Discovery on The Lord’s Mountain
This morning I got in an early workout at the fitness center; my first of the New Year. Then because of the weather forecast I took my mother home and did a quick trip to Denver. I hope to submit the manuscript for my book within the next week to the publishing company. My goal is to meet a spring book release. I appreciate the encouraging feedback from those who have reviewed my effort.
BIBLE VERSE FOR TODAY… “And Abraham named that place The Lord Will Provide, so today it is said: ‘It will be provided on the Lord’s mountain.’” Genesis 22:14 HCSB
The Lord’s call to Abraham to sacrifice Isaac after the years of waiting for the promised child is a troubling story. It is good to be able to read through to the end of the story and see the outcome. The lesson learned from the account is “The Lord will provide.” God provided the sacrifice on the “mountain of the Lord.”
For Abraham he found that the Lord will provide when God’s ways don’t make sense. It is hard to imagine what was going through Abraham’s mind when the Lord one day spoke to him more than a decade after Isaac was born and tells him to travel to the mountain to sacrifice his son. But all that we see is obedience, not arguing, resistant and bargaining. The faith of Abraham that made him righteous, extended to obeying God, when God doesn’t make sense.
We find Abraham believing in the power of resurrection. It had never happened before and there was no reason or explanation on why Abraham believed it; but his faith was in a God that not only was able to bring life out of the deadness of his own body and Sarah’s womb, but was able to bring life to his dead son’s body.
Abraham’s faith is commended in Hebrews 11 with these words, “He considered God to be able even to raise someone from the dead, and as an illustration, he received him back.” (Hebrews 11:19 HCSB)
On the Lord’s mountain, God found a man who could be trusted as the the “Father of all those of faith.” “…this is the Lord’s declaration: “Because you have done this thing and have not withheld your only son, I will indeed bless you and make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore.” (Gen. 22:16,17 HCSB)
We find in scripture that it is on the “Lord’s mountain” that the Lord reveals Himself. To Abraham, it was the “Lord who provides.” We see hundreds of years later it was on the “mountain of the Lord” that the Lord provided the law to Moses. We see in time to come it was on the “mountain of the Lord” that God’s Son would be provided as the sacrificial “lamb” fulfilling the righteous requirement of a holy God.
It was on the “mountain of the Lord” that we discover something about Abraham and something about God. Abraham’s faith allowed him to trust God completely, to believe God to do what had never been done before and to demonstrate that God could trust him.
It was on the “mountain of the Lord” we discover God’s provision of a substitute. One that would foreshadow a future substitute for all people. One day we will discover on the “mountain” chosen by God, the resurrected Christ returning in His glory and the provision of an eternal home in His presence.