FROM THE TREE TO THE CROSS

The Shadow of the New Pharaoh
​I. The Edomite on the Throne of Jacob
​The land of milk and honey has become a land of vinegar and gall. The scepter has not departed from Judah, but it is temporarily held by a hand that is not of Judah.
​Herod the Great sits upon the throne
A man of vast ego and ambition but possessing only an empty heart and a wasted soul.
He is an Idumean, a son of Edom, which means that he is a descendant of Esau.

He is The prophecy of Isaac fullfiled in Genesis 27:40 “You will live by the sword and you will serve your brother. But when you grow restless, you will throw his yoke from off your neck.”
The ancient wrestling match in the womb of Rebekah has concluded in a tragic inversion: Esau, the man of the flesh who despised his birthright and traded it for a bowl of red pottage stew, (traded his eternal Soul for a moment of temporary pleasure) now wears the crown, while the true children of the promise groan under his red heel of blood and death.
​He has rebuilt the Temple of Solomon with marble and wood,  He has adorned it with pure gold.
But it is a whited sepulcher!
Its Outside appearance, a marvel of the masonry of man;
But it was built upon the forced labor of the poor and its mortar consists of dead men’s bones.
He attempted to encase the glory of God with the stone of his own ego. He seeks to be the Messiah of masonry, while plotting the murder of the Master builder of the Universe.
The spirit of Cain is alive in his soul and
​The ear of Jealousy is always listening.
Whispers drift from the East, tales of Magi, those ancient stargazers, who have seen a light that Herod cannot extinguish.
“Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?” they ask.
The question strikes Herod like a dagger.
A Born King? Herod was made King by the decree of Rome; he bought his crown with gold and blood. But who is this born king whose royalty is not acquired, but inherited by birth.
The counterfeit king trembles with the fear of his own demise, he sits upon a stolen throne and he knows it.
He must defend what he has taken, even if it means the murder of the Innocent.
​
II. The Cry of Ramah
​The decree goes forth.
The sword is unsheathed.
In the little town of Bethlehem, the night is rent by a sound that chills the blood of history,
the wailing of mothers for children who will never wake.
​
[ The TYPE:  THE NILE OF BLOOD ]
Cast your mind back to the banks of the Nile! Do you see the shadow of the ancient Pharaoh?  He too feared the multiplication of the Seed of the Woman.
He too ordered the death of infants, by commanding the river to be fed with the bodies and blood of the innocent. Herod is but Pharaoh resurrected in Roman robes!
The spirit of the Dragon is ever the same:
if he cannot corrupt the Seed, he will seek to devour it.
​But look! Even among the slaughter of the innocents in Egypt, there floated a little ark of bulrushes. Moses, the deliverer, was hidden in the very waters meant to destroy him.
So too now! In the night, Joseph—the new dreamer—arises. He takes the young Child and His mother and flees.
But where does he flee? To Egypt!
Oh, the depths of the wisdom of God!
The land that was once the House of Bondage now becomes the City of Refuge. The Father sends His Son into the ancient stone fortress to hide Him, that the prophecy might be fulfilled once again: “Out of Egypt I have called My Son.” The path of the Exodus is being retraced, but this time, the Greater Moses is not going to lead the people out of physical slavery; He is going to free them from an even worse spiritual one by fulfilling the law given to Moses and redeeming them from the slavery of their sins!
​

III. The Voice of One Crying in the Wilderness
​The years roll by like the waves of the sea. The tyrant king Herod’s reign is finaly near its end, his body rotting and eaten of worms even while he still breathed, a physical manifestation of the thoughts of his heart and the state of his soul.
He lays on his deathbed in agony, his many earthly accomplishments amounting to nothing in the end, for there is nothing man can build, buy, or become, that will bring his soul peace or purchase him a pathway to heaven.
His greatest accomplishment was in rebuilding the temple of Solomon larger and more splendid then Solomon could have ever dreamed, yet it is even more empty than Solomons temple because it lacked the blessing and spirit of God.
Why,  because money was Herod’s only motive,          
The ancient Jewish historian Josephus recorded the slaughter of 256,500 lambs for a single passover near the time of Jesus, that’s not including the bulls, rams and doves that were sold to the nearly 2.5 million people who annually traveled there in order to celebrate the required passover meal.

There was big business in the forgiveness of sins, and rome was quick to capitalize on it. They installed Herod as the king of the jews in order to keep the jews in line and to turn the temple system into the money making machine that it was capable of.
In order to accomplish this he had to remove the high priest appointed by God exclusively to the lineage of Aaron, the tribe of Levi, and later, the faithful line of Zadok.

Josephus records Herod’s treachery when he murdered the high priest Aristobulus III by drowning him in a pool.
He then installed his very own high priest and changed the Priesthood from a divine calling; into a political appointment awarded to the highest bidder or the most compliant puppet.

When Jesus of Nazareth began his mission of preaching the gospel of the good news to the people at the temple, it was not before a legitimate High Priest in the line of Aaron!
He is speaking before Annas and his son-in-law Caiaphas.
​Who was Annas? He was the modern equivalent of a political mafia boss! He had been appointed High Priest by the Roman governor Quirinius, and later deposed by the Roman governor Gratus.
But because he controlled the wealth of the Temple market, he simply installed his five sons and his son-in-law (Caiaphas) into the office, pulling their strings from the shadows.
​They bought their authority with Roman coin. They wore rented robes. They served the money and power of the pagan empire.
They were terrified of Jesus because He threatened their financial monopoly over the Temple and its slaughterhouse!
But the people where terrified of them,
a single comment or criticism could cause anyone who dared to speak out against them to be cast out from their synagogue (church) and become an outcast to their friends, family, and even employer.

​But there was one man that could not be intimidated, bought, or socially ostracized.
In the wilderness of Judea, where the limestone cliffs are the only thing capable of standing tall and proud in the scorching sun,
A Voice begins to carry like thunder.
It is John the Baptist. He is no reed shaken by the wind; he is a pillar of stone and a trumpet for the truth. He wears the rough camel hair of Elijah, for the spirit of the Tishbite rests upon him.
He does not stand in the courts of kings;
he stands in the mud of the Jordan,
the boundary line between life and death.
Unlike Herod or the priests He had no motive, he had nothing to lose and nothing to gain, his only desire — to preach the truth to the people, even if they didn’t want to hear it.
​
“Repent!”
​The word crashes against the rocks.
It is not a suggestion; it is a summons.
It reflects and echoes off of the canyon walls and into the temple walls themselves.
The Pharisees and Sadducees come out to investigate,  they are the priests of the temple they are the “vinedressers” who have stolen the vineyard.
John looks at them, his eyes burn with the fire of the Holy Spirit.
“O generation of vipers!”
Hear the sting of that title! He does not call them sons of Abraham; he calls them the seed of the Serpent! He traces their genealogy back to the Garden, to the one who whispered lies to Eve and caused Adam to fall.
“Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth fruits worthy of repentance! Do not think to say, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you, God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham!”
​He points to the stones of the riverbed
perhaps the very stones Joshua set up as a witness when they crossed the Jordan!

John’s voice can be heard echoing in the canyons of Jericho, his words travel even as far as Jerusalem

Repent Repent REPENT !!!

While the temple priests perform the daily sacrifices and collecting of the peoples money as their payroll price for the remission of sins.
John continues to preach the truth to them free of charge.

Repent Repent REPENT !!!

Isaiah 1:11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?” Says the Lord.
“I have had enough of burnt offerings
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
Or of lambs.
12.  “When you come to appear before Me,
Who has required this from your hand,
To trample My courts?
13 Bring no more futile sacrifices;
Incense is an abomination to Me.

14.  Your New Moons and your appointed feasts
My soul hates;
I am weary of bearing them.
15.  When you spread out your hands,
I will hide My eyes from you;
Even though you make many prayers,
I will not hear.
For Your hands are full of  blood.

16.  “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean;
Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes.
Cease to do evil,
17. Learn to do good;
Seek justice,
Rebuke the oppressor;
Defend the fatherless,
Plead for the widow.

18“Come now, and let us reason together,”
Says the Lord,
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be white as wool.

The temple priests continue to taunt and test John.
You quote well from the Isaiah scroll but he was speaking to the people of the first temple before our captivity in babylon,
Tell me who is your Rabbi or teacher, from which school did you learn these words of the prophets.
Under who’s authority do you teach these things to the people

Instead of answering them John continues to preach to them scripture from the Isaiah scroll
3:14  The Lord himself shall enter into judgement with the elders of the people,
and with their rulers:
why have you devoured my vineyard,
why is the spoil of the poor in your houses?

The Pharisees become enraged because they realize that he is speaking about them and not simply quoting scripture.
They demand to know who he is.

Are you the prophet Elijah or the Messiah?

I am not he said

Are you the prophet Moses spoke of when he said
The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to him.

No replied John

Then tell us who you are so that we may tell those who sent us

John finally answers them but its not the answer they were looking for.
I AM!!!
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
Prepare the way of the Lord;
Make straight in the desert
A highway for our God.
4. Every valley shall be exalted
And every mountain and hill brought low;
The crooked places shall be made straight
And the rough places smooth;
5. The glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
And all flesh shall see the salvation of God
For the Lord has spoken it.”
6. The voice said, “Cry out!”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
“All flesh is grass,
And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.
8.The grass withers, the flower fades,
But the word of our God stands forever.”
9. O Zion,
You who bring good tidings,
Get up into the high mountain;
O Jerusalem,
You who bring good tidings,
Lift up your voice with strength,
Lift it up, be not afraid;
Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!”

10. Behold the Lord! The Lord is coming with strength, and his arm is with power:
behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.
11. He will feed His flock like a shepherd;

Repent!! He cried out
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!
Even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

The Pharisees continued in their taunt
If you are not the Christ, or Elijah, or even the Prophet?   Why then do you baptize

But John had no desire to be approved of by them.

“I indeed baptize you with water,” he cried, the droplets falling from his hands like tears.
My baptism is but a shadow; it touches the skin but cannot reach the soul.
But One mightier than I is coming! I am not worthy to stoop down and loose even the strap of His sandal.”
​”He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with Fire! His winnowing fan is in His hand!”
​
Imagine the terrifying honesty of this image! The Messiah does not come merely to gather; He comes to separate.
He stands upon the threshing floor of the world. With one mighty heave, He tosses the souls of men into the winds of eternity. The wheat—the souls containing the substance  of faith fall to the ground to be gathered and put into His barn.
But the chaff—the empty husks of hypocrisy—
He will burn with unquenchable, never-ending fire!

​llll. The Echo of the Prophets from the Past
To understand where John got his prophetic tongue of fire and desire to speak the truth, we must travel back to the time of Isaiah
To the vision he had of seraphim, which means the “burning ones.”
a fiery serpentine like creature with wings standing over the throne of the LORD.

 Isaiah Chapter 6
1.  In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 
2. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 
3. And one cried to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
The whole earth is full of His glory!”

4. And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.
5.  So I said:
“Woe is me, for I am undone!
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King,
The Lord of hosts.”

6. Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. 
7. And he touched my mouth with it, and said:

“Behold, this has touched your lips;
Your iniquity is taken away,
And your sin purged.”

8.  I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:

“Whom shall I send,
who will go for Us?”

Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

9.  And He said, “Go, and tell this people:

( Isaiah, standing on the ledge of a rock begins speaking out to a crowd of people, loudly and firmly the words given to him by the Lord, his voice echoes across the landscape of time, even to the time of John)

“Keep on hearing, but do not understand;”

( John the Baptist is standing in the Jordan river saying the same scripture )
JOHN THE BAPTIST:“Keep on seeing, but do not perceive!”

​(The two prophets, separated by nearly eight hundred years, are suddenly speaking in a perfectly synchronized, stereophonic warning)
​
ISAIAH:“Make the heart of this people dull…”
JOHN:“And their ears heavy…”
ISAIAH:“And shut their eyes…”
JOHN:“Lest they see with their eyes…”
ISAIAH:“And hear with their ears…”
JOHN:“And understand with their heart…”

( Jesus, walking through the canyons on his way to the Jordan, can hear the voice of John and begins saying the scripture with him)
”and turn, and I would heal them “

As John stood in the river he beconed the people into the water by preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, but his eyes were fixed on the horizon of history and the significance and meaning of this moment in time.

[The Burial in Water and the Beginning Of Baptism]
Almost 2,400 years before the baptism of John there was a different kind of baptism.
The event is an example of what modern theologians refer to as a typology.
It is defined as a “type,” “shadow,” or “figure.” Linking multiple events or people across large spans of time as having a deep symbolic meaning and connection.
I am speaking of course of the flood of Noah.

In Genesis chapter 6 we are told why this flood of judgment happened.
The Nephilim (giants) were on the earth in those days—and afterward as well—when the sons of God had relations with the daughters of men. And they bore them children who became the mighty men of old, men of renown.
And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

The giants of old with their giant egos and wicked imaginations had filled the earth with so much evil that the only course of action that could save the world from its own self destruction was unfortunately, its destruction.

The flood of Noah became a type of baptism because God did not destroy the whole world but saved those who did not give in to the deadlines of sin and instead sought grace from God as their only form of salvation.

Peter was the first to establish the flood as a type of baptism in 1 Peter Chapter 3
18. For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit, 
19. in whom (meaning in the spirit) He also went and preached to the spirits in prison.
20. who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.
In the ark a few people, only eight souls, were saved through water. 
21. And this water symbolizes the baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 
22. who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers subject to Him.

Only those in the ark were spared from the water of judgment by floating above it in the wooden ark of salvation.
But there is another type of baptism before John.

The giant egos of egypt had once again filled the land with evil hearts and wicked imaginations.
Pharaoh and his army of chariots had the Israelites cornered in a inescapable deathtrap between their swords and the sea.
But the grace of God would once again save his people from destruction by providing a way for them to survive the waters of judgment and arrive safe and dry on the other side while drowning the wicked with the waters of a flood.

In the crossing of the red sea the people were spared from the water by the breath (wind) of God dividing the water again in the form and shape of a submerged Ark.
But this time there are no walls of wood to protect them, they had only walls of water on both sides. They had to pass through the water instead of floating above it as Noah and his sons did.
But now in the days of John the Baptist  because of their continual sin, and the corruption and hypocrisy of the temple they can no longer avoid the water of judgment, they can’t float above it, and they can’t walk through it, they must enter into it, they must confess they are a sinner deserving of death and judgment in order to be saved.

V.  The Spirit of God once again Hovers over the Face of the Waters.
John continues preaching to the people in the spirit of Elijah the words of the prophet Isaiah.
Everyone who thirsts,
Come to the waters;
You who have no money,
Come,
Incline your ear, and come to Me.
Hear, and your soul shall live;
And I will make an everlasting covenant with you
Seek the Lord while He may be found,
Call upon Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way,
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
Let him return to the Lord,
And He will have mercy on him;
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon.

thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob,
And He who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by your name;
You are Mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

Wash yourselves and be clean from within and without,
Let the water of judgment cover your flesh as it did the giants of old
when God drowned the world that once was.
But from the deluge arose the new man on dry ground, saved by the ark of the LORD.
Let God divide you as he did the waters of the red sea.
Let the water wash away the world and be replaced with his word
​Drown the body to save the soul
Let the flesh die so the spirit can be born free.

The next day, while the sun beat down upon the Jordan, suddenly, John’s spirit leaped within him. He saw a figure approaching unassuming, humble and kind, yet carrying the weight of the moment.
“Behold !” John shouted, pointing a trembling finger. “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.’”
The Lamb of God steps down the bank.
He has no form or comeliness; there is no beauty that we should desire Him.
He looks like a carpenter, but the water knows its Maker.

Observe the poetry in the reversal of the type,
Noah became a carpenter using wood and nails to build an ark that would save him from the water.
Jesus a carpenter by trade submits himself to the water instead, he allows the water to overcome and submerge him, he let the wood and nails bring him death instead of life , so that he could use the wood and nails of his Cross to save the world instead.

As Jesus began to walk into the water,
John’s courage faltered.
The Creator stood before the creature.
The reality of his position overwhelmed him.
He tried to prevent Him, his hands shaking.
“It is I who need to be baptized by You,
“he whispered, ” do You come to me ?”
​But Jesus, with the authority of the One who laid the foundations of the earth, replied,
“Let it to be so, for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”
​John did not understand, but if It was the Will of the Father then he would not question his command.
He walked with the Master into the deep part of the Jordan. For baptism is not a sprinkling; it is a burial. To be baptized is to be fully submerged, to be overwhelmed by the waves of judgment and death and rely only on God to save you from them.
​
​Jesus bows His head.
He goes under the water.
As the water covered the face of Jesus,
John looked up to heaven to pray.
But the prayer escaped from his lips.
He was interrupted by a vision, he began to see the sky ripped open! Like a garment torn or the veil of the temple split in two,  the blue firmament was divided like a flash of lightning, and through the tear, the heavens became visible—dark, deep, as though noon had become midnight.
​
Beneath the surface of the water, the vision is entirely different.  
Jesus was no longer in the river
He was sinking into the abyss of an endless ocean, surrounded by complete darkness.
He was alone, a solitary speck of life in the primeval chaos.

Above the surface, a faint shimmering glow.
​Suddenly, a voice narrated the scene
ancient, resonant,
it was the voice of Moses reciting the Torah:
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
The Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”
​Jesus, looking up from the depths, saw the shape of a Dove hovering over the surface
​Then, the vision accelerated!
In the shimmering light, Jesus saw a fast-forward vision of the world He had made.
He saw the sun and its beams of light penetrating the water.
He saw plants shoot up from the ground,
a garden of laughter and delight.
But then, shadows fell.
Thunderstorms gathered.
The fountains of the deep broke open.
He saw a violent flood,
a world drowning in judgment.
He saw an Ark, tossing and turning upon the waves of wrath.
And once again, we see Jesus underneath the violent waves, looking up at the bottom of the Ark—the only safety in the storm.
​Moses spoke again,
“Then God said, ‘Let there be light”
​An illuminated Hand reached down piercing through the surface of the waters—the Right Hand of God! When it grasped the hand of Jesus,  it pulled Him upward and out of the deep abyss.
​
Moses speaks again,
and there was light.”

As His face broke the surface of the water
Blinding light was all that could be seen.
The waves vanished.
The water was suddenly calm.
“And God saw the Light, that it was good.“

John stood there, trembling, as he saw light in the shape of a Dove hovering directly over Jesus.
As He stood up from the grave of the river.
​A Voice from the heavens, rolling like thunder yet tender as a father, declared:
“This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased!”
Both the voice of the Father and the Spirit in the form of the Dove are here in this single moment, bearing witness to the Son.
The Trinity is revealed! The Ark is open!
The spiritual Exodus has begun!

​John was speechless.
The vision had seared his soul.
Jesus, led by the Spirit, turned away from the Jordan and began to walk toward the  mountains of the wilderness.
​But as John watched Him climb, his silence broke. The Prophet could not contain his joy. The fire of Isaiah consumed him, and he began to preach to the people and proclaim the King, his voice rising in joyful triumph:
​
“Arise! Shine! For your light has come! for the glory of the Lord is risen upon you!”
​As He watched the Messiah ascend the slope, the prophetic words poured out of him.
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given,
He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
“For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you!”
​John’s voice echoed off the canyon walls, escorting the Savior as he climbed the hills.
“The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising! You shall know that I, the Lord, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob!”
​
“And He will destroy on this mountain the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever! And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces!”
​Tears  of joy streamed down John’s face as he shouted the promise:
“And it will be said in that day: ‘Behold, this is our God; We have waited for Him, and He will save us! This is the Lord; We have waited for Him; We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation!’”
He fell to his knees, as Jesus disappeared into the heat and haze of the top of the mountain:
“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who proclaims salvation! Who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

John had forged a path in the footsteps of Moses, he had led the children of Israel into the wilderness to be baptized just as they had been in crossing the red sea, but only Jesus could pick up where Joshua had left off.
Only he could defeat the spiritual giants that had kept them in slavery for 400 years, only Jesus could lead them into the promised land.

To the beginning Bible reader or newly saved these references may sound confusing,      I wish there was a way to avoid this possibility but there simply is no substitute for bible study and it is beyond the scope of this narrative to go into detail and explain what these old testament references fully mean, however the typology is useful to hear and know even without extensive study and understanding of the scriptures.
The following is a summary of the typology events that correspond with the baptism of Jesus.
Even if they don’t make sense or click right now, my hope is that at least some elements will imprint on your heart and mind and be useful in expanding your understanding later.

[TYPE: THE FLOOD AND THE ARK]
See the world of Noah! The fountains of the great deep are broken up; the windows of heaven are opened. The water of judgment drowns the breath of all flesh. But floating on that sea of death is an Ark. Jesus is that Ark! He goes down into the waters of judgment, submerged in the flood of human sin, yet He rises again! His sacrifice on the wood of his Cross is the Wood of the ark and the door that we must enter and believe on in order to be saved from the wrath of judgment to come.
​
[TYPE: THE RED SEA CROSSING]
See the armies of Pharaoh pursuing! Israel is trapped at the edge of the sea.
But when Moses stretches out his rod. The waters divide! The people go down into the valley of the shadow of death and come up on the other side.
Jesus is the Greater Moses! By His baptism, He is declaring, “I am the Way through the Sea! With the rod of my cross I am opening a path through the waters of death that My people might cross over into the Promised Land!”
​But do not look at this merely as an escape route; this was a cosmic battle! The ancient prophets declare that when God parted the sea, He was breaking the heads of Leviathan—the ancient serpent of the deep. When Moses led the people down into the valley of the shadow of death and up the other side, they were literally treading on dry ground directly over the crushed belly of the serpent’s waters!
​But their salvation from Egypt was not the end of the war. When those same Israelites reached the edge of the Promised Land, they looked at the giant Nephilim in the territory. Their hearts melted with fear, and they begged to return to the mud of Egypt rather than face the giants! Because they failed the test of faith, they were cursed to wander the scorching wilderness for forty years.
​But out of that forty years of death, a new leader arose: Joshua.
​Joshua led the children of Israel out of the wilderness and back to the edge of the water—this time, the Jordan River. Again, the water was divided. They crossed on dry ground, and Joshua set up twelve stones pulled from the riverbed as a permanent, recorded witness that they had once again tread upon the serpent’s tail of water!
​Now, look at the True Joshua standing in the Jordan! Jesus (whose very name is Yeshua) picks up exactly where the first Joshua left off. He does not just divide the water; He goes fully under it. He continues the treading of the water serpent, but this time He completely submerges Himself into the curse to break the back of Leviathan once and for all!
​And as He emerges, He turns His face toward the desolate mountains. He is returning to the wilderness to take the exact same test the ancient Israelites failed! But where the finite nation collapsed in unbelief for forty years, the Infinite Son will crush the Devil in forty days.

[TYPE: THE CRUSHED TAIL OF THE SERPENT]
The source of the Jordan river begins far in the north at the melting snow of Mount Hermon and flows all the way down into the Dead Sea—it is the water course of the serpent.
Mount Hermon marks the head of the Serpent because Mount Hermon is where the watchers transgressed with the daughters of men in Genesis chapter 6 and created children with them who became the giants that caused the flood of judgment in the time of Noah
From the base of the cursed mountain, the water begins to flow south. The very name Jordan (Yarden in Hebrew) literally translates to “The Descender.“ It is the river that continuously goes down. It drops from the heights of Mount Hermon, plunges below sea level through the Sea of Galilee, and twists like a serpent through the desert trench and jordan valley until it reaches its inescapable end at the subterranean graveyard of the Dead Sea.
The Dead Sea marks the tail of the serpent because it is the location of sodom where men tried to transgress with angels and caused the judgment of fire to destroy them.
The Father engineered the topography of the earth so that the water tainted by the source of the Nephilim flows straight down into the salt and asphalt pits of human depravity, and there, it is eternally locked in the earth! It is a geological quarantine of water itself.
The Creator drew a physical hard line in the sand and declared:The waters of the rebellion shall not mix with the living oceans of the earth, and contaminate the entire world, instead  the rebellion shall die in a basin of salt where nothing can grow.

[THE POETIC ANTITHESIS OF THE BAPTISM]
​Now, let us stand on the banks of the Jordan River with John the Baptist and take a new fresh look at what Jesus is doing!
• ​The water of the Jordan river in which Jesus is being baptized, originates at the mountain of the rebellious angels (Hermon).
• ​The water terminates at the lake of the rebellious flesh (Sodom).
​It is a river of death, flowing from the first rebellion straight down into the final fiery judgment.
​But what does Jesus of Nazareth do? He steps into that specific river! He wades into the “Descender.” He steps into the cursed flow of the water of human history, and He goes down into the physical and spiritual depths to intercept the waters of judgment before they can drown and drag humanity into the Dead Sea and be lost forever!
​He takes upon himself the baptism of repentance in the very water that flows from the Gates of Hell (Hermon), proving that His uncreated, infinite Grace is powerful enough to purify the darkest, most contaminated stream of water in the fallen world!
This is the magnificent truth recorded in the dirt and retold in the water.
The geology of the earth perfectly matches the theology of the heavens.

​The Devil in the Details of the Dust
The waters of the Jordan are still dripping from his garment, but the Spirit does not lead Him into the courtyards of the Temple to declare His victory.
The Spirit drives Him into the scorching, desert furnace of the Judean wilderness.
​To understand the reason for the direction of this war, you must look at the calendar and history of this dirt!
Observe the typology!
For forty days, Goliath taunted the armies of God before David arrived. Now, the Greater David steps onto the battlefield to face the serpent behind the ancient Giant, not with a sling, but with the Sword of the Spirit.
The Israelites wandered in the wilderness for forty years, completely failing the test of the flesh, their carcasses falling in the dust because of their unbelief.
​But now, the True Son has arrived on the sand. Jesus steps into the same desert to take the same test, condensing the forty years of Israel’s failure into forty days of absolute obedience!
​
For forty days and forty nights, He fasts. His human body is pushed to the absolute brink of starvation. The stomach turns inward; the bones ache. And in that exact moment of absolute physical exhaustion, the Prince of the Power of the Air steps out of the shadows. That Serpent of old does not strike when the armor is on; he strikes when the flesh is exposed and weak.
Jesus was fully God, yes; but He was also fully Man, capable of starving, capable of bleeding, capable of dying. It was in this moment of weakness that the shadow of death approached. The tempter did not come with horns and a pitchfork; he came with a whisper, slithering into the mind and spitting deception from his tongue just as he had in the Garden.
But unlike the first Adam, the second Adam will not be deceived
Unlike Job, Jesus is aware of the tactics of the tempter
Because this a game the devil has been playing for a very long time, his goal is simple to destroy the last created creature from God’s own creation, man himself.
Because the serpent was created first he considered himself to be the greater.
But when the greater refused to serve the lesser,      When the created first refused to humble himself to the created last.
Pride turned to hate and hate turned to murder,   but what God has declared shall still come to pass.
The first shall be last and the last shall be first

The True Trial of Job

It is evening with only a little light left of the day on the horizon.
A dying fire flickers on a figure in the darkness.
An old man with a long beard sits in the dust with ash covering his head and body.
lines of tears have carved out the ash on his face like branches of a river telling the story of his sorrow and recording the evidence of his crying out to the LORD.
A man who was as unshakable as a mountain has been reduced to a grain of sand,  washed away by the sorrow of loosing all that he had and everyone he held dear.
This man who was famed for being blessed was now considered to be cursed by God because of his affliction.

His name is Job, and as he sits in the dust desperately trying to understand his perceived punishment and what he could have possibly done to cause it.
He is unaware that the very inhabitants of the heavens themselves are looking down upon his plight, and discussing the many possibilities of his outcome.
He had no way of knowing that his misfortune is not of his own making at all.
It originated from a malevolent being who hated him and had volunteered to be his malicious prosecutor hell bent on being the catalyst of his destruction.
But this is what the serpent has always done.
Even from the days of the garden he desired to destroy man by trying to use God’s own laws and words as a loophole against him.

Even now he is setting up his case in order to justify man’s destruction, for no other reason then because he hates man and God who created him.

THE BOOK OF JOB:   CHAPTER ONE

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.

A darkness has entered the scene, it is the devil himself who has come to sow division with his lies and deceit.
The voice of the Lord reverberates from his throne

THE LORD: “From where do you come?”
SATAN: “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.”

(Wherever I want to, he says with a grin, the earth and everyone on it is as good as mine)

THE LORD: “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?”
SATAN: “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!”

Satan’s case is terrifyingly simple:
Man only loves God for the bread He gives. Take away the bread, and the creature will curse the Creator.

THE LORD: “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.”

All of Job’s family and possessions are taken away in one sudden tragedy after another. But instead of Job cursing God, he tears his robe, shaves his head, falls to the ground, and worships him:
​“Naked I came into this world,
And naked I shall return.
The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away;
Blessed be the name of the LORD.”
In all this Job did not sin or accuse God of wrong

But the devil does not give up that easy, he will not stop until he has tested every weakness and proved Job to be a failure.
He knows that in every person there is that one thing that keeps them from being perfect and allows his foot into the door of their heart and soul.
Once the door is opened he can come and go as he pleases, he is a legal tenant requiring a legal eviction process in order to close the door again.

SATAN:  Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give up all that he owns in exchange for his life. Stretch out Your hand. strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse You even to Your face.”

THE LORD: “He is in your hands, but you must spare his life.”

So satan went out from the presence of the LORD and infected Job with terrible boils from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.

And this is where we find ourselves today, Continually effected and hurt by death, tragedy and misfortune but confusing it to be God’s fault, all the while not knowing or forgetting that this world belongs to the serpent because man has made him his master instead of God.
Jesus said “My kingdom is not of this world”
And in John 16:11
He said “the prince of this world is judged”.
John himself confirmed the devil as the ruler of this world in 1 John 5:19
We know that we are of God, and that the whole world is under the power of the evil one.

Job is the exception to the rule and Satan will go out of his way to make a case out of him and prove his point.

As Job sat In the ashes he found a broken piece of pottery to scratch his infected skin and used the sharp edge to cut open the boils and release the pressure from the infection.
Then his wife who had long given up on him said ,
“Why do you still hold onto to your integrity?
Just Curse God and die!”

But he said to her, “You speak as a foolish women. Shall we accept only the good from God, and not accept adversity

Even after all of this, Job did not sin or curse God.

Three men have traveled to visit Job to try and encourage him and show him the same kindness that he had shown others.

But Job knows why they have come and he is not comforted by their presence because he knows that they have not come only to comfort but also to judge, and to convince him that God is punishing him for being proud or a sinner and all he needs to do is accept his punishment and repent.
But Job has refused to accept this verdict, how can he be punished as a a sinner when he knows he has done nothing wrong.

When his three friends arrive they begin to weep at the unrecognizable appearance of their friend Job.
Finally the man breaks, he can take no more, the humiliation of being pitied and judged by his friends is more then he can bare
He begins to cry out the words that his heart has held back, a flood of sorrow pours from his mouth admiting and surrendering to his humiliating defeat.

Ohh, Let the day die in which I was born
May that day be darkness;
May it be cursed by those who curse the day
those prepared to awake Leviathan.
May its morning stars grow dark;
may it wait in vain for daylight;
may it not see the breaking of dawn.

Why is light given to him who suffers
Who long for death but it does not come.
Who rejoice when they find the grave
My tears pour out like water
For what I fear the most is what comes upon me
And what I dread is what becomes of me

Then the oldest of his three friends Eliphaz interupted him to point out that his persecution must have a cause

“If one attempts a word with you, will you become offended?

you have instructed many,
And you have strengthened weak hands.
Your words have upheld him who was stumbling,
But now trouble comes upon you, and you are weary;
Consider now, 
who has ever perished being innocent?
Can a mortal be more righteous than God?
Can a man be more pure than his Maker?
If God puts no trust in His saints, and the heavens are not pure in his sight,
If He charges even His angels with error,
How much more those who dwell in houses of clay,
“Call out now;
Is there anyone who will answer you?
Is not God in the height of heaven?
And see the highest stars, how lofty they are!
And you say, ‘What does God know?
Will you keep to the old way
Which wicked men have walked,
Who were cut down before their time,
Whose foundations were swept away by a flood?
They said to God, ‘Depart from us!
Surely our adversaries are cut down, And the fire consumes their remnant.
Receive, please, instruction from His mouth,
And lay up His words in your heart.
If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up;
You will also declare a thing, And it will be established for you; So light will shine on your ways.
Then He will save the humble person.
He will even deliver one who is not innocent;

Then Job lifted his head and continued to cry out with hurt and frustration because of the  accusation of even his friends that he must be a sinner to be suffering.

“Teach me, and I will hold my tongue;
Cause me to understand wherein I have erred.
But what does your arguing prove?
Do you intend to rebuke the words of a desperate man, which are as wind?

Oh, that I might have my one request,
That God would grant me the thing I long for!
That it would please God to crush me!!!
That He would loose His hand and cut me off!
What strength do I have, that I should hope?
And what is my end, that I should prolong my life?

My spirit is broken,
The grave is ready for me.
He has made me a byword of the people, And I have become one in whose face men spit.
all my members are like shadows.
Upright men are astonished at this,
My days are past, the strings of my heart are broken
they change the night into day;
and sacrifice the light to the darkness
For if I remain, sheol is my habitation: and my bed has been made in darkness.
Where then is my hope? or where shall I see my good?

Therefore I say,  he destroys the blameless and the wicked, 
if it is not He, who else could it be?
He laughs at the plight of the innocent.
The earth is given into the hand of the wicked.
If I am condemned,
Why then do I labor in vain?
If I wash myself with snow water,
And cleanse my hands with soap,
Yet You will plunge me into the pit,

“For He is not a man, as I am,
that we should go to court together.
Nor is there any mediator between us,
Who may lay his hand on us both.

Then Job’s friend Bildad attempted to appeal to his sense of humility and get him to admit that he is a sinner because all sinners meet the same end.

How long will you go on saying such things?
Inquire, please, of the former age,
And consider the things discovered by their fathers;
For we were born yesterday,
and know nothing,
Because our days on earth are a shadow.
Will they not teach you and tell you,
And utter words from their heart?
The light of the wicked indeed goes out,
And the flame of his fire does not shine.
He is driven from light into darkness
and is chased from the inhabited world.
He has no offspring or posterity among his people, no survivor where he once lived.
the dwelling place of the wicked will come to nothing.
Surely such is the dwelling of the wicked and the place of one who does not know God.

But Job will not be silenced because he knows in his heart he has done no wrong deserving of his punishment.

Oh, that I knew where I might find Him,
That I might come to His seat!
I would present my case before Him,
And fill my mouth with arguments.
I would know the words which He would answer me,
And understand what He would say to me.
Would He contend with me in His great power?    No!   
But He would take note of me.
There the upright could reason with Him,
And I would be delivered forever from my Judge.
But He knows the way that I take;
When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.
My foot has held fast to His steps;
I have kept His way and not turned aside.
I have not departed from the commandment of His lips;
I have treasured the words of His mouth
But He is unique, and who can make Him change?
whatever His soul desires, that He does.
For He performs what is appointed for me,
When I consider this, I am afraid of Him.
For God made my heart weak,
And the Almighty terrifies me.

Then Job’s friend Zophar speaks out, thinking that he has identified the error in his ways, human pride.

you have said,
‘My doctrine is pure,
And I am clean in your eyes.’
But oh, that God would speak,
And open His lips against you,
That He would show you the secrets of wisdom!
Know therefore that God exacts from you
Less than your iniquity deserves.
Can you search out the deep things of God?
Can you find out the limits of the Almighty?
They are higher than heaven—what can you do?
They are Deeper than Sheol—what can you know?

Do you not know this of old,
Since man was placed on the earth,
That the triumphing of the wicked is short,
And the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment?
Though his arrogance reaches the heavens,
And his head reaches to the clouds,
He will fly away like a dream, and not be found;
He swallows down riches And vomits them up again; God casts them out of his belly.
For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor; he has seized houses he did not build.
Total darkness is reserved for his treasures.
An unfanned fire will consume him;
The heavens will reveal his iniquity,
And the earth will rise up against him.
Such is the fate God allots to the wicked

Job is not corrected or reproved and responds by requesting that his case be brought before God himself and not his friends.

My friends are my scoffers
as my eyes pour out tears to God.
Oh, that a man might plead with God
as he pleads with his neighbor!

I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me;
Show me why You contend with me.

Your hands have made me and fashioned me,
Yet You would destroy me.
Remember, I pray, that You have made me like clay.
And will You turn me into dust again?

Oh that my Prosecutor had written a book!
Surely I would carry it on my shoulder,
And bind it on me like a crown;
I would declare to Him the number of my steps;
Like a prince I would approach Him.
What is man, that You should exalt him,
That You should set Your heart on him,
That You should visit him every morning,
And test him every moment?

How long?
Will You not look away from me,
And let me alone long enough to swallow my spit?

Why then have You brought me out of the womb?
Oh, that I had perished and no eye had seen me!
I would have been, as though I had not been.
I would have been carried from the womb to the grave.

Let come on me what may
oh that you would hide me in the grave, that you would conceal me until you wrath is past, That You would appoint me a set time, and then remember me
if a man dies, shall he live again?

Therefore I will not restrain my mouth;
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
Am I the sea, or a dragon,
That You post a watch over me?
Let me alone,
For my days are but a breath.

Have I sinned?
What have I done to You, O watcher of men?
Why do You not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For soon I will lie down in the dust; You will seek me, but I will be no more.”

Oh earth, do not cover my blood,
let my cry have no resting place!
Even now my witness is in heaven,
and my advocate is on high.
Oh that my words were recorded
and inscribed in a book, chiseled in stone forever.
But I know that my Redeemer lives,
and in the end He will stand upon the earth.
Even after my skin has been destroyed,
yet in my flesh I will see God.
I will see Him for myself;
my eyes will behold Him, and not another.

though he slay me, yet I will trust him
For he shall be My salvation

Man who is born of woman Is few of days and full of trouble
He springs forth like a flower and fades away like a shadow.

From where, then, does wisdom come,
and where does understanding dwell?
It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing
But God understands its way,
and He knows its place.
For He looks to the ends of the earth
and sees everything under the heavens.
And to man He said,
Behold, the fear of the Lord, this is wisdom,
And to depart from evil this is understanding.

The invisible trial of Job was a prophetic one.
It was meant to teach us that our adversary and prosecutor the devil is the one who is responsible for our trials and suffering,
even if the LORD gave him permission to inflict it, it is still the devil who desires it and carries it out, but more importantly because of sin and the chaos that it creates, the innocent such as Job and even the innocent such as children are the one who needlessly suffer, without any real cause or justification.
Because sin is a destructive force that simply causes everyone to suffer, both the sinner and the innocent.
Jesus was the purest example of this truth because he was truly innocent and yet here he is suffering for our sins in the desert while being taunted and ridiculed by the devil.
He will continue to suffer needlessly just as Job did, but all the way to his Cross, the ultimate example of the suffering and sacrifice of the innocent.
And yet God in his infinite wisdom will use the suffering and sacrifice of his innocent son as the means and way to provide the Mediator and Redeemer that Job was crying out for and is unknowingly prophesying about.

One could even make the argument that Job’s trial and suffering was allowed for the sole purpose of proving that God did consider man as worthy of a Mediator and defender, someone to stand up against his prosecutor the devil.
And that God had provided a plan to redeem him from sheol,   the ancient pit and grave of eternity without God because of sin.

Jesus was the ultimate Job, he was the ultimate Moses the ultimate Joshua, the ultimate David, the ultimate Jonas, the ultimate Samson, the ultimate Boaz.
All of these characters from the past and old testament are only a prophetic glimpse of the future son and his glory.
But first he must overcome the devil in the desert.

II. The Bread of Disobedience
​The Serpent pointed to the round, brown stones that littered the desert floor—stones that looked cruelly like loaves of bread baked in an oven.
​“If You are the Son of God,” the serpent hissed, casting doubt upon the very title the Father had just spoken at the river. “Command that these stones become bread.”
​It was the Temptation of the Stomach. It was the trap of Esau—”Give me pottage, or I die.” It was the trap of Israel—”We remember the pots of meat in Egypt.”
The logic was subtle: “If” You are truly the Son of God,  If You formed the dust of the earth! Why starve in the desert when You can simply speak to the stone.

But Jesus stood firm. He was treading upon the Serpent’s logic.
“It is written,” He replied, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”
He refused to be tempted or deceived and instead He declared that obedience to the Father was a meat the world knew nothing of. The First Adam ate the fruit in a Garden and brought death; the Second Adam starved in a desert and brought Life.

III. The Peak of Pride
The scene shifted. The Spirit allowed the Enemy to transport Him to the Holy City, to the very peak of the Temple—the highest point of Herod’s white marble mountain.
“If You are the Son of God,” the Serpent taunted again, “throw Yourself down.”
“For He shall give His angels charge over you, and in their hands they shall bear you up.”
( Look and listen, do you see it, do you hear it! The Devil quotes Scripture! )
He twists Psalm 91 like a coiled snake:

Descend, the Serpent whispered. Like the Jordan flows down, throw Yourself down. Force the Father’s hand. Dazzle the crowds in the courts below. Be a Messiah of magic, not a Messiah of suffering.
But Jesus refused the descent of pride.
“It is written again,” He said,        “You shall not tempt the LORD your God.”
He would not dance to the Serpent’s tune. He would descend, yes—He would descend into the grave—but not in a spectacle of vanity. He would descend in the silence of sacrifice and humble obedience.

IV. The Mountain of the Usurper
Finally, the Enemy played his masterstroke.
He took Him to an exceedingly high mountain perhaps to the heights of Mount Hermon,
In a flash of panoramic glory, Satan showed Him all the kingdoms of the world.
“All these things I will give You,” the Serpent lied—offering what was not his to give, for he was merely a squatter on God’s earth—“if You will fall down and worship me.”
It was the Temptation of the Crown without the Cross.
You can have it all, the Serpent promised. No nails. No shame. No cup of wrath. Just one small bow. Just acknowledge me as the god of this world, and we can share the throne.
Jesus looked at the kingdoms. He saw the power, but He also saw the rot underneath. He knew that to bow to the Serpent was to become a slave to the Serpent.
He rose and He raised His heel to deliver the crushing blow.
“Away with you, Satan!” He commanded.
The resistance in His voice cracked the air like a whip. “For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only shall you serve.’”

​V. The Angels and the Anointing
​The Serpent, beaten by the very Word he had tried to twist, uncoiled and fled. He slithered away into the shadows, defeated for the moment, but waiting for a “more opportune time”—waiting for Gethsemane.
​Jesus stood alone on the mountain. He was famished, weak, and exhausted.
But He was victorious.
He had walked through the temptation where Adam had failed. He had walked through the desert where Israel had fallen. And He had come out the other side without the smell of sin on His garments.
​Then, behold! The angels came and ministered to Him.
They brought Him the true Bread of Heaven. They attended the Victor who had faced the Dragon in his lair and survived.
The Seed of the Woman had bruised the Serpent’s head with the weapon of the Word. The duel in the dust was over; the War for the World had begun.
For forty days Moses was on the mountain receiving the law from God,
Jesus would receive a new law and commandment but first he must fullfill the old law of Moses in order to proclaim the new commandment of Love.