Nimrod was set on building a tower to heaven; the “great hunter” would hunt down God on God’s own Estate.
Abram of Ur refused to obey the
king as well as his father, Terah. The Book of Jasher, mentioned several
times in scripture, says about that, “The man who revileth the king should be
hanged upon a tree; but having done all the things that he said, and having
despised our gods, he must therefore be burned to death, for this is the law in
this matter” (Jasher 12:5)
Because Abram was against the
king (Nimrod) he deserved hanging; albeit because Abram despised Terah’s and
Nimrod’s gods, the law was that Abram be burned to death.
Not by coincidence, the tower was
to be built, not on a high mountain where the righteous visited their gods but
on the plain of Shinar (Gen 11:2). Why build a tower on a plain when a mountain
would suffice better and maybe one as high as the tower itself?
Well, it turns out that Nimrod
had a kiln, ostensibly for making bricks: All that were there said in one voice,
“If it pleases the king to do this, let him order his servants to kindle a fire
both night and day in thy brick furnace, and then we will cast this man (Abram)
into it. And the king did so, and he commanded his servants that they should
prepare a fire for three days and three nights in the king's furnace, that is
in Casdim; and the king ordered them to take Abram from prison and bring him
out to be burned” (Jasher 12:6).
As a sidenote, “tower” in Genesis
11:4 has a root gadal — “to make great, powerful’ or “to be brought up.”
The translation of a “tower” is iterated from those descriptions. In that they
were on level ground on a plain should add to that translation.
The English in 1611 would have no
idea what a rocket is. Any fool would know that a tower could not reach heaven
but maybe a castle fueled by a powerful engine might! Was Nimrod building a
tower toe heaven or a Flintstonian-type spaceship to challenge God in space
warfare? (Interesting to wonder about but not imperative to the subject at hand;
that they were about to burn Abram in a fiery furnace… and perhaps to send him
directly to God!) The tower never left its launch-pad but Abram did.
Everybody, rich and poor, powerful
and common, men and women, and even the children came to see Abram a burning. (Jasher
12:7-8) (Or perhaps to see the castle launch.)
Abram was and had been a king for
quite some time, and Nimrod laid claim to Abram’s throne; “Our sovereign lord,
surely this (Abram) is the man whom we know to have been the child at whose
birth the great star swallowed the four stars, which we declared to the king
now fifty years since” (Jasher 12:9).
It seems that Abram was a powerful
threat to Nimrod, and he was the real king, ordained by the stars, as
they thought. Abram had destroyed his father’s idols and now he was about to
destroy the biggest idol of them all — the tower to heaven or even a venture
into space.
As it turns out, Abram was indeed
a king but his realm was of another world. Perhaps Nimrod was about to send him
to his throne in heaven in the furnace, whether it be a kiln or a powerful
engine.
Abram was one of the few who were
against Nimrod’s venture, and he was the only one that would risk death to
prevent the launching of the tower.
As it turns out Abram and his brother, Haran, were cast into the kiln, and this is how it turned out:
22 And the king's servants took Abram and his brother, and they stripped them of all their clothes excepting their lower garments which were upon them. 23 And they bound their hands and feet with linen cords, and the servants of the king lifted them up and cast them both into the furnace. 24 And the Lord loved Abram and he had compassion over him, and the Lord came down and delivered Abram from the fire and he was not burned. 25 But all the cords with which they bound him were burned, while Abram remained and walked about in the fire. 26 And Haran died when they had cast him into the fire, and he was burned to ashes, for his heart was not perfect with the Lord; and those men who cast him into the fire, the flame of the fire spread over them, and they were burned, and twelve men of them died. (Jasher 12:22-26)
Haran burned. God did not change
him because his heart was not right with the Lord. By implication, Abram’s
heart was right with the Lord, and although he did nothing to save himself, except
rejoice, God preserved him from the fiery flames.
Something happened! Abram was a
changed man. Not only was his spirit saved but so was his flesh.
God put onto him incorruptible flesh and he was thereafter a new creation. In modern terminology, the genome of Abram was improved, and fire would not even alter the carbon in his DNA. Haran, on the other hand, returned to the dust from which he came… right then.
And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there. (Gen 11:31)
Nehemiah, years later praised God, Thou art the Lord the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham. (Neh 9:7)
Hidden there in scripture is
something significant. God brought Abram out of “Ur of the Chaldees.” Chaldea
is on the plain of Shinar where the city and tower were built. The noun “Ur”
means “flame.” God took Abram, his father, and the son of Haran, as well as
Sarai and sent them to another realm… to Canaan, where he was king there
without any land.
Undoubted, God meant for Abram’s
kingdom to be of another world because he squatted on Canaan’s land just as God
said to Noah after the flood, “God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in
the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant” (Gen 9:27). Canaanites
served Abraham in their land; not that he was their king but he had escaped
death by fire.
It is not that Abram was from the
city of Ur, but that God brought Abram out of the flame, and then, changed his
name to Abraham — “the Shield”
Experts say that the human DNA
contains JHWG in its elements. “G” is also silent. My conclusion
is that when God regenned Abram with incorruptible flesh as He will do with the
dead in Christ at his coming, He changed Abram’s DNA and as the descendants of
Abraham, whether biologically or spiritually, God is in our DNA as well. Abraham
was both the “Shield” from the fire for them but for all those of the Covenant
as well!
While in the fire, Abram’s trust
for God made him a new creature in God, and as such he was “born again” and
given a new righteous name; a name matching his new identity, thereafter in the
image of God.
Now jump several thousand years
ahead. Jesus said, “Marvel not; you must be born again” (John 3:7). Nicodemus
wondered how to re-enter a mother’s womb. Long before, Abram had been born
again, and regenned with new flesh, by trusting the One True God. Nicodemus
would have known that, and Jesus seemed surprised that he did not, of course
knowing full-well what he was not remembering.
Literally, “born again” means “engendered
from above” (ibid). Abram had been engendered from above and new
genes were put into every cell and chromosome of his flesh; enough that the fire
would not harm him at 1800-2400 oF.
Carbon combusts at 1236 oF
(Nature.com). The kiln should have sent Abram to God in flames.
Haran, on the other hand was
combusted and sent to Hell because he was unrighteous and of the gens of
the “fiery flying serpent” as Isaiah calls the Devil, Satan.
It should be obvious — “marvel
not” — that Abraham was born again because of his faith in the fiery furnace…
the same faith that the Hebrews with Moses had with the fiery brazen serpent (John
3:14).
Paul wrote about such faith, “Walk
in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet
uncircumcised” (Rom 4;12).
What did Abram do to be born
again? He had faith; so much faith that he walked around in the fiery furnace
and withstood the heat that burned his brother.
Most remember that Abram would willingly
sacrifice his son, Isaac, on Mt. Moriah which some believe is Calvary, since “Moriah”
is not just one mountain, but the mountains of Jerusalem; which one
remains uncertain.
Few know that Abram, even before
the circumcision, would be willing to sacrifice, not his son, but himself
according to Jasher. He did to himself what God did to Himself.
Jesus, as God manifested, went to
another realm from his “tower” — the Cross. The Cross glorified Jesus just as
the tower did Abram thousands of years before, and just like Abram, Jesus also
took on new, glorious flesh. Jesus too, took on a new Name — “Son of the Highest”
and “LORD GOD”— the precious Name that Adam knew Him by so long before, “He
shall be great, and shall be called the ‘Son of the Highest:’ and the Lord God
shall give unto him the throne…” (Luke 1:32).
So now you know why to marvel not
and what it takes to be born again. Abram set the example and Jesus used his
example on how to get to heaven.
Nimrod never got to heaven by his
own inventions. He worked hard but his castle never took off.
While they all looked on, it went
unnoticed, but when Nimrod was grounded, Abram went to heaven as he was born
again in the flames of the fiery furnace.
Nimrod tried mightily but Abram
went there by faith, and now so many dead in Christ rest in Abraham’s Bosom
(Luke 16).
Abram was baptized with fire, and thus so must we! (Mat 3:11).
(Picture credit; British Library Board; "Abraham in the Fiery Furnace")
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