Names Of God - Jehovah Jireh (The Lord Our Provider) Series

Jehovah Jireh (God the Provider)

The passage

Jehovah Jireh is one of the best-known names of God. We claim it when we pray. We sing it in praise songs. This name is found in one solitary verse in the Bible, Genesis 22:14. The context of the verse is as follows.

(Gen 22:1-14 NIV) Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. {2} Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about." {3} Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. {4} On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. {5} He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you." {6} Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, {7} 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?" {8} Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together. {9} 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. {10} Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. {11} But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. {12} "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." {13} 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. {14} So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide (Jehovah Jireh). And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided."

God provides what we need

Abraham needed to have an alternative sacrifice so that he need not have to sacrifice his son. God provided that sacrifice. God loves to provide what we need.

(Ezek 34:28-29 NIV) They will no longer be plundered by the nations, nor will wild animals devour them. They will live in safety, and no one will make them afraid. {29} I will provide for them a land renowned for its crops, and they will no longer be victims of famine in the land or bear the scorn of the nations.

What are your needs today? Bring them to the Lord because He has promised to provide for you according to the riches that are in Christ Jesus.

(Phil 4:19 NIV) And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

God provides the sacrifice for sin

The sacrifice of the ram provided by God is a shadow of what is to come. When Isaac was supposed to die, a ram was provided in his place. When we were supposed to die for our sins, God would later provide a sacrifice that will die on our behalf, so that we do not need to die.

(John 1:29 NIV) The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

Jesus would later come to earth to be the Lamb, the sacrifice that takes away the sin of the world.

(Mat 20:28 NIV) just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Because God has provided the sacrifice of sin for us, there is no need for us to suffer any more for the consequences of our sin when we die. That is why the Bible teaches that when we die, we go straight to Paradise and not to purgatory as believed by the Catholics.

(Luke 16:22 NIV) "The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried.