MyHand

      The title of this week's Sabbath reading portion is Va-eira, meaning "and I appeared." This title comes from Ex. 6:2-3: "And God spoke to Moses and said to him, 'I am the LORD.  And I appeared (ra'a - look, behold, appear, seer, perceive, regard, inspect, have vision, discern, foresee, to be visible, to look at each other) to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name LORD (yehova/haya - Jehovah, יְהֹוָה: yad-hey-vaw-hey, 'the existing One', self-existent or eternal/was, has been, is now, to become, arise, appear, to abide-remain-continue, to be finished) I was not known (yada - know, knowledge, understand, perceive, find out and discern, recognize-admit-acknowledge-confess, to be made known or revealed) to them."

     The invisible God was made ra'a visible or seeable to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This alone is a huge revelation brought to mankind. However, there was more to be revealed.

     As the LORD is revealing this identity of "LORD" to Moses, He is indicating that the name "LORD" brings a new but absolutely necessary level of understanding to His identity than had previously been revealed. As we see above, the name LORD is spelled with the Hebrew letters yad-hey-vaw-hey, and, as has been mentioned before, the individual meanings of each of these Hebrew letters, when combined together, can mean "the hand BEHOLD, the nail BEHOLD." I chose to show the word "BEHOLD" in all upper-case letters because the Hebrew letter, hey, and its meaning is repeated twice in the phrase, emphasizing it. (note: It is also true that the idea of "hand" in Hebrew also includes the wrist, through which, the Shroud of Turin indicates, Jesus was nailed between the ulna and radius bones. This also makes anatomical sense as well.)  We are to LOOK AT and PERCEIVE that hand and nail, understanding its meaning in the naming of Himself to mankind as LORD. Millions in the world have recognized the Person of Jesus in the understanding of this name. After His death on the cross, Jesus appeared before His disciple Thomas, and told Thomas, who had not believed the report of Jesus' resurrection, to see and touch the holes in His hands and His side to assure himself of Jesus' identity. When Thomas saw them, he said, "My Lord and My God!" (Jn. 20:24-29). Jesus told Thomas, "...blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."  There are millions upon millions since who have only perceived "the hand and the nail" by their hearts, as Jesus said, while never having seen them with their physical eyes. "The hand BEHOLD, the nail BEHOLD."

     How could the name, "LORD", incorporate an identity of pierced hands before Jesus was physically born? New Testament scripture tells us that Jesus was the Lamb sacrificed before the foundation of the world. (1 Pet. 1:18-20). Jesus, whose name in both Greek and Hebrew means "salvation", was pierced and crucified in eternity before the world existed, and the promise of His overcoming salvation work was given as early as the Book of Genesis, to the serpent, Satan, (see Gen. 3:14-15), as well as throughout the Tanakh, the Old Testament (see various, including Ps. 22 and Isa. 53). In fact, the identity of this pierced LORD is hidden even earlier in Genesis in the Hebrew language used.

     Why was it important to know God's name as LORD, and to understand the meaning that is encompassed by that name? The miraculous deliverance of God's people from harsh slavery in Egypt, and the fulfilment of the covenant promise made to the forefathers to bring their descendants to a land promised by God, would be accomplished by the Person who is the LORD: "...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 (yada - see above) 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. 6:6-8). Moses brought this message to the children of Israel; "but they did not heed Moses, because of anguish (qoser/qasar - shortness, impatience, anguish/impatience, grief, to cut down, to reap) of spirit and cruel (qase/qasa - stiff-necked, hard, cruel, grievous, churlish, hardhearted, heavy/harden, hard, to make stubborn, dense) bondage." (v. 9). From the language used here, the Israelites, because of the harshness of their lives in slavery, were not interested in promises, and had no faith in them. They had become stiff-necked, stubborn and impatient with the God of their fathers. However, like a field that requires time to ripen before harvesting, God affects His plan at the perfect time, when conditions have ripened, and not before or after.

     The New Testament also warns believers in Christ not, through deceitfulness of sin, to harden their hearts against faith in Jesus as the rebellious Israelites did in the wilderness. It prevents us from entering into the spiritual place of rest, or Sabbath, with God: "For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end." (Heb. 3:7-14).

     As Moses did miraculous signs that affected the land of Egypt, Pharaoh's heart was hardened against the command of the LORD delivered through Moses to let God's people go. However, in a mysterious work, the LORD said that He would harden Pharaoh's heart to accomplish His purpose: "So the LORD said to Moses: 'See, I have made you as a God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet. You shall speak (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega)-all-that I command you...to send (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega)-the-children-of-Israel out of his land. And I will harden Pharaoh's (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega)-heart, and multiply (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega)-My-signs-and-My-wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh will not heed you, so that I may lay (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega)-My-hand on Egypt and bring (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega)-My-armies and (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega)-My-people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega)-My-hand on Egypt and bring out (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega)-the-children-of-Israel from among them...and Pharaoh's heart grew hard, and he did not heed them (the signs that Moses and Aaron did), as the LORD had said." (Ex. 7:1-5, 13).

     According to the presence of all of the written, but untranslated, *aleph-tav's above, we can see that the hand of the LORD that would accomplish this mighty deliverance is associated with the Messiah/Christ, as well as the name LORD (see above) and would therefore have had a nail wound in it. Even before Jesus appeared physically on the earth, He appeared spiritually in the circumstances of both Moses and the children of Israel. Isaiah would later ask the question regarding the Messiah/Christ: "Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm (zeroa - the stretched-out arm, forearm, "the strength of His hands", strength, might, power) of the LORD been revealed?" (Isa. 53:1)

     Do we understand the power in the nail-scarred hand of the LORD? Every mark that the haters of God inflicted upon the body of Jesus Christ was turned into our forgiveness, healing and liberation. It is the scarred hand of "the LORD" (see meaning above) that would bring the most powerful nation on earth at that time, Egypt, down, and, by great judgments, He would bring His people out of their bondage and into the covenant place that the LORD had prepared for them. (see above and also Jn. 14:1-6).

     In the praise/prayer of the King of Judah, Jehoshaphat, standing before the house of the LORD, he said: "O LORD, God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven, and do you not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand you?" (2 Chron. 20:5-6). From this same hand of the LORD also comes creation (Isa. 48:12-13, Isa. 41:20, Isa. 66:1-2, Ps. 119:73), Deliverance (Deut. 7:8), favor and provision (Ezra 7:6), the rule over nations (Isa. 14:26-27), judgment (Isa. 9:12-13), mercy (Isa. 65:2), and resurrection (Mark 5:35-42).

     This nail-scarred hand of the LORD is endued with all power. We see above, however, that the enslaved Israelites did not believe the promises made to them by Moses and given by the LORD.

      Another reading portion from this Va-eira, "and He appeared" Sabbath tells us that even after He delivered the Israelites out of Egypt and showed them great miracles in the wilderness: "Yes, again and again they tempted God, and limited (tava - to pain, wound, cause pain, to grieve, to mark, to imprint) the Holy One of Israel. They did not remember (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega)-His-hand/power (yad, see mention above): the day when He redeemed them from the enemy." (Ps. 78:41-42). Considering the Hebrew meaning of "limited" written above in regard to the LORD's *aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega hand, we can see that the word for "limited" does not have the same meaning as it does in English. Instead, we can see the connection to the nail holes, the wounds, the marks, the imprints, in Messiah/Christ's hands as representing the sin, the unbelief in, or failure to remember the LORD's great power. The New Testament uses this understanding of the Hebrew meaning of "limited" above in Heb. 6:4-6 where it is written that when those who had the full understanding of "the heavenly gift", and have come to be "partakers of the Holy Spirit", yet fall away from that understanding and faith, it becomes impossible to renew them "since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame." Christ is wounded again because of our unbelief. Paul also warned us: "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? - unless indeed you are disqualified." (2 Cor. 13:5). Most of us would feel confident that we are indeed "in the faith" and would not spend much time examining that or "testing" it. However, the prophet also wrote: "And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.” (Zech. 13:6 KJV).

     There were those in scripture who felt confident in their faith, their gifts, their positions and standing but then found out to their horror that Jesus "never knew" them because they failed to do the will of His Father in heaven. (see Mt. 7:19-23). Humility. servanthood and an obedient heart, the evidence or fruits of Messiah/Christ in us, are needed to do the will of the Father. Better to examine and test ourselves now than to find it out later.

     We can ra'a see the appearance of the nail wounds in Messiah/Christ's hands and feet and the spear wound in His side. We can believe and remember the mighty power in the touch of those (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) hands of the LORD. 

     If you would like to understand more about the hands of the LORD, you can join with me in prayer: "Heavenly Father, You revealed the knowledge of Your *aleph-ta/Alpha and Omega hands to Moses, and You have revealed them to us in the hands of Your Son and our Lord, Jesus. Lord, help my faith, so that I can please You. Help my memory so that I never forget the power of Your hands. Forgive me and help me to never "limit" the Holy One of Israel with whom nothing is impossible. Let me look upon and reach out for the nail-scarred hands of Your wonderful Son, Jesus. These are the hands that save me, redeem me, heal me, deliver me, provide for me, and resurrect me. These are the hands that fight and overcome the enemy of my soul and life. These are the hands that hold kings' hearts and rule nations. I bless You, Lord, and praise Your love for me that caused You to receive the wounds on my behalf. I pray this in the name of Jesus. AMEN."

*NOTE: aleph-tav written in Hebrew as אֶת, are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The meaning of the two pictographic Hebrew letters can also be interpreted "Adonai (Lord) of the Cross/Covenant". In the New Testament, these letters are translated as Alpha and Omega written as ΑΩ , the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. These letters are those by which Jesus Christ identifies Himself in the Book of Revelation: see Rev. 1:8, Rev. 21:6, Rev. 22:13.