Why Moriah? On its southern peak, the temple would be raised; on its northern peak, the cross would be raised!
Genesis 22 features one of the fascinating mountain scenes of the Old Testament. These include Noah at Ararat, Moses at Sinai, Caleb at Hebron, David at Zion, and Elijah at Carmel. Each in their own way points to the mountain scenes of the Savior: the mount of explanation and His famous sermon there (Mt 5–7), the mount of transfiguration, probably Hermon (Mt 17), the mount of crucifixion (Mt 27), and Olivet (Lk 19:29), the mount of His exaltation. Yet this scene at Moriah surpasses the other Old Testament mountains in its literal fulfillment. At first, the Lord only called the place where he was to offer his son “one of the mountains of which I shall tell you” (v 2). Abraham’s faith journey would climax in the same way it began, with these words: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you” (Gen 12:1). This is the pathway of trust and obedience. When the Lord calls us to be His traveling companion on this expedition of a lifetime, we discover that He is the starting point, the roadway, and the final destination. No wonder “Moriah” means “seen of Jah.” Why would God take Abraham past scores of mountains to that one? By the keen inner sight of faith, Abraham understood. When the story came to its serendipitous ending, he looked down the centuries and made this prophecy in renaming the place: “And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, ‘In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided’” (22:14). We might have expected a grateful father to call it The-Lord-Has-Provided, but somehow he surmised that this was the place where God’s Lamb would die to take away the sins of the world. And it was!