After Abraham had completed his test, God provided a ram for Abraham to sacrifice instead of Isaac. God had literally provided a lamb for the burnt offering, just the way Abraham had promised Isaac that He would (Genesis 22:8). As a result of God's provision, "Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh," (Genesis 22:14). Jehovah-jireh means "the Lord will see," or "the Lord will provide."
Concerning the Lord's provision, in the context of sacrifices, we see that God provides lambs, and priests to offer those lambs, throughout the Bible. God provided:
- The ram for an offering instead of Isaac (Genesis 22:13).
- Lambs, bullocks, goats and doves for sacrifices in the Old Testament for sinners to gain temporary atonement:
- Skins to cover Adam and Eve (Genesis 3: 21);
- A lamb for Abel to offer (Genesis 4:4);
- The Passover lamb for Israel (Exodus 12);
- Burnt, sin, trespass, consecration, and peace offerings (Leviticus);
- The sin offering on the annual day of atonement (Exodus 30:10; Leviticus 16:29-30, 23: 27-32).
- Levitical priests, beginning with Aaron, to offer these animal sacrifices. These priests were all descendants of Aaron (Exodus 28:1; 29:9; Leviticus 4; etc.).
- Melchizedek, who was a priest before Aaron, who offered bread and wine (as a type of the "memorial" that we offer at the Lord's Supper) to show a priesthood prior to Aaron's, from which Jesus Christ would come (Genesis 14:18-20; Psalm 110: 4; Hebrews 7:1-25).
- Jesus Christ, God himself (1 Tim. 3: 16), as the one sacrifice that would forever take away sins (John 1:29; Hebrews 10:10-14).
- The priesthood of the believer in the New Testament (1 Peter 2: 9) so that we have no need for an earthly priest to offer sacrifices for us. Jesus is our high priest (Hebrews 7: 26-28) and we have direct access to the Father through him (Eph. 2: 12-19).
Several things are true about these provisions of God:
- A sinner in the Old Testament who wanted to be "saved" would trust the provisions of God that were offered at the Temple by the priests and would recognize his need for God's provisions as a sinner (Psalm 51).
- A sinner in the New Testament will receive the provision of Jesus Christ at Calvary as his only means of salvation (John 1: 12; 1 Tim. 2: 4-6; Rom. 10: 4).
- A sinner in the New Testament who is not willing to trust God's provision of Jesus Christ as his only means of salvation will continue to offer sacrifices through a priest in an effort to gain temporary atonement. However, since Jesus Christ is the one offering that God has accepted forever, the offering of bread and wine by a priest every Sunday at Communion will never take away sins (Hebrews 10: 11). When a New Testament Christian who has received Jesus Christ as his Savior takes the Lord's Supper, to him it is a "memorial" not a "sacrifice," (1 Corinthians 1:23-26).
Once a sinner has trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior and has received the greatest gift that God has ever given to men (John 15:13, 3: 16), he understands more fully what Paul meant when he said, "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus," (Philippians 4:19). Concerning salvation, he has indeed taken care of everything!