Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1803
“And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.” Genesis 22:14.
“ABRAHAM called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh,” or, “Jehovah will see it,” or, “Jehovah will provide,” or, “Jehovah will be seen.” We are offered a variety of interpretations, but the exact idea is that of seeing and being seen. For God to see is to provide. Our own word, “provide,” is only Latin for, “to see.” You know how we say that we will see to a matter. Possibly this expression hits the nail on the head. Our heavenly Father sees our needs and, with Divine foresight of love, prepares the supply. He sees to a need to supply it—and in the seeing He is seen—in the providing He manifests Himself!
I believe that the Truth of God contained in the expression, “Jehovah-jireh,” was ruling Abraham’s thoughts long before he uttered it and appointed it to be the memorial name of the place where the Lord had provided a substitute for Isaac. It was this thought, I think, which enabled him to act as promptly as he did under the trying circumstances. His reason whispered within him, “If you slay your son, how can God keep His promise to you that your seed shall be as many as the stars of Heaven?” He answered that suggestion by saying to himself, “Jehovah will see to it!” As he went upon that painful journey with his dearly beloved son at his side, the suggestion may have come to him, “How will you meet Sarah when you return home, having covered your hands in the blood of her son? How will you meet your neighbors when they hear that Abraham, who professed to be such a holy man, has killed his son?” That answer still sustained his heart—“Jehovah will see to it! Jehovah will see to it! He will not fail in His word. Perhaps He will raise my son from the dead, but in some way or other He will justify my obedience to Him and vindicate His own command. Jehovah will see to it.” This was a quietus to every mistrustful thought.
I pray that we may drink into this Truth of God and be refreshed by it. If we follow the Lord’s bidding, He will see to it that we shall not be ashamed or confused. If we come into great need by following His command, He will see to it that the loss shall be recompensed. If our difficulties multiply and increase so that our way seems completely blocked up, Jehovah will see to it that the road shall be cleared. The Lord will see us through in the way of holiness if we are only willing to be thorough in it and dare to follow where ever He leads. We need not wonder that Abraham should utter this truth and attach it to the spot which was to be forever famous, for his whole heart was saturated with it and had been sustained by it. Wisely he makes an altar and a mountain to be memorials of the Truth which had so greatly helped him. His trials had taught him more of God—had, in fact, given him a new name for his God—and this he would not have forgotten, but he would keep it before the minds of the generations following by naming the place Jehovah-jireh.
Observe, as you read this chapter, that this was not the first time that Abraham had thus spoken. When he called the name of the place Jehovah-jireh he had seen it to be true—the ram caught in the thicket had been provided as a substitute for Isaac. Jehovah had provided. But he had, before, declared that Truth of God when, as yet, he knew nothing of the Divine action—when he could not even guess how his extraordinary trial would end! His son Isaac had said to him, “Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” And the afflicted father had bravely answered, “My son, God will provide.” In due time God did provide and then Abraham honored Him by saying the same words. But instead of the ordinary name for God, he used the special Covenant title—Jehovah. That is the only alteration— otherwise, in the same terms he repeats the assurance that, “the Lord will provide.”
That first utterance was most remarkable! It was simple enough, but how prophetic! It teaches us this Truth, that the confident speech of a Believer is akin to the language of a Prophet. The man who accepts the promise of God unstagger-ingly and is sure that it is true, will speak like the Seers of old! He will see that God sees and will declare the fact—and the holy inference which comes of it. The Believer’s child-like assurance will anticipate the future and his plain state-ment—“God will provide”—will turn out to be literal truth! If you want to come near to prophesying, hold hard to the promises of God and you shall “prophecy according to the measure of faith.” He that can say, “I know and am sure that God will not fail me in this, my hour of tribulation,” will, before long, drop pearls of Divine confidence and diamonds of prediction from his lips. Choice sayings which become proverbs in the Church of God are not the offspring of mistrust, but of firm confidence in the living God!