'Ram in the Thicket'
'A Covenant of Promise'
While standing on a mountain top the valleys appear to be lush and green. A place of calm tranquility, quilted with a magnificent array of wildflowers with a quiet rivulet flowing gently over moss covered rocks. However, the view can become narrow and shortsighted when we are pressed into mountain gaps unprepared.
The course of our life can move us in and out of situations such as these. There are times we feel like we are standing on a mountain top and times when we feel we are moved into areas that press our emotions to the breaking point. That point where the pressure is so great we feel like we are suffocating and unable to breathe. It is times like these when our faith is tested.
Without faith mountain gaps become areas of desperation where we can loose everything we are for one moment of pleasure. There is a sacrificial altar where lives, marriages, and even children have been placed. The sacrifices that are made, for the greater part, are not chosen out of desire but out of desperation. Desperate measures that have a price that we can never pay.
*Genesis 22:1-12, "Now it came about after these things, that God did tempt 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 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; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance. And Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go yonder; and we will worship and return to you." And 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 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 is the lamb for the burnt offering?" And Abraham said, "God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." So the two of them walked on together. 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 top of the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. 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." Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horn; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son."
Abraham's faith was not in what he saw but in the God he knew and worshipped. When he began the journey with Isaac his son he had no fear of the outcome. He knew that God had gone before him and would provide the lamb for the sacrifice. If necessary God was able to raise Isaac from the dead.
In Hebrews 11:17-19 it is recorded, "By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac; and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; it was he to whom it was said, "In Isaac your descendants shall be called." He considered that God is able to raise men even from the dead; from which he also received him back as a type." Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. He knew the course which God had laid out before him. It was the promise of a heritage through his son Isaac.
V
Now when Jesus and His disciples came close to Jerusalem near Bethphage by the mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples telling them, "Go into the village and you will find an ass tied with her colt. Unloose them and bring them to Me. If any man say anything to you tell him, 'The Lord has need of them.' He will give them to you." All this was done to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, "Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass." Then the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them.
Then they put their clothes on the animals and set Him upon them and a very great multitude spread their garments in the way. Others cut down branches from the trees and threw them in the way. Then the multitudes that followed Him cried saying, "Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest." When He arrived in Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, "Who is this?" Then the multitude said, "This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee."
Before the Passover there assemble the elders of the people at the palace of the high priest, Caiaphas where they consulted together to take Jesus by subtly and kill him. After much debate it was decided that they should not take Him on the feast day, unless there was an uproar among the people. Now Jesus spoke to His disciples, "You know that after two days is the feast of the Passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified."
While Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to Him having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on His head as He ate. When his disciples saw it, they were indignant saying, "To what purpose is this waste? This ointment might have been sold for much and given to the poor." When Jesus knew what they said, He asked, "Why do you trouble the woman? She has done a good work upon Me. You have the poor with you always, but Me you will not always have. She has poured this ointment on My body for My burial. I say unto you, wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will be told for a memorial of her."
Now one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests, and said, "What will you give me, and I will deliver Jesus to you?" Then they made a covenant with him for thirty pieces of silver and, from that time, Judas sought for an opportunity to betray him.
On the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus and said, "Where do you want us to prepare for the passover?" Jesus replied, "Go into the city there where be a certain a man, and say to him, "The Master said, 'My time is at hand. I will keep the passover at your house with my disciples.'" So the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them to do to prepare for the Passover.
In the evening He sat down with the twelve and as they ate He said, "Truly I say to you, one of you shall betray me." They became exceeding sorrowful and began asking Him, "Lord, is it I?" Then He answered, "He who dips his hand with Me in the dish shall betray me. The Son of man, as it is written of Him, will go but woe to the man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born." Then Judas, which betrayed him, said, "Master, is it I?" Jesus answered, "You have said."
As they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to the disciples, then said, "Take, eat, this is my body." Then He took the cup, gave thanks and gave it to them, saying, "Drink all of it, for this is My blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I tell you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom."
When they had sung an hymn they went out into the mount of Olives. Then Jesus said, "All of you shall be offended because of Me this night for it is written, 'I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.' But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee." Peter answered, "Though all men shall be offended because of You, yet I never will be offended." Jesus said to Peter, "Truly I say to you, this night, before the cock crows, you shalt deny me three times." Peter said, "Though I should die with You I will not deny You three times." In like manne, all of the disciples agreed.
Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, "You sit here, while I go further and pray." He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and Jesus began to be very heavily sorrowful. He said to the three, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Stay here and watch with me." Then He went a little farther, fell on his face and prayed, "O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will."
When He returned to the disciples, He found them asleep, then said to Peter, "What, could ye not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, so that you do not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." He went away again the second time and prayed, "O My Father, if this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, your will be done." Then He came and found the disciples asleep again, because their eyes were heavy. Again a third time He left them and prayed saying the same words. When He returned to His disciples, He said, "Sleep on now and take your rest. Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners." Arise, let us be going. Behold, the one who betrays me is here. While he was speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, came from the chief priests and elders of the people with a great multitude who had swords and staves.
Now Judas had given them a sign telling them, "Whomsoever I shall kiss, it is He. Take hold of Him." When he came to Jesus, he said, "Hail, Master." Then Judas kissed Him. Jesus said to him, "Friend, where do you come from?" Then the multitude came and laid hands on Jesus taking Him. Then one of them which was with Jesus stretched out his hand, drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest's cutting off his ear. Then Jesus said to him, "Put your sword away, because all that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Do you not think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He shall give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that this is what must be?" At that time Jesus said to the multitudes, "Have you come out with swords and staves to take Me as though I were a thief? Daily I sat with you teaching in the temple, and you did not touch Me. But all this was done so that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled." Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.
Each step we take is one of faith. Faith is our motivation for living. Without faith there is no hope and without hope there is no joy. Each day is planned by faith. The plans we make for the future are based on the faith that our tomorrows will be greater than our yesterdays. God has given each one of us a measure of faith that we might have faith in Him. *Hebrews 11:1, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
There is One Who has gone before us. Who was made a little lower than the angels because of the suffering of death. He was made like His brothers that He might become a merciful high priest in all things pertaining to God. To make reconciliation for the sins of the people. A high priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses. Someone Who has been tempted like us, yet without sin. Since He was tempted in the things which He suffered He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted. Jesus Christ made a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
God placed His Son, His only Son, upon a sacrificial altar to die in your place. He was chosen from the beginning to be set as a sign of God's eternal love for us. Jesus Christ the Lamb of God Who was slain from the foundations of the world. Who for the joy set before Him endured the cross. *Romans 5:6, "For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly."
Jesus Christ, the only begotten of God the Father, stood in the gap for you. He left all His glory in heaven that we might prosper in all things according to the promises of Abraham. Jesus willingly offered His Own life that you might have peace with God. He paid the ultimate price for your redemption. He was raised from the dead that you might have the hope of eternal life. He ascended into heaven where He is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. We are seated together with Him in heavenly places that we might be joint heirs with Him.
We have a covenant of promise. A promise of hope, of peace, of prosperity, and of heritage through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. All it takes is a step of faith. Faith in Him and what He has done for you. Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith.
P We have the ability to shape and mould that which is formless into the most intricate of machines. Design well made structures. Build crafts from hollowed out trees. Carve images from lifeless stone and wood. Form utensils from clay and iron. Our conscience mind can be very creative. It has the ability to think and to apply wisdom. Whatever we hold in our hand can become useful. Discerning what to do with these manufactured masterpieces has often left us standing in the balances waning. Whenever the conscience mind interweaves with our imagination the order of balance has sometimes tipped the scales. The Word of God tells us that man was wicked and every thought and imagination of his heart was only evil continually (Genesis 6:5).
*Last updated March 18, 2007