Journey

The title of this week's Sabbath reading portion is Massai, meaning "Journey", and is found in Numbers 33. What an enlightening picture it contains for all who follow the Lord! In this Sabbath reading, Moses was given a commandment from God. He was to make a record of all the places the Israelites had journeyed up to the point where they are encamped by the Jordan River, across from Jericho, at the crossing point into the Promised Land. We usually consider a journey to be about where we are going to, or our destination. However, the LORD had a different viewpoint in recording the journey. He wanted the journey to record where the Israelites had departed from at each stage of travel. Although our Hebrew title, Massei, means "journey", its root word is massa, which means "pulling up of stakes, breaking camp, point of departure, removed, go forth, set aside, be plucked up, to bend a bow". "Now Moses wrote down the starting points of their journeys at the command of the LORD. And these are their journeys according to their starting points..." (Num. 33:2). The Hebrew word used here for "starting points" is the word and root, mosa/yasa, which mean "watersprings, go out (forth), come out, source of a spring of water, place of departure, exit, lead out, deliver, to come out of". The journey was not just about "the going to", but more importantly "the departure from". In Moses' list of departures, there are forty-two named places, covering forty years (v. 38) of journeys. The number forty-two, which is the list of places of departure in Num. 33, also has a profound meaning in the Hebrew tradition, and rabbinical teaching. I will just give you some of the more important points here: The number 42 is written as the Hebrew letters mem bet. Those two letters refer to the written Torah, which begins with the letter beth, and the oral Torah, which begins with the letter mem. The Kaddish is a series of prayers said in the synagogue sanctifying the name of God. That name, according to rabbinical teaching, is composed of 42 letters from the Genesis account of creation. Here also is a direct quote: "The Kaddish is the means for the elevation of the sons of Israel from one stage to the next in their journey of life, leading ultimately to "Olam Haba", the world to come." (See 2 Pet. 3:11-13: "...we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells."). The name of God in Ex. 3:13-14, "I AM THAT I AM", equals the number 42 in gematria, which is the number value assigned to Hebrew letters. The Messiah's genealogy is expressed in three sets of fourteen, which equals forty-two (see Mt. 1:17). Forty-two months is alo involved in the revealing of end time events and the antichrist figure (Rev. 11:2, 12:6, 13:5). So, the forty-two places of departures listed in the journeys of Israel in Numbers 33 has great significance in scripture. The first place of departure from this week's Sabbath reading, which took place on the first dy after Passover, was from the Egyptian city of Rameses (Num. 33:1), which means "child of the sun (god). Rameses was built with the slave labor of the Israelites, and named after the Pharaoh. The Israelites would later speak of wanting to go back to Egypt, but once God causes us to depart a place in our journey, we are not to go back unless He brings us back. Some of the places departed from by Israel had pleasant names like "tabernacle"/Succoth, "resting place"/Rephidim, "beauty, goodness, glisten"/Mount Shapher, "sweetness, sweet fountain"/Mitheah, "pleasantness, goodness, acceptance"/Jotbathah. Many places departed from had unpleasant names like "to beat violently"/Dophkah, "graves of lust, longing, desire"/Kibrothhattavah, "bonds, prisoner"/Moseroth, "the slashing place, cut"/Horhagidgad, "shadow of death, deep darkness"/Zalmonah, "darkness, perplexed"/Punom, "familiar spirit, practice of necromancy/Oboth, "wasting, to pine and pass away/Dibongad, and their final place of departure when they cross the Jordan River will be: "house of desolation" and "meadow of whipping and scourging"/Bethjesimoth-Abelshittim. The LORD had stated that He would bring judgment against all the gods of Egypt (Ex. 12:12), and many of these places of departure represented those demon gods of darkness and suffering. One place of departure, Pi Ha hiroth, was a place sacred to Typhon, a demon god of Egypt. The departures in the journeys of the Israelites therefore evidently involved God's subduing of the powers of darkness. When the Israelites stayed or "encamped" at a place, the Hebrew word and root hana/hanan was used, which means "dwell, abide, lay siege against/mercy, gracious, favored, pity". The LORD laid siege through the presence of His people and His tabernacle, which was the foreshadowing of His Son, the Messiah Jesus, while at the same time, protecting and covering them with His mercy and favor (when they cooperated!). When the Israelites departed from Egypt, they departed as the armies of the LORD (Ex. 12:41). They were a spiritual army as well as a natural army, I believe. What does all of this mean regarding our walk in Christ? We also are being brought to a destination, and the journey is filled with a series of departures, as well as the reaching of an expected conclusion or end (see Jer. 29:11). Each departure in that journey accomplishes God's victory in spiritual warfare through His Work of Christ in us. Paul wrote: "...if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation (ktisis - the act of creating, of God creating the worlds, complete change or transformation); old things (archaios/arche/archo - from the beginning, original; the first place: principality, rule of angels, demons; to rule over) have passed away; behold, all things have become new." (2 Cor. 5:17). This verse, according to the Greek meanings of the words used here, refers to the passing away of the ancient spiritual rulers of darkness. Within us, as we abide in Christ, the God of creation is causing the ancient principalities and rulers to pass away, and a new (never before seen, unheard of, unprecedented) creation pertaining to all things has come to pass. We see this same idea in the rabbinical teachings, as discussed above, in the meaning of the number forty-two. Paul also wrote: "Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus...For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working (energeia - by superhuman power, energy, operation) by which He is able even to subdue (hypotasso - put in subjection underneath, put in a certain order) all things to Himself." (Phil. 3:14-15, 20-21). Christ is able to subdue all things beneath Him, including the primeval spiritual rulers of wickedness and chaos, through His transformational work in us, and into His body. This is a fulfillment of one of the prophetic shadows found in the forty-two "departures" of the Israelites throughout their forty year journey to the Promised Land. Our spiritual journey in Christ is essential, and accomplishes a finished work that re-orders and re-news creation. Are we willing to accept the departures, and their work of subduing spiritual powers, that the Lord has placed in our journey, or are we continually looking back (see also Gen. 19:24-26), going back, and repeatedly rehearsing the old things of the past in our minds, resulting in the re-enpowering of those ancient evils, and the undoing of His accomplished work through us? Let us accept the departures, if we wish to move upward in Him. If you would like to experience the beginning point and the departures found in a walk with Christ, you can pray with me: "Father, as you have shown us through the journeys of the Israelites, You led Your people by pillars of smoke and fire, and caused them to depart, or be removed from, places of spiritual strongholds as You judged the gods of Egypt. You accomplish a transformational work in and through me also as I continue my journey of departures with Jesus Christ that affects all things, including rulers and principalities of spiritual powers of wickedness. I can see the creation power of God at work in this journey, bringing me to new heavens and a new earth. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit, Who leads me to follow the path of Christ in my journey. I ask these things in Jesus' name. AMEN."