Like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth. Isaiah 53:7
Then Gideon said to God, “If You will deliver Israel through me, as You have spoken, behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I will know that You will deliver Israel through me, as You have spoken.” And it was so. When he arose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece, he drained the dew from the fleece, a bowl full of water. Then Gideon said to God, “Do not let Your anger burn against me that I may speak once more; please let me make a test once more with the fleece, let it now be dry only on the fleece, and let there be dew on all the ground.” God did so that night; for it was dry only on the fleece, and dew was on all the ground. Judges 6:36-40.
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, FULL of grace and truth . . . For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. John 1:14, 16.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God says:
When John saw Jesus beside the Jordan River, do you recall what he said to identify Him? “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.” John 1:29. The Lamb. Why?
Recall that the Old Testament is full of the shadows of Christ—I was teaching My people what to look for in the Messiah who would set them free and give them eternal life. Who would redeem them from the realm of darkness, the world system instituted by Satan at Adam’s submission to his lordship and restore the Garden of Eden and dominion authority to man, releasing the benefits of My Kingdom on earth, the way it was meant to be from the beginning.
And the shadow I showed them was the Lamb. The meek, humble, pure, unblemished lamb of sacrifice. I would show them the Passover Lamb, the sin offering, the burnt offering, the guilt offering, the morning and evening sacrifice—and all these were fulfilled in Jesus. As Abraham put it when Isaac questioned where the burnt offering for sin was as Isaac carried the wood for the sacrifice up Mt. Moriah, “God Himself will provide the Lamb for the burnt offering.” Genesis 22:8. I preached the Gospel to Abraham ahead of time and he saw the Day of Jesus and rejoiced. He understood the sin bearer and so did Isaiah, who saw the glory of Jesus: “Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth.” Isaiah 53:7. But it was your sins, pains, ills, guilt and iniquity He bore. He emptied Himself of all the good He is and took all the evil of the curse brought about by sin upon Himself so that you would never have to bear it, just as Isaac could not, I had to supply the Lamb.
And I am faithful and true. I did. In Jesus I reconciled you to Myself, not counting your sins against you. I put them all on the spotless Lamb.
Today, I want to talk to you about a wonderful shadow of the Messiah, My sinless Son who would become sin for you as your guilt offering, Isaiah 53:10-12, as I revealed it to you through the life of Gideon. It has to do with being fleeced, and My Son, like a sheep silent before its shearers, was fleeced for you so that you could take all that is His as your own and be clothed in Christ before Me.
Jesus became poor so that by His poverty you could become rich. 2 Corinthians 8:9. He took all the curse so you could have all THE BLESSING. Galatians 3:13-14. I clothed you in Christ so that you are like Him before Me—holy, blameless and without reproach, righteous with My own righteousness, so I would see and love in you what I see and love in Christ. Galatians 3:27. You see a shadow of this when Rebekah covered Jacob’s arms with the fleece of the kid goats and clothed him in Esau’s clothes so that when Jacob came before Isaac, Isaac believed Jacob to be Esau and gave Jacob the Firstborn Blessing. Genesis 27:1-30. So it is with you who are in Christ– as He is so are you in this world before Me. Once He was My only begotten Son, but now He is the first born of MANY brethren and I see each of you in Him.
But let us take a look at Gideon and his request for a sign and I will show you a beautiful picture of Jesus—a shadow of the good things to come, a type, but the substance is Christ. Colossians 2:17; Hebrews 10:1. Gideon, if you recall, was living after Joshua had departed this life and was under the time when judges ruled Israel. My Word was not known or honored, and everyone just did what was right in their own eyes. It was a time of chaos and anarchy. Sound familiar? Without My Word you become a godless and violent society. My people were being subjected to dominance by their enemies. I wanted to intervene and protect them, and occasionally they would listen and have a time of restoration, but they primarily neglected My Word, turned to other gods, and did not authorize Me to act on their behalf. When I came to raise up Gideon as a hero, he was hiding from the Midianites and bemoaning that I had forsaken My people Israel, and yet I had not forsaken Israel, they had forsaken Me. Even Gideon and his family had forsaken Me to worship the idol Baal, whom they built the village altar to in their yard. But I came to Gideon and called him a mighty man of valor who would save Israel, with My power and help, from the Midianites. At first, he doubted this, but the more I talked to him about it the more open to it he became. Faith comes by hearing and hearing My Word. He was getting there but was not fully persuaded so he asked Me for a sign. Now you know there is no other sign I show you than Jesus. So I showed Him a shadow of Jesus. This is how it came about: Gideon said to Me, “If You will deliver Israel through me, as You have spoken, behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I will know that You will deliver Israel through me, as You have spoken.” And it was so. When he arose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece, he drained the dew from the fleece, a bowl full of water and the ground was dry. Then Gideon asked a second sign, he said to Me, “Do not let Your anger burn against me that I may speak once more; please let me make a test once more with the fleece, let it now be dry only on the fleece, and let there be dew on all the ground.” I did so that night; for it was dry only on the fleece, and dew was on all the ground. Judges 6:36-40.
Do you see? When Jesus came to dwell among you, there was no one born again because Jesus had not died to give you life as yet, your spirits were lying dry and dormant within you and My Spirit could not live within you. The world was dry and barren, under the curse and the god of this world whom Adam had chosen as his lord. But Jesus was born like the manna that fell with the dew fall, filled with grace and truth, into the midst of your dry and barren world. He was the dew of Heaven come to renew the face of the earth. He was full when He came down from Heaven, but He emptied Himself for you, He took on your poverty so that you could become rich with His riches—of His fullness you have all received, grace upon grace. He gave all to you. He loved you and gave His life for you. He died empty for He had poured all the riches of My grace—the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness—out upon you so that your lives would never need to be dry or barren again. He took the barrenness of your desolation, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?” He called out. As He hung as a curse for you upon the Cross, you were delivered from the dark, dry, barren waste land of slavery to sin and death, into the abundance of My house and the river of living water pouring from My throne. And from His pierced Heart the dew of Heaven flowed out to the earth and watered all its waste places. The piercing of His heart causing a flow of blood and water to gush forth was a physical sign of the spiritual reality.
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich. 2 Corinthians 8:9
For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. Galatians 3:27.
Do you see? All who are thirsty, come to the living water! Come you who have no money and eat and drink abundant fare. Of His fullness you can all receive, grace upon grace, it is poured out for you, and it never runs dry. You will never hunger or thirst again. With long life I will SATISFY you and show you My Salvation, Yeshuah, Jesus. With joy you shall draw water from the springs of Salvation. He is your strength and your song—the Lamb who was slain is now the LION of the tribe of Judah.
“They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.” Revelation 7:16-17.
I love you. Do you see what I am telling you? You have already been abundantly supplied with all you will ever need and far beyond by the riches of My grace in Christ. You have nothing to fear. Relax and cast your care on Me. You have a Lamb and that was all the Israelites needed to escape judgment, destruction, slavery, illness, and poverty. Once they sacrificed the Lamb, put its blood on their homes, and ate its roasted flesh, they came out of slavery to the Promised Land and there was not one feeble among them and they were laden with silver and gold. And all that after hundreds of years of slavery, all in one night because of the Lamb who was slain. Now do you see why in Heaven myriads are singing: “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.” Amen. Revelation 5:12.