The life of Abraham and his offspring follows a pattern parallel in some ways to God and His children. Before he was called Abraham, he was called Abram, which means high or exalted father, making him the top daddy. God later says to Abram, As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram, your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. (Genesis 17:4-5) That’s precisely what his new God-given name means, father of many.
Was Abraham a religious person? Was he obligated to regularly attend a Church or Synagogue weekly? Did he ever go to confession? Did he have to do any of those rituals or traditional things that preachers tell us we need to do if we want to go to heaven? For instance, was Abraham and his children baptized? Was Abraham an exception to what is required of us today? Other than maintaining a relationship with the Lord through prayer, of Abraham’s religious activity, it’s written once that he gave tithes and that he often built altars for offerings and sacrifices to the Lord. Jesus paid the price of the final sacrifice for all people forever more, so there’s no reason to build any altars for sacrifices. It would be blasphemous to the Lord if anyone still did. As far as the offerings go, our Father in heaven says that He would rather have our obedience than our offerings, and if we can’t be obedient, don’t even think about giving an offering. Again Jesus offered Himself for us once and for all. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. (Hebrew 10:4-6) It was by Abraham’s faith that he was justified, not by his works or his affiliation with a particular denomination. God gave him a promise and Abraham believed God could and would do what He promised; unconditionally. For the promise was not for Abraham to see, but for his offspring to inherit. Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, (As it is written, I have made you a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickens the dead, and calls those things which be not as though they were. (Romans 4:16-17)
Ishmael was Abraham’s son through his wife’s Egyptian maidservant named Hagar. He is the father of the Arab people and the blessing God gave Ishmael is: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. (Genesis 17:20)
While Hagar was pregnant with Ishmael an angel of the Lord had told her: He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers. (Genesis 16:12)
If the life of Abraham and his offspring follow a pattern parallel in some ways to God and His children, then the life of Abraham’s son Isaac could be similar to the life of God’s only begotten Son.
When they reached the place God had told them about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, Abraham! Abraham!
Here I am, he replied.
Do not lay a hand on the boy, he said. Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.
Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in stead of his son. So Abraham called that place The Lord will provide. (Genesis 22:9-14)
When Sarah, Abraham’s wife died, Abraham married Keturah and had more sons. These sons from Keturah became known as the Troglodytes as recorded by the first century historian, Flavius Josephus. Between all of Abraham’s sons; Ishmael, Isaac and the those born to him from Keturah, only Isaac inherited the blessings given by God to Abraham.
When Isaac had grown to be a man, Abraham had him make a promise that he would not marry any Cannanite woman, instead would go to his relatives to find a wife. So Isaac married his cousin Rebekah, who was the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Isaac’s grandfather Nahor. The sons of Isaac are what used to be considered the two superpowers of the world. Rebekah was told by the Lord....Two nations are in your womb, and two people from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger. (Genesis 25:23)
Jacob and Esau were the two nations in her womb. Esau (large, hairy man with red hair as the name Esau means hairy and Edom, Esau’s nickname, means red) was next in line for the blessings of the firstborn, but as the story goes, he sold his birthright blessings to Jacob for a bowl of food. Esau cared more to fill himself up with the things of the world rather than with the blessings of the spirit and the inheritance of his father.
(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calls;) It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. (Romans 9:11-14)
Pause for a moment and consider this thought: Why do you think it is that God hated Esau before he was ever born? While he was still in his mother’s womb, before he had done anything good or evil, God hated him. Why? Some would say it’s because God is all-knowing and He knew that Esau would grow up to take the path of the wicked. Yeah sure, but it goes a lot deeper than that. It’s the same reason why it’s written, For He said to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. (Romans 9:15) God says this because of the way we were before we were born into these physical bodies. It’s because of the things we had done in the first heaven and earth. This second earth is just a replay of the first in a physical world. I’m sure God hated Esau because He didn’t really want to see Esau’s life-choices repeated and the effects that it would cause on the rest of the world and the future.
With Jacob, we can find another pattern of the world and the fourteen days. Jacob had two wives: Rachel and Leah, who were the daughters of his uncle Leban on his mother’s side. Rachel was his first love and he was tricked into marrying Leah. When he asked his uncle for Rachel’s hand in marriage, Leban told him that he would first have to work seven years for his uncle. At the end of that seven years, he married Rachel, or so he thought he did. He couldn’t see that Leah was really the woman behind the veil. When he confronted Leban about the switch, Leban told him that he couldn’t give away his younger daughter before the eldest. Jacob would have to work another seven years if he wanted to have Rachel.
You see how it fits the pattern of the fourteen days? Jacob is symbolic of Christ and Rachel is symbolic of the Church. Jacob had to work fourteen years to have the woman dearest to his heart. Christ is God and He has a plan which will take fourteen days to accomplish. The Lord wants to embrace His children, yet we cannot enter His Holy presence. We have been tainted by the influence of the evil one. By the end of these days, the evil one and the tainted portion of our being will have been extracted so that we may embrace our Holy Father. Until then, it’s the blood of Jesus covering that nature in the believer.
Jacob had twelve sons from four women. In other words, Adam being of the four trees of mankind, Jacob’s branch divides into four main branches. This fits the illustration of the many triangles I used in a earlier section.
| Leah's | Rachel's servant Bilhah | Leah's servant Zilpah | Leah's | Rachel's |
| 1. Reuben | ||||
| 2. Simeon | 5. Dan | 7. Gad | 9. Issachar | 11. Joseph |
| 3. Levi | 6. Naphtali | 8. Asher | 10. Zebulun | 12. Benjamin |
| 4. Judah |
| 13. Manasseh | 11. Ephraim |
Joseph’s life too fits several patterns including the fourteen day pattern. This pattern can be found in the story where Joseph interprets the Pharaoh’s dream of seven skinny cows eating seven fat cows and seven thin heads of grain consuming seven full heads of grain. Both dreams meant that there would be seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine. I look at this like the seven years of plenty are the first seven days in God’s plan. In those first seven days, plant and animal life flourished without the presence of civilized mankind; almost like the Golden Age in mythology. In the second seven days, the abundance of the earth diminishes as mankind consumes and exploits nature for his wants and needs. However, the deeper truth is that in the Last Days of this second week in God’s plan, the famine is not for food but for His children hearing His Word and knowing the truth about their Father in heaven.
The dream Joseph interprets reminds me of the rhetoric politicians use to campaign for re-election. Like the way President Clinton says, "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?" Although it may seem like America is prospering, it’s only because now we’re burning the candle at both ends. The attitude of government these days seems to be to satisfy the biggest political contributor. Anything for a buck, with no regard to our patriotic heritage and the Christian foundation on which this country was built. Enjoy what looks like a good economy now because soon it’s going to hit rock bottom and it will be the Anti-Christ who makes things seem to pick up again, which is one reason why people will think that he’s Jesus.
Without beginning or end; a Priest forever.
Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram, saying, Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand. Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything. (Genesis 14:18-20)
...Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, his name means king of righteousness; then also, king of Salem means king of peace. Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God he remains a priest forever. (Hebrews 7:2-3) The phrase used in the Bible; ‘a priest in the order of Melchizedek’ (Psalm 110:4, Heb. 5:6, 5:10, 6:20, 7:11, 7:17, & 7:21) refers to the fact that Levi, a son of Jacob, would father the priestly tribe of Israel, and Melchizedek came long before Levi. God appointed and ordained His ministers before Levi. The priests of Israel after Levi inherited their position and are in the order of the Levitical priesthood. Now since the Crucifixion, Jesus is our High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.
In the book of Jasher, Melchizedek is called Adonizedek king of Jerusalem, the same was Shem, went out with his men to meet Abram and his people, with bread and wine, and they remained together in the valley of Melech. And Adonizedek blessed Abram, and Abram gave him a tenth from all that he had brought from the spoil of his enemies, for Adonizedek was a priest before God. (Jasher 16:11-12) Adoni means Lord and zedek means righteous. Adonizedek was the Lord of the righteous.
In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely: and this is His name whereby He will be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. (Jeremiah 23:6) He’s our righteousness because we wear His blood. If you depend on your own righteousness you have no righteousness at all in the eyes of God and your sin, like your nakedness will be exposed before God and His children.
The Adonizedek in the book of Jasher is obviously the Melchizedek of the Bible. The book of Jasher says that Shem is this priest before God. Shem (Noah’s son) is the priest for the God of Abraham, which shows that it wasn’t just Abraham and his company that worshipped the same One God. Shem, Adonizedek or Melchizedek is a priest, which means that he mediates for people on their behalf before God. The people outside of Abraham’s group, whom had Shem as their priest, were the Hebrew-Phoenicians that spread across the Eastern hemisphere and some parts of the Western hemisphere and is probably where Hu Gadarn came from.
Patterns with the Passover and how the return of Christ is related.
God is in Control. Only He allows things to be done. He’s the Great Director of the play called Deliverance and Salvation. Each one of us will play our part according to our relationship with our Father.
In this play....
We’re in Egypt (earth), and we’re slaves (mortals) of the Pharaoh (Satan). Everyday he makes us work harder with less to work with. We find ourselves living to work, rather than working to live. In the pains of our labors, we cry out for deliverance; for a break from all the vanity of the Pharaoh. So God sends a deliverer, Moses (a messenger). Moses receives his instructions from God (the Living Word) and tells (prophesies) the people of Israel (believers) the Lord’s plan of deliverance. Those who paint (trust) the blood of the Lamb (Jesus) on their doors (in their hearts), will be spared when the Angel of death (God’s wrath) passes through the land, killing the firstborn (the inherent evil passed on through Cain). The Pharaoh’s seers (other spiritual beliefs) were not able to match the power of the Lord (the Truth, the Way and the Life). Then we’ll completely plunder the Pharaoh’s kingdom, taking with us every bit of gold (lessons of this life). Moses brings the tablets down from the mountain (Jesus returns), sees the people having a wicked party (Satan released) and throws the tablets down (Judgment Day), smashing them into pieces. After wandering in the dessert (absorbing all there was to learn from all of this), we enter the promised land (eternity in paradise).
This is God’s living analogy of the future and state of his children. One of God’s big reasons for giving mankind His Word was for the future. From Adam to the return of Jesus Christ, for one third of this time we are under the age of God’s Grace. One third of the Bible is prophecy. One third of the angels fell in the first heaven. One third of our day is spent working for our wages. One third of the world is going to believe the Anti-Christ is Jesus. The patterns of our past are the warnings to our future. It’s not a coincidence that His story repeats itself. Those who are the Lord’s will hear the trumpet call and return to call on the name of the Lord. Everyone else will be tested. Be as innocent as a child and trust in the Lord’s protection. Oh yeah, another third of our day is spent sleeping. Wake up!
Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Are you not it that has cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon? (Isaiah 51:9) As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness. (Psalm 17:15)
Every seventh year each of you must free any fellow Hebrew who has sold himself to you. After he has served you six years, you must let him go free. (Jeremiah 34:14)
The last verse is parallel to God’s plan for mankind. From Adam to the return of Jesus are those 6 years (or Days in this book) of mankind’s bondage or slavery to Satan. The seventh year is parallel to the seventh day of the second week, where Jesus takes His throne for His millennial reign on earth and we become free.
Before Jesus paid the price for sin, God was still preparing a mansion for His children. Nobody was going into the second heaven until the Savior came. After Jesus gave up His Spirit on the cross, He went to those who had died up until the time of the Crucifixion. These people who believed were those who had died while they were waiting for the Messiah to come. They had enough faith in God to know that someday a Savior of mankind would come to offer Himself for the sake of the world. There He gave them the Good News and everyone who believed He was the Savior followed Him to the second heaven. With this thought, I get the picture of Moses leading the people across the parted sea. Jesus led the people from the first heaven, across the gulf to the second heaven.
Another parallel to the pattern of thirds is Jesus, Solomon’s temple, Herod’s temple and the Bible. In both temples there’s a room called the Holy of Holies or the Most Holy Place and there’s a room called the Holy Place. The Holy of Holies is half the size of the Holy Place or one-third of the two rooms combined. In Herod’s temple the Holy of Holies is 20 cubits or 33 feet in length and the Holy Place is 40 cubits or 66 feet in length. Jesus was 33 when He went to the cross and the Bible has 66 books.
The word Selah appears many times in the book of Psalms and many theologians are unclear as to its meaning. Some think that because the book of Psalms is a book of songs, it must be a point to insert an instrumental melody like a guitar lead, or it must be where the congregation is supposed to respond. In a footnote in one of my Bibles it says that the meaning of the word is uncertain. In the Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary, at #5542 it says that the word means a suspension (of music), i.e. pause. It also comes from #5541 which is the prime root word. #5541 says, to hang up, i.e. weigh, or (fig.) contemn:- tread down (under foot), value. The deeper meaning comes when pause, weigh and value come together. In other words, stop and consider what you have just read because the deeper truth is deeper than you might imagine.
By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people. (Exodus 13:21-22)
Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long. (Exodus 14:19-20)
Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently, and the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder. (Exodus 19:18-19)
When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the Lord called Moses from within the cloud. To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. (Exodus 24:15-18)
As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the Lord spoke with Moses. Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshipped, each at the entrance to his tent. (Exodus 33:9-10)
Suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha saw this and cried out, ‘My father, my father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!’ And Elisha saw him no more. (2Kings 2:11-12)
I looked, and saw a windstorm coming out of the north; an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal. (Ezekiel 1:4)
And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that you LORD are among this people, that you LORD are seen face to face, and that your cloud stands over them, and that you go before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night. (Numbers 14:14)