Gen 22:8, And Abraham said, "God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son. So the two of them walked on together." 
This week we come to one of the most recognized accounts in the Bible. It is the report of Abraham’s faithfulness to God to the point of even offering up his only legitimate son as a sacrifice if that was what pleased the Lord. As we know, God did not demand that sacrifice, but Abraham was willing to set aside his every hope for a future genealogy as an offering to the Lord. 
This was the son in whom Abraham had pinned his every hope of becoming the father of countless numbers of descendents. This was the miracle child from the womb of his beloved wife, Sarah, in the advanced years of their lives. As a matter of fact, it is in the very next chapter that we will read about Sarah’s death and burial and the heartache suffered by Abraham at her loss. 
In the eyes of this world, everything was against the very idea of Sarah giving birth. Her age and her barrenness, as we have discussed in the past weeks, made it a seemingly impossible promise from the voice of God to Abraham. Sarah even thought the very idea was ludicrous and that both she and Abraham were far too old to have children. Therefore she scoffed at the very concept. But, one year later, God proved Himself mighty in this matter with the birth of Isaac to Abraham and Sarah. 
Isaac was the promised heritage, the son born as the fulfillment of God’s word to Abraham and to Sarah. He was the offspring of the Omnipotence and the Omniscience of God Almighty. In his birth, God proved Himself faithful to His friend, Abraham. Gen 18:14, "Is anything too difficult for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son." 
Just as Sarah and Abraham had experienced the fulfilled sovereignty and faithful working of God to overcome every natural obstacle in the path of their heritage, so also, Christ brought this to the remembrance of those who were so familiar with the story. It is the fact that God is not limited by anything or anyone in the manner in which He chooses to operate in the hearts of those He calls unto Himself. Salvation is the very miracle of God’s Omnipotence to the nth degree.
It is this very fact that so caused Our Lord Himself to make the definitive statement concerning the limitless Omnipotence of God to His disciples. He was calling to mind the absolute sovereignty and ability of God to do everything that He purposed and planned from before the very eternal ages of the ages. They were dismayed at the response of Christ to the rich young ruler concerning the matter of salvation. They queried Jesus wondering who could be saved if this young man, who had done everything right could not earn or buy his way into the Kingdom of God. Christ responded with the tremendous declaration of God’s might in Matt 19:26. And looking upon them Jesus said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." 
This is foreshadowed in the events of this morning’s passage concerning Abraham and Isaac and God’s faithful provision. Isaac questioned his father about the sacrifice. It is indicative of Abraham’s full trust in God as he responded so lovingly and fully to his son, whom he thought he would be sacrificing to the Lord. Gen 22:7+8, 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.
Abraham trusted God no matter what the cost and he counted on the Lord to make every provision for the keeping of the promise with which God so blessed him. He knew that God would do right by Abraham and by Isaac, whatever that might entail. In that assurance, he could confidently tell Isaac that the Lord’s provision was to be evidenced as they prepared to sacrifice unto God. He put his complete trust in the Lord and so encouraged young Isaac to likewise place his trust in the Lord.
Then, we see that provision evidenced as Abraham was ready to follow through with the sacrifice. As he was about to deal the death blow, God stayed his hand and provided the sacrificial lamb of offering. This resulted in the further glory that Abraham accounted to God in the course of His divine provision and keeping power. Gen 22:13+14, Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. 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." 
It is, after all, God Who provided for the proper sacrifice for Abraham. It is God Who has provided for the only possible sacrifice sufficient for our eternal salvation. While Abraham was not compelled to put Isaac to death, that was not the case with God in terms of bringing forth the only manner of our salvation. In order to redeem us unto Himself, the sacrifice needed to be once and for all time. There was no other way of it than to freely offer His Only Begotten Son, perfect in every way, as the means of the just and required penalty of death for our sins. God offered, unreservedly, His Son upon the cross to bear the burden and the penalty of sin for all who would call upon Him and receive such a costly salvation. He did so without reservation and without wavering in His so great love for you and for me.
God provided for the required offering on Abraham and Isaac’s behalf with the ram, as He did for us in Jesus Christ. This entire account in Genesis is the foreshadowing of what God the Father had to do in order to establish the perfect means of bringing you and me into absolute fellowship with Himself. We see this proclaimed as John the Baptist was preparing the way of the Lord. Several times he points to Jesus of Nazareth and makes the following proclamation which was not understood in his day. John 1:29, The next day he saw Jesus coming to him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 
John knew that God was doing what was necessary in order to deal with the sin that so stained and entrapped humanity. He understood that the Lamb of God would be the only sacrifice capable of permanently and eternally dealing with the curse under which humanity was laboring and dying in an enslavement beyond any other possible means of freedom and salvation.
John 1:35+36, Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked upon Jesus as He walked, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" This was no small declaration concerning Christ. It called forth the truth that a sacrifice had to be made. It brought to mind that Isaac was the type of the Christ who had to be put to death in order for the Holiness and the Righteousness of God to be lawfully and rightfully satisfied. While John could only baptize in water unto repentance, it was a baptism that signified that God would provide the perfect sacrificial Lamb required for that repentance to be manifested in justification and redemption. 
As the Apostle Paul so declared to the believers in Ephesus in Acts 19:4, And Paul said, "John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus." Through his preaching and activities, John the Baptist proclaimed the need for the people to rely on God to make the every provision for their salvation through Jesus Christ. 
All the credit and the manner of our salvation was accomplished through the willing sacrifice instituted by the Father’s foreknowledge and pledge of love. We are so instructed by the Apostle Peter in 1 Peter 1:17-21. Please turn to it and read along with me, 1 Peter 1:17-21. And if you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each man's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay upon earth; knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. 
It is because our faith and hope is set in the mighty and completed work of God that we are so able to have our absolute certainty of His tremendous promise of eternal life. He provided the Lamb, His only Begotten Son, to deal with every obstacle that tried to thwart our being called by His name.
John, the writer of the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, so honors Him in that position as the Lamb of God Who was slain for our sakes. It is a place of honor and power in the heart of the Kingdom of God because He freely laid down His life to bring humanity into the rightful relationship of fellowship with God, Our Creator. 
Please turn with me to Rev 5:6-9. Rev 5:6-9, And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. And He came, and He took it out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. And when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, having each one a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to break its seals; for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase for God with Thy blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
The Heavenly hosts will eternally be proclaiming the fact that the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, is worthy of all praise and all honor. There will be ceaseless glory given to Him for the laying down of His very life for the saints. The Heavenly Father will be rejoicing forever in the work that the Son did in honor and utter obedience to  the Father. This will be no minor celebration that will cease after a period of time. It will continue always in the absolute triumphant jubilation of the victory of the Lamb over all the powers of sin and death! Amen.
As well, John records that all of creation will join in that song of absolute achievement and conquest of all the forces that were arrayed against the Holiness and the Majesty of God. Rev 5:11-13, And I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing." And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, "To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever." Amen!
This will be the culmination of all the centuries of man’s struggles against sin under the bondage of the fall of Adam. Those who choose to be saved by the grace of God in Jesus Christ will know the fullness and the glory of the might and the all-sufficiency of His laying down His life for us! We will find absolute joy in the fact that the Lamb of God’s provision opened up eternity as a framework of coming into the completeness of God’s plan in His Creation! 
We will know what life truly means as we serve God Almighty forever and forever in giving Him all praise and worship and adoration. Rev 7:13-17, And one of the elders answered, saying to me, "These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and from where have they come?" And I said to him, "My lord, you know." And he said to me, "These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. "For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne shall spread His tabernacle over them. "They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; neither shall the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; for the Lamb in the center of the throne shall be their shepherd, and shall guide them to springs of the water of life; and God shall wipe every tear from their eyes." 
This is only by the prerequisite perfection of the Lamb that God sent forth from His heart of love for the sake of our redemption and sanctification. Apart from His work and His preparation and His crucifixion and resurrection, only death and destruction would be the course of our eternity. There is nothing that we could do to earn or to merit such a wonderful and loving grace-filled and mercy-applied salvation. As Abraham well knew, God, Alone, would supply our needed salvation in His infinite storehouse of beauty and compassion and forgiveness and love. Only God can provide! So be it!
And Abraham said, "God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son. Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Prov 3:5+6. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. Amen.