, but, as the apostle Paul could write: "But my God shall abundantly supply all your need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:19).