Sinclair Ferguson

I don't know about you, but I find that when I begin to think about the big themes in the Bible, there seems to be no end to them.

My own first thought this week was to think about who God is by reflecting on perhaps four or five names we find in the Bible, but we've got stuck with one.

Well, not stuck, I hope.

In fact, you might say we've been trying to be like theological gemologists, holding up a precious stone to the light and admiring some of its facets.

And in this case, we've been mining in Exodus chapter 3 and examining the precious jewel buried deep into that chapter, the great name Yahweh, the Lord, I Am, what used to be translated as Jehovah.

If like me, your first Bible was a King James version, you'll remember that in Genesis, there is one place where this name is expanded.

It's expanded into Jehovah Jireh.

You remember the verse, it's Genesis 22 verse 14.

And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah Jireh.

The Lord will provide.

But if you remember the words, you should remember their context.

Where was that place?

Well, geographically, it was Mount Moriah.

Does that remind you of what happened there?

Yes, that was where Abraham went to offer his son Isaac, the son of the promise, as a sacrifice to God.

But the angel of the Lord intervened.

And as Abraham turned round, there was a ram caught in the bushes, a divinely provided substitute for his son.

And so he called the place, The Lord Will Provide.

He must have hardly been able to believe that his own words had been fulfilled.

As they were climbing the mountain, Isaac had said to him, Father, we have everything we need here for the sacrifice.