God's Provision Revealed

Now Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again" (Matthew 20:17-19).

God’s love is beyond all comprehension. When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, why didn’t God simply kill them and start all over again? When the Lord saw that evil had completely consumed mankind on the earth, and that every intent and thought of his mind was wicked continually, it broke His heart; He was grieved and said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them (Genesis 6:7). He then planned to destroy all living things on the earth with a flood of water. Why didn’t He just destroy everything and begin all over again?

God promised Adam and Eve that provision for man’s redemption would be made through a Messiah He would provide (Genesis 3:15). He then killed a few animals and made clothes from the skins to cover their nakedness (Genesis 3:21), Why? Because of His great love for mankind. Before God sent the flood to destroy sinful men He gave Noah the plans for building the ark that would save him and his family and the animals from destruction. Why? Because Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord (Genesis 6:8). In His great love for mankind, God made provision for our salvation though we have sinned to the extent we grieve Him.

God has provided the necessary sacrifice for our salvation. He always has. When Abraham was ordered to sacrifice his son Isaac on Mt. Moriah, just as Abraham was ready to plunge the knife into Isaac’s heart, God provided a ram in the thicket to take Isaac’s place (Genesis 22:1-13). Why? Because God loved Abraham and Isaac and had a great plan for mankind through them. Abraham named that place Jehovah-jireh: God will provide (22:14).

Jesus went to Jerusalem not just to celebrate the ancient feast of Passover. He went to fulfill the ancient feast of Passover by becoming the Passover Lamb whose shed blood on the cross would cause the wrath of God for man’s sin to be propitiated. The Passover lamb that Moses killed, whose blood was painted on the door-posts of the house causing the Death Angel of God to pass-over those inside, that lamb was the foreshadowing of Jesus Christ who shed His blood so that our sins would be covered and God’s judgment would pass-over us. (Galatians 4:4-5) But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Why? Because although we are sinners, God loves us. (1 John 4:10) In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

“Father, thank You for Your infinite, matchless, marvelous love that has saved us from sin, it’s power and punishment. Thank You for Jesus who was willing to be Your provision for our salvation. May His name be praised forever, Amen.” 

Pastor