The Provision
God calls us to sacrifice things we love in order to follow Him more closely. But let's be reminded today, that there's a sacrifice that we are powerless to make. But God has provided it – as only He can!
The Abraham story is a beautiful picture, or a "type" to use the theological word, of the way God provided the sacrifice that you and I can't give.
We read this: "Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, 'Father?' 'Yes, my son?' Abraham replied. 'The fire and wood are here,' Isaac said, 'but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?' Abraham answered, 'God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.'" (Genesis 22:7-8)
God Will Provide
God will provide the lamb. This is a beautiful sentence that we can skip over when we read it. It's a beautiful sentence of Abraham's belief that God was going to provide.
And He did.
"When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, 'Abraham! Abraham!' 'Here I am,' he replied. 'Do not lay a hand on the boy,' he said. 'Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from Me your son, your only son.' Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, 'On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.'" (Genesis 22:9-14)
God provided a substitute.
This was a beautiful picture of what God would do for all children of Abraham, centuries later. Because while the Old Testament is a picture of Israel using rams and other animals as sacrifices to atone for their sins... Then came Jesus!
The Lamb of God
And Jesus came as God's Son whom He loved (like Abraham loved Isaac), walking up the mountain with a cross of wood (like Isaac walked up the mountain carrying the wood), and died there as the Lamb of God (like the ram God provided Abraham).
We call this the doctrine of substitutionary atonement. We can't atone for our own sins by sacrificing ourselves, a sacrifice to God's glory needs to be pure and holy, which we are not. But Jesus was the pure and holy, sinless Son of God. Peter said it this way: "you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect." (1 Peter 1:18-19)
Christ died as our substitute. God PROVIDED.
Hallelujah!!!
Jesus is the provision. Yes, we sacrifice in order to become more like Christ in our walk with God. But we didn't have to make a sacrificial offering to earn His forgiveness and atone for sins. God provided that by sending His own Son in our place.
The question is: have you placed your faith in Him? Or are you trying to get right with God without Christ?
There's only one way to receive God's forgiveness, friends. It's not by being more religious. It's not by coming to church, getting baptised, taking communion, volunteering, doing outreaches.
It's by looking at Jesus on the cross and saying "YOU're my only hope! I have nothing to offer... but please let me be saved because of what YOU did for me."
