The Lord who provides

Historically, this divine name has been known as Jehovah Jireh. It is found in Genesis 22 where the incident of Abraham offering up Isaac is told. Abraham used it when answering the question of Isaac as to where the lamb was that would be offered as a sacrifice. Obviously, Abraham had not yet told Isaac about what he had been told by God to do on Mount Moriah. All he said in reply was that the Lord would provide a lamb. We know that God did provide such a sacrifice and Abraham called the place Jehovah Jireh, which means ‘The Lord will provide’ or ‘The Lord will see to it’. The word from which Jireh comes can be translated as ‘see’ or ‘provide’.

When we think of God seeing something, we know that his awareness of the issue is not confined to the moment of his provision. He sees all things eternally. Indeed, when we look at the word provision, we can observe that it means to see beforehand (pro and vision). When God provided the ram that Abraham used, he did not make a last-minute decision, even if it may have looked like that to Abraham. Rather, God had known about the ram when he asked Abraham to undertake the journey to Moriah. He had known about the need of the ram before Abraham became a believer. Indeed, he had known about it before time began.

Jesus said on one occasion that Abraham had seen the day of the Messiah and the sight made him glad. Some writers wonder if Abraham saw on Mount Moriah that God would yet provide the final Lamb who would make the ultimate sacrifice. No one can be certain about what he saw on the mountain apart from the fact that God did provide a substitute for Isaac.

There is a general sense in which God acts as Jehovah Jireh continually because he is always providing for our needs. And his provision, even when meeting basic needs, is never an afterthought. All has been foreseen in his eternal plan. But there is a particular sense in which God acted as Jehovah Jireh and that was at the cross where he provided his own Son as the Lamb. Unlike Abraham and Isaac who had not spoken about the lamb until near the place of sacrifice, the Father and the Son had focussed on the cross from eternity. The Provider and the Provision went together to the place of sacrifice.