Crown of Thorns

So I must say that I am a hard sale when it comes to worship meetings, bible studies, etc. Not that it's hard to get me to go - I love worship and studying the word - but I'm usually pretty skeptical about the depth of the content.....does that make sense? I have approached this Beth Moore study with equal caution, not wanting to expect too much. I am already really pleasantly surprised! Really!

Today was our first discussion about the text we studied this past week. These kind of biblical discussions are always difficult, I feel, when you're with a group just getting to know each other. Everyone is kind of on edge trying to figure out where you come from, spiritually and biblically. But they are a very nice group of women and I'm so happy to be a part of it.
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The subject that occupies my thoughts today is the account of Abraham and Isaac. Anyone who was raised going to church - at least Baptist, Lutheran, Presbyterian - knows well the story of Abraham being asked to sacrifice Isaac, his only son, in order to show his faithfulness to the Lord. You know that just as Abraham was raising the knife to kill his son on the alter the Lord stopped him and provided a ram for the sacrifice instead. Abraham was rewarded for his faithfulness, being willing to give up the most important thing to him in the world. Isaac also represented the covenant God had made to Abraham, promising that he would be the father of many nations, that his descendants would outnumber the stars. Abraham had enough faith to trust that God had a plan bigger than he understood, and obeyed with wreckless abandon.

This is an amazing story in and of itself. One can clearly see, through the Christian lens, that this was a precursor to the plan already in motion of God sacrificing his only Son, Jesus, as the ultimate and last sacrifice. It is fascinating, troubling, amazing, and precious all at the same time.

In this study, however, Moore digs a little deeper regarding the way God provided a sacrifice that day Abraham found himself standing over his son with his knife drawn. Beginning with the fall, God tells Adam that, as part of the curse, thorns and thistles will grow from the ground. Thorns are evidence of the curse.

...a little side note: on their way up the mountain Isaac basically says, hey dad, we have the wood and things for a fire, but where is the lamb? Abraham replies back, "God will provide himself a lamb". God didn't provide a lamb. He provided a ram. For the first time, I wondered what was the significance of a ram vs. a lamb. So a ram is an adult sheep - sadly I had to look that up. You may have already known that, but I thought it was very excellently significant, and should be noted.

The ram was found in a thicket, caught by its horns. Moore suggests that a thicket in the Middle Eastern terrain was normally a thorn bush. So the ram, an adult male sheep, was caught in the thorns by it's horn...

"Luke 1:68-69 says, 'Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, because
He has visited and provided redemption for His people. He has
raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant
David' (HCSB). Blessed be the horn of our salvation! Jesus
Christ was the Ram whose head was wrapped in thorns to secure
God's blessing for all who would receive it." -B. Moore, A Woman's Heart

Wow!!! Jesus wearing a crown of thorns takes on a whole new meaning for me now. I don't know if that hits you as hard as it hits me. It may be my simplicity, but to think of how that ram, caught by it's head in the thorn bush, was symbolic of the sacrifice our Lord would make, humbling himself to literally wear the curse of sin on his head, a crown of thorns, levels me. Wow.