LORD

This week's sabbath reading is titled Va-eira, meaning "and He appeared". Please bear with me, and I think that we will see that the readings for this week are very important, and reveal the power of the Name of the LORD behind the exodus, meaning "the way or the road out of". In this case, that exodus will involve the miraculous deliverance of the Israelites from their hard bondage in Egypt, which was under the rulership of the most powerful king on earth at the time, Pharaoh. To me, the truth revealed here, however, applies as a precedent to all bondages and deliverances by God. In last week's readings, God told Moses His Name, which Moses was to tell to the Israelites. That name was "I AM THAT I AM", or, as written in Hebrew, yod, hey, vaw, hey- YHWH using English equivalents. Each of these Hebrew letters have an individual pictographic meaning, and in this case, the four letters mean "Behold the hand, behold the nail". This name is pronounced as Yahway or JEHOVAH, and in English is translated in our Bibles as "LORD". This week's readings will begin with a greater revealing of that Name: "Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh. For with a strong (hazak - strong, impudent, stiff hearted, hard, obstinate) hand he will let them (the Israelites) go, and with a strong (hazak again) hand he will drive them out of his land'. And the LORD spoke to Moses and said to him: 'I am the LORD. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty (El Shaddai/saday), but by My name LORD I was not known (yada - known, revealed, understood, declared, taught, experienced, confessed) to them...And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant. Therefore say to the children of Israel: 'I am the LORD; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. I will take you as My people, and I will be Your God. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you as a heritage: I am the LORD." (Ex. 6:1-8). As we can see, it was very important for Moses and the Israelites to understand the new revelation of this Name, "LORD". The "strong hand" of obstinance of Pharaoh will be made to serve the power of "the hand, the nail" of the LORD. The Name LORD would not only become "the way or road out of" (exodus) Egypt, but also the way or road to the LORD as their God and as His people, and the way or road into the land of inheritance promised by covenant to the forefathers of the Israelites. There is something important to note about the use of the word "swore" in the above verses. In the Hebrew writing, the phrase that is translated into the English word "swore" is: "a lifted up (nasa - lift up, raise up, endure, forgive, pardon, suffer to, swear) aleph-tav hand". Aleph-tav refers to the first and the last Hebrew letters of their alphabet, and by these same two letters, Jesus identified Himself in Revelation, translated from the Greek language, as "Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last". Here, the LORD swore by His "lifted up aleph-tav hand". The LORD had also said to Pharaoh regarding the Israelites, "Let My (aleph-tav) son go...My son, My firstborn" (Ex. 4:23). We can also note that the "groaning" referred to above that the LORD heard from among His people, had moved Him to answer because it caused Him to remember His covenant with the fathers (Ex. 6:5, see also Ex. 2:24). The "groaning" as written was aleph-tav groaning , and the "covenant" as written in the Hebrew of the Torah was an aleph-tav covenant. Since the aleph-tav is physically connected to the words, could the LORD have been hearing the groaning of His prophesied, but yet-unborn Son, the Messiah, from within the Israelites? I know this is very detailed, but the aleph-tav is present in the written Hebrew, and it was specifically mentioned four times by Jesus as His identity (Rev. 1:8, 1:11, 21:6, 22:13). It must be something important for us to know, and it is a rich treasure waiting for our consideration. Imagine then how this is an example of the power of the groaning of intercession of the Son (and of the Holy Spirit: Rom. 8:26) before the Father (see Rom. 8:33-38), and what this means to our lives as, in His priestly intercession, Jesus the Son, is able to save us to the uttermost (see Heb. 7:24-27)! We saw above that this newly revealed Name, LORD, is composed of the Hebrew letters yod, hey, vaw, hey that identify the Messiah, Jesus Christ, whose hand was nailed to the cross, and in another portion from this week's sabbath reading, this connection of identity appears again as the LORD told His prophet: "Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him (see Lk. 3:21-22); He will bring forth judgment to the Gentiles (goyim - nations, heathen, Gentiles, people)...I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness...I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house. I am the LORD, that is My name...Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them...I will bring the blind by a way they did not know; I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. These things I will do for them, and not forsake them." (Isa. 42:1-9, 16). To me, the verses above from Isaiah, as well as the earlier verses, directly connect the identity of the Messiah that we know, Jesus, to this revealed Name of God: the LORD. Jesus also confirmed this as He told us: "I have come in My Father's name...For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me." (Jn. 5:36-37, 43, 46). So we are seeing more in this week's sabbath readings about the importance that the Name of God, LORD (YHWH), and what it has to do with the exodus, "the way or road out of" slavery for His people. Let's look at some more clues to the principle of exodus. Pharaoh, like all mighty kings, believed that the reason he was born, and his purpose in life, was to rule. However, this was not his only purpose to God as we read in another part of this sabbath's reading. The LORD said to Pharaoh: "...for at this time, I will send all My plagues to your very heart...that you may know that there is none like Me in all the earth. Now if I had stretched out My hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, then you would have been cut off from the earth. But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth." (Ex. 9:14-16). Pharaoh, and all of his people, could have been dealt with very quickly by death, but the LORD raised Pharaoh up for a different reason - so that he and God's people, and the whole world, would know that the LORD caused the release of the Israelites by forcing this stubborn, powerful king to bend his will to God's will. In fact, Pharaoh is just a small cog in a very large wheel, as we will see. The LORD was really dealing with evil spiritual powers, or monsters, that rule over geographical areas. We can see this very thing regarding Egypt in another portion from this week's sabbath reading in which the LORD pronounces His judgments to His prophet: "Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt and prophesy against him and all of Egypt...'Behold, I am against you, O Pharaoh king of Egypt, O great monster (gadol/tannin/tan - great, mighty/dragon, serpent, land, sea or river monster/monster as supernaturally formed) who lies in the midst of his rivers, who has said, 'My River (referring to the Nile) is my own; I have made it for myself.' But I will put hooks in your jaws...I will bring you up out of the midst of your rivers...I will leave you in the wilderness...Then all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD...therefore I am against you and your rivers..." (Ezek. 29:2-6, 10). We learned last week that the Nile River played a large role in the ancient pagan religion of Egypt. Here in these verses, the LORD identified and prophetically judged the supernatural monster that inhabited that river, and all of the rivers that were in Egypt. He judged it as "the LORD", or YHWH (see also Ezek 28:22). Again, we see that the LORD didn't wish to destroy Egypt or its people, but to reduce its power and influence so that His people, Israel, would not keep turning to Egypt, to their harm, for help, instead of turning to the LORD (Ezek. 29:6-7, 12-16). Going to Egypt for help was not "the way or road out of", or (exodus), from trouble for God's people, yet His people preferred Egypt. Even after they were miraculously released from their slavery by the plagues that God had poured out upon Egypt, God's people wanted to return to Egypt several times! (see Ex. 16:2-3, Num. 11:4-5, Num. 14:3-4). There is only One who makes the way out, and that is the LORD, YHWH. He is the Waymaker (Isa. 43:16-19). These evil spiritual kingdoms and monsters that inhabit geographical locations over nations are defeated, judged, and will have their sentences executed upon them. We shouldn't look to the monsters for help - they have no desire to help God's people, but to destroy them. We saw earlier in Isaiah that it is the LORD who was sending His righteous Servant to bring judgment, saying of His Servant: "...He will bring forth judgment (mispat/sapat - judgment, ordinance, lawful, order, sentence of judgment/judge, condemn, defend, avenge, deliver) for truth. He will not fail nor be discouraged (rasas - crushed, grievously oppressed, broken in pieces, treated violently), till He has established judgment in the earth; and the coastlands shall wait for His law." (Isa. 42:3-4). This righteous Servant connected with justice, judgment, and truth, and identified directly with the LORD in these verses from Isaiah, is revealed to us in scripture to be Jesus, as He said: "For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son....Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life." (Jn. 5:22-24). Judgment has been given by the LORD into the hands of His Son, and an exodus has been created from death into life. Moses is the revered and honored deliverer of God's people in the account of the Exodus known world-wide, as he should be, but it is the name of the undefeatable LORD, YHWH, Who has sworn, and still swears, by His lifted up aleph-tav hand to appear and deliver His people. It is the name "LORD" that, as He told Pharaoh, would be declared in all the earth. If you would like to learn more about our awesome Deliverer and the Way of our exodus, you can join me in my prayer: "LORD of all, You have sent Your Son, Your Firstborn, Jesus, in Your own Name, to make the way for us. You have given Him all authority to judge, and those who believe in You by the Words of Your Son, have been passed from death to life. You have sworn by Your lifted up (aleph-tav) hand to bring Israel, and all others who believe in You through Your Son, into the inheritance You have promised, including the resurrection and eternal life of salvation. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit so that we can grow in the knowledge of the power, majesty and exodus found in Your Name, LORD. I ask and receive this with thanks in Jesus' Name. AMEN."