Welcome to Eat This Bread Drink This Cup. The title of my meditation today is The Lord Will Provide. I read from Genesis 22: 9-18 (ESV). All quotations are from the English Standard Version and are used with permission.
9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. 11 But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The LORD will provide”;b as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”c 15 And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of hisd enemies, 18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
In this passage of Scripture, we read about the culmination of God's test of Abraham. The same God who said to Abraham, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you,” is the one who spoke by His angel and said, "Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” What intervened between God's first and last instruction was Abraham's complete obedience to God! God provided a nearby ram for the burnt offering instead of his son, Isaac. Aptly so, Abraham named this place, "The Lord will provide." His future generations will look back on God's provision and say of this place, "On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.” While the second temple no longer sits on Mount Moriah, the Jews still direct their prayers to this place, hoping God will provide by hearing and answering their prayers. At Mount Moriah, God not only provided a ram for a burnt offering, He also promised an offspring whereby all the nations of the earth would be blessed. The Apostle Paul (Galatians 3: 16) reminds us that the offspring God was referring to is His Son, Jesus (Galatians 3: 16). We read, "Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ." As human beings, we might identify many wants and needs, but in the end, our greatest need is to be delivered from sin and its consequence, death. God did this in sending Jesus to die on a cross and resurrecting Him from the dead. By God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ, we can have forgiveness and eternal life. That is what we celebrate as we assemble and partake of the bread, which represents His body, and drink from the cup of blessing, which represents His blood He poured out for us. We, too, can rejoice with Abraham and say, "The Lord will provide." Let us pray.
Abba, Father. Today we bless and set aside this bread and the fruit of the vine in this cup to remember Your Son, Jesus. We know that the bread represents His body that was nailed to the cross, and the fruit of the vine represents His blood that He shed for us. As we pour out the wine from the cup, we are reminded of how Jesus poured out His own blood that our sins might be forgiven. Thank-you, Abba, Father, that You are the Lord who provides. Over and over again, You open the windows of heaven and pour out Your blessings upon us. We cannot count them! Thank-you, Abba, Father, for providing for our greatest need, forgiveness of sin and its consequence, death, through the death and resurrection of Your Son, Jesus. We acknowledge the price He paid for us through His suffering and death on a cross. Just now we partake of the bread and drink from the cup of blessing to remember Your Son, Jesus. We love Him for loving us. In His name I pray. Amen
Today, Jesus invites you to partake of His supper. I read from Matthew 26: 26-28.
26 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” Let us partake of the bread.
27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Let us partake of the cup.
And the assembly of believers said, "Amen!"
Until next time, from Numbers 6: 24-26, "The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace."
Artist's Note: If you have questions about the Lord's Supper, I invite you to visit my website, https://eatthisbreaddrinkthiscup.com, for a brief overview. The Eat This Bread Drink This Cup podcast is listed in most podcast directories. The benefit of creating an account in one of the directory apps, like Apple Podcasts, Spotify or iHeart, is that you can add this podcast to your favorites and be notified of new posts. I do not receive compensation of any kind when you download and listen to my podcast. Please note there is a written transcript that accompanies each podcast, and you are free to use the transcript in accordance with US copyright law. My prayer is that you will benefit personally from this time with Jesus and encourage others to observe the Lord's Supper. In these trying times, we need to keep our eyes on Jesus!