Only One Lamb

A substitute lamb will take my punishment.

Genesis 22:1-2, 7-8 Some time later, God tested Abraham’s faith. “Abraham!” God called. “Yes,” he replied. “Here I am.” 2 “Take your son, your only son, yes, Isaac, whom you love so much, and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”

7 Isaac turned to Abraham and said, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “We have the fire and the wood,” the boy said, “but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?” 8 “God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham answered.Verses

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Abraham and his son left home not really sure what was going on, Sarah isn't mentioned in the story but I bet that she was just as puzzled about the situation, even the servants must have wondered why they were not tending to an animal along the way to a unknown mountain destination.

Everybody must have been wondering the same thing that Isaac was when he asked his dad "where is the lamb?" We have been told to go worship but are we really ready to? Issac's question must have burned deep inside Abraham, he knew the source of the sacrifice, but he was willing to give up his only son that was promised by God to be the heir of a great promise.

Abraham knew that God will provide a lamb, Jehovah-jireh, the Lord will provide, but he wouldn't provide it until after Abraham was faithful to God's directions. Abraham was just being obedient, he surely didn't know that he was an illustration of the Father who “spared not His own Son” and that Isaac is a type of Christ “obedient unto death.”

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

John the Baptist made it clear without any doubt that God did provide a Lamb. But not just any Lamb this Lamb is the true Lamb of God, the only one that could be offered as the prefect, permanent sacrifice for our sins. The sacrifices that the law required were no longer needed because this Lamb is God Himself.

It is fascinating that God satisfied the requirements of the law by having the sacrifice of His Son correspond with the time the evening sacrifice was being made in the temple. The fact that God had provided this Lamb at just the right time should have made it crystal clear to the Jewish religious leaders.

God shows us over and over again that He is in the business of providing. My greatest need for forgiveness was provided by the innocent death of God's only Son in my place. We must trust the Great Provider with every detail instead of allowing our circumstances to get us down.