The Lamb, Not the Luxury

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There was a day on a mountain in the land of Moriah when a father took his only son up the slope with fire in his hand and wood on the boy’s back. There was no car in sight. No house. No money. No miracle of job promotions. Just a father and a son walking up a mountain in obedience to a God who had asked for everything.

Isaac, carrying the very wood that would burn under his own body, asked the most piercing question ever asked on that mountain: “My father… where is the lamb?” And Abraham answered with trembling hope, “God will provide for Himself the lamb” (Genesis 22:7-8). Those words were not about prosperity or material breakthrough. They were a whisper of a shadow that would stretch all the way to Calvary.

When Abraham bound his son and raised the knife, God stopped him. Not because He changed His mind, but because the story wasn’t about Isaac. It was about something far greater. And then Abraham lifted his eyes and saw a ram caught in the thicket. That was the moment he named that place “Yahweh Yireh” - The Lord Will Provide (Genesis 22:14). But what did He provide? Not a new donkey. Not a harvest. Not gold. A substitute.

The mountain wasn’t about what man needed. It was about what God would give.

We have taken the name of God and turned it into a slogan for selfish wants. We say “Jehovah Jireh” over loans, cars, paychecks, promotions, but the name was never meant to sanctify our greed. It was a name given in the moment a son was spared because another would not be. It was prophetic. It pointed forward to the One who would not be spared - the true Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).

When the fullness of time came, there was another Father and another Son. And this time, the knife was not withheld. The Son carried His own wood up another hill. There was no ram in the thicket. No voice to say “Stop.” The judgment fell. The Lamb was slain. And that is the deepest meaning of Yahweh Yireh. It is not about God making your rent. It is about God making atonement.

“God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). That is the provision. That is the centre of redemptive history. To hijack it for material comfort is to strip the cross of its weight and make heaven a servant of our greed.

Yes, God may care for your needs. Yes, He feeds the sparrows and clothes the lilies. But let us never forget the mountain in Moriah and the hill of Calvary both shout the same truth, our greatest need is not a car. It is a Lamb.

And God has already provided Him.

He, who has ears to hear, let him hear.

Jeremiah Knight - The Reformation Resurgence