[continued from previous message]   
      
   From anecdotal sources, it appears that the ram that was found after the angel   
   of   
   the LORD had stopped Abraham's hand with knife - wasn't an ordinary ram.   
      
   That ram appears to have been a firstborn ram, and as Christ is the firstborn   
   of   
   every creation (Colossians 1:15), it was the image of Messiah (Christ) being   
   sacrificed for Isaac.   
      
   This was the second supernatural intervention for Isaac, and the true meaning   
   of Abraham's sacrifice - the dearest, not the multitude of rams bought on the   
   market.   
      
   (Likewise, Abel offered to the LORD the dearest of his own flock.)   
      
   David had the notion that God doesn't want burnt offerings for a murder in the   
   first degree. He paid for his sin the hard way - he lost in total four sons   
   (His first child with Bat Sheba died stricken by the LORD, despite child having   
   not yet committed any sin.   
   Amnon his firstborn, who raped his sister, and Absolom who murdered him - by   
   a proxy. Absolom later rebelled after his father and slept with his concubines   
   in front of all Israel. Finally, Adoniyah was killed - again by proxy of   
   Benaya,   
   the Joab's liutenant, and the order of his half-brother Solomon.)   
      
   This set in motion a chain of events that is too difficult to understand, and   
   impossible - I think - without the Holy Spirit and the Holy Bible study.   
      
   Unconverted humans will try to replace the supernatural salvation and Abrahamic   
   sacrifice with a ritual and transactional "favour to God". So many theft,   
   false accusations and murder, so many Hail Mary's.   
      
   When Jesus came to the Jerusalem Temple, the situation was such that the people   
   were even further away from the meaning of the animal sacrifice as a   
   replacement   
   for Messiah (Christ) dying for sinners and transgressors (Isaiah 53:12).   
      
   This made the animal sacrifice something you go to Temple for with money,   
   exchange   
   into the right currency, immediately buy and offer.   
      
   In fact, the disciples were surprised that Jesus said about the poor widow   
   giving   
   more than the rich who could buy ten rams for offering.   
      
   The teaching of the Pharisees was that rich men are more worthy because of   
   their   
   greater contribution to the faith and religious service, giving more money.   
   This was maybe correct with Joseph from Arimathea, who had the right attitude   
   of   
   the heart.   
      
   But Herod and Herodias weren't changed for better by giving money to the Temple   
   - they eventually plotted and executed John the Baptist.   
      
   While the Pharisees did not rebuke Herod for marrying the wife of his brother   
   who had her daughter with his brother, they found him exculpable before the Law   
   because of his position of a ruler and tetrarch.   
      
   John the Baptist made the right statement with the Law of Moses in mind, but   
   this   
   had a cost.   
      
   While apostles Peter and Paul admonish us to submit to human authority, for it   
   is from God (Romans 13:1), it is from God because Israelites requested a king   
   like   
   all other nations had.   
      
   1 Samuel 8   
   6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge   
   us.” So   
   Samuel prayed to the Lord. 7 And the Lord said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of   
   the   
   people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they   
   have   
   rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. 8 According to all the works   
   which   
   they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even to this   
   day—with which they have forsaken Me and served other gods—so they are   
   doing   
   to you also. 9 Now therefore, heed their voice. However, you shall solemnly   
   forewarn them, and show them the behavior of the king who will reign over   
   them.”   
      
   Indeed, the kingdoms of all other nations reminisced Nimrod the first ruler who   
   exalted himself above fellow men claiming divine right, and this resulted in   
   tirany, oppression and futile project of building a tower to heaven.   
      
   Most other kingdoms were alike.   
      
   Biblical Israelites until Samuel and Saul had the Law of Moses, the judges and   
   the prophets, which worked well when they kept the Commandments and faith in   
   God.   
      
   In fact, having the man like prophet Samuel who directly spoke to the LORD God   
   had considerable advantage over Saul who ended up consulting a necromancer   
   witch   
   before his final battle, in an attempt to raise Samuel from dead to inquire the   
   LORD for him.   
      
   King Saul, even when the anointed ruler, had no notion that he would go down on   
   his knees and seek the LORD and His Will, favour and salvation from the   
   Philistines.   
   Because he never did that in his entire life, he completely depended in   
   matters of   
   faith of prophet Samuel, and never had personal relationship with God Creator.   
      
   When he lost the prophet who died, he imagined that he could inquired of God   
   through   
   a witch.   
      
   But it is also not excluded that he and his sons could have been saved if he   
   did   
   not inquire the entity who might have been a demon or foul spirit disguised as   
   prophet Samuel raising from the realm of the dead?   
      
   For one, king David did not gloat over the death of Saul, and especially Saul's   
   son and his friend Jonathan. While king Saul felt intimidated by young lad's   
   rising carisma, David never repaid evil for evil, and spared Saul twice when   
   he had the chance to kill his mortal enemy.   
      
   David understood the loss for the kingdom of Israel by Saul's death, for Saul   
   was a remarkable warrior despite all of his shortcomings.   
      
   Today, necromancy and consulting dead are common and considered a lesser sin   
   than   
   murder, but in the days of Samuel, Saul and David it was not so.   
      
   Even more, David decided to come clean and stop the holy act of outward   
   righteousness.   
      
   He understood that he cannot lie forever and that he will meet his Maker.   
      
   David also believed in the Promise of incoming Messiah, as it is visible from   
   the verse in Psalm 110   
      
   Psalm 110:1   
   A Psalm of David.   
   The LORD said unto my Lord,   
   Sit thou at my right hand,   
   until I make thine enemies thy footstool.   
      
   This excluded killing prophet Nathan and the witnesses of his crime, David   
   understood well. So he decided to come clean with the LORD and pay the price   
   - whatever that price might be.   
      
   We believe that eventually this price was perfected only at the cross of the   
   Calvary, by the Lamb of God taking away the sins of the world (John 1:29)   
      
   in the LORD God Creator of the Universe, Maker of Heaven and Earth, Maker of   
   Adam and Eve,   
   Almighty, Merciful, Longsuffering, All-Seeing (El-Roi), All-Hearing   
   (Yishma-El), All-Knowing,   
   Omniscient,   
   In the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth and   
   in the Holy Spirit of God holy name   
   Amen   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)