Grace Under Pressure

Despite what is going on around us, we need to remain calm and proficient, performing our duties effectively under pressure; cool, calm and collected when under attack, in quietness and confidence is our strength, trusting in God, placing our faith in Him showing grace towards others despite the way they act or how they might treat us.

There has been a continuous increase in pressure mounting against decency, fairness, and morality. Each iteration is a personal attack on our values and the things we hold dear. We tend to take it personally. We get the latest news item by whatever means we prefer, TV, radio, or internet and we become emotionally outraged, disgusted, or distraught. There has been a growing spirit of anger in this country over the past two decades, (Fox News began Oct. 7, 1996) a mounting pressure, a seething just under the surface that builds like a pressure cooker until a man can become angry at the slightest provocation. If we let ourselves continue to focus on these things we can become distracted from the more important things we should be doing.

Just about everyone we encounter is under stress in one form or another. Stress has a way of bringing out the worst in people. As we deal with others throughout the day we're almost certain to come across someone having a bad day. We might have to deal with an ill-mannered a clerk, or be shown a lack of common courtesy by a stranger, or encounter out and out road rage. Our spirits are vexed on a daily basis.

We replay and rehash the confrontation over and over in our minds as we analyze it to death trying to understand what we did to provoke such treatment or how we could have handled it better or what we should have said. We replay the daily news in our minds shaking our heads in disgust as we wonder why would they do such things? How could those in charge be making such ridiculous decisions? How could this be happening?

We become worn out to the point that we have no energy left for the things that are most important. In many, if not all, cases we have no power to control the circumstances that are making us angry anyway. We get ourselves all worked up over the events of the day to no avail and to no repair.

Now we have movements like #BlackLivesMatter that are stirring up one race against another that cause us daily to shake our heads in disbelief.  Christ told us that nation (ethnos) would rise against nation (ethnos) and that this is just the beginning of sorrows. He gave us a book, the very word of the living God that tells us the Lord is not willing that any should perish, that #AllLivesMatter (2Pet 3:9)

And so here we are. The things Jesus told us were going to happen are happening, so why should we be surprised when they do? Why should we be angry? Why should we be upset? We should count it all joy. It should increase our faith as we see what was foretold actually come to pass.

Rather than getting emotionally wrapped up in all this, we need to distance ourselves, to come out of it and be separate, to be observers and not participants. We've been instructed by the word of God that this would happen so that we would not be dismayed when it does. Until and unless our nation repents on a wholesale national basis we know things will not get better and in fact will continue to deteriorate. So though we are pressed in on every side, how should we respond?

2Co 4:6-10  For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.  (7)   But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.  (8)   We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;  (9)  Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;  (10)   Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

Despite what's going on in the world around us we are to be a light to others. Bear in mind that one of the reasons for the tribulation is to get peoples' attention and turn their hearts back to God. Well, if we are all in a panic, who can they go to for help and instruction? If we are all in a dither, who will take care of enriching their lives through the gospel and preparing them for Kingdom? We must remain focused on God's Word, Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God. We mustn't be completely focused on ourselves and our problems but must let others see Christ manifested in our lives. Give them a cause to ask us for the reason of the hope that lies within. If we're always complaining about what's going on or angry and afraid, why would they ask us the reason for the hope and joy in our eyes. If we're not calm and collected with hope in our hearts and joy shining in our faces, we look just like them, angry and afraid. There's nothing to ask us about!

We shouldn’t just be calm under pressure maintaining our own composure. We are ambassadors of Christ and the Kingdom of God. We are to go the extra mile and show grace towards others, even those who abuse us.

I saw a sign once that said -

We can all be self-absorbed and are to some degree. We have a tendency to assume everyone else is as focused on us and what we are doing as we are. Well, guess what? They're not. Everyone else is just as focused on themselves as we are on ourselves. When they are unkind to us or rude, they may be dealing with some issue we know nothing about. We need to make allowances for that and give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they didn't mean it that way.

But so what if they did? What if they were rude or mean to us intentionally? If it's not life-threatening, maybe we should just take a deep breath and calmly respond with a kind word; a soft answer turneth away wrath. Grace under pressure is not just that we should remain calm ourselves but that we should bestow that grace upon others who may not deserve it. Regardless of what we may be going through at the time or what pressures we're dealing with in our lives we should practice passing the grace that God has given to us on to others. We didn’t deserve it either. We are to show God's grace to others so that through that abundant grace God will be glorified.

2Co 4:15-18  For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.  (16)  For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.  (17)  For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;  (18)   While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

 

We must not allow ourselves to be spiritually weakened but be renewed and refreshed each and every day. So, in these troubling times, what manner of persons ought we to be?

2Pe 3:11-16  Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,  (12)  Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?  (13)   Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.  (14)   Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.

Our focus needs to be on the matter at hand, to be diligent in our studies and prayer, to make our calling and election sure lest we fall  (2Pet 1:10) that we may be accounted worthy in that day to stand before the Son of man, (Luke 21:36) growing in grace as well as knowledge.

2Pe 3:17-18  Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.  (18)  But grow in grace,G5485  and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

Rather than respond in kind to others we meet who are under the same stresses we are but are without Christ, we ought to give them some respect, exhibiting grace under pressure and allow our light to so shine before men that our LORD is glorified. Rather than quarreling with them, maybe we can leave them better than we found them. Maybe they will inquire of the reason for the hope that lies within us, and we can lead them to the gospel of the good news of the coming Kingdom of God where God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away and all things have become new. (Rev 21:4)

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I Got This!

It is human nature to want to control as much of our lives as we can, to get our affairs situated such that things are in order. We like it when we have things all figured out, decisions made, and solutions are put into place.

Take selecting automobile insurance for example. We may research several different companies and compare all the plans that potentially fit our needs. We weigh the options and choose the plan that best fits our requirements. Once in place we rarely feel the need to check it unless the payment has increased to an unacceptable level or our situation changes. We already got it all figured out. It’s been decided and done. We don’t have to mess with it again. We got it under control.

After that, if someone were to bring up car insurance in a conversation a common response in today’s vernacular might be, “I got this!” This means that I just went through this and I got it all figured out and I know just what you need to do.

This expression, “I got this!” has become quite popular and is generally applied to situations where the person saying it implies that he fully understands the situation and knows exactly what to do about it.

The UrbanDictionary defines it as –

An expression that's short for: 1. I got this covered. 2. I got this handled. 3. I got this under control.

Songs by that title by both Big K.R.I.T and Jennifer Hudson

 

We like to be the one that’s “got this”; to be the one that’s in the know that has the inside scoop, that’s got it all figured out. Sometimes I wonder if we in the Church haven’t adopted the same attitude when it comes to the Truth of God. It goes something like this -

We came into the Truth at a time when God opened our minds and we suddenly realized that much of what we had thought to be true up to that point had proven to be false and much of what we thought we had figured out about how things work proved to be a lie. Once we have been enlightened and taste the good word of God (Heb 6:4-5) we go about restructuring our lives around this new belief system and God’s way life. When that’s done though and we’ve gotten everything rearranged, we’ve gotten satisfactory answers to our lifelong questions and settled them in our minds, we no longer have to mess with it. Maybe we’ve been in the Church for 20 years or were born into it. But either way, we got it all figured out. It’s done. We got it under control. We got this!

We got the Truth.

We got the Sabbath.

We got the Holy Days.

We got this! What else do we need? (Rev 3:17)

If we’re not careful we can fall into a superficial obedience without substance, a routine of compliance but without depth of conviction. The original zeal we had when we came into the truth has faded. We’ve satisfied all our original questions. We’ve proven to ourselves that God exists and the seventh day is the Sabbath. We got it all figured out. It’s settled. We’re settled. We got this! So now we just need to go to Sabbath services once a week and observe the Holy Days when they come around. All we have to do now is wait for Christ to return. Really? Do we think we're just going to coast into the Kingdom?

Even the very elect

Jesus Christ himself told us that there is a deception coming, a counterfeit that is going to be so believable that if possible even the very elect will be deceived. (Matt 24:24) That phrase has been haunting me for over a year now, “Even the very elect”. Those who have been given the truth will be deceived if they’re not diligent, (2Pet 1:10) if they’re not watching (Mark 13:33-37) if they’re not careful to continually prove all things. (1Thes 5:21)

Every lie carries with it a kernel of truth. Just enough to allow it to slip in under the radar if we’re not paying close enough attention. Don’t think it’s going to identify itself or be easily recognized. It’s not going to be obvious. It’s going to be so subtle (2Cor 11:3) and so near to the truth that if possible even the very elect will believe it!

That means this “other gospel” (2Cor 11:4; Gal 1:6) is going to look and sound so close to the real thing that those who have not the love of the truth, a real zeal, will believe the lie. (2Thes 2:10) Think you can’t be fooled? The Bible says that to those who received not the LOVE of the truth, God will send a strong delusion. We use that word, “love” pretty casually. I love ice cream. That’s not the kind of love it’s talking about. We have to absolutely fervently LOVE the truth to the exclusion of all that is false, such that we cannot tolerate any untruth or even half-truth. To really seek out and love the truth the way we did when we first came into it (Rev 2:4) and reject all that is even remotely false. We need to know what we believe and know that we know with dead certainty.

Will we be able to recognize the counterfeit when it comes? In order to recognize a counterfeit one must become intimately familiar with the genuine. Let me repeat that. In order to recognize a counterfeit one must become intimately familiar with the genuine.

Are we intimately familiar with the genuine? So intimately familiar that we could tell the difference between the truth of God and a cunningly devised fable (2Pet 1:16) that sounds like the truth? Could we do it without our bibles handy? Have we dug into God’s word so deeply that if someone were to present a carefully crafted half-truth that looks and sounds perfectly legitimate we would be able to tell the difference? Do we have enough oil in our lamps that should our bibles be confiscated we would still be able to tell the difference? (Matt 25:4) If not, I would encourage each of us to get the 12-Lesson Bible StudyCourse and fully ingrain the lessons there. 

The times just ahead are going to be filled with destruction, lawlessness, deception and lies as society breaks down and nations fall. It will be so terrible that Jesus questioned when he returns will he find faith on the earth. (Luke 18:8) It will be a time unlike any other (Matt 24:21) when God removes his hedge of protection and pours out delusion on the masses. (2Thes 2:11) Will we be able to stand fast and hold to the truth amidst the devastation and panic all around us? (Psa 91:7) Will we be able to keep the faith? When thousands around us are falling for the counterfeit and running to embrace the one bringing relief and order to the chaos will we be able to resist going along with the crowd? Will we be able to hold fast to the truth then, when we’re the only ones? When we’re persecuted for not submitting will we have the faith to endure?

If the righteous scarcely be saved

Turn to 1 Peter and let’s look at another phrase that has been preying upon my mind this past year.

1Pet 4:17-19  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?  (18)  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?  (19)  Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

It says even the righteous will scarcely be saved! That doesn’t sound like we can coast our way into the Kingdom to me. We must be diligent to make our calling and election sure. (2Pet 2:10) Are we “the righteous”? What makes us think we’re “the righteous” anyway?

Enemies of the cross of Christ

Php 3:8-21  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,  (9)  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:  (10)  That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;  (11)  If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.  (12)  Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus

There is no righteousness of ourselves. It is only by the grace of God through faith in the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Do we know Him? Are we intimately familiar with Him? Did Paul, even Paul, claim, “I got this”?

(13)  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,  (14)  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.  (15)  Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.  (16)  Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.  (17)  Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.  (18)  (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:  (19)  Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)  (20)  For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:  (21)  Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

 Are we minding earthly things above the things of God? Do we seek first the Kingdom or have we placed our bellies and earthly comforts ahead of God’s calling? Are we so focused on our careers and getting our earthly affairs in order during the rest of the week that we don’t have time to study and fully ingrain the truth of God?

Brethren, the glory of God is so great and vast there’s no way we can know it all. (Ecc 3:11; Rom 11:33; 2Pet 1:4) No, we don’t “got this”! We don’t “got this” at all! We need to dig into our bibles every day renewing the inward man day by day (2Cor 4:16) We need to be on our knees every day continually building our relationship with God and Christ (1John 1:3) striving to draw ever nearer in hopes of being accounted worthy in that day and to stand before the Son of man. (Luke 21:36)

There are only two outcomes –

1. “Well done good and faithful servant… enter thou into the joy of thy Lord”. (Matt 25:21)
2. “Depart from me…I never knew you”. (Matt 7:23)

Neglect not the gift that is in you, (1Tim 4:14) but stir up the gift of God. (2Tim 1:6) Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain. (Rev 3:2)

No we don’t “got this”. Jesus Christ has “got this” and we better be about making sure we know Him and have a relationship with Him; that we are intimately familiar with the Genuine and He with us.

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12-Lesson Bible Study Course. (Know and know that you know)

119 Ministries - http://www.testeverything.net

The Harbinger of Isaiah 9:10

 Is America defying God? Read this scripture from the prophet Isaiah and watch this video. You may be amazed to find that we are indeed defiant and our fall may be imminent.

The scale of the attack of the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001 was massive. Technology insured the continued visibility and recollection of insistent images.  Was this event in New York unique in history?  On the surface it would appear that it was not: catastrophic and unimaginable yes, but unique?

Rabbi Cahn describes the “Eight Harbingers of Judgment” experienced by Israel and their uncanny parallels to the events of September 11, 2001: his insights are prodigious, overwhelming and foreboding.  The consequences that would befall the nation that would not hear the Watchman after experiencing the prior warning which would be a shadow of the cataclysm to come.
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The bricks have fallen down,But we will rebuild with hewn stones;The sycamores are cut down, But we will replace them with cedars. (Isa 9:10)

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"Today, we, the heirs of that revolutionary spirit of defiance, lay this cornerstone and unmistakingly signal to the world the unwavering strength of this nation, and our resolve to fight for freedom." ~ Gov. George Pataki, Laying the Cornerstone for Freedom Tower, July 4th, 2004
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The scale of the attack of the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001 was massive. Technology insured the continued visibility and recollection of insistent images.  Was this event in New York unique in history?  On the surface it would appear that it was not: catastrophic and unimaginable yes, but unique?

Rabbi Cahn describes the “Eight Harbingers of Judgment” experienced by Israel and their uncanny parallels to the events of September 11, 2001: his insights are prodigious, overwhelming and foreboding.  The consequences that would befall the nation that would not hear the Watchman after experiencing the prior warning which would be a shadow of the cataclysm to come.

1. The Fallen Bricks

The ashes of bricks

 

The newspapaers rolled: “Acts of War,” “A Day of Infamy,” “Who did this?” “Terror’s Toll,” “Nightmare,” “Freedom Under Siege,” “Under Attack,” “Second Pearl Harbor,” “A Nation in Sorrow,” “Attacks Paralyze US,” “Devastation,” “Terror Hits Home,” “Evil Acts,” “Unthinkable,” “Our Worst Day,” “War at Home,” “Darkest Hour,” “Our Nation Saw Evil,” “Oh my God!,” “Our Purpose as a Nation is Firm,” “From the Ashes,” “The Day That Changed The World.”

There has been no event that has touched the United States and the world more indomitably than the attacks of September 11th, 2001.  As the images of the smoke, dust and death gorged the airwaves, the descriptions of devastation penetrated every media source.  Fire, smoke, dust, ashes.

Only sources with archives of the devastation of World War II had comparable images.  Berlin,
London, Nagasaki, Kassel, Hiroshima, Dresden, Rouen, Naples.  Images of earlier holocausts. These cities today, a generation later, reveal little of their broken past, their fallen bricks.  But the bricks of Ground Zero in Manhattan were reduced to ash, with little more than dust and metal to recover.  Is there a different message in these fallen bricks?
 

2. We will Rebuild

The woe of the wills

Empowering the rulers

On Wednesday, September 12, 2001, as a transfixed nation and world waited and wondered. Expectation was high for answers and outrage: it came in through the airwaves in the Joint Response of the Nation on the Senate floor in Washington, DC.  Representing the Congress and the nation and by authority as majority leader, Senator Tom Daschle addressed the world.

Recorded in the Federal Register, the words of Senator Daschle for the Joint Resolution of Condemnation for the attacks the morning of September 12th, 2001 can be read as they had been spoken:

“Mr. President, it is with pain, sorrow, anger, and resolve that I stand before this Senate, a symbol for 212 years of the strength of our democracy, and say that America will emerge from this tragedy, as we have emerged from all adversity, united and strong…

….The world should know that the Members of both parties in both Houses stand united. The full resources of our Government will be brought to bear in aiding the search and rescue and in hunting down those responsible and those who may have aided or harbored them.

Nothing, nothing can replace the losses that have been suffered. I know there is only the smallest measure of inspiration that can be taken from this devastation. But there is a passage in the Bible, from Isaiah, that I think speaks to all of us at times such as this:

The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with dressed stone; the fig trees have been felled, but we will replace them with cedars.
That is what we will do. We will rebuild and we will recover. The people of America will stand strong together because the people of America have always stood together. And those of us privileged to serve this great Nation will stand with you.” 

If there are any acceptable uses for a misapplication of Scripture, it is clear from the text that Isaiah 9 is not one.  The heart of the message speaks specifically to the consequences of an improper response to a first judicial incursion.  The illustration is a rebuke for lace of contrition and pompousness of will.  It will be demonstrated by examination of the 8th Harbinger that this very action is the most offensive of all.

Of over 31,000 verses in Scripture, the Isaiah 9:10 verse would become, for those in governmental authority, the flagship verse of the Nation and be specifically spoken by four other prominent politicians [that are in public record and related to this event].  

The more esoterically inclined might find the use of five “We Will’s” as an echo and progression of the five, “I Will’s” of Isaiah 14…but this context is at the fall of Lucifer, before the creation of Adam, and before the enmity of the seeds of Genesis 3:14.  

In the years following the 2001 event, each of the five leaders in the line of Presidential Succession for the former and current administrations would follow the resolve of the majority leader’s precedent with a pledge to rebuild from this event, apparently unaware of Isaiah 5.

A haunting undertone is found in the 1851 English Translation of the Greek Septuagint by Sir Lancelot C.L. Brenton translates Isaiah 9:10:

◦ The bricks are fallen down, but come, let us hew stones,
◦ and cut down sycamores and cedars,
◦ and let us build for ourselves a tower. 
To date, at the sites of the totally destroyed buildings, one new tower has been completed, World Trade Center Tower 7.
 

3. Bigger and Better

The arrogance of defiance

On the day of the 911 tragedy, Rudy Guiliani, the mayor of New York City punctuated the resolve of the city. "We will rebuild: We're going to come out of this stronger than before, politically stronger, economically stronger. The skyline will be made whole again."

 Seton Hall University Professor A.D. Amar described the devastation as, “A scene that no movie has captured,” correctly determining that, “America will rise out of it. We will build new Towers, larger than the ones we lost to these cowards.”

 

 The Freedom Tower

In a 2005 interview with MSNBC, real estate developer, Donald Trump weighs in: 

“What I want to see built is the World Trade Centers stronger and maybe a story taller. And that's what everybody wants. ‘The New York Post’ came out today strongly.  ‘The Wall Street Journal’ yesterday in their editorial came out strongly for that.” 

Lower Manhattan Info reveals details of the construction project, initially scheduled for completion in 2011:
Rising from its square base -- which will be constructed of impermeable concrete and steel -- the redesigned Freedom Tower will taper into eight tall isosceles triangles, forming a perfect octagon at its center. An observation deck will be located 1,362 feet above ground and there will be a square glass parapet at 1,368 feet, the heights of the original Twin Towers. From these, an illuminated spire containing a television antenna will rise to a final height of 1,776 feet.
 

4. The Hewn Stone

Quarried, not brick
The Freedom Stone

The first stone to be used in the construction of the 1,176 ft. Freedom Tower was hewn from New York granite and lowered by crane in a ceremony on July 4, 2004.  Governor George Pataki of New York presided:
"Today is indeed, a momentous day. Today we take 20 tons of Adirondack granite - the bedrock of our State - and place it as the foundation, the bedrock of a new symbol of American strength and confidence. Today, we lay the cornerstone for a new symbol of this city and this country and of our resolve in the face of terror.  Today we build the Freedom Tower.”

The polished and inscribed garnet flecked stone was lowered by a crane into a 5 story, 70 foot deep cavity to rest above the earlier foundation.  Rich in historic and ceremonial significance, cornerstones are often associated with unspoken dualistic motives, but reminiscent of a similar event at Babel, “The Freedom Stone” was removed on June 23, 2006, purportedly for design conflicts. A more specific explanation was given in July, 2008.  Detailing the circumstances, Michael Daly of NY Daily News wrote:

“…What ensued was senseless squabbling, near-criminal incompetence and bald-faced lies, all of which constituted a betrayal of the murdered innocents the stone purported to honor…We arrive at this Fourth of July with that 20 tons of disgrace sitting in the Long Island lot.”
The unity and selflessness so abundant two years earlier, was once again deteriorating.  Things were back on track on Wall Street, the good times began to roll again.

5. A Spirit of Defiance

Poking a finger in the eye of God

Repeatedly Scripture and commentaries record defiance as the highest insult against the Most High God.  Senator John Kerry, in his statement before the United States Senate on Wednesday, September 12, 2001 remarked: 

“…And I believe one of the first things we should commit to - with federal help that underscores our nation's purpose – is to rebuild the towers of the World Trade Center and show the world we are not afraid - we are defiant.” 

On the day the cornerstone was laid, then New York Governor, George Pataki again insisted: “Today, we the heirs of that revolutionary spirit of defiance, lay this cornerstone.” 
 

6. The Sycamore

Rooted and grounded, Ground Zero in bronze
1 Timothy 6

Rabbi Jonathan Cahn reveals the significance of the harbinger of the sycamore: 

The Bible records the sycamore tree as being a sign of judgment. It even says in Egypt the sycamore tree was struck down as a sign of judgment.  On September 11th, a freak event happened in the devastation:  a steel beam from the North Tower was hurled from the sky.  As the Tower fell, it went through the air and struck down an object: it was a tree.  

 

 The uprooted sycamore at St. Paul's Chapel

The next day [when] the people returned to ground zero, they found a tree lying on the ground, pierced by the beam of a falling Tower.  There, at Ground Zero was a sycamore tree – struck town…after the tree of Isaiah 9…a harbinger of judgment…’the sycamore has fallen’… 

…and strange, eerily, the people made a display of it, not realizing what it was in the Bible… and put it on display, its roots exposed…not realizing, as if to draw more attention to the sign. And a sculptor was commissioned to make a cast of it.  He poured metal into the cast: he cast it into bronze, the Biblical metal of judgment…an image of the fallen sycamore to be displayed on Wall Street. 

The significance of the bronze sycamore root sculpture is chilling.  In May, 1792, twenty-four stock brokers met underneath a buttonwood tree, along Wall Street in New York City.  The Buttonwood Agreement would be birthed as the golden calf of commerce, the bull of the New York Stock Exchange, but would be delivered, uprooted and cast in bronze. 

The buttonwood tree is more familiar as the American sycamore. This memorial on Wall Street would come to represent the riches of a nation uprooted, overturned, judged and displayed in bronze: and yet another idol.
 

Bronze scuplture of the Sycamore, Steve Tobin 

7. The Cedar

The Tree of Hope

Rabbi Cahn continues:

On the same Ground Zero, you had three [physical SIGNS] of the harbingers.  But there’s one more, there is the cedar tree, the seventh harbinger is the cedar tree, the arez tree….’the sycamores are fallen but we will put cedars in their place...’ 

…Two years after September 11th …a strange site was seen on Ground Zero, a crane, a different crane, was lowering a different object… the object was being lowered to a place where there had been a hole in the ground, it was being laid over the place where the fallen sycamore tree had been struck down...It would have been natural to replace the sycamore tree with a sycamore tree, but the Scripture says ‘we will replace it with an arez [cedar] tree…The object lowered was an arez tree, a conifer tree, the same as the cedar of Lebanon…
 

  




Cedar, St. Paul's Chapel, crane 

He pauses at this point: …

Now that would be enough, but there’s actually more:

…In Hebrew parallelism…a verse is often matched with a verse that rhymes in thought and so it matches the fallen bricks and the fallen sycamore together and they were both found the day after 911 in the ruins.
And then there are the two others, which are the cedar tree and the hewn stone. They are together because they both are lowered by cranes, they both had a ceremony surrounding them… they both labeled these icons: one was called the “Tree of Freedom,” the other was “The Tree of Hope.”

[At] the ceremony, as the tree was coming down to where the sycamore was, there was a clergyman there….he said: 

We are gathered here today on holy ground. Ground hallowed by its witness to the dust, and death and destruction of September 11th.   The ground is sanctified by our presence here as we dedicate this Tree of Hope in witness the divine within each of us.   

It replaces a sycamore tree destroyed on September 11th 2001 by the collapsing Towers. Our prayer is that this Ground Zero Tree of Hope will be a sign: a sign of the indomitable nature of human hope. As we walk this hallowed ground, may this Tree be an icon of hope, a symbol.”

The ceremonial planting of the cedar Tree of Hope took place on November 22, 2003.  The inaugural lighting ceremony was held the following week.

 

Ground Zero's Tree of Hope

St. Paul's Chapel 

8. The Vow of Arrogance

The ultimate harbinger is the vow

The words of the rulers in the wake of destruction.

Rabbi Cahn continues: 

At the end of November of 2003, the tree came down to replace the sycamore.  Seven months later, the quarried stone came down on the ruins of Ground Zero…..two months after that was complete, there was a Presidential election and the Democratic candidate for Vice President was John Edwards.

He was speaking in Washington DC at a gathering, it was September 11th, the third anniversary of the devastation.  And since it was a prayer breakfast he chose a Scripture which he linked to the events of September 11th. These now are his words on September 11th [of 2004]. Listen:  Washington DC. 

“Good morning. Today on this day of remembrance and mourning, we have the Lord’s Word:  [Listen] 

• ‘The bricks have fallen, but we will build - with dressed stones: the sycamores have been cut down, but we will put cedars in their place….’  Of all the thousands of Scriptures he could have chosen, he chose this one obscure verse from Isaiah, which even most Believers don’t know, not realizing what he was saying: it was a Scripture of judgment – marking it, he linked it to September 11th and said that it was the Lord’s Word to us…. not knowing this, [he] then he based the whole speech on this scripture. He goes on to say: 

“Let me show you how we are building and putting cedars in those three hallowed places, the Towers, the Pentagon and the Field. Walk with me through this day and you will see that while those bricks fell and the sycamores cut down, our people are making those cedars rise.” 

And he closed with, 

“Each time that bell tolls it calls us to a greater purpose. To never forget: it calls us to always remember that when we walk together this day that the cedars will rise and the stones will go up.”

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http://isaiah910.com/harbinger/harbinger.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXei0Zb3dxM