theAnointing

      This week's Sabbath reading portion is titled B'Shallach, which means "when he (referring to Pharaoh) let go". The phrase comes from the first verse of the reading portion of this Sabbath, Ex. 13:17: "Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, 'Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt." In written Hebrew, it is aleph-tav (Alpha and Omega in Greek, referring to Jesus in Rev. 1:8, Rev. 21:6 and Rev. 22:13) the people. By that, these people are identified as belonging to the prophesied Messiah. Aleph-Tav, the first and the last letters of the Hebrew alphabet, also means "God of the Cross/Mark/Covenant". The Messiah/Christ is prophesied throughout the Torah scriptures, from the very beginning of scripture, in Genesis, to the last Book of the Torah, Malachi.

     Looking further at the aleph-tav people, who are the Israelites, the Hebrew word for "people" is am, and is written with the Hebrew letters hey, ayin, mem. Each of these Hebrew letters have an individual meaning that, when combined together, can mean "Behold the appearance/experience of the fountain of (massive) water". Jesus described this experience in Him: "On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart/belly (koilia - whole belly, entire cavity, womb: the place that conceives and nurtures life, man's innermost part: the soul, the heart) will flow rivers of living water.' But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive..." (Jn. 7:37-39, see also Isa. 12:2-3, Isa. 44:1-4, Isa. 55:1, Zech. 12:10, 13:1). 

     As Jesus referenced "the belly" above, we see it again in our next verse from Exodus: "So God led (aleph-tav) the people around by way of the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt." (Ex. 13:18). The Hebrew word for "orderly ranks" is hamas/homes, and means "in battle array, armed men, arranged by fives/belly, abdomen, area of the fifth ribs". The former slaves were not armed with physical weapons at this point, or trained in war, but they represented the living spiritual power or weapon that would flow out of the bellies of the believers in Christ, and in their wombs they carried Messiah/Christ to be born at the appointed time. These were aleph-tav the people.

     So, Pharaoh let aleph-tav the people go, whom he would later try (and horribly fail) with his whole army of six hundred chariots and many foot soldiers, to re-capture. Egypt, including Pharaoh's house had just gone through the terrible plague from the LORD of the death of the first born of Egypt. Why was he so determined to risk annihilation by the hand of the God of Israel in order to chase after and re-capture these aleph-tav people? One reason is because God hardened Pharaoh's heart to do so, as the LORD told Moses beforehand (Ex. 14:1-9). God would glorify Himself before all of His aleph-tav people, as well as before the Egyptians, with His victory over this very stubborn, rebellious, and most powerful earthly king. 

     Spiritually speaking, the spirits of darkness, represented by the gods of Egypt which the ancient Egyptians served, would have been determined to destroy "the bellies", and the fruit of those bellies, of the LORD's aleph-tav people, as Pharaoh also tried to do earlier by killing newborn Hebrew male babies, in order to prevent the Deliverer King of all people from coming forth.

     History may be able to shed light on another reason, which the scriptures verify, that Pharaoh had great fear of these aleph-tav Hebrews (see Ex. 1:8-12). Ancient writers of Egyptian history reveal that Egypt was, for a period of time, ruled by foreign Pharaohs. These foreigners who ruled Middle and Lower Egypt were called the Hyksos. Only Upper Egypt was ruled by an Egyptian Pharaoh at the time. This time of foreign Pharaohs is known as Egypt's Second Intermediate Period, which lasted for about a century from circa 1670 to 1550 B.C.E. According to the historians, these Hyksos foreigners were a Semite population that had migrated from Canaan into the northern Egyptian Delta, which included the land of Goshen, to become a powerful ruling class that, over a slow process, began to rule as Pharaohs. The Hyksos, or "Shepherd Kings" were a unique people known for their shepherding and multicolored garments. We will hear more about "multicolored garments" later in our Sabbath reading. The Jewish historian, Josephus, recorded that these Hyksos people ruling at that time in Egypt were Jews! Other ancient historians were not willing to go that far but did admit that these Hyksos people had emigrated to Egypt from Canaan. This ties into the account in scripture of Joseph's and Jacob's travel to Egypt from Canaan in Genesis, and Exodus Ch. 1. Eventually, the foreign Hyksos people lost their ruling position in Egypt, and a new Egyptian Pharaoh (Ex. 1:8) was able to establish rule over all of Egypt. This period was called The New Kingdom. This being the case, we can understand why a new Egyptian Pharaoh, having obtained rulership, might fear this very numerous foreign former ruling class still living within his borders, and seek absolute power over them. He did not want these foreign "Shepherd Kings" with their colorful garments to ever be able to rise up in his territory again.

     Now about those very colorful garments that distinguished these Hyksos foreigners: We would soon learn that the Israelites had knowledge of vibrant fabric and thread dyes, because these very bright dyes would be used in the materials of the tabernacle that would soon be built in the wilderness under the supervision of Moses. The Israelites' knowledge of making these original dyes has been lost for many centuries, but has recently been rediscovered and the dyes are now being made and used again, especially in sacred garments. We will see later that these colorful garments would be a coveted and identifiable mark of the Israelites.

     From another reading portion from this week's Sabbath B'shallach, or "when he let go", generations later, under the period of the Judges, the Israelites, now long settled in the Promised Land as promised by the LORD, would fall under the oppression of their enemies when they turned away from the worship of the LORD, and turned instead to the idols and false gods of the land. A judge would be raised up by the LORD to deliver the aleph-tav people from oppression, and restore them to the worship of and obedience to God. One such judge was a prophetess named Deborah. The enemy king of Canaan, Jabin ("whom God observes, considers, discerns, distinguishes") of Hazor (haser/hasar - castle, tower, enclosure, court/ sound a trumpet, blow a trumpet), had an army of nine hundred iron chariots led by his general Sisera (meaning "battle array", "field of battle"), and had harshly oppressed the children of Israel for twenty years. The LORD had sold (makar - to sell, surrender, be given over to death, to betroth a daughter) the Israelites into his hands because of the evil (ra/ra'a - evil, wickedness, distress, injury, giving pain unhappiness and misery, unkind, malignant/do an injury, hurt, break in pieces, afflict) the Israelites had done in the sight of the LORD. The evil of God's people brought the evil back upon them. The long, harsh oppression of the conquering enemy had caused the Israelites to cry out to the LORD.

     A man named Barak (lightning, glittering, bright, flashing arrowhead, glittering sword, cast forth, send lightning used of God, to thunder) of KedeshNaphtali (holy sanctuary/ to wrestle, struggle, to twine) had been appointed by God to lead the Israelite armies against the enemy general Sisera, but he had not done so. Deborah called him before her and said: "Has not the LORD God of Israel commanded, 'Go and deploy troops at Mount Tabor (tebar/sabar - to break in pieces, fragile/break, destroy, hurt, crushed, rend violently, give birth)...and against you I will deploy Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army...and I will deliver him into your hand?" (Judges 4:6-7). Barak said that he would go but only if the prophetess went with him, which she agreed to do. Deborah told him, though, that because of this, he would get no glory from the victory, but the LORD would "sell" (see above) Sisera into the hands of a woman (v. 8-9). The enemy army was destroyed, but the general, Sisera, escaped to eventually hide in the tent of a Kenite family, where the wife killed the general with a workman's hammer and a tent peg. Sisera thought the Kenites would be an ally, but this Kenite family had severed themselves from the other Kenites. They were direct descendants of Moses' father-in-law, Jethro! They were not Israelites, but this family of Kenites was in covenant with the Israelites by marriage. This Kenite family was made up of Heber (heber/habar - a house in common, shared association/couple together, unite, join together, have fellowship with, to be marked with stripes or lines or blows), and his wife Jael (ya'al - to be good, profitable, to ascend on high, to rise above, set forward, stand on a summit, ascend a mountain, a noble prince, to excel). This family's tent (ohel/ahal - tent, tabernacle: the sacred tent of Jehovah, covering, home/shine) was pitched by (aleph-tav) Kedesh (meaning holy place, sanctuary). This family represented non-Israelites, severed from the idolatrous Canaanites, being joined by marriage to the Israelites, and with the One marked by stripes and blows, dwelling next to the Aleph-Tav holy place, and his wife who ascends to the heights. This sounds like the church to me. 

     We can tell from the Hebrew meanings of the key words used in the account in Judges that Deborah  was setting in place a spiritual battle as much as a physical battle. Barak's and Deborah's song of victory spells it out. They sing of how the people willingly offer themselves (nadab - to offer oneself freely, free-will offering, willingly, spontaneously) (Judg. 5:2, 9). Paul also wrote to the church: "I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world (remember that Heber severed himself from the other Kenites), but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." (Rom. 12:1-2). This is a first step in spiritual warfare - the weapon of the holiness of an offering of oneself. Deborah commands herself to "Awake, awake...awake, awake (ur - awake, lift up, arise, raise, be triumphant, be awake and watchful), sing (dabar) a song!" and Barak to "Arise (qum - arise, establish, to be raised up, preserve alive, become powerful)...and lead thy captivity captive (of the Messiah/Christ Jesus: see Eph. 4:8-10) !". The spiritual warfare is done in the name of Jesus, who is the Resurrection and the Life. Deborah and Barak also sang: "They fought from the heavens; the stars (kokab - star, of Messiah, blazing, shining, prince) from their courses (mesilla/salal - highway, raised way, steps of a ladder/lift up, exalt, elevate, esteem highly, cast up a highway, make plain, raise up, make a level way, wave to and fro like boughs of willow and palm trees; also see also Lk. 3:4-6, Isa. 40:3-5, Mt. 21:6-9) fought against Sisera." (v. 20). Again, we have a direct connection to the Messiah/Christ in v. 20, above. Sisera's army was swept away by a torrent of water, "an ancient (qedumim/qadam - antiquity, a pristine hero/anticipate, hasten, meet, go before) torrent" (v. 21), reminding us of the rivers of massive living waters that come out of the belly of believers in Christ, who is the Water of Salvation. This Song is full of references to Jesus Christ. 

     Remember the colorful garments of the Hyksos foreign rulers of  Egypt, and their possible connection to the Jewish people? In the Song of Deborah and Barak, the mother of the dead general Sisera was wondering why he has not yet returned. This was the mother's conclusion: "Her wisest ladies answered her, 'Yes', she answered herself, 'Are they not finding and dividing the spoil: to every man a girl (raham - womb, bowels, damsel, mercy, compassion, grace, favor) or two; For Sisera, plunder of dyed garments, plunder of garments embroidered and dyed, two pieces of dyed embroidery for the neck of the looter?" (v. 28-30). Sisera's mother thought that the great prize that would go to the general was the embroidered, dyed garments of the Israelites. It seems a strange battle prize for the general unless these garments were very highly prized or had great significance. What was it about the multicolored garments of God's people that made them so valuable?

     Psalm 45, which my Bible subtitles, "The Glories of the Messiah and His Bride" (this is an interpretation on the part of the scholars who published this version of the Bible), "the royal daughter" is among the daughters of kings who have come to the palace of the anointed King in order to serve among the King's honorable women. This King of this Psalm is described as having lips of grace, with glory, and majesty, with truth, humility and righteousness, anointed (masah - to anoint with oil, to smear, to lay colors on any thing, anoint in inauguration and consecration, consecrate as King) by God more than any other. We get the word "Messiah" or "Christ" in Greek from the understanding in the Hebrew of His anointing by God.  In this Psalm, at the King's right hand stands the queen, His wife was dressed in gold from Ophir (unknown location meaning "reducing to ashes" that was known as a place from which fine gold, precious stones, sandal wood, silver, and ivory could be imported). The entering royal daughter is "all glorious within the palace; Her clothing is woven with gold. She shall be brought to the King in robes of many colors or in raiment of needlework (riqma - see above); The virgins, her companions who follow her, "shall be brought to You. With gladness and rejoicing they shall be brought; They shall enter the King's palace." (v. 13-14).  We can see here that the idea of many colors and embroidered colors is part of the meaning of the Hebrew word "anointed" (see above). No wonder the enemy general, Sisera, coveted the multicolored garments of the Israelites, and no wonder Pharaoh despised letting them go! However, these special garments are not for the enemies of God to possess.

     The Book of Revelation tells us that for her marriage to the Lamb/Messiah/Jesus Christ it has been granted for His wife to be clothed in "fine (white) linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints." (Rev. 19:6-8). Verse 9 continues to say, "...Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!".  Here, the wife of the Messiah is to be dressed in clean, fine (white) linen, but the wife of the King in Psalm 45 is dressed in gold. If Psalm 45 is indeed about the glory of the Messiah and His Bride, why is she wearing "gold from Ophir" in the Psalm instead of white? When we look at the Hebrew root word for "gold", it is katam, meaning "marked, defiled, deeply stained, soiled, stained, filthy". That's a surprise! However, the main or key Hebrew word translated as "gold" is ketem, which means "fine gold, pure gold, precious, gold ore: pure as originally mined, that which is hidden away in treasuries". We can see by the use of the Hebrew words for gold, that something which was defiled, soiled, and filthy, has become pure, fine, and precious. What once was hidden away because of its filth, is now hidden away because it is of the greatest value. This golden garment of the wife represents the salvation and cleansing from all unrighteousness found in the Messiah/Christ Jesus. In Revelation, Jesus tells one of His churches: "I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire...and white (leukos/luke - light, bright, brilliant, dazzling white/light) garments, that you may be clothed..." (Rev. 3:18, see also Dan. 12:9-10, Mal. 3:2-3).

     The song of Deborah and Barak in Judges 5 ends saying: "Thus let all your enemies perish, LORD! But let those who love Him be like the sun (semes - sun, sun-rising, to be brilliant, a ray or beam of light) when it comes out in full strength." (Judges 5:31, see also Dan. 12:2-3).

     If you would like to learn more about the anointing of the Messiah, and the purification of His Bride, we can pray: "Heavenly Father, You have called Your aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega people to walk in and rejoice in the Anointed One, Your Messiah, Jesus Christ, who purifies us from all uncleanness and sin, and has called us as His Bride, to shine in dazzling light, and to walk in His anointing. Rivers of massive living waters are to flow from our bellies, our innermost being, which is the Holy Spirit in us through Christ. Work in my life, Lord Jesus, through Your Word and Spirit, so that I my life will reflect the glory of the purity and anointing of my Messiah and Savior. I ask this in Your great name, JESUS. AMEN."

Passover?

     It always comes as a surprise to me when this week's scheduled Sabbath reading portion comes up. This Sabbath's reading is titled Bo, meaning "enter".  The reason that it surprises me is because the portion deals with the Passover as covered in Ex. Ch. 10 through 13, but the reading portion doesn't coincide with the time of Passover, which this year doesn't occur until the fourth week of April which is three months away! This leads me to think that there is perhaps even more information to add to our understanding of Passover for us to consider. Perhaps we may start trying to figure out the mystery by looking at the complete meaning of the Hebrew word, Bo, the title of this Sabbath's reading, as it is used in various places in scripture. Bo means: "to go in, enter, come, come in, bring, come upon, attack, bring in, carry in, bring against, bring upon, bring to pass, besiege, a bride entering the house of a husband, to bring or enter into judgment, to be fulfilled/accomplished especially of prophecies, of a sign given by a prophet, to and from war- used of a king or other military leader, to carry with oneself". That's a lot of meaning for a little word. To add to our understanding of Bo, the Hebrew letters used to write the word are beth, vaw, aleph, which can mean, "the house or family joined (by a nail or tent peg) to the Lord". 

    In our Sabbath reading portion, the house that was to be entered into by God's prophet, Moses, was Pharaoh's house. The Word of God with which Moses was to enter Pharaoh's house was: "Thus says the LORD God of the Hebrews: 'How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My (aleph-tav, or Alpha and Omega in Greek, referring to Jesus. See Rev. 1:8, 21:6, 22:13) people go, that they may serve Me. Or else, if you refuse (ma'en - unwilling to obey/refuse to acknowledge a marriage contract) ...tomorrow I will bring (bo - see above) locusts into your territory (gebul/gabal - to set bounds, border, to twist as a rope, measured line of boundary)." (Ex. 10:1-4). 

     The plagues grew more severe as Pharaoh (paro - "great house") refused to acknowledge the (marriage) covenant between the LORD (YHWH: "Behold the hand, behold the nail") and His (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) people. The one mentioned above, locusts, was the eighth plague or judgment. The ninth plague would be deep, impenetrable darkness, and the tenth plague would be death of the firstborn. As Pharaoh continued to refuse the command of the LORD, Moses warned the Israelites that they must apply the blood of a perfect lamb upon the doorposts and lintels of their houses. None of the Israelites were to go out of the door of his house until morning (Ex. 12:22). As the angel of death passed across the land of Egypt, striking all firstborn and executing judgment upon the gods of Egypt, if the LORD saw the blood on the doorpost, He would "pass over" that house, and not allow the destroyer to enter (Ex. 12:12-13, 23).

     We can see here, according to Hebrew word meanings, that the LORD's marriage contract with His (aleph-tav) people was not being acknowledged and was actually impeded by Pharaoh. We see the interesting meaning of bo as stated above: the connection between the entrance of the bride into the husband's home, and the entrance into judgment, in this case judgment against Pharaoh, his territory, and the gods of Egypt based upon Pharaoh's refusal to acknowledge the marriage contract between the LORD and His (aleph-tav) people. The blood of the Lamb, which was Jesus (Jn. 1:29-34), on the doorposts of the Israelites saved the Israelites from the judgment of death of the firstborn, but also became the fixed boundary line and witness of the division set between the LORD's (aleph-tav) people, and the territory of Egypt under Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt.

     The moment of change came to Egypt that even the most powerful king in the world at the time, Pharaoh, could not prevent: "And it came to pass at midnight (hesi + layil - divide, cut in two, split in two, two parts, divided by an arrow, be cut off/finished + night as opposed to day, by night, spiral/winding staircase that folds back upon itself) that the LORD struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock. So Pharaoh rose in the night...and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead." (Ex. 12:29-30). "Midnight" in the above verse signals a sharp division between day and night, just as Paul remarked upon the division or separation between the children of day/light and the children of night/darkness, writing: "But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day (of the Lord's return) should overtake you as a thief (in the night). You are all sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness." (1 Thess. 5:3-5). The "midnight" moment of change is also mentioned as the moment of the Bridegroom's (Jesus Christ/Messiah) marriage. Those who were prepared for the Bridegroom's return went in (bo) with the Bridegroom to the wedding "and the door was shut". Those who did not enter in (bo) at that time, were denied entrance and forever divided/separated from those who had entered in (bo) with the Groom (Mt. 25:1-13). 

     In another example of this separation or division, Isaiah  wrote the Word of the LORD, saying: "Come, my people, enter (bo) your chambers (heder/hadar - hidden private inner room, bridal chamber/concealing curtain, enclose), and shut your doors behind you; Hide (haba/habab - withdraw, secrete/love fervently, cherish with warm affection, warm with the breath) yourself, as it were, for a little moment, until the indignation (za'am - anger, rage, God's displeasure with sin is completed) is past (abar - pass over, pass by, pass away, take away). For the LORD comes out of His place to punish (paqad - punish, visit, ruler, governor, oversight, judgment, be called to account) the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; The earth will also disclose her (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) blood, and will no more cover her slain (haraq - kill, slay, murder, destroy, smite with deadly intent)." (Isa. 26:20-21, see also Rev. 18:4-5, 20, 23-24).

     The indignation of the LORD is to deal with those who have the iniquity of the murder of the (aleph-tav) blood on their hands- those who have murdered the believers in Christ for their faith. They refused to recognize the blood boundary line that the LORD had provided of His own blood for those who believe on His name. Not only does the LORD come to punish or call into account, that iniquity, but the meaning of the word in Hebrew also includes to rule or govern, as Jesus Christ will rule and reign upon His return.  Again, we see the connection to "the wedding" as His people enter that private wedding chamber for protection, in the same way that the Israelites remained behind their doors marked with the blood of the Passover Lamb. In the Book of Revelation, immediately following the marriage of the Lamb (Jesus and His wife the Bride of Christ, Rev. 19:6-9), we read of the return of Christ to judge, make war and to rule (Rev. 19:11-16).

     As for Pharaoh, after the plague killed the first born of Egypt, Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron and said: "Rise, go out from among (tavek - middle, among, within, separate, to sever, a bisection, mid[night], be divided) my people, both you and the children of Israel. And go serve the (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) LORD as you have said (dabar). Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said (dabar), and be gone; and bless me also." (Ex. 12:31-32). Pharaoh would shortly change his mind again and send his army to chase after the Israelites to bring them back, but his efforts would fail, and the Israelites would be miraculously delivered.

     As I consider why the LORD would assign a Sabbath study on the Passover so far outside of the time of Passover, which is one of the appointed Feasts of the LORD, I can only answer with the connection I found between separating/dividing, boundaries, the blood of the Lamb, judgment, marriage covenant with the LORD, and the return of Christ to judge and govern. This may be only part of the picture, and there may be more discoveries to be found on another day.

     If you would like to know more about these things, you can pray with me: "Father, You have given the blood of Your Son, the Lamb of God, Jesus, to separate me from Your anger and judgment. Your Word has called me to come into (bo) the marriage supper with Jesus, and into (bo) the Wedding Chamber, where the door is shut. As You have separated me, by Your Word, Jesus, and by the Holy Spirit, keep me from leaving that wedding chamber that You have provided. Prepare me for the future Passover season with an understanding of the separating power and purpose of the set boundary line of the blood of the Lamb in my life and walk. I ask these things in the name of Jesus. AMEN."

LORD

      This week's Sabbath reading portion is titled Va-eira, which means "and I appeared".  To set the stage, we find Moses in a tight spot. Moses and Aaron had gone into Pharaoh and demanded that he let God's people, who had been enslaved in Egypt, go to offer sacrifices to God. This is what the LORD had appointed Moses to do, and had equipped Moses and Arron, his brother, with signs to convince both the Israelites and Pharaoh, king of Egypt, that this command came from God (Ex. 5:1). This request made Pharaoh very angry, saying to Moses: "Who is the LORD, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, nor will I let Israel go." (Ex. 5:2). Pharaoh then added even more harsh conditions to the Israelites' slave labor as a result of his anger. The officers or leaders of the suffering Israelites even blamed Moses and Aaron for adding to the sorrows of the children of Israel (Ex. 5:19-21). As we end chapter 5, we read: "So Moses returned to the LORD and said, 'LORD, why have You brought trouble on this people? Why is it You have sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done evil to this people; neither have You delivered Your people at all." (v. 22-23). Yes, Moses indicts the LORD of indifference and incompetence, Who had inexplicably and ineptly interfered in a bad situation and made it worse, and had dragged Moses into the mess too! I know these words seem awful, but this is the sound of the unbelief of God's people in His ears. 

     We may all face moments when we too are struggling with unbelief. On this subject, the Gospels give us a precious moment when a desperate father has come to Jesus for a miracle on behalf of his son: "Then one of the crowd answered and said, 'Teacher, I have brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down...So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.' Then He (Jesus) answered him and said, 'O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you...Bring him to Me." (Mk. 9:17-19). The son had another attack right there in front of Jesus, and the father said, "...if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." (v. 20-22). "Jesus said to him, 'If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.' Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, 'Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!' (v. 23-24). The father went from calling Jesus "teacher/Rabbi" to calling Him "Lord". The father was struggling with unbelief, but asked Jesus to help his unbelief, being desperate for his son's welfare. Jesus commanded the deaf and dumb spirit to come out of the son and to never come back. The son then appeared dead, and the crowd said that he was dead. "But Jesus took (krateo - to have power, strength, to be chief, master of, rule, hold fast and not let go) him by the hand (cheir - incl. symbol of God's might, activity, power: in upholding and preserving, in creating, in determining and controlling the destinies of men) and lifted (egeiro - raise up, cause to rise, arouse from the sleep of death, recall the dead to life) him up, and he arose (anistemi - raise up, to cause to rise up, to raise up from the dead, cause to appear)." (25-27). If we can admit our unbelief, and ask for help with unbelief, the LORD will help us.

     The LORD's response to Moses after his angry accusations is found in Ex. 6, part of our Sabbath reading for this week: "Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh. For with a strong (hazak - strong, firm, mighty, impudent, stiff-hearted, hardened, obstinate, urgent, severe, grievous, rigid) hand he will let them go, and with a strong hand he will drive them out (garas - thrust out or away, drive away, cast out, expatriate, expel, divorce) of his land." (Ex. 6:1). The LORD explained to Moses that it is by a detail that Moses had overlooked, the revelation of His name, The LORD, that He will do this seemingly impossible thing: "And God spoke to Moses and said to him, 'I am the LORD (Yehova/haya/hava - "the existing One", self-existent or eternal/to be, become, exist, remain, continue, beacon/shall be, to breathe, blow, air, breeze). I appeared (ra'a - look, show, behold, seer, perceive, consider, foresee, have vision, discern, be visible) to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty (El-Saday), but by My name (sem - name, renown, famous, report, glory, monument, character, authority) 'LORD' I was not known to them. I have also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, in which they were strangers. And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant." (Ex. 6:2-5). God's name "The LORD" was a new revelation in the knowledge of His people.

     Then the LORD revealed to Moses the significance of the revelation of His name "the LORD", of which there were seven specific characteristics mentioned, that would deal with the terrible plight of His people in Egypt: "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 (nata - stretch out or forth, spread out, extended, to be stretched out, coming down, to spread itself, to elongate itself) 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." (v. 6-8).

     When we picture the "outstretched arm" of the LORD described above, and its meaning in Hebrew, it is easy to picture the outstretched arms of Jesus on the cross. The name "LORD" is spelled with the Hebrew letters yod, hey, vaw, hey, (יְהֹוָה), whose individual meanings in the pictographic letters of Hebrew mean: "Behold the hand, behold the nail". In another reading portion from this Sabbath in Isa. 42, the prophet wrote the Word of the LORD: "I am the LORD, that is My name;" (v. 8). In this portion from Isaiah, God is describing His Servant, His Elect One, which, from the details in the Chapter, is referring to the Messiah/Christ (see v. 1-4, 6-7, 16, 22). Many of the characteristics of the Messiah/Christ written here fall right into the character contained in the name of LORD.

     Continuing in our Exodus Sabbath reading portion, the LORD begins sending plagues against Egypt through Moses and Aaron in order to bring Pharaoh's capitulation, but not before Moses again struggles with unbelief: "And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Go in, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the children of Israel go out of his land.' And Moses spoke before the LORD, saying, 'The children of Israel have not heeded me. How then shall Pharaoh heed me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?" (Ex. 6:10-12, 28-30). We also see that time and again, Pharaoh, once relieved of a plague, went back on his promise and refused to allow the Israelites to leave (see Ex. Ch. 7, 8 and 9). We shake our heads at the stubbornness and unbelief of Pharaoh, whom the LORD referred to as having a hardened heart (Ex. 7:13-1, 4) especially after Pharaoh had seen all of the signs and wonders of the LORD in both the sending of the plagues, and the relieving of the plagues through Moses. Yet the people of the LORD God exhibited the same hardness of heart and unbelief towards Him in another Sabbath reading portion from this week.

     Psalm 78 reviews God's miraculous, merciful, and faithful history with His people: "That they may set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments...Marvelous things He did in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt...He made His own people go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. And He led them on safely, so that they did not fear."

     This Psalm also recorded God's people's continuous struggle with unbelief: "A stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that did not set its heart aright, and whose spirit was not faithful to God...And forgot His works and His wonders that He had shown them...They sinned even more against God...Yes, they spoke against God...Because they did not believe in God, and did not trust in His salvation ....they still sinned, and did not believe in His wondrous works...they flattered Him with their mouth, and they lied to Him with their tongue; but their heart was not steadfast with Him, nor were they faithful in His covenant...again and again they tempted God, and limited (tava - to pain, wound, trouble, cause pain, grieve, afflict, to make or set a mark, to scrape to pieces) the Holy One of Israel." Their unbelief "limited" God. However, the word used here for "limit" means more than we assume. There is physical pain inflicted on God even to scrape marks into Him. The letters of the Hebrew word used here, tava, are tav-vaw-hey. The pictographic meaning of these Hebrew letters is: "Behold the nail and the cross". In addition to this profound meaning of the word tava, which is mis-translated as "limited", above, the psalmist gives us a reference to the Messiah as he pointed out that the LORD "awoke as from sleep" to beat back His enemies, chose the tribe of Judah, chose David His servant to shepherd Jacob His people, and Israel His inheritance: "So he shepherded/fed (ra'a - shepherd, companion, ruler, teacher, companion, pasture) them according to the integrity (tom/tamam - completeness, fulness, innocence, perfection, uprightness/to be finished, perfect, clean, to be completed, to be at an end, to be completely crossed over, to make whole, to destroy uncleanness) of his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands." (v. 65-72). David did rule Israel, but the innocence, perfection, completeness and finished work spoken of in the Hebrew also brings to mind Jesus, the Good Shepherd, the Son of David from the tribe of Judah, the Messiah/Christ.

     The LORD bore the pain, wounds, affliction and marks of our unbelief. We read in the New Testament a scripture from the Old Testament (Ps. 95:7-11): "Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion...where your fathers tested Me, tried Me...so I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter My rest." Then the writer of Hebrews concluded: "Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today", lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end..." (Heb. 3:7-14).

     If you would like to learn more about the LORD, and the importance of belief, you can pray with me: Dearest LORD, by Your Spirit, help me to understand the meaning and power of Your name, "LORD". In that name is power, deliverance and inheritance. I thank You for identity of Christ in Your name, and what that means in my life. Forgive me, LORD, when I walk in unbelief, and I ask You, Lord Jesus, to "help my unbelief", and make my belief and faith as the Son of God's. Let my heart be completed and perfected by the "integrity" found in Your heart. I ask these things in the name of Jesus. AMEN."

Testimony

      "And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, 'See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." (Rev. 19:10).

     The individual who had just prophesied to John in heaven above about the marriage supper of the Lamb was not an angel, nor Jesus, but a fellow believer in Christ. According to the verse above, because this unnamed believer has the testimony of Christ within him, the spirit of prophecy is resident within that testimony. Jesus and the Gospel ARE prophetic, and the prophetic cannot be separated from them nor from those who have Christ. In Christ, our faith is prophetic, our prayers are prophetic, our songs are prophetic, our messages are prophetic, our worship and giving are prophetic. I think that as we begin the Book of Exodus, and the other reading portions of this Sabbath, we will see the significance of this.

     The Book of Exodus is called Sh'mot in Hebrew , meaning "Names". It comes from the first verse of Exodus: We'elleh Shemoth, which means "Now these are the names...".  Sh'mot is also the title of this week's Sabbath reading portion. "The names" refer to Jacob, his eleven sons and their households who came to Egypt, for a total number of seventy individuals. From this seventy, the Israelites in Egypt "increased abundantly, multiplied, and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them." (Ex. 1:1-7).

     As a new Pharaoh of Egypt came to power, he grew afraid of the millions of Israelites who were living in Egypt. He felt that their loyalty to himself nor Egypt could be counted upon in time of war, and it was feared that the Hebrews would join an enemy and leave the land (v. 8-10). Therefore, Pharaoh insured their service through hard slavery (v. 11-14). He also sought to control the population of male Israelites by having male Hebrew babies killed upon birth (v.15-22). When the Hebrew midwives refused to cooperate with this plan, Pharaoh ordered all of his people to throw every son into the river to drown (v. 22). It seems that the evil of child murder, like all evil, does not remain contained, but its nature and desire is to be pervasive and without limit. The blood-hunger of evil is never satisfied (Prov. 4:14-17, Rev. 17:3-6). Man cannot control evil, not even the most powerful man in the world, Pharaoh, but rather, evil will control man. As the Israelites suffered terribly under the bitter and hard bondage of the Egyptians, it was time for God to send the deliverer of His people, who would be Moses.

     The prophetic promise of a Deliverer came to man as early as the occasion of man's fall in the Book of Genesis, and even earlier (Gen. 1:3-4, Gen. 3:14-15). The promise of the Christ/Messiah Deliverer continued throughout Jewish scripture. The specific prophetic promise to deliver God's people from Egypt came through Abraham (Gen. 15:13-14), and Joseph. Before his death, Joseph prophesied to his brethren: "...I am dying; but God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land (Egypt) to the land of which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob...God will surely visit you and you shall carry up my bones from here." (Gen. 50:24-25). Amos wrote that God does nothing without telling His prophets first (Amos 3:7), and the prophets tell God's people. We have previously discussed the testimony of Jesus Christ present in the lives of Abraham and Joseph. So we will look at the testimony of Christ, the spirit of prophecy, in this week's Sabbath reading portion.

     As Moses was called by God into the role of deliverer, the LORD spoke to him from the midst of a burning bush. As Moses led his father-in-law, Jethro's (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega: see Rev. 1:8, Rev. 21:6, Rev. 22:13) flock (son - shepherd, lamb, sheep, sheepfold, of a multitude, to migrate) into the back of the desert, and came to Horeb (horeb/harab - destroyed, dried up, wasted, decay, smite down, kill, slay), the mountain of God: "...the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush (sene - thorny, bush, to prick). So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed...God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, 'Moses, Moses!...I am the God of your father - the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God." (Ex. 3:1-6).

      In a place of death, decay and destruction, and in a circumstance that should have led to consuming destruction by fire, there was no destruction and death but a "great sight" (gadol + mare - great, high, greatest, mighty, magnify, praise, powerful, grow, of honor, lift up + vision, favor, countenance, appearance, spectacle, a handsome shape) which Moses turned aside to see (Ex. 3:3). Moses saw a figure and a face in the midst of the fire that should have, but did not, consume. The next time a form is seen within a fiery furnace without harm, the King of the Chaldeans declared "the form...is like the Son of God." (see Dan. 3:19-25).

     The LORD spoke to Moses from the burning bush. The "LORD" is represented by the Hebrew letters yod, hey, vaw, hey, which have an individual meaning of "Behold the hand, behold the nail". This is the testimony of Jesus Christ, the spirit of prophecy, about which we read above: The One whom death cannot consume.

     In another reading portion from this Sabbath, the LORD calls young Jeremiah to be a prophet. The LORD said to him: "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations." (Jer. 1:5, see also Rom. 8:28-30).

     As the LORD called young Jeremiah, He showed him his first vision: "Moreover the word of the LORD came to me saying, 'Jeremiah, what do you see?' And I said, 'I see a branch/rod of an almond tree." This first vision is very meaningful because it is built around the testimony of Jesus Christ, which is the spirit of prophecy (see above). First there is the branch or rod. This is the Hebrew word maqqel, meaning "rod, staff, a shoot (of germination)". Isaiah also prophesied concerning the Messiah who would judge: "There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse (David's father), and a Branch shall grow out of its roots. The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him..." (Isa. 11:1-2). 

     According to the vision which the LORD showed Jeremiah, however, it is a specific branch or rod of an almond tree. This is saqed/saqad in Hebrew, meaning, "almond tree, almond, the first tree to arouse and awake from the sleep of winter/watch, wake, hasten, be on the look out for, sleepless". The almond tree, according to its Hebrew meaning is a symbol of returning life from the sleep of death. There is also a reference to this meaning in Eccl. 12:5. Resurrection from the dead is the testimony of Jesus Christ, the spirit of prophecy. Eccl. 12:5. The root word for almond tree includes the idea of watching and hastening. Those who have the testimony of Jesus Christ also fulfill this role. Peter wrote concerning the believers: "Therefore...what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved...and the elements will melt...? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." (2 Pet. 3:11-13). Those who have the testimony of Jesus Christ walk hand in hand with, and enact, the spirit of prophecy that accompanies that testimony, as we saw with the fellow believer in heaven (see above).

     As Jeremiah reported to the LORD that he had seen the vision of this very important branch of the almond tree, the LORD replied to Jeremiah: "You have seen (ra'a - behold, look, consider, perceive, seer, foresee, have vision) well (yatab - good, pleasing, accepted, be glad, be joyful, to make well, do rightly), for I am ready (or 'I will hasten') (saqad - see above) to perform My word." (Jer. 1:12). The LORD was joyfully glad and pleased that Jeremiah accurately saw the vision of the testimony of Jesus Christ. All of the prophets of God had a revelation of the testimony of Jesus Christ which is the spirit of prophecy.

      From another of this week's Sabbath reading portions, the prophet Isaiah wrote the Word of the LORD concerning the restoration of Israel: "Those who come He shall cause to take root in Jacob; Israel shall blossom (sus - blossom, shine, sparkle, gleam, flourish, to gaze, make the eyes sparkle, be bright, emit splendor) and bud (parah - bud, sprout, shoot, bloom, break forth, break out, to fly), and fill the face of the world with fruit (tenuba/nub - fruit, produce, increase/germinate, bring forth, make flourish, gushing forth, make cheerful, boiling up, to utter words)." (Isa. 27:16). Before making this prophecy, the LORD gave Isaiah this Word: "Your dead shall live (haya - live, alive, save, revive from death, restore to life); Together with My dead body (nebela/nabel - corpse/to despise, to disgrace, to dishonor, to lightly esteem [see Isa. 53:3]) they shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; For your dew is like the dew of herbs (ora/or - herbs, light, light of joy and happiness, luminousness/light of life [see Jn. 1:1-4], to become light, shine, glorious), and the earth shall cast out its dead." (Isa. 26:19). This refers to the resurrection of the dead which is the testimony of Jesus Christ which is the spirit of prophecy.

     We who have been privileged to carry the testimony of Jesus Christ, carry the glory of God in Christ, and the prophetic promises of God, including the resurrection of the dead, which was fulfilled and assured by Jesus, Himself. It is also this testimony of Christ that we carry which overcomes Satan: "Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, 'Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of the brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame (nikao - conquer, carry off the victory, of Christ victorious over all His foes, of Christians holding fast to faith in Christ) him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word (logos/lego - speech, Christ as the Word of God, uttered by a living voice, declaration/to say, speak, affirm, teach, call by name) of their testimony (martirya/martys - a testifying, record, report, witness, the office committed to the prophets of testifying concerning future events/witness, martyr, record), and they did not love their lives (psyche/psycho - breath of life, the soul and its feelings, desires and affections/wax cold) to the death." (Rev. 12:10-11). This conquering testimony of Jesus Christ is an essential part of our faith and walk, as it was to all of the previous heroes of faith who served God, like Moses and the prophets. It is of more importance than this world and our desires.

     If you would like to know more about the testimony of Christ in us, you can pray with me: "Heavenly Father, You have revealed to me the Person and testimony of Jesus Christ, which saved me, and brought me into Your Kingdom. This testimony embodies the fulfillment of the prophetic promises of God including the resurrection of the dead. This testimony defeats the enemy of my soul and life.  This testimony looks to and hastens the return of Christ, His reign on earth, and the creation of the new heavens and the new earth, and the new creature in Christ. Let this testimony come alive in me and in my life as a witness by the power of Your Holy Spirit. I ask this in Jesus' name. AMEN."