The One Who Provides

It’s good to be with you again as we continue with our theme, God Revealed in His Names, what we can know about God from the various names given Him in Scripture.

In my previous talks this week I’ve been dealing with the two main Hebrew names for God found in the Old Testament: Elohim and Jehovah or Yahweh, however we want to pronounce it. I’ve said that Elohim is the name for God, creator of the universe. Jehovah is the personal name for God and first occurs in the creation of man. A personal God created a personal man for personal fellowship between the two.

The two main associations of Jehovah are that it’s personal and it’s eternal. It’s derived or associated with the verb “to be.” It suggests that which is unchanging, eternal. Summed up in Malachi 3:6:

“For I am the Lord, I change not...” (KJV)

Carried over into the New Testament with the corresponding title in Revelation 1:8, “Alpha and Omega...who is, who was, and who is to come.” The one who combines past and present and future in his own eternal being.

For these reasons Jehovah is particularly associated with God’s covenants with men. And that’s the theme that I’m going to be dealing with in my talk today. There are two reasons for this related to the nature of the name. First of all, covenant is a person-to-person relationship. So, it’s appropriate that the very personal name of God should be used in that connection.

Secondly, covenant is unchanging or permanent. And it’s therefore appropriate again that that name which emphasizes God’s eternal, unchanging nature should be connected with covenant.

Just let’s look at two statements about covenant which God makes, both in the book of Psalms. Psalm 89:28:

“My lovingkindness I will keep for him forever, And My covenant shall be confirmed to him.”

Notice that a covenant is forever. And the same Psalm, 89:34:

“My covenant I will not violate, Nor will I alter the utterance of My lips.”

So, once God has committed Himself to a covenant, it’s unbreakable. It’s inviolable. And so, this is particularly appropriate to associate with that name which speaks of the eternal, unchanging nature of God.

The word “lovingkindness,” which occurs in those verses of that psalm, in Hebrew is chesed and it’s always related to covenant. It’s an aspect of God’s nature which relates to covenant. Personally, the translation that I would choose is “God’s covenant-keeping faithfulness.” It’s translated “unfailing love, lovingkindness, mercy, etc.” But I believe we only understand it properly when we relate it to God’s covenant. It’s that aspect of God’s nature which holds Him to His covenant.

In particular, this name Jehovah or Yahweh is directly linked with seven specific names or titles representing seven aspects of God’s covenant-keeping faithfulness in His dealings with man.

In the order of their occurrence, these seven names reveal Jehovah in the following aspects. First, the one who provides. Second, the one who heals. Third, the one who is our banner. Fourth, the one who is our peace. Fifth, the one who is our shepherd. Sixth, the one who is our righteousness. Seventh, the one who is there or permanently present.

In my remaining talks this week and on through next week I’m going to deal with each of these covenant names of the Lord in succession. Today I’m going to deal with the first, “the one who provides,” the Lord who provides. This is mentioned first in Genesis 22 in the story of Abraham taking his son Isaac to Mount Moriah, willing there to offer him as a sacrifice to the Lord on Mount Moriah. When they arrived at the foot of the mountain, Abraham told his servants to remain there with the donkey and he took Isaac and the fire for the burnt offering and they went together up the mountain. And so this is what followed in Genesis 22:6-8:

“And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together [Abraham and Isaac with the fire and the knife]. And Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, ‘My father!’ And he said, ‘Here I am, my son.’ And he said, ‘Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?’ And Abraham said, ‘God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.’ So the two of them walked on together.”

Then you are probably familiar with the story when they came to the top of the mountain and Abraham had prepared the sacrifice, at the last moment God intervened and told him that he did not require the sacrifice of Isaac, and instead Abraham sacrifices a ram that he found caught by its horns in a thicket.

Then we read on in the same chapter, verse 14, and this is where the name comes:

“And Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide...”

The two are linked together. English people tend to say Jehovah Jireh. However, that is very, very remote from what it sounds like in Hebrew.

“And Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, ‘In the mount of the Lord it will be provided.’”

So, that’s where the first covenant name of Jehovah comes. Jehovah, the provider, the one who will provide.

Now the word that’s translated “provide” is literally in Hebrew “to see.” So, we get this beautiful thought that when God sees He provides. And also, the beautiful thought that God’s first covenant commitment is to provide. This is the root of all His commitment, He provides for His people.

Let’s look at the outworking of this covenant commitment of the Lord to provide for His people. It’s a most beautiful picture as we see it worked out in the subsequent revelation of Scripture. It points us to one person who is the fulfillment of all God’s covenant commitments, Jesus the Messiah. Note some particular points. First of all, the primary provision was a lamb. Isaac said, “Where is the lamb?” And Abraham said, “God will provide the lamb for Himself.” And when the fulfillment of the commitment came, it was a lamb. The Lamb of God. This is how John the Baptist spoke of Him in John 1:29:

“The next day he [that’s John the Baptist] saw Jesus coming to him, and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’”

So, God did fulfill Abraham’s confidence in Him. Something like 2,000 years later He provided the Lamb, the ultimate sacrifice, the one in whom all of God’s covenant commitments were fulfilled. So, when you think about “the Lord will provide” always let is carry your mind to that Lamb in whom the provision was made. “The Lord will provide a lamb for the sacrifice.” When Jesus came He was the provided lamb, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

And then it says in that incident with Abraham, “In the mount of the Lord it will be provided.” Again, this is fascinating as we trace its outworking. Moriah is pretty generally agreed to be the same mountain that occurs in the New Testament as Golgotha, or Calvary. So, in the very mountain where Abraham made that original confession of his faith, “The Lord will provide, the Lord will provide the lamb...” and where it was said later, “...in that mountain it will be provided,” 2,000 years later it was provided by the death of Jesus on the cross. That was the ultimate provision of God for the need, not only of Abraham and the Jewish people, but for the whole seed of Abraham, all those who believe in him and become his seed.

And then we have this beautiful preview of what took place at Calvary when Abraham and Isaac went up the mountain. We have these beautiful types. Abraham typifies God the Father. Isaac typifies God the Son. The fire for the sacrifice typifies the Holy Spirit. And the wood that Isaac carried typifies the cross. So, there’s the whole scene in preview. Abraham, the Father, offering his only son, Isaac. The fire of the Spirit needed to make the sacrifice possible, the wood on which the sacrifice was to take place.

We can sum all of this up in one verse of the New Testament, Romans 8:32.

“He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?”

There’s the total commitment. “The Lord will provide...” Not just in one situation, not just for one need, but in every situation, for every need, for time and for eternity. The Lord has made a covenant commitment associated with His own divine, personal, unchanging name. He will always provide for His people. And the ultimate proof and the ultimate provision is in the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who became the sin offering, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Let me read that beautiful Scripture again. I want you to meditate on it. Romans 8:32:

“He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?”

But remember it’s with Him. You cannot have the provision without the Lamb. The provision is in the Lamb of God, Jesus.

Our time is up for today. I’ll be back with you again tomorrow at this time. Tomorrow I’ll continue with these covenant names of the Lord. I’ll be speaking about the second of these names, the one who heals.