Jehovah Series: Part 2, Jehovah Sees or Provides

Well good Saints, we're on the second part of these Jehovah titles.

Um you should have the paperwork in front of you, but and again, if uh you don't have it, you don't need it.

It would just help you get through this uh to see all the scriptures um at a glance is the most uh part of the reason.

So we're in the second part, which is Jehovah sees or provides.

In the first part, we hit the introduction, of which I'd like to hit another verse that coincides with the introduction.

If you go to Romans chapter 15, on your paperwork, on every one of these sessions, you have that very first quote from 2 Corinthians 1.

Romans 15 · chapter mention

Here's another section that talks about the same thing.

We're going to read this from Romans 15 first, and then we're going to go to the paperwork from 2 Corinthians 1.

So on Romans 15 and verse 8, it says, For I say that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God to confirm the promises given to the fathers.

You see that?

So Christ has become a servant to the circumcision to confirm the promises given to the fathers.

This word confirm means to establish or to make sure.

That is literally what he did.

He established or made sure the promises given to the fathers.

In other words, like the first verse on your paperwork says, for the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, by me, Sylvanus, and Timothy, was not yes and no, but in him was yes.

For all the promises of God in him are yes, and in him amen to the glory of God through us.

So all the promises of God find their yes and amen in Christ.

In other words, he is the fulfillment.

He is the establishment of the promises made to the fathers.

He made every one of them sure.

All of them have their fulfillment in him.

There's many ways to say this, but the point is that apart from Jesus Christ, these promises would not have their completeness.

Now, to bring this full circle where we're going, we are in Christ.

So all these promises of God that find their yes and amen in Christ, we take part in.

These Jehovah titles show us God's character toward his covenant people.

In this, you see the basic framework of what God is to us through Christ.

Now, this first one we're looking at, this first Jehovah title of Jehovah sees or provides.

This one is the thread of continuity that runs through every one of these Jehovah titles.

That first paragraph on your paper says, as God was in covenant relation to the nation of Israel, so he is in covenant relation to all who have believed on his Son Jesus Christ.

The Jehovah titles disclose what God is toward his people, his characteristics as Jehovah.

As God was Jehovah to the nation of Israel, so he is Jehovah to us, his covenant people today, through the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So in light of that, saints, as we look at what God was toward his people, Israel, he's not going to change.

Remember, we looked at this in the first of this series, which is Malachi 3.6, that says, I am the Lord, Jehovah, I change not.

God is always the same.

So what he was to his people under the old covenant, he is to us today.

It's just that all of the promises of God have their fulfillment in Christ, and we are in Christ, so we have the full package.

Saints, we're lacking nothing in Christ.

Of all the promises of God, what a privilege.

That next paragraph.

Jehovah will see or provide.

And this is the one we're going to look at.

So to take a look at this, go to Genesis 22, where this title is used for the first and only time in the Scriptures.

Jehovah Jirah.

The Lord sees or provides.

And this now, this record of Genesis 22 is where Abraham was asked by God to sacrifice his son Isaac.

In other words, to kill him as a burnt offering to God.

Now this is the record.

But what I want to do is if you go to verse 13, we're going to pick this up in verse 13 and then go back to the beginning.

Verse 13 says, Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, a ram caught in the thicket by his horns.

And Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering offering in the place of his son, or as a substitute.

Now verse 14 says, Abraham called the name of that place, the Lord will provide, or Jehovah Jirah.

As it is said to this day, in the mount of the Lord it will be provided or seen.

That's what that means.

The Lord, how we get that title, the Lord will provide or see and provide is because this word provide means to see.

In other words, God bundles the whole thing together.

If he sees need of his people, he just provides it.

That's God as Jehovah to us.

Well, let's back up here and look at the flow of this scripture again, noting that this section is all indicative of the Christ that would come, who would be sacrificed as the substitute for the sins of the whole world.

Okay.

Chapter 22, verse 1.

Now it came about after these things that God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, and he said, Here I am.

And he said, Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there for as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.

So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son.

You know, that right there is astounding, Saints.

I mean, it doesn't tie into our teaching, but that Abraham gets this direction from God and just does it.

Now he knows he's going to go kill his son.

But he gets the direction from God in verse 2.

Then it just says in verse 3, so Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey and went on his way to do what God told him to do, to kill his son.

So verse 4 it says, And on the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance.

So he's traveling for three days, and then he sees the place that God had showed him.

Verse 5, Abraham said to his young men, Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there, and we will worship and return to you.

Now, there's something that's seen between the lines here that is really a wonderful truth.

If Abraham is going to go kill his son as a burnt offering, yet he says to the young men, Stay with the donkey, and I and the lad will go there, and we will worship and return to you.

Abraham then had to believe that he and Isaac were going to return, even though he was going to kill Isaac.

Abraham is the father of all those who believe.

Saints, this begins with believing the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And there it is, right there.

The death and resurrection of Isaac, all foreshadowing the coming of the Christ who would die and be raised from the dead.

And Abraham believed it, and you have it right there in that statement.

I and the lad will return to you.

Verse 6.

Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac, his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife.

So the two of them walked on together.

And Isaac, being the sharp little lad that he was, verse 7 says, 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's the lamb for the burnt offering?

Now watch, Abraham says in verse 8, God will provide for himself the lamb for the burnt offering.

Wow.

Again, did God provide the Christ?

Absolutely.

So here, prophetically, Abraham says, God will provide for himself the lamb for the burnt offering.

So the two of them walked on together.

Verse 9.

Then they came to the place of which God had told him, and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on the top of the wood.

Now verse 10 is actually written.

I read those words, but it's like too rich for my brain.

God tells him to do it, he just does it.

He's going to slay his son.

Because he knows that God is able to raise the dead.

So he goes to kill his son.

Verse 11.

But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham, and he said, Here I am.

And he said, Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him.

For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.

Now, saints, we saw this, your son, your only son, back up in verse two.

Remember, verse two says, And he said, Take now your son, your only son.

Your son, your only son.

Didn't God say of Jesus Christ, This is my only begotten son?

So it said, Take your son, your only son.

Verse 2.

Then in verse 12, if you flip over to verse 16, look what it says.

And he said, By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son.

So it said three times to emphasize the point that this was Abraham's only son.

It's an interesting thing.

Because Jesus Christ is clearly God's only begotten son while he walked on the face of the earth.

It's a wonderful truth.

So then verse 13, getting into 14, where it says, 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, or again, as a substitute.

And this is where we get Jehovah Jirah, the Lord sees or provides.

Now, saints, Abraham, did he ask God for a ram to be caught in a thicket?

No, he didn't.

There's nowhere in the record where he asked.

Would he have even known to ask?

He was planning on slaying his son.

He wouldn't have even known to ask for this provision.

But see, the Lord sees and provides.

Abraham neither asked for it nor knew to ask for it.

Well, how about what we've been delivered from and delivered into by Christ's work?

Did we know to ask God to be made righteous?

I mean, really, made righteous?

That we would be right in his sight forever?

I mean, to ask him to pardon something we've done wrong, yes, that's probably come to the minds of many people through the years.

But to ask God to be perfect in his sight?

Well, that sure didn't come to my mind.

How about to be redeemed from sin?

No, wait a minute.

You know, you've done things wrong, wronging God, going against his standard, well, then you deserve to be getting the punishment for that wrong.

Would you have the audacity to ask God, just God, just wipe away everything that's against me now and forever?

I mean, would you think you had the right to do that?

I mean, he's the creator of the heavens and the earth.

What he says goes.

We broke standard after standard.

And yet God just says, redeem from sin.

Why?

Because Jesus Christ died as the substitute, the Lamb of God that would be the Passover Lamb for every single sin of the whole world, including every one of ours.

And it's huge.

This thing is just huge.

If you go to Exodus chapter 3 to look a little more at the children of Israel's deliverance, this might be a section that's familiar.

Exodus 3 · chapter mention

In Exodus chapter 3, starting in verse 7, now God had seen the children of Israel in this bondage in Egypt.

Exodus 3 · chapter mention

So the Lord said in verse 7, I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters.

Now Israel had asked for being delivered from the bondage of Egypt, but it says that God saw this.

Then it says the end of verse 7, for I am aware of their sufferings.

Verse 8, so I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.

They did not ask to be delivered into a promised land.

All they had asked, you go back and look at any of those records, all they asked for is deliverance from the bondage of Egypt.

Well, many people through the years have cried out to God, not knowing him, crying out for help, deliverance from a situation.

I'm talking about people before they get born again, not knowing of what's available from God as Jehovah.

That through Christ they can have it all.

They're just asking for help in time of trouble.

Well, saints, we not only have that through Christ, we've been delivered into the promised land of the kingdom of God.

It's so far beyond what we knew to ask for, saints.

I mean, think of it.

Eternal life.

I mean, yeah, God please extend my life for a few years.

You know, you know I was nice to Aunt Gertrude, at least for the last week of her life.

Please extend my life for another week anyway.

But not eternal, eternal life?

You know, who would have thought to ask God instead of getting your arm healed or your leg healed or whatever the case may be, but to get a body, to have a body that is refashioned to not corrupt or decay ever again.

Whoa! How many people you think thought of that?

Well, the Lord sees and provides.

You got it.

Through Christ, it's yours.

Through Christ, eternal life, it's yours.

See, God has blessed us so big in Christ, and to go back and look at a little bit of Israel and what God did for Israel as Jehovah, the God who was in covenant relation with them, this helps us to understand how big God is to us.

So let's look at some of these.

Psalm 78, on your paperwork, there are those three sections quoted at the bottom.

Psalm 78, starting in verse 13 through 16, it says, reading from the RSV, the Revised Standard Version, says, He divided the sea and let them pass, talking about Israel, let them pass through it.

Remember, this is when Israel was boxed in.

They got the Red Sea on one side, and they got Egypt and the army thereof on the other side.

And they're boxed in, and God just opens up the sea so they can pass through it.

Then it says, and made the waters stand like a heap.

In the daytime, he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a fiery light.

He cleft rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.

Remember, that's when he told God told Moses to hit the rock, and the rock just opened up and poured forth a gusher.

And they drank, not only all of them, but all of their livestock.

Then it says, and he made streams come out of the rock and caused waters to flow down like rivers.

Go into verse 22.

It says, Because they had no faith in God and did not trust his saving power, yet he commanded the skies above and opened the doors of heaven, and he rained down upon them manna to eat, and gave them the grain of heaven.

Why?

Because they asked for it?

No.

This is when they had no faith in God, and we're not trusting in his saving power.

Well, do you think God's going to hold back from you if you need something at any time?

Oh, because I haven't had faith, or oh boy, I just haven't been walking with God.

Boy, I should have sung that last song at fellowship, and I know it.

Well, you can wash all that away because Christ's blood already did.

It's gone.

If he did these kind of things for the children of Israel when they were not having faith with God and not trusting in his saving power, how about his children that have eternal life, that are in covenant relation with him forever?

Verse 25.

Man ate of the bread of the angels and sent them food in abundance.

He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens, and by his power he let out the south wind, and he rained flesh upon them like dust, winged birds, like the sand of the sea, and he let them fall in the midst of their camp, all around their habitations.

So they ate and were filled, for he gave them what they craved.

He gave them what they craved.

God just poured it out to them in abundance.

Why?

Because they had faith?

No, they didn't have faith.

Because they trusted him?

No, just the opposite.

They were not trusting in his saving power, according to verse 22.

So, saints, you know, you could just let that thought go.

You don't deserve something.

So you're not going to get it from your father who loves you, who bought you with the price of the blood of his son?

Forget that.

It's contrary to what God says.

Jumping to verse 52 of Psalm 78, it says, Then he led forth his people like sheep and guided them in the wilderness like a rock.

He led them in safety.

That's one of the things he does for us.

He leads us in safety, so that they were not afraid.

But the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

And he brought them to his holy land, to the mountain which his right hand had won.

He drove out nations before them.

He apportioned them a possession and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.

He did this, he did this, he did this.

That's what it says.

Why?

Because he was in covenant relation with them, saints.

That's the reason.

The top of page two.

Well, as Jehovah delivered Israel from the bondage of Egypt into the promised land, so he delivered us from the bondage of sin into the promised land of the kingdom of God through Jesus Christ.

Through Jesus Christ.

Jehovah saw the need of the children of Israel and delivered them.

Jehovah saw our need and delivered us.

He is Jehovah Jirah to us through Christ.

And just to look at a couple of these sections.

In Ephesians 1, verse 3 and following into verse 8 says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who's going to bless us when we're good enough.

Ephesians 1:3

Absolutely not.

It says, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

There's nothing about us deserving it, earning it.

There's nothing about us being good enough.

It's just not in here, saints.

You know why?

It's because this letter is written to those who are in covenant relation with God Almighty through the blood of Jesus Christ.

So those who are are blessed with God's every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ.

Verse 4, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame or blemish before him in love.

Says nothing about deserving it.

Having foreordained us into adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto himself.

That's a beautiful statement.

Unto himself.

Just gathering us in like a mother hen and chicks, you know, to protect and to bless and to provide for.

Just gathering us in.

Unto him, unto him.

According to the good pleasure of his will.

Wasn't ours.

He initiated this whole idea.

He was looking for us.

To the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the beloved, in whom, this beloved one, Christ, we have our redemption or our having it, through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he made to abound toward us.

He made to abound toward us.

Why?

Because we believed on the message of his son.

That's why.

So now we are in covenant relation with him.

So what does he do?

He pours himself out to us as the Lord who sees and provides.

He knew we needed these things that we just read more than we knew it.

Did we even know to ask for these things?

No.

We didn't.

Oh God, could you think through the blessings towards your people for today today's day and time from before the foundation of the world?

Well, that's a little late to ask that prayer.

God, will you bless me with some of your blessings?

Not all.

But some anyway.

Make me your son, your adopted son now and forever?

And make it to where I don't have to earn or deserve this?

Come on.

We are so blessed in Christ, and God made himself in covenant relation to us, therefore, he saw our need and provided it in Christ Jesus.

It's not something we need to look forward to.

It's something we thank God that we have.

He has made us so bless with all these blessings, and we just started reading about them.

Read through the rest of Ephesians 1 through 3.

Look at these blessings we have in Christ.

They're huge.

How about the next quote on your paper from Romans 8, verse 16 and 17?

Romans 8:16

Says, the Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.

And if children, then heirs.

Heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.

Man, God, just throw me a few bones.

It'll make me happy.

He says, No.

I'm going to make you a full heir of mine with my son, Jesus Christ.

He does all this work to deserve it all, and you're just going to be blessed because he did that work.

Man.

Talk about the Lord seeing and providing, and way beyond what we knew to ask for.

In Ephesians 1, 13 to 14, it says, In whom you also, having heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom, having also believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is an earnest, a down payment or deposit of our inheritance, unto the redemption of God's own possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Man, if it's not enough that he's already given it to us in Christ, he says, Man, you haven't seen anything yet.

Wait till I give you the whole package.

You see it all in manifestation.

Man.

How big is this?

The next quote from Ephesians 3 20.

Now unto him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.

The power that worketh in us, according to the power that worketh in us, he is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.

Well, there's Jehovah seeing or providing, but the key here seems to be the power that works in us.

Saints in the context, that's the gospel.

As this gospel gets into us, we are able to see the exceeding greatness of his power toward us, that he is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.

And it's according to that standard of that power that works in us.

And that gospel is so far beyond its abil uh the ability which we think it has.

And I pray that we can gather in what God has already done for us in Christ, that we can see the greatness, at least, of what he is to us as Jehovah who sees and provides.

That he has already seen and provided for us in Christ to the nth degree.

We are lacking nothing there.

Well, not only has God seen our need and provided it through Christ Jesus, he continues to do so.

These verses on your paper, uh, the one I quoted from Philippians 4.19, but my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

New standard, saints.

New standard.

To think in terms of what our income is, to think in terms of what our health is, to think in terms of what we see, what we hear, what we smell, what we think is available, is to lower the bar.

Because God will supply all of our need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus.

Again, that he is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.

It doesn't put it in a certain category, saints.

It's everything.

Everything, every category.

He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.

And from Romans 8.32, God having already given us his son, given up his son as a sacrifice for us, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

All things.

Everything that he knows would be best for us.

Everything.

That he causes, in the context, all things to work together for good for his purposes.

You know, the Lord sees and provides, according to his perspective, he knows what's best for our lives.

And we will just allow his word to do its work in our lives.

Just settle into God, what you say is true in Christ is true for me.

We will see more and more the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe, and the exceeding riches of his grace.

We will see him pour out all things because he's already given us his son.

What's he gonna hold back now, saints?

What's he gonna hold back now?

From Hebrews 13 and verse 20, on your paper there from the Revised Standard Version, this covenant we have with God is a forever covenant.

Watch this.

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant.

The eternal covenant.

This covenant we have with God is forever, saints.

Everything that God has done for us in Christ is now and forever.

Now and forever.

Why?

Because he sees and provides.

He knows we didn't have the wit, we didn't have the inside.

Insight.

We didn't have the inside scoop to how big God's love is to ask him for a covenant that would last forever.

For a brotherhood that would be forever.

For his spirit to take permanent residence in our hearts.

For us to have all these eternal blessings forever and ever and ever.

Who would have thought it?

God is in covenant relationship with us because of the blood of Jesus Christ.

And what we saw as God was to Israel, he is to us through that blood of Jesus Christ.

That last paragraph.

What God was to his covenant people through the Old Testament, he is to his covenant people today through the redemptive work of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

We are a special people who are in covenant relation to Jehovah through the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, the blood of the eternal covenant.

All the promises of God toward us find their yes and amen in Jesus Christ.

Not only now, but forever.

Praise God for what God has done for us through Christ, that He is Jehovah to us, and we're going to see all these titles are tied into Jehovah sees or provides, no matter what it is.

That He is our health, that He protects us, that He is the one who sanctifies us, He is our peace, He is our righteousness, He is present with us, and He is our shepherd because He sees or provides.

Father, thanks for the power of your word and the continued insight you continue to give us because you are a God who sees and provides for His people.

Father, I pray that this work of your Son Jesus Christ, this covenant relation you have with all of your people, will not only be heard, but known and lived amongst your people everywhere.

That we as the body of Christ would be known, it would be known that we are in covenant relation with you, Father, with all of these eternal realities.

Because we are a manifestation of your wholeness, your soundness, your goodness, your grace, your mercy, your compassion, all these characteristics of you, Father, here upon earth.

That when people see us, they can see characteristics of you, because you live so powerfully in your people, because these truths of who you are and what you've done for us through you through your son, Jesus Christ, so lives in your people.

And I thank you that this is going to continue to grow because of the way you work, Father, in the body of Christ.

All the way into your son's return.

Thanks for the privilege of being part of this whole package.

By grace and purely by grace, Father.

Through that name, that precious name of your son, Jesus Christ.

Amen.