The Ram Caught in the Thicket
The substitute ram discovered behind Abraham on Mount Moriah with its horns entangled in a thicket of thorns — offered up 'instead of his son' as a prophetic shadow of Christ crowned with thorns.
The instant the Angel of the LORD stayed Abraham's raised knife on Mount Moriah, Abraham lifted his eyes and beheld behind him a ram caught in a thicket (Hebrew: sebak — interwoven thorns) by its horns (Genesis 22:13).
Abraham took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering 'instead of his son' (Hebrew: tachath — in the exact place of), naming the place 'The LORD Will Provide' (Jehovah Jireh). Two thousand years later on that same mountain ridge, Jesus stood crowned with a thicket of thorns to die in our place (Genesis 22:13–14; Matthew 27:29).
The Raised Knife — Abraham, Isaac & The Two Sons Bound Upon the Wood of Moriah
Abraham and Isaac climb Mount Moriah with the heavy wood upon the son's shoulders until two weapons hang suspended in the air.
The True Ram — The Knife Stopped on Moriah, The Hammer Dropped on Golgotha & The Substitute in the Thorns
An angel stops Abraham's knife and reveals a ram in the thicket, while on Golgotha the hammer falls on God's own Son in our place.
