09/08/2024 [English] Time to Meet Jehovah Jireh

The religious leaders, the Sanhedrin Council of Israel, bribed false witnesses to accuse Stephen. Their false testimony matched exactly with the accusations made against Jesus. They claimed that he was trying to change the law of Moses and said he would destroy the temple.

The reason for laying the same charges as they did with Jesus is clear: it was a matter that allowed for no dispute, an immediate execution. The method of execution was a brutal one, where the crowd would surround the target and stone them to death. The victim would die, abandoned and torn apart both physically and emotionally.

It was to these people, who were angrily seeking to kill him, that Stephen cried out:

“Brothers and fathers, listen to me!”

“Fathers, brothers, please listen!” he shouted.

This brother, whose face shone like that of an angel, called them all his fathers and brothers, speaking from a place of humility. That is why he was radiant—not with the light of the world, which shines from above, but with the light of God, which shines through love from a humble place.

Here, Stephen begins to recount the history of Israel, specifically starting with the story of Abraham.

Why Abraham?

Let’s take a look at how the genealogy of Jesus begins in Matthew 1:1.

“[Matthew 1:1] The genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”

When Jesus is introduced, the very first name mentioned is also “Abraham.”

Furthermore, when God first appeared to Moses through the burning bush, He introduced Himself in this way:

“[Exodus 3:6] He said, ‘I am the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.”

For the Jews, Abraham was their most clear and proud root.

When Jesus healed a woman, emphasizing that she was worthy of being healed, He called her a “daughter of Abraham.”

And when Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector under Roman authority, welcomed Jesus joyfully and truly repented, Jesus affirmed him, saying,

“Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.”

Because she was a daughter of Abraham, and because he was a son of Abraham, they were eligible for salvation!

Even when Jesus told the story of the rich man and Lazarus, He referred to heaven as “Abraham’s bosom,” portraying Abraham as the father of all who enter the kingdom of heaven.

In Galatians, the Apostle Paul also says,

“[Galatians 3:6-7] 6 Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.

7 Therefore, those who have faith are children of Abraham.”

We Christians, through faith, become children of Abraham and are thus qualified to enter the kingdom of God.

As you can see, Abraham is so significant that Jesus, John the Baptist, the Apostle Paul, and all the disciples frequently referred to him. This shows how much Abraham was a delight in God’s eyes and how proud God was to call him His child.

Therefore, we must understand Abraham, who serves as a model of faith for us.

Abraham, originally named “Abram,” was born in Ur of the Chaldeans. After Noah’s flood, he was a descendant of Shem, Noah’s son, and the eldest son of Terah, making him the 10th generation from Noah.

However, the name “Abram” brought great pain to him. In ancient times, having many children was considered the greatest blessing, yet Abram, who was over 70 years old, had no children at all. Ironically, his name meant “father.” Though everyone called him “father,” he had never experienced fatherhood.

When he was called by God to leave his people, he was 75 years old. We can only imagine how much pain and shame this must have caused him for all those years.

Genesis 12 marks the beginning of Abraham’s journey with God. We will examine his life in detail through Genesis, and it is my hope that by the end of today’s service, we will all come to know more about Abraham.

[Genesis 12:1-4]

1 The Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people, and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

2 I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.

3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran.

For Abram, the promise of “I will make you into a great nation” was enough. It was the one thing he had longed for all his life—to become a real father. Furthermore, the promise that God would make him into a great nation motivated him more than anything else.

However, Abraham was not yet ready to be recognized as the father of faith.

The land of Canaan, where he settled in obedience to God’s promise, soon experienced famine. As the famine grew worse, they journeyed south to Egypt. Here, Abram shows a lack of faith and displays a cowardly side.

[Genesis 12:11-13]

11 As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are.

12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but let you live.

13 Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.”

Abram was quick to devise a survival strategy, showing a cowardly yet cunning side. He anticipated danger and made a calculated plan.

Why does the Bible record such shameful events? First, because the real protagonist is not Abraham. Second, it shows that even cowards and weaklings like us have hope.

Abram gave Sarai to Pharaoh, essentially selling her, and received generous gifts of livestock and slaves in return. Abram became the brother-in-law of Pharaoh. He had no rescue plan, didn’t cry out, or build an altar to pray. Shockingly, Abram did nothing.

Thankfully, God did not leave the situation unresolved. A severe plague struck Pharaoh and his household because of Sarai. Pharaoh, realizing the truth, angrily summoned Abram and returned Sarai to him.

Though Abram was likely glad to have his wife back, as a husband, how miserable and ashamed he must have felt. Without a word, they returned to the promised land of Canaan.

Abram, after such a shameful and humiliating experience, began to change. When he called upon the name of the Lord at Bethel, it showed that his understanding of the God he followed was becoming clearer.

By Genesis 13, we see a different Abram. When the time came to part with Lot, although Abram had the right to choose first, he allowed Lot to choose the land he wanted. From a man who once calculated to avoid loss, Abram became one who trusted God more and was willing to take the risk of losing.

[Genesis 13:14-15]

14 The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west.

15 All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever.”

The Lord, like a joyful father promising rewards to a well-behaved child, was pleased with Abram.

By Genesis 14, we see a significantly changed Abram. When Lot, who chose the fertile land of Sodom, was captured in a war, Abram led his servants on a rescue mission. The man who once feared Pharaoh now courageously went to rescue his nephew from a coalition of four powerful kings with only a small group of servants. This starkly contrasts with the cowardly Abram from Genesis 12.

Though Abraham’s faith continued to grow, the sorrow of not having a child still plagued him. This led him to make a major mistake when he fathered Ishmael through Hagar, the maidservant, instead of waiting for the promised son, Isaac.

[Genesis 16:11-12]

11 The angel of the Lord said to her: “You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery.

12 He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.”

Ishmael would become the ancestor of Islam, and even today, the conflict between the descendants of Ishmael and the descendants of Isaac—Muslims and Jews—continues in the Middle East.

[Proverbs 10:22]

“The blessing of the Lord brings wealth, without painful toil for it.”

When we wait for God’s promises and receive what He wants to give, it brings peace and true blessings that cannot be lost. However, when we try to force things with our own wisdom and worldly methods, the blessing turns into a burden that we cannot bear.

God promised blessings to Hagar and Ishmael, and He fulfilled them. However, the blessings came with much suffering and were limited to earthly prosperity, not extending into eternity.

When God once again promised Abram a child to be his heir, He gave circumcision as a sign to Abram and all the men. As part of this, God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, which means “father of many nations.”

By Genesis 18, Abraham is depicted as someone who is always waiting to meet with God. He now speaks with God intimately and even has the courage to approach God to intercede for Sodom, which was facing imminent judgment.

This shows that Abraham’s desires had matured—not just focusing on himself but extending to love for others, his neighbors.

However, in Genesis 20, a shocking twist occurs. Abraham, who had grown closer to God and had even had his name changed, once again loses his wife to a king—this time, Abimelech, the king of Gerar. How could this happen again? It’s quite shocking.

But when we closely examine Abraham’s actions in Genesis 20, we can see a clear difference from what happened in Genesis 12.

In Genesis 12, Abraham had cowardly prepared in advance and almost willingly gave up his wife to Pharaoh. When Pharaoh later became angry, Abraham could not say a word. But in this chapter, though he does give his wife to Abimelech, Abraham responds confidently and shows dignity in front of the king.

While the situation seems similar, this time Abraham is trusting God.

He believed that if he and his wife were killed, the promises that God had confirmed to him multiple times could not be fulfilled. So, instead of panicking, he trusted in God and let the situation unfold in God’s hands.

God also responds differently this time. When warning Abimelech, He tells him that only by having Abraham, His prophet, pray for him will the curse be lifted. This elevates Abraham in the eyes of the king. As a result, after receiving Abraham’s prayer, the curse is removed from Abimelech.

After this event, Abimelech, though a king, adopts a humble attitude toward Abraham and his people. This shows that God had a larger purpose behind allowing this situation to unfold.

Shortly after this event, the promised child, Isaac, is born. Abraham had waited 25 years after receiving the promise.

In fact, Isaac was not just a child Abraham had waited for 25 years, but one he had waited for his entire life until he was 100 years old. To the elderly couple, nothing else mattered. In order to protect Isaac, they even sent away Ishmael, Abraham’s first son, along with Hagar, his mother.

Though Abraham had learned to trust God through numerous trials and hardships, over time, all of this couple’s joy, sorrow, and hope began to center around Isaac. Isaac became the absolute treasure, someone Abraham would be willing to give his own life for.

Now, the final test came to Abraham to determine if he would truly become the father of faith.

[Genesis 22:1-2]

1 After these things, God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”

2 God said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

What kind of thunderbolt was this? The child Abraham had waited for his entire life, the one he would not trade for the whole world, God was now asking him to give up.

After three days of walking, the destination, Mount Moriah, came into view. During those three days, while preparing for this immense sacrifice, walking alongside his beloved son, sitting by the fire at night, sleeping near him—what must have been going through Abraham’s heart on this final journey?

Could there have been a single moment of joy, even a fleeting smile? Could he meet his son’s gaze even for a second?

It must have been an agonizing time, like a hellish experience for Abraham, feeling as though his very blood was drying up.

The long wait for this one child, and now the perfect life he had built around this son was crumbling with every step. How bitter, how painful it must have been for him.

As they were climbing the mountain together, Isaac, sensing something strange in his father’s silence, could no longer hold back and asked,

“Father, we have the fire and wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

The grim reality Abraham had been denying was now unfolding before his eyes. If my own child asked me that question, I don’t think I could do anything but sit down and weep.

Abraham’s response likely wasn’t a bold declaration, but rather a final cry to God:

“My son, God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering.”

However, when they reached the top of Mount Moriah and built the altar, no substitute appeared. After finishing the altar, Abraham, resigned to his fate, began binding Isaac, who willingly submitted to his father.

Even then, God waited a little longer. It was only when Abraham had drawn his knife and was about to bring it down upon Isaac, bound on the altar, that God called out through an angel:

[Genesis 22:11-12]

11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”

12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” He said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from Me your son, your only son.”

God urgently called out, “Abraham! Abraham! Do not lay a hand on the boy! Do not do anything to him!”

To me, this scene is more intense and stirring than even the scene of the cross—it combines shock, fear, and awe in one.

In truth, this moment foreshadowed the cross.

[2 Chronicles 3:1]

“Then Solomon began to build the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David.”

The mountain where Jesus was crucified was none other than Mount Moriah. And just as He provided a substitute for Isaac, God prepared the true sacrifice to take his place.

[Genesis 22:13]

13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.

God’s Lamb, the year-old ram… When Jesus, at 30 years old, appeared at the Jordan River, John the Baptist cried out,

“Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

To save Abraham’s son, and to save you, me, and our children, God gave His beloved only Son as a sacrifice. This is the meaning of “Jehovah Jireh.”

[Genesis 22:14-18]

14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”

15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time

16 and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,

17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies,

18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”

What seemed like a dream then has now become a reality in human history. Who has taken possession of the gates of the enemy? Who built His church at the gates of hell? Who is the offspring that has become a blessing to all nations? By passing this test, the Seed—Jesus Christ—came as a descendant of Abraham.

[James 2:21]

21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?

Abraham appears as the first name in Jesus’ genealogy, and when God introduces Himself, He says, “I am the God of Abraham.” This is because of Abraham’s act of obedience in offering Isaac on the altar.

But why does James bring up this event? Are we not the fathers of faith like Abraham? While this is a moving story, does it have much relevance to us?

James concludes with this statement:

[James 2:21-26]

21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?

22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.

23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend.

24 You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.

25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?

26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

James boldly defines Abraham’s obedience in offering Isaac as true faith. He defines living faith as actions that flow from trust, and he generalizes this great faith for all believers.

This is what normal faith looks like, and even if it is small, we too must have this “kind” of faith. It’s not just believing with our minds but actualized faith.

Recently, a pastor and professor who taught at a well-known seminary for over 20 years shared his regret with me. He said that throughout his ministry, something always felt off, and his greatest regret now is this:

He felt uncomfortable about how he might have given false assurance to people who said they had accepted Jesus and believed in the doctrines but showed no signs of transformation or emotion. He wondered if he had unintentionally planted an assurance that wasn’t really there.

If people are excited for days after being accepted into a dream school, how could we not feel anything when the world has been turned upside down, when all our sins have been forgiven, when we have received eternal life, and the Spirit of God has come to dwell in us?

That’s not something someone else can assure us of. God becomes real to us. Jesus Christ becomes real to us. We feel the warmth of love in Scripture, and there has to be a moment when that love becomes real to us for the first time—at least one moment.

Even if we later wander in the fog, we must have at least that moment. A moment when we feel the heat or the cold, the fear, or the joy.

If that moment hasn’t happened yet, we need to seek, knock, and ask until we find it. How much effort do we put into finding the right job or planning a week’s vacation? Yet eternity is at stake.

No one can tell you when you truly believe. Until you reach a point where you cannot deny it, until the assurance comes, you must seek, knock, and ask!

Once you find it, you realize one great truth: While you were seeking, the Lord was already seeking you. He was waiting for you the whole time. The life of someone greater than Abraham, the source of all blessings, is now living in you—a truth you cannot deny.

[John 14:12]

12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

Unlike Abraham, who had to wait for occasional encounters with God, we can meet Him at any moment when we focus and seek Him. We can meet the God who has never taken His eyes off us and has never lost hope in us.

He still has many things He wants to do with us, many dreams He wants to fulfill with us. Jesus said we will do even greater works than He did, and that’s why He returned to the Father.

To do this, we must learn from the path Abraham walked. We should learn from his stumbles, grow consistently through life’s process, and become more courageous. As we make sacrifices, our faith grows in a way that brings joy to the Lord. We must walk this path step by step.

Then, like Abraham, we too will become a blessing—an even more perfect blessing that lasts into eternity.

The life of someone greater than Abraham pulses within us. As we recognize, welcome, and obey the Lord in faith, this life will work in us with even greater power. Amen.