Jehovah Jireh

And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.” Genesis 22:14 NKJV

Use in the Bible: In the Old Testament Jehovah-Jireh occurs only once in Gen 22:14.

Jehovah Jireh in the Septuagint (Greek): kurios eiden…the Lord has seen

Meaning and Derivation: Jehovah is translated as “The Existing One” or “Lord.” The chief meaning of Jehovah is derived from the Hebrew word Havah meaning “to be” or “to exist.” It also suggests “to become” or specifically “to become known” – this denotes a God who reveals Himself unceasingly. Jehovah-Jireh is a symbolic name given to Mount Moriah by Abraham to memorialize the intercession of God in the sacrifice of Isaac by providing a substitute for the imminent sacrifice of his son.

Further references of the name Jehovah Jireh in the Old Testament: Gen 22:14

We’ll see exactly how the scripture speaks about ‘Jehovah Jireh’. Genesis 22: 1 – 14

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, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded 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[a] 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. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”

Why did Abraham give this name to that particular place?

A new name is given to the place, to the honour of God, and for the encouragement of all believers, to the end of the world, cheerfully to trust in God in the way of obedience: Jehovah-jireh, The Lord will provide, probably alluding to what he had said (v. 8), God will provide himself a lamb. I was not owing to any contrivance of Abraham, nor was it in answer to his prayer, though he was a distinguished intercessor; but it was purely the Lord’s doing. Let it be recorded for the generations to come, that the Lord will see; he will always have his eye upon his people in their straits and distresses, that he may come in with seasonable succour in the critical juncture. That he will be seen, be seen in the mount, in the greatest perplexities of his people. He will not only manifest, but magnify, his wisdom, power, and goodness, in their deliverance. Where God sees and provides, he should be seen and praised. And, perhaps, it may refer to God manifest in the flesh. – Matthew Henry

Why do we have trials and adverse circumstances?

Trials are adverse circumstances that God either introduces or allows in our lives to both identify where we are spiritually as well as to prepare us for where He wants us to go. If you are alive, there is no escaping life’s trials.

You are either in a trial now, you’ve just come out of a trial, or you are getting ready to go into a trial. Trials are unavoidable realities of life.

But even though we all experience them, we also should take comfort in knowing that trials must first pass-through God’s hands before reaching us. Nothing comes our way without first having received His Divine approval. And to get His Divine approval, there must be a Divine reason for Him to approve it.

We learn about God’s name Jehovah-Jireh in the biblical story of Abraham offering up his son Isaac on the altar of sacrifice. The root word for the name Jireh literally means “to see.” Yet the compound name when put together means “to provide.” Abraham, knowing that what he saw in the spiritual realm affected his own actions in the physical realm, he recognized the power of sight in calling the place of sacrifice Jehovah Jireh. Somewhere in the combination of those two names, there is a relationship between God “seeing” and God “providing.” When we look at the form of the word “provide” that reads “provision,” we can recognize this link more clearly. Vision is in reference to seeing; while provision means that something was seen beforehand and thus provided for. The root “vision” ties the addressing of what is provided to what was seen.

God provided for Abraham based upon what He saw about Abraham and that pre-vision led to God’s provision. God provided a ram when he saw Abraham going forth in obedience to sacrifice his son. He provided a way out of his trial.

So, the question is: What must God see so that He might provide for you when you are caught in a trial of life? He needs to see the same things that He saw in Abraham which are found in these words from the passage: rose, saddled, took, split, arose, and went. Abraham did not delay his obedience. He did what God had asked him to do even though he didn’t know how God was going to work it out. Delayed obedience is disobedience. Partial obedience is complete disobedience. In other words, if Abraham had only gone halfway on the trip, he wouldn’t have finished the journey. He never would have experienced and known Jehovah Jireh.

Jehovah Jireh

A journey through the Bible names of God is like a never-to-be-forgotten trek across a majestic mountain range with awe-inspiring views around every turn.

One of the most instructive families of names for God are the compound names of JEHOVAH (sometimes transliterated by scholars as ‘YAHWEH’).

Who is Jehovah?

Jehovah is the name of God as the ever-dependable, covenant-keeping LORD, whose character is eternally consistent and whose word never fails. God appeared in this name to Moses in the narrative of ‘the burning bush’, as we read in Exodus 6:2-3:

And God spoke to Moses and said to him: ‘I am the LORD [Jehovah]. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty [El Shaddai], but by My name LORD [Jehovah] I was not known to them’.

In this narrative, God points out that He was revealed to Abraham mainly as El Shaddai, meaning the ‘All-Sufficient God’, but was now being revealed as Jehovah, meaning the ‘unchanging, ever-faithful, covenant-keeping LORD’.

Through these names, Moses was being taught that God was not only ABLE to keep His covenant promises – as El Shaddai – but He was DEPENDABLE. He is Jehovah, the eternal, unchangeable ‘I AM’.

In Genesis 22, Abraham himself links this covenantal name to Jireh. Behind this compound name lies the promise that ‘The LORD will PROVIDE’.

What does the name ‘Jehovah-Jireh’ mean?

To find out more, we must look at the amazing narrative.

The main character of the story is Abraham. Abraham had trusted in the LORD. In fact, on God’s orders he had left the ‘city-lights’ of Ur to strike out across the floodplains of the Euphrates and eventually found himself in the land of Canaan. He lived in tents, never establishing his roots in the land.

Because of his ‘obedience of faith’, God had blessed him immensely. He had trusted in the LORD and the LORD had given him what is now known as the Abrahamic covenant. God promised that He would bless him and his seed, giving him the land of Canaan as his inheritance.  (Read Genesis 12-24).

Within this covenant, God promised Abraham a seed (i.e. a son) from his wife Sarah. Although she was well past childbearing age, she eventually bore Isaac, the answer to God’s promise, the proof of God’s faithful care.

Later, however, God tested Abraham’s confidence in Him.

He said to Abraham:

‘Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you’. (Genesis 22:2)

Abraham didn’t waver in his faith in God’s integrity, knowing that God who promised him to bless through his son Isaac was able, if necessary, to raise him back to life.

Hebrews tells us about Abraham’s mindset:

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, ‘IN ISAAC YOUR SEED SHALL BE CALLED,’ concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense. (Hebrews 11:17-19)

He saddled his donkey and made his way with his son Isaac to the land of Moriah. As they ascended the mountain, Isaac spoke to Abraham:

‘My father!’ And he said, ‘Here I am, my son.’ Then he said, ‘Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?’ And Abraham said, ‘My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.’ So, the two of them went together. (Genesis 22:7-8)

As they reached the place of sacrifice, Abraham bound Isaac on the altar and, just as his hand was raised to slay him, God intervened – sparing Abraham’s son. The test of Abraham’s faith in God was over.

Lifting his eyes from his bound son, Abraham saw a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. This he took and offered up on the altar as a substitute for Isaac.

And Abraham called the name of the place, The-LORD-Will-Provide [Jehovah-Jireh]; as it is said to this day, ‘In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided.’ (Genesis 22:14)

A ram was offered instead of Isaac, and Abraham, it appears, understood that behind this incident was something much deeper.

Ever since Adam’s sin in the garden of Eden (see Genesis 3 and 4), men and women have needed a sacrifice to bring them into a correct relationship with God.

God HIMSELF would provide a substitute – an offering – to answer man’s deepest need by bringing about a right relationship with God. ‘God will provide Himself a lamb’ – the answer is found in the deep heart of God: Jehovah-Jireh. God will provide and He will do it on ‘the Mount of the Lord’.

Over 2000 years later, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, walked towards Golgotha with a cross on His back (see John 19:17). He had already been pointed out by the prophet John the Baptist as ‘the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world’ (John 1:29).

Jesus Himself had told the Jews, ‘Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad’ (John 8:56). Christ was the only sacrifice who could meet the need of humankind. Every other sacrifice was inadequate and was merely a faint picture of His sacrifice on the cross.

Scholars tell us that the Hebrew text of ‘Jehovah-Jireh’ in the Old Testament allows the interpretation ‘On the mount of the Lord – it shall be seen’, or ‘On the mount of the Lord – He shall be provided’. Both meanings are ultimately true. When the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross, He was the one voluntary offering who could meet our need and bring us back into relationship with God. God’s answer was SEEN and God’s Son was PROVIDED.

Why is ‘Jehovah-Jireh’ important to me today?

In our fast-paced, technology-driven age, this Old Testament name of God might seem irrelevant. What, after all, can an ancient name of Deity mean for us today?

Firstly, it tells us that a faithful, unchanging God keeps His word and therefore can be implicitly trusted. You should take time to see what He says in His word, the Bible.

Secondly, this Name informs us that God has an answer to our deepest problem – ‘How can I be right with God?’

The story of Abraham gives us an insight into how God answers the problem of human guilt.

1. A Son was given.

Just as Abraham’s beloved son, Isaac, was to be offered up, so God would give His Son to die on a cross for us.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

2. A Substitute was found

God had no desire for Isaac to be killed on an altar; rather, He was testing Abraham’s faith while showing a picture of His deeper purpose. On many occasions God later recorded His revulsion at ancient peoples offering their first-borns for their transgression (see Micah 6:7). He found child-sacrifice abhorrent (See also Leviticus 18:21). God spared Abraham’s son by intervening as the knife was upraised. However, in the New Testament we read:

He [God] … did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? (Romans 8:32)

Jesus was the substitute for the guilty. Just as a ram was found to take the stroke of the knife in Abraham’s hand and to be consumed in the fire, so God’s Son, Jesus Christ, voluntarily took the stroke of justice for sin and experienced the heat of God’s judgment, so that we (like Isaac) might be spared.

3. A Sacrifice was made

Abraham’s chief possession was his son, whom he greatly loved. However, it was infinitely more costly for God to give HIS Son. He greatly loved and prized His Son; nevertheless, He was willing to allow Him to become the sin-bearer that we might be brought back into relationship with Him.

2000 years ago on a cross outside Jerusalem, the basis was laid for our acceptance before God – a Substitute paid the price. He was Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He deserves your consideration.

Finally, if God keeps His word to Abraham over 1500 years after the events on Mount Moriah, then we must remember that He still keeps His word now.

God’s word warns of coming judgment for those who reject His salvation. If we can be sure God will save us if we trust in the Lord Jesus, we can be equally sure He will judge us if we do not.

He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. (John 3:36)

After all the above explanation, we can summarize the sermon in these 4 points:

1. Don’t give up: Giving up means I am depending on my strength to work things out. When I don’t give up, I trust God completely to deliver me from my crisis.

2. Catch the powerful truth – The Word of the Lord came to [Abraham] in a vision: ‘Do not be afraid, [Abraham], I am your shield, your great reward.”- Genesis 15: 1

What is that truth that I am holding on, towards God?

3. Obedience enables us to enjoy Him as Jehovah Jireh

We have testimonies only when we have gone through the trials. Obeying God, listening to Him helps me to enjoy that which He will be doing in faith.

4. Tried and Tested: Let the Holy Spirit place this truth into your minds and illuminate it into your spiritual heart, “strong faith is often exercised with strong trials and put upon in hard service.” (Matthew Henry Commentary) The Lord does not allow His children to be tested to see if they will fall. (James 1:13) The author of the trial brings on the testing so the children of God may discover His grace, empowerment and enablement. (1 Peter 1:7; Matthew Henry Commentary)

God allowed Job to be tested by Satan so that he might be seen and known as a man who trusts in the Lord. Abraham’s particular testing time came after he had exercised faith in God through a variety of hardships and many difficulties.

Illustration:

A very difficult time for us was when my wife, Bonnie had been diagnosed with brain cancer. We had only been in what people call the ministry for about a year. The job I left had great insurance, but now, as a full-time pastor we had none. We did, however, join up with “Samaritan Ministries,” a Christian organization of which Christians help pay each other medical bills. However, we did not know if they would participate in Bonnie’s brain cancer, considering that this brain cancer may be considered pre-existent.

We were sent to Mayo Clinic for further testing. We called ahead – they said we would need $3,000.00 to get Bonnie into the doctor’s clinic. Praise the Lord we had that in the savings. After we got Bonnie checked into Mayo Clinic, she saw her doctor. He informed us that we would need further testing, a biopsy of the portion of the brain showing cancer cells. As we were checking Bonnie into the hospital, we were informed that we would need to put $20,000.00 down, considering we did not have medical insurance.

I felt like the worse husband in the world. Only a year early I had great medical insurance, now I did not have enough money to get my wife medical treatment.

The banks at home were closed, we did not have $20,000.00 in our savings. I was so numb, hit by a crisis which seemed hopeless. This was 3:30 P.M. in the afternoon and the money needed to be in the financial office by 5:00 P.M. As we sought the Lord’s will – we discovered that the Lord had set aside $20,000 through different means. For eight years now Bonnie and I have experienced the Lord being Jehovah-jireh, the Prophet who sees ahead time and has provided for us in one of the greatest crises we have ever gone through.

I would like to leave you with this message that ‘God will provide at the mount of the Lord’. He is ‘Jehovah Jireh’.

Sandra wife of Virjil .The New Hope Community is situated in the heart of the city between Old and New Panvel. We can confidently share that New Hope Community is a Church in Kamothe, Church in Khandeshwar, Church in Khanda Colony, Church in Karanjade, Church in Panvel, Church in New Panvel because we are centrally located and these places surround our church Venue.