Jehovah Jireh, God Who Sees the Need
You may have heard the popular Maverick City song entitled “Jireh”. This song has brought the meaning of Jehovah Jireh to the forefront of people’s minds. What does Jehovah Jireh mean?
In Genesis 22, God asks Abraham to take his son Isaac to a certain mountain and sacrifice him as a burnt offering. Before you get too creeped out, God didn’t actually want Abraham to kill his son. He was testing whether or not Abraham believed God’s promise that through Isaac’s seed would come all Abraham’s promised descendants. The covenant that God had made with Abraham was going to come to pass through Isaac.
Abraham passed the test. He did believe God’s promise. Hebrews 11 reveals that Abraham believed that even if God had to raise Isaac from the dead, he would have descendants through Isaac. Abraham took his son to Mount Moriah by faith, knowing that he and his son would return together (Genesis 22:5).
Just when Abraham raised the knife to sacrifice his son, the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and told him not to harm Isaac. Abraham looked behind him and saw a ram caught in the thicket by his horns.
This ram was substituted as the burnt offering in place of Isaac. The Lord had provided the sacrifice.
Right after this miraculous incident, Abraham names the place “Jehovah Jireh”.
What Does Jehovah Jireh Mean?
The Word Jehovah means God- the eternal, unchanging One.
The word Jireh means “to see, to appear, to provide”.
So, Jehovah Jireh means ‘God who sees, appears, and provides’.
Genesis 22:14 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.
Jehovah Jireh is saying that God is One who sees the need and provides the provision. In this passage, God’s provision was substituted in place of Isaac. Abraham was saying “God will provide the sacrifice”.
Look at Genesis 22:8 in some other translations.
Genesis 22:8: Quick Translation, (See Interlinear) – And Abraham declared: “God will appear himself – a lamb to be offered up, my son.”
Or, Alternatively – And Abraham declared: “God will appear for himself – [as] a lamb to be offered up / (לְעֹלָ֖ה), my son.”
Do you see what this is pointing to? God was revealing that He was going to appear and become the sacrificial lamb for humanity.
What Does Jireh Mean for Us?
Jehovah Jireh means more than God paying your bills or providing the material things you need, although this is absolutely included. God wants to be the source for everything you need. He created you to be dependent on Him. We’ll talk more about this later.
But in this passage, Jehovah Jireh is talking about the God who saw humanity’s need and became the provision. Humanity had a problem. Sin and spiritual death was the problem. So God became the sacrifice that was needed to redeem mankind.
Jehovah Jireh is best defined as “God will appear as the sacrifice, or God will be seen as the sacrifice”.
So why is this such a big deal for us?
This story is one of the first pictures of the cross, of God providing the sacrifice in place of us.
Jesus became the sacrifice in place of us. He took our sin! He took all the punishment and curse for our sin.
And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 2:2
He took all our guilt, shame, and punishment.
He took all the wrath of God (John 12:32). Sin has been punished.
Why Is It Important That We Know God as Jehovah Jireh?
The Bible says that because of our sin, we deserve death (Romans 6:23)
Our hearts know this- that all sin must be punished. We all have this sense of justice at a subconscious level.
If we don’t understand that sin has been punished, we will subconsciously punish ourselves.
Once when my son was young, he woke me up from a much needed nap on the couch. I was quite irritated and I let him know that I was not happy he did that.
Some weeks later he told me that after I got mad at him, he went outside and held snow in his hand for as long as he could bear it, in order to “punish” himself (totally heartbreaking, I know!).
The point is that we all do this in different ways. We attempt to punish ourselves for our mistakes. We punish ourselves with guilt or shame.We accept curses because deep down we know we deserve it.
Many people who are sick believe deep down that they somehow deserve the illness. Many people won’t allow God to bless them the way He wants to because of a sense of unworthiness.
This is why Hebrews 10:22 says we must let the blood of Jesus cleanse our conscience
let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled and purified from a guilty, evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Hebrews 10:22 AMP
An evil conscious is one that doesn’t understand we’ve been cleansed and made holy, and therefore it condemns us. (1 John 3:20, Romans 2:15)
We have been cleansed forever.
Hebrews 10:10 says that by the will of God we have been made holy (consecrated and sanctified) through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Hebrews 10:14 says,
For by a single offering He has forever completely cleansed and perfected those who are consecrated and made holy.
Again in Hebrews 10:18 the Bible reveals our complete redemption.
Now where there is absolute remission (forgiveness and cancellation of the penalty of sin, there is no longer and offering to atone for sin. Hebrews 10:18
This verse says that there is no more offering for sin. So many Christians live with a sense that they need to pay for their sins. Or that they somehow need to repay the Lord for what He has done. They live with a sense of obligation to the Lord. This is not at all the Lord’s heart toward us. He set us free with no strings attached, no obligations, and nothing expected in return.
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.. Galatians 5:1
When we understand that we have been truly cleansed forever, we no longer feel any guilt.
You may be thinking “this sounds awfully prideful”. Can I propose to you that true humility is believing what Jesus has done for you. Humility is believing that His blood was enough, that His sacrifice was enough.
The Result of Knowing Jehovah Jireh
The Bible says in Hebrews 10:2 that once the final sacrifice of sin has been made, we would have no more consciousness of sin.
Hebrews 10:2 – Since the worshipers had once for all been cleansed, they would no longer have any guilt or consciousness of sin.
Whaaaat? No consciousness of sin? This is the exact opposite of most Christian’s reality! Most Christians live in a constant state of feeling guilty for one thing or another. The sacrifice of Jesus was intended to set us free from sin and guilt once and for all.
The TRUTH is that because of the sacrifice of Jesus, we are now spotless and blameless before God. Righteousness has been given to us as a gift (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Ephesians 4:24 says we’ve been made righteous and truly holy.
Colossians 1:22 says we are above reproach in His sight. This means that no criticism can be made; we are perfect in His eyes and no-one can change that.
Listen to how the Lord feels about you-
Song of Solomon 4:7 You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you.
Song of Solomon 4:9 You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride; you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes,
God wants you to be completely righteous conscious, free from any sense of unworthiness, guilt, or shame.
The sacrifice of Jesus worked. This result of having no more consciousness of sin should be your reality!!
You can now enjoy God, through a new and living way (Hebrews 10:20) where you are totally accepted by God. Not only accepted, but God is completely infatuated with you.
Sin has been paid for. He is our Jehovah Jireh, our God who has provided the sacrifice.
What Do You Do When You Sin?
Living under this New Covenant reality, should we just ignore when our actions hurt someone because our sins have been paid for? Of course not. We always need to accept responsibility and apologize when we wrong someone.
Be quick to apologize and right the wrong as quickly as possible. After that, immediately apply the blood of Jesus to your conscious. This sounds something like this:
“Father, I thank you that the blood of Jesus has cleansed me. Thank you that you have forgiven me and because of the sacrifice of Jesus, I am forever the righteousness of God in Christ. Forever cleansed and forever holy. I refuse to live in guilt or shame when Jesus took my punishment. In Jesus Name I pray, amen!”
This is freedom. This is the power to stop sin. This honors the Lord when we really believe what He’s done!
Does Jehovah Jireh Provide Finances?
Jehovah Jireh is typically mentioned when referring to finances and material needs. We’ve looked at what the Bible is really revealing about God with the words Jehovah Jireh. So, what about our finances? Does Jehovah Jireh still mean that He will provide your financial needs? Of course.
He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Romans 8:32
Included in the sacrifice of Jesus came everything you could ever possibly need. When you received righteousness, you received every blessing (Ephesians 1:3).
Financial abundance is a blessing of God that will come upon you and overtake you when realize that you have been made righteous.
Poverty was a curse of the law. A punishment for sin. Once you understand that your sin has been judged and the penalty paid, you are free to receive God’s goodness in the area of your finances and be set free from lack.
