the prestige

'But I was like a gentle lamb that is led to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me,'saying , Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.

And I knew not that they had devised devices against me saying...crucify Him...cut Him off from the land of the living...make it so that His name, His legacy, his very existance is made null and void. Make it so that no one will ever remember that he even existed, no children, no grandchildren, no name. Halt his history. Kill his story. Let His time run out. So do it while He is still a lamb--slaughter Him with a device of wood, a ruined tree that will bear fruit no more...crucify Him.

No sand on the seashore Abraham, for Israel has bottled herself in an hourglass of their own choosing, and their time has run out by their own hand.

And so it is...the fig tree bears no fruit, and Israel has no children. “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.” Forgive them for they do not know what they have just done. They built the gallows for themselves. They have turned the barrel of the gun inward. Haman hangs here. Grasp the irony of it all. When they crucify this Man they tear down the Temple, they resist the invitation to tabernacle with God--they kill their own future--For He is Israel. And He is Esther. He is the hope of the world.

But the story does not end...'The Prestige' is coming. The twist will appear in three days time. But a gasp, a drop in time, a moment, the Prestige commands our attention and applause. For here is the crux of time, the place where 'it is finished'. At the crucible, the cross, Jesus as Israel reconstituted, is found faithful and the covenant is complete. When the author of the will, promise, covenant, breathes His last breath the will is broke open and the children receive the inheritance. This is why Friday is good. Something happened here.

But the magic is in the third act on the third day.

The Prestige

In the film, The Prestige, a magician explains the three parts of a magic trick while performing a disappearing bird trick for a little girl.

'Every great magic trick consists of three parts or acts. The first part is called "The Pledge". The magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards, a bird or a man. He shows you this object. Perhaps he asks you to inspect it to see if it is indeed real, unaltered, normal. But of course... it probably isn't.

The second act is called "The Turn". The magician takes the ordinary something and makes it do something extraordinary. Now you're looking for the secret... but you won't find it, because of course you're not really looking. You don't really want to know. You want to be fooled. But you wouldn't clap yet. Because making something disappear isn't enough; you have to bring it back.

That's why every magic trick has a third act, the hardest part, the part we call "The Prestige".'

First, there's "The Pledge," where the magician shows you something ordinary, in this case a bird. Then, there's "The Turn," where he does something extraordinary, like make the bird disappear. It seems to be wiped from the face of the earth. It is no more.

But the magic is found in the third part, this is where the prestige of the magician, the power of his mystique is glorified.

There always has to be a third act, called "The Prestige," where you have a twist, a surprise,and bring the bird back before the audience will clap.

The sequence is astounding. The pledge (promise, covenant)...then the turn (the horrific event) and finally the prestige (glory).

And the dove will come back. Wait Noah, the dove will come back. The 'peace' of God returns unharmed. The bird will reappear. And the audience, attention aroused and amazed, will marvel at this.