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WEEKLY
Volume 3 Number 21
19 October 2008
The LORD, Our Provider
(Message delivered by Rev
Hien Nguyen at the Worship Service, 2:00 pm, Oct 19, 08)
Text:
Genesis 22:7-18
We have learnt about our Lord
Jesus Christ, who is the Jehovah, “I AM THAT I AM,” or Yahweh
of the Old Testament, the self-existent and all-sufficient God, eternal,
unchangeable, all-knowing, mighty, loving and faithful to His covenant
people, to His promises and to His Word. The LORD is All we need. Then,
who do we turn to and seek after in our needs, our troubles or trials of
life? Is it the Lord Jesus Christ Himself?
The Jews honour the covenant
name of their God with so much reverence that they only pronounce
Jehovah or Yahweh in their worship, prayers, blessing or in
serious vows; otherwise, they usually pronounce Adonai to refer
to Jehovah. I believe that the translators of the KJV could understand
the Jewish attitude of reverence toward the covenant name Jehovah, so
they translated that name as LORD in all capitals. Actually, this
covenant name contains only 4 Hebrew consonants without any vowels,
YHWH. When I took the course KJV–NIV Debate under Dr Jeffrey Khoo at
the Far Eastern Bible College, it is interesting to learn about the
method of OT transmission, e.g. the scribe must first read and pronounce
aloud each word before he writes. Whenever he has to write God’s name
(i.e. Elohim), he must clean his pen. But before writing the name
“Jehovah,” he will have to wash his whole body to show his carefulness
and reverence to God’s Word and His covenant name “Jehovah.” The
manuscript is carefully checked and counted in letters. If there is an
omission or addition of just one letter, or if one letter touched
another, the manuscript was condemned and destroyed at once. That is how
God has perfectly preserved His Word to His people throughout the ages
until the printing machine was invented in His due time during the 16th
Century Reformation.
God’s third commandment is,
“Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD
will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain” (Exod
20:7), and “The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous
runneth into it, and is safe” (Prov 18:10). Today we shall meditate
on Genesis chapter 22 to see how God revealed Himself as Jehovah-jireh,
“the LORD will see or will provide.”
God’s Testing
God called Abraham (at that
time his name was Abram) out of his father’s house of idolatry when he
was 75 years old and Sarah was 65 years old, with the promise of making
him a great nation, a blessing, and in him “shall all families of the
earth be blessed” (Gen 12:1-3). Then God made covenant with Abraham
and commanded him to keep His covenant (Gen 15, 17). Abraham had
patiently waited for 25 years until Isaac was born (Gen 21). God was
faithful to His promise and covenant!
Abraham must have loved Isaac
more than himself and more than anyone or anything else. God knew that
Abraham loved Isaac so much and tested Abraham to see whether he still
loved God above all, which must be manifested in complete obedience to
His Word, “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest,
and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt
offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of” (Gen
22:1-2). It is a real testing to Abraham to offer his only son Isaac in
his old age! How about you and me? Do you and I really love the LORD our
God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind and with
all our strength as He has commanded (Luke 10:27)? It is idolatry if we
still love or treasure anyone/anything else more than God or fail to
totally obey His Word, “He that loveth father or mother more than me
is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is
not worthy of me” (Matt 10:37).
Abraham’s Faith and
Obedience
When being called, Abraham
believed in God and His promise and obeyed Him, “By faith Abraham,
when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive
for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither
he went” (Heb 11:8). True faith must manifest the fruit of trust and
obedience. How about Abraham’s faith and obedience when he was commanded
to offer his only one and dearly beloved son Isaac? If you and I were
Abraham, what would we have done?
Abraham believed that God
would faithfully keep His covenant and promise when he offered Isaac,
“By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had
received the promises offered up his only begotten son…
Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from
whence also he received him in a figure” (Heb 11:17, 19). How about
you and me? Do we still trust in God and His faithfulness and His Word
and His promises when we are tried or when many others doubt God and His
Word?
Abraham did not tell Sarah
about offering Isaac, knowing that Sarah might hinder him from obeying
God due to her love for Isaac, neither did he tell Isaac and his
servants about this. When Isaac asked him about the lamb for a burnt
offering, Abraham answered his son with trust in the Lord, “My son,
God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering” (Gen 22:8).
Sometimes, once knowing God’s will, you and I have to obey Him secretly
and personally so that no one may hinder our obedience to God.
Abraham got up early (Gen
22:3) and got everything ready for a three-day journey (v 4). Abraham
must have treasured each minute to be with his son and while walking
together with him (vv 6, 8). How could Abraham sleep at night when
thinking that he would not see Isaac anymore? Abraham considered his
obedience to God and offering of Isaac as an act of worship, telling his
servants “I and the lad will go yonder and worship” (v 5). Thank
God for His sufficient grace that Abraham still trusted in the Lord and
obeyed Him unto the end without changing his mind. The climax of
Abraham’s faith and obedience is when he tied Isaac, laid him on the
altar and “stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his
son” (vv 9-10). Many have failed to keep God’s Word unto the end in
their testing or trials. How about you and me?
Isaac’s Faith and
Submission
At this point of time, Isaac
must have been a teenager, who could travel with his old father (more
than 110 years old) for three days, and then carried the wood of the
burnt offering upon his shoulder and walked to the place God told
Abraham of.
Seeing his father Abraham
offering the sacrifice to God in worship, Isaac understood and knew that
they needed a lamb for a burnt offering, asking Abraham, “My father…
Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt
offering?” (v 7). How about your children and my children, do they
know that Jesus Christ is the Sacrifice they need for their salvation?
Do they see us worship God and join our worship at home and at the
church?
Isaac was strong enough to
push his old father and ran away for his life, but here Isaac just let
Abraham bind him and put him on the altar to help his father fulfil
God’s commandment. It is a great blessing to have children who trust in
the Lord and submit to Him and their parents like Isaac! I am so much
encouraged when little Tim reminds us, “It’s time for our Bible study
or family worship” at our home.
God’s Provision and Reward
Praise the Lord that Abraham
passed the test, the angel of the LORD called to him out of heaven and
said, “Abraham, Abraham:… Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do
thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing
thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me” (vv
11-12). Dear friends, does God know that you and I fear Him and have not
withheld anyone or anything from Him when He requires our total
obedience and submission?
Abraham did not lose Isaac as
God provided a lamb for a burnt offering, and from this experience, he
learnt that God is Jehovah-jireh, or the LORD will see and will provide.
Dear friends, we shall not lose anything when we offer it to the Lord,
even our lives, our time, our service, etc. and we shall experience that
our LORD is always faithful and He will richly bless us and provide all
our needs when we trust in Him and obey His Word. Jesus says, “But
seek ye first the
kingdom of God, and his
righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you”
(Matt 6:33), and “But my
God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by
Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:19), and “Casting all your care upon him;
for he careth for you” (1 Peter 5:7). When we recall what God has
done in our lives, we shall thank Him and praise Him for taking good
care of us and providing all our needs – good health and strength to
follow Him, a good job, a Biblical worship, a happy family, like-minded
brethren in Christ, a house or a car, etc. I do thank God for providing
True Life BPC and FEBC to pray for us and support us and providing each
one of our brethren here to build up this church step by step by His
grace and mercy. All glory be unto Him alone.
God rewarded Abraham for his
faith in Him and obedience to Him – the reward is really far more
glorious and better than anything else in this world, “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). It is through Abraham and David’s lineage
that our Lord Jesus Christ came into this world to be the Saviour of the
world through His death and resurrection and in Him shall all believers
be blessed. How about you and me? God is able to bless our lives and
make us a blessing to others, bringing others to Christ if we fear Him,
trust in Him and obey Him without reservation.
Conclusion
Dear friends, God loved you
and me so much that He did not spare nor withhold His only begotten Son
but did provide His Son to be a perfect atoning sacrifice for our sins,
“He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how
shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Rom 8:32).
And our Lord Jesus Christ loved you and me so much that He obeyed His
Father in full submission unto death. Then shall our LORD not able to
take care of us and provide all our needs? Surely, the LORD has
faithfully done and will do that when we trust in Him, love Him, fear
Him, and obey Him without reservation. Truly, we can sing Psalm 23 like
David, “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want” (v 1). Amen.
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