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What looks important is often not, and what seems successful is often not. Simply consider Christ Jesus hanging and dying on Golgotha’s Cross a naked pauper. To the world, it appeared Christ was an utter failure, but in the spirit realm, Satan saw something entirely different. Satan saw his argument destroyed and his earthly kingdom spoiled. Revelation 12:1-12:
1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
2 And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.
5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.
6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.
7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
12 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
The truth is often far different than what you see.
II Corinthians 4:17-18:
17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Keep your eyes focused on the invisible kingdom of God, for it is eternal. What looks to be inconsequential to many is the most important of all.
Have you been born again—born a second time, this time of the invisible Spirit of God? Will today be your day of salvation where all your sin is forgiven and your shame erased? Will today be the day when all Satan’s bondages are broken? The choice is yours. You can do it at this moment. Click onto “Further with Jesus” for childlike instructions and immediate entry into the invisible, all-powerful Kingdom of God. NOW FOR TODAY’S SUBJECT.
GOD SAID, Genesis 22:2-18:
2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
3 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.
4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.
5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.
6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.
7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.
9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.
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.
15 And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,
16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:
17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
GOD SAID, Zechariah 14:1-3:
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
GOD SAID, Romans 9:33:
As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
GOD SAID, Hebrews 10:7:
Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.
MAN SAID: Wise men have concluded that absolute truth does not exist and the idea that the Bible is absolute truth is passé. God is a thing of the past in the community of the learned.
Nothing is happenstance in the Word of God. Everything has its place, everything has its purpose, and every living word fits into a glorious mosaic whose center is Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son—“For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell;” (Colossians 19:1). This is Part Two in the feature “A Ram Caught in the Thicket” and it will demonstrate the amazing singularity—a staggering oneness—of the Holy Word of God. Four thousand years ago, a miraculous event full of mysteries took place that foreshadowed the coming of Christ, and even participating in—no, rather central to—Armageddon and the end of the world as we know it, and beyond. If you haven’t yet visited Part One of this series, please click on to Part 1: A Ram Caught in the Thicket. We’ll wait for you here. Several excerpts from last week’s feature follow:
Nothing is happenstance in the Word of God. Everything has its place, everything has its purpose, and every word, by the Father’s good pleasure, revolves around Jesus Christ. Keep in mind Revelation 19:13, which speaks of Christ and says, “and His name is called The Word of God.” Every living Word is interwoven into a glorious mosaic that is truly breathtaking to behold—every single word with its place and its purpose. Those looking for proof need look no further.
Hebrews 10:7:
Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.
The volume of the Book revolves around Jesus Christ. Galatians 3:24 teaches us that the Old Testament law was a schoolmaster bringing us unto Christ, who is the fulfillment of all things. Colossians 2:17 tells us Old Testament customs and observances were but a shadow of the Christ to come. Jesus speaks of the law and the prophets in Matthew 5:17:
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
An excellent example of the fulfillment principle is seen in the Jewish Passover. The final plague that came upon Egypt which triggered the full release of the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage was the slaying of the firstborn of all of Egypt. The Hebrew people were instructed to sacrifice a lamb, and to take its blood and apply to the doorposts and lintel of their door. When the death angel passed over Egypt that fateful night of the last plague, he slew the firstborn of all the land with the exception of those who were within dwellings where the blood was applied. The death angel was commanded to pass over dwellings where he saw the blood had been applied, hence the term Passover.
God’s people were commanded to remember the Passover continually, which all Christians do as the Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion, which commemorates the last supper and the crucifixion of the Jewish Messiah. The Hebrew people were delivered from Egyptian bondage as a result of the last plague and the death angel seeing the blood applied and thus passing over the obedient. This event foreshadowed the coming Christ, who, with His shed blood reconciled unto God all who believe upon His name. Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the Passover.
🐑 John the Baptist and John 1:29:
The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
🐑 I Corinthians 5:7-8:
7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
🐑 Jesus Christ was crucified on the Jewish Passover. When Satan sees the blood of redemption applied to the doorpost and lintel of your heart, he must pass over you. Christians the world over observe the fulfillment of the Passover.
Nothing is happenstance in the Word of God. Everything has its place, everything has its purpose, and everything, by necessity, revolves around Jesus Christ. Abraham, Isaac, and the ram caught in the thicket by his horns makes this point ever so clear.
The first feature discussed in particular the rams horns of Abraham and Isaac that were caught in the thicket and how pervasive a role they play in Holy Scripture.
👉 The famed Jewish shofar is a ram’s horn and it was blown at the walls of Jericho, Joshua 6:4-5:
4 And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams'''' horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets.
5 And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.
👉 The Jewish shofar marked feast days, was blown on the Day of Atonement, and in the Jubilee Year to signal the release of slaves and debts.
👉 The shofar, the ram’s horn trumpet, is blown to announce the new year and to commemorate the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve.
👉 The ram’s horn was blown as the trumpet of war.
👉 The shofar was also used to contain the anointing oil which God’s prophet Samuel used to anoint kings. I Samuel 16:1:
And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons.
👉 You’ll find the symbolism of the ram’s horns on the altar of sacrifice. Holman’s Bible Dictionary reports:
Hornlike projections were built onto the corners of the altar of burnt offerings in the temple and in tabernacles (Exodus 27:2). The horns were smeared with the blood of the sacrifice, served as binding posts for the sacrifice, and were clung to for safety from punishment. [End of quotes]
In the covenant event between God and Abraham which took place 4,000 years ago, the shadowing of the Christ to come is purposefully dominant. A few examples are offered for your consideration.
🌟 Genesis 22:2:
And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
Students of God’s Book know that Abraham (Abram at the time) had a son prior to Isaac; he had a son with Sarah’s Egyptian handmaid, Hagar. At this time, Sarah’s name was Sarai. Harar had birthed a child named Ishmael, but Ishmael was not included in God’s covenant with Abraham. So how does Isaac become an only-begotten? Consider the following passages:
❧ Romans 9:6-8:
6 Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:
7 Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
8 That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
Those who are born of the Spirit of God—which Jesus calls born-again—these are called the children of God, the children of the promise.
❧ Hebrews 11:17-18:
17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son.
18 Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called:
❧ John 3:16:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
When God pronounces His covenant with Abraham, He changes Abraham’s name from Abram to Abraham, and Abraham’s wife Sarai’s name to Sarah, demonstrating the new covenant that would be established in Isaac—a covenant not of the law, but a covenant of promise and grace, a covenant of faith. Abraham’s only begotten son Isaac is not a contradiction: God counts by the seed, and the seed is Christ. Galatians 3:16:
Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.
It is Satan’s desire to destroy the seed of faith which is in Christ and it culminates at the place called Armageddon. Just prior to this world-ending (as we know it) battle, the great taking-up of the church takes place—commonly known as the Rapture. All the born-again—who are of the seed of faith that’s in Christ Jesus, which is the same seed in Abraham—are caught up to meet Jesus Christ in the clouds (I Thessalonians 4, II Thessalonians 2). During the remainder of the great tribulation period, the 144,000 Jews who are chosen to minister to the world are being destroyed, including all those who will not take the 666 mark of the beast, as well as the two great last-days prophets. All that will remain of the seed of Abraham—that seed of promise—will be holed up in half of Jerusalem awaiting the Devil world’s last vitriolic charge to annihilate the last of the seed of Abraham. Later, you’ll read the outcome.
🌟 Genesis 22:11-13:
11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.
The shadow of Christ found in the ram and its horns is marvelous to consider. Abraham saw “a ram caught in a thicket by his horns.” Abraham’s only begotten son Isaac was spared because God had supplied the sacrifice, and the sacrifice in the fulfillment of the shadow was Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son. In feature one, we highlighted ram’s horns and how prevalently they are represented in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, the horns are ever-present at Calvary.
The ram couldn’t escape from Abraham because he was caught by his horns in the thicket. If Jesus Christ was to fulfill the will of God, He would not have been able to escape Calvary. In agony, Jesus prays to His Father in Mark 14:32-41:
32 And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane: and he saith to his disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall pray.
33 And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy;
34 And saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch.
35 And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.
36 And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.
37 And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? couldest not thou watch one hour?
38 Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.
39 And again he went away, and prayed, and spake the same words.
40 And when he returned, he found them asleep again, (for their eyes were heavy,) neither wist they what to answer him.
41 And he cometh the third time, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: it is enough, the hour is come; behold, the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
It was Jesus’s decision to drink of His prophetic cup that the Father had given Him. He could have walked away from the horrors of the Cross. In the garden in Matthew 26:53-54, Jesus says:
53 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?
54 But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?
Jesus was caught in the thicket. Again, Mark:14:36:
And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.
Jesus Christ was bound to the horns of the altar. He was the sacrifice that broke Satan’s stranglehold upon all who would and will believe upon His name. Revelation 1:5:
And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
Hebrews 9:11-14:
11 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;
12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:
14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Jesus was caught in the thicket and He willingly chose the Father. He willingly chose us.
Luke 1:68-69:
68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people,
69 And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;
The followers of Christ find themselves, like their master, caught on the horns of a dilemma. Like Christ, we are directed to take up our cross and follow Him—and a cross is a place to die to this carnal world. Luke 9:23-24:
23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
24 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.
We are to offer ourselves unto God as a living sacrifice. Romans 12:1:
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
The horns of the sacrifice are caught in the thicket and here we choose to serve Christ or this world: like master, like servant.
🌟 Genesis 22:9:
And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
Abraham built an altar of rock upon the foundation rock of Mount Moriah and this is where Jesus Christ was crucified. This is where King David’s son, King Solomon, built the Hebrew temple in Jerusalem. II Chronicles 3:1:
Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.
Jewish sages claim that Mount Moriah, the temple mount in Jerusalem, contains the foundation stone of the world and its universe, which is also the very stone upon which Abraham lay Isaac upon to sacrifice. It is central to the Holy of Holies in the temple. Jewish writings declare it as the place of the binding of Isaac by Abraham. King David purchased this land for the building of the first Jewish temple. As a result of Israel’s sin, the first temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, and later rebuilt. The second temple was destroyed in 70 AD by the Roman general Titus. The third temple is soon to be rebuilt and the Isaac stone will drive the very battle of Armageddon. This rock represents the seed of Abraham and that seed is Christ. The end of the world happens at Jerusalem.
The world-ending battle of Armageddon is prophesied in the Old Testament book of Zechariah 14:1-7 and 12:
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
The following excerpt is from the GodSaidManSaid feature “Hezekiah: Archaeology and Armageddon:”
Time magazine reported that potentially the most disputed and volatile 35 acres on earth is the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Ancient Hebrews believed that Jerusalem is the center of the universe. In particular, the rock upon which Abraham prepared to sacrifice his only begotten son, Isaac—which God stopped—is believed to exist in the Holy of Holies, which was central to the Jewish temple. The finale of the world-ending battle of Armageddon takes place in Jerusalem. The world as we know it—including its governments and its armies—is annihilated at this battle. [End of quote]
Daniel 2:31-35:
31 Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible.
32 This image''s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,
33 His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.
34 Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.
35 Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.
The stone cut out of the mountain is Christ and it was on the mountain of Moriah that Jesus Christ paid the price to redeem the lost souls of men. Soon, all will be under His feet.
Psalm 95:1:
O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
Romans 9:33:
As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
Nothing is happenstance in the Word of God and all revolves around Jesus Christ, for this pleases the Father. He is the center of the universe, and even our hope for eternal life.
GOD SAID, Genesis 22:2, 6-13:
2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.
7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.
9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.
GOD SAID, Zechariah 14:1-3:
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
GOD SAID, Romans 9:33:
As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
GOD SAID, Hebrews 10:7:
Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.
MAN SAID: Wise men have concluded that absolute truth does not exist and the idea that the Bible is absolute truth is passé. God is a thing of the past in the community of the learned.
Now you have THE RECORD.
References:
Authorized King James Version
GodSaidManSaid, “Hezekiah: Archaeology and Armageddon”
GodSaidManSaid, “Part 1: A Ram Caught in the Thicket”
