- God will Provide
Genesis 22:8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.
Christians take the promise “God will provide” as a way of saying that the Lord will give you what you need. We pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” We encourage one another with these words. Abraham did not know he was making a general promise for us for all time. In the immediate event he only meant that he was trusting the Lord to do the right thing and provide the sacrifice. He probably didn’t even know the eternal import of these words. The NT says Abraham was trusting the Lord to do something, even to raise Isaac from the dead if He wanted to.
Abraham did not realize that he was prophesying of Jesus Christ the Lamb of God, whom God provided for a sacrifice for all people of all time. God did provide the lamb for the eternal sacrifice for sin. God used Abraham to speak these words, not knowing the exact outlines of the prophecy. God provided a ram to be sacrificed in place of his only son, Isaac. God provided His own son to be the sacrifice in the place of all of us, represented by Isaac. Instead of Isaac, a ram = instead of me, Jesus. In the offering up of Christ the Son on the cross God provided forgiveness of sins, eternal life and salvation with all its attendant blessings and promises. God’s provisions are abundant, but they are spiritual, and eternal.
We usually apply the “God will provide” promise to the material and physical needs that God in His love and care provides for us for life in this world. So Jesus encourages us to pray for daily bread. Inherent in the command to pray is the promise to hear and provide. God promises He will provide for us, but the text actually says He will provide for Himself a lamb. God gave us Jesus to satisfy His unconquerable love for our life, our eternity, and for us to be with Him. God also did it Himself with no help or aid from anyone else.