“God will provide”
God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. —Genesis 22:8
Read Genesis 22:1-18
The history before us clearly shows that both faith and righteousness are gifts of God. It is unthinkable that a father, who had waited so long to receive a child in a virtually impossible and miraculous way, would obey the command to offer this child up as a sacrifice unto the Lord through his own strength. The obedience and faith required in such distressing circumstances had to be provided by the Lord. Abraham’s belief that the Lord would raise Isaac from the dead if necessary was not a fruit of his own heart, but a gift of God.
We have only to think of the question the Lord Jesus asked the father whose son was possessed by the devil: “Do you believe that I can heal him?” When the father replied, “I believe; help thou my unbelief,” the Lord restored the child. In Abraham’s case, He supplied faith, obedience, and a burnt offering. All these things were provided at His own cost, and gave Abraham the hope of eternal life. Read verses 17 and 18 again. That hope is all of grace.
What did Abraham mean when he said, “The Lord will provide”?