GreatSabbath

      The title of this week's Sabbath reading portion is Tzav, meaning "Command." This is also a special Sabbath called HaGadol, or Great Sabbath, in this case because it is the Sabbath before Passover. The title, Tzav, comes from Leviticus 6:8-9: "Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying 'Command (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega)-Aaron ('aharon - "light bringer", mountainous) (*vaw-aleph/tav)-and-his-sons, saying, 'This is the law of the burnt offering...". The word "command” is the Hebrew word sav meaning: command, charge, appoint, order, ordain of divine act, to set up.

     What is being ordained by the LORD to the priest is the atonement (kapar - atonement, purge, reconciliation, forgive, merciful, cleansed, pardon) for a person's trespasses against the LORD regarding a (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega)-neighbor. These trespasses are described in earlier verses 1-6 KJV in the chapter. The trespasses are against the LORD for the acts done against the (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega)-neighbor. Now a "neighbor" is specifically used here instead a "person". The Hebrew word for neighbor is 'amit meaning: neighbor, another, an associate, fellow, kindred, companion. This is not a stranger, but one who is known to the person committing the trespass. This neighbor is also identified with Messiah/Christ because it is preceded by the written *aleph-tav. The Messiah/Christ would be born from among them, be kindred to them, would live among them and with whom they would become acquainted.

     It is appropriate that this reading is connected to the Sabbath before the Passover, a Great Sabbath, when the Passover lamb, who had been brought into the household, was killed and its blood was used to cover the doors of the houses of the Israelites in Egypt in order to protect those households from the last plague of Egypt - the death of all first born. Jesus is identified as our Passover Lamb who takes away the sins of the world by three apostles in the New Testament: Paul in 1 Cor. 5:7-8, John in John 1:29 and Rev. 5:6, and Peter in 1 Pet. 1:18-19.  We will see that the trespasses committed against the *aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega "neighbor" deeply resemble the suffering, crucifixion, burial, descent into Hell, and resurrection of Jesus Messiah/Christ. It is a timely Sabbath reading because, not only is Passover approaching, but also Resurrection Sunday. We will also see that the LORD commanded the provision of Atonement that would cover and pardon the trespasser.

     The portrait of the suffering and death of the Messiah/Christ (Jesus) is found in the very particular language used to describe the trespasses against the LORD by the abuse of the *aleph-tav- "neighbor". Therefore, I will look at the Hebrew word meanings found in these uniquely worded phrases from Lev. 6:4-11 from the King James version.

     From verse 4, there are four phrases which describe the trespass against the neighbor which the trespasser must restore to him:

1.  ...(*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega)-that-thing which he took violently away: (gazal - rob, consume, force, torn, seize, take away by force, flay, strip, tear, strip off skin from flesh). Jesus was seized forcibly in His arrest, and His skin was flayed from His body with the Roman scourge/whip.

2.  ...(*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega)-the-thing deceitfully gotten: ('oseq/'asaq - injury, cruelly, oppression/oppress, violate, be crushed, injustice, roughness, do violence, wrongly). Jesus, who was innocent of the contrived allegations against Him, as even Pontius Pilate attested (see Lk. 23:14), was nevertheless wrongfully violated, cruelly mocked and violently injured.

3.  ...(*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega)-that-thing which was delivered to him [the trespasser] to keep: (paqad - attend to, care for, pay attention to, observe, to seek, to be visited, to be appointed, to be watched over, be caused to miss, trust). Jesus was the *aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega "thing" that was given by God into the care and keeping of man. Jesus told the people to follow Him, to seek Him, to receive His visitation, but, as was God's plan from the beginning, Jesus was instead delivered up violently (see Acts 2:22-23) by the sins of all (both Jew and Gentile because all have sinned) to be executed. (see Isa. 53:3, Mt. 27:24-25, Acts 2:23, Rom. 4:24-25, Rom. 8:31-32).

4.  ...(*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega)-the-lost-thing which he (the trespasser) found: ('abeda/'abad - lost thing, place of destruction, Hades, abyss/perish, broken, destroy utterly, vanish, kill, exterminate, to blot out, no escape, cut-off, lost and wandering sheep, houses laid waste) and (found/masa' - encounter, detect, recognize, discovered). Jesus was treated as lost and consigned to extermination and Hades/Hell (see 'abeda/'abad above) even though He had told them, and us, that they should detect and recognize (see masa' above) Him as being part of His Father in heaven for His works' sake, if for no other reason. (Jn. 14:10-11). Jesus overcame death, Hell and the grave as He entered into them. (Rev. 1:18, Acts 2:24-28).

     Let's look at verse 6 from this chapter of Leviticus for our next depiction of Messiah/Christ: "And he (the trespasser) shall bring (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega)-his-trespass-offering ('asam - sin, trespass, guiltiness, to do wrong, do injury, desolate, perish) unto the LORD, a ram ('ayil/'ul - ram, door post, door jambs, mighty tree, lintel, ram as a sacrifice, as yielding wool, door surround, leaping, skipping [as the pascal lamb]/noble leading man) without blemish (tamim/tamam - without blemish, perfect, upright, complete, full, innocent, what is complete or entirely in accord with truth and fact/end, finished, spent, done, accomplish, perfect, to be completely crossed over, make whole, be upright) out of the flock...for a trespass offering, unto the priest."

     In the meaning of the Hebrew words noted above, there is a connection of "the ram" to the blood smeared doorposts and lintels of the Passover deliverance (Jesus is our Passover - see above) and protection from the plague of death. As we look at the meaning of "without blemish" above, we can understand the words of Jesus on the cross when He said, "It is finished." He was and is perfect in His innocence and in full accord with truth. (see Jn. 1:14).

     This same image is to continue in us, the believers in Messiah/Christ. Paul wrote that the end goal of God for the Church was to the "perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." (Eph. 4:13). In another place, Paul wrote that Christ wanted to present us to Himself "a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." (Eph. 5:26-27). We are also to have the same quality as Messiah/Christ as the *aleph-tav-the-burnt-offering for trespass: tamim - without blemish. If it is the purpose and will of God that we are to be built into this perfect man and fulness of Christ, then we should understand the image into which we are being conformed. It includes the image of the *aleph-tav-burnt-offering. (see Heb. 13:13-14). We will see this again later.

     In this Lev. 6 chapter, the LORD commanded (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega)-Aaron-and-his-sons to take the trespass burnt offering and burn it upon the altar, whose fire is to be kept burning continually. After (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega)-the-burnt-offering has been consumed, the priest shall take off his priestly garments, put on other garments, "and carry forth (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega)-the-ashes without the camp unto a clean place (taor/taher - shine, uncontaminated, to be bright, empty)." (v. 9-11).

     After Jesus Messiah/Christ had been consumed on the cross as our trespass offering (see Isa. 53:5, 8, 10), His body was taken and placed in the clean, unused tomb carved out of the rock, owned by Joseph of Arimathea (from rama/rum - birthplace of Samuel, high place/to raise, rise, rise up, exalt, set on high, lift up, raise, heave offering), "...where no one had ever lain before. That day was the Preparation, and the Sabbath drew near." (see Lk. 23:50-54). The tomb was located in a garden, "in the place where He was crucified." (Jn. 19:41-42). This meant that the tomb was located outside of the city just as the *aleph-tav ashes of the *aleph-tav burnt offering were to be placed outside the camp. (see Heb. 13:10-14, Jn. 19:17-20). Being a new, never occupied tomb meant that it was "a clean place", undefiled previously by a corpse. The "clean place" mentioned in Leviticus for the deposit of the ashes of the offering is also a place that means "bright, shining" (see taor/taher above). Paul wrote that Jesus was raised by the glory of the Father, as we are also (see Rom. 6:4-5), and the tomb was left "empty" (see again taor/taher above).

     Before we leave Lev. 6, there is another interesting point to make, which will also take us into another reading portion from this Tsav Sabbath. In Lev. 6:12-13, the fire of the altar must always be kept burning: "...The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out." What is this fire that shall always be burning and never quenched? Is it the fire of God's wrath? Is it the fire of Hell? The word "ever" used in the above verse is the Hebrew word tamid. Notice that this Hebrew word is very similar to the Hebrew word that means "without blemish", that is tamim/tamam, referring to the *aleph-tav-burnt-offering for trespasses. 

     Related to this, from another Tzav "Command" Sabbath reading from this Ha-Gadol or Great Sabbath before Passover, we also read of the Refining Fire that is the LORD: "Who can endure (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega)-the-day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire...He will purify (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega)-the-sons-of-Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer the LORD an offering in righteousness." (Mal. 3:2-3). This refining fire then has the effect of leaving the sons of Levi "without blemish", purged of all unrighteousness. This same ever-burning tamid refining fire of the altar is continually available to purge us as well.

     The baptism of the Holy Spirit upon and within the believer in Messiah/Christ Jesus is a baptism of spiritual fire. (see Mt. 3:11-12). The manifestation of this promise indeed appeared as "tongues of fire" upon each believer waiting upon the Lord in Jerusalem on the Feast of Pentecost/Weeks. (see Acts 2:1-4).

     The LORD spoke directly clarifying that the animal sacrifices that were commanded to the Israelites and the Levitical priesthood were not for the pleasing of God by shedding animal blood for the Atonement of sins and trespasses but as a prophetic shadow of better and perfect things to come. These animal sacrifices were pointing instead to obtaining the true knowledge of the will of God and what He has prepared for man, namely an eternal and holy Atonement through the blood of His Son, Jesus. (see Ps. 40:6-8, Isa. 1:11, Jer. 7:21-23, Hos. 6:6, Heb. 10:1-4).  Jesus' identity is "hidden in plain sight" in the Hebrew language of the Torah as noted above, and in confirming New Testament scriptures. It is into this same identity and image, the *aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega-burnt-offering, that we also are being transformed. (see Rom. 12:1-2).

     It you would like to know more about the burnt offering that is the Son of God into which image we are also being transformed as believers, you can join my prayer: "Heavenly Father, You have sent Your Son to be our burnt offering sacrifice for sin. You established the prophetic pattern which You fulfilled with the perfect, innocent and upright sacrifice beyond the greatest imaginations of men. You told Your prophets that we were to look for this knowledge of You even beyond the proscribed sacrifices of the Law. Lord Jesus, not only were You gracious to become my sacrifice, but You have also called Your followers to be conformed into this same image. By Your Word and Holy Spirit, give me the understanding needed to offer myself, conformed to the fulness of the stature of Christ, as a living sacrifice proving the good, acceptable and perfect will of God before all creation. Let this Passover/Resurrection season witness to the world the wonder, love and forgiveness found in Your Atonement provision for all, Your Son, Jesus. I ask this in the name of Jesus, Son of God, Savior and Lord. 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. 

AltarFire

   

      The title of this week's Sabbath reading portion is titled Tzav, meaning "Command", and comes from Leviticus 6 which says: "Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Command Aaron and his sons, saying, 'This is the law of the burnt offering: The burnt offering shall be on the hearth upon the altar all night until morning, and the fire of the altar shall be kept burning on it...And the fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it; it shall not be put out...A fire shall always be burning on the altar; it shall never go out." (Lev. 6:8-13, excerpt).

     The word Tzav צָוָ  is made up of two Hebrew letters: Tsadde and Vaw. These two letters when joined together could have the pictographic meaning: "Joined together to the journey pulling toward a righteous harvest." The commands of the LORD always pull us toward and join us to the way of His righteousness, and to the One who fulfills the Law for us. The way of righteousness is not made up of our own failing attempts, but the commands of God pull us toward the Gift of Righteousness, God's own Son, Jesus Christ: "For Christ is the end (telos - termination, the last, purpose, the end to which all things relate, to set out for a definite point or goal) of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." (Rom. 10:4. See also Rom. 3:21-23, 2 Cor. 5:21, 1 Cor. 1:30-31, Rom. 5:17). Jesus said that He came to fulfill the law and the prophets. (Mt. 5:17-18).

     Some of the Jewish interpretations of the always burning altar are that God desires to accept what is offered to Him as He desires to accept us. His arms are always open and awaiting us when we come to Him. This truth was also taught by Jesus in the Parable of the Prodigal Son. The younger son took his inheritance and left his father's house, eventually falling into dishonorable ways and hard times. When the son remembered his father's house, he returned home to find that his father had been watching for him and saw him coming from a great way off and received him with a feast and great joy, as if he had received his son back to him from the dead. (see Lk. 15:11-32). In another part of scripture, the LORD also said: "I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good." (Isa. 65:2, Rom. 10:20-21). It is not surprising to know that Jesus died on the cross in a position of outstretched arms and hands. The Lord was and is still ready to receive any and all who would come to Him.

     Another thought from Judaism is that the eternally burning altar is a symbol of the ongoing purification, transformation, refining and elevating that God's people find at His altar. From another reading portion of this Tzav Sabbath, the LORD promises to send His Messenger of the covenant who will suddenly come: "But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire and like launderers' soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the LORD an offering in righteousness." (Mal. 3:2-3, see also Lk. 21:34-36 of Jesus prophesying His return, also Rev. 3:18-20). The LORD also said from our Sabbath reading: "...It shall be a statute forever in your generations concerning the offerings made by fire to the LORD. Everyone who touches them must be holy." (Lev. 6:18).

     To me, there is also a duality of meaning to the eternally burning fire of the altar.  Jesus quoted Isaiah when He spoke about the worm that doesn't die and the fire that is not quenched, describing Hell (Isa. 66:24, Mk. 9:42-49). This eternally burning fire is fed by sin until, eventually, the whole earth will be consumed in fire, to be replaced by new heavens and a new earth. (2 Pet. 3:7, 10-13). This is terrible to think about, but the good news is that there is an eternal sacrifice that was made on that burning altar of fire, of much greater power than the sacrifice of animals. This sacrifice given for all of us is the eternal nature of Messiah/Christ's offering of Himself. His sacrifice was made once for all time and that sacrifice will be our righteousness into eternity: "For by one offering He (Christ) has perfected forever those who are being sanctified." (Heb. 10:1-4, 10, 14). Simply by walking into His outstretched arms, we will never have to face the "second death" (Rev. 21:6-8) and the fire that is never quenched, because we have received "the fountain of the water of life." In the same way, the blood of the Passover lamb applied to the doorposts and lintels of the households of the Israelites, spared them from the Angel of Death that struck Egypt. (Ex. 12:21-25). We will see below how the foundational truth upon which the sacrifice that appeases God was revealed.

     The first time the word "altar" is used in scripture was in the account of Noah in Gen. 8. After the flood waters had subsided, Noah, his family and the living creatures left the ark: "So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him. Every animal, every creeping thing, every bird, and whatever creeps on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark. Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the LORD smelled a soothing (nihoah/nuah - satisfaction, soothing, quieting, pleasant, restful/to rest, ceased, give comfort, give rest, quiet) (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) aroma. Then the LORD said in His heart, 'I will never again curse (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) living thing as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease." (Gen. 8:18-22).

     The sacrifice burned upon the altar that Noah built brought a certain fragrance up to God. Because of the fragrance of the sacrifice, the LORD was appeased and promised never to utterly destroy the living things of the earth, or the cyclical climate courses of the earth again. The aroma that the LORD smelled is noted in written Hebrew as being associated with Christ, (and with His believers) by the presence of the *aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega (see note below). According to the meaning of the Hebrew words above, the aroma causes the LORD to enter into a kind of Sabbath rest.

     We see this connection between the aroma of sacrifice and Messiah/Christ revealed in the New Testament: "Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things? (2 Cor. 2:14-16).

     How do we become this fragrance of Christ? Paul wrote in Romans: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice (thysia/thyo - slay and immolate as of the paschal (Passover) lamb, blow, smoke), holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, 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). Paul is not recommending that we physically die as a sacrifice, although many believers have been and continue to be martyred. Living our lives in a manner that is dedicated to God creates the sacrificial fragrance of Christ as He came in the form of the Passover Lamb of God. Not only is it soothing to God and testifies of God's good and perfect will for mankind, but we are changed or transformed as well. The LORD has allowed us to become this sacrifice and aroma through Messiah/Christ that soothes Him while we are still alive.

     According to another reading portion from this Tzav Sabbath, one fragrance that did not please the LORD at all, but broke His heart, was when the Israelites sacrificed their own sons and daughters on the fires of demon gods. (Jer. 7:30-31). They sowed abomination and they reaped slaughter to themselves. (v. 32-34). 

     This Sabbath is also HaGadol Sabbath, meaning that it is a Great Sabbath. This Sabbath receives this designation because it is the sabbath before Passover. Scripture calls Jesus our Passover Lamb, and the Lord's Table, or Communion, was taken by Jesus from the elements of the Passover meal He shared with His disciples, specifically the bread and the wine, as we will see. The reading portion that is used during this HaGadol Great Sabbath is from Malachi 3, part of which we read above.

     After the refining, purging and purifying of the priesthood so they might "offer to the LORD an offering in righteousness," in Mal. 3, the LORD made this prophetic promise: "Then those who feared the LORD spoke (dabar - commune, pronounce, utter, tell, declare, be spokesman, teach, tell) to one another, and the LORD listened and heard them; So a book of remembrance (zikaron/zakar - reminder, memorial, remembrance/remember, remembrance, mention, record) was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who meditate on His name. 'They shall be Mine,' says the LORD of hosts, 'On the day that I make them My jewels (segulla - possession, peculiar treasure, valued property, closely shut up), and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him." (Mal. 3:16-17).

     Immediately before His death, our Passover Lamb, Jesus, told His disciples at the Passover dinner to take the bread and the wine in what we recognize as Communion (see spoke:dabar, above). He also said, "...do this in remembrance of Me." (Lk. 22:14-20, and 1 Cor. 11:23-26). Our Communion is a living Book of Remembrance before the LORD, as prophesied in Mal. 3.

     The LORD desires to give us the saving gift of His own righteousness, a gift that we cannot buy nor earn, through His Son, Jesus.

     If you would like to know more about the open arms of God, you can pray with me: "Father and God of all, You provided a way for me to be spared from the consequences of the sin in my life. Your Son, Jesus, died for me even while I was still in my sins. Help me, by Your Holy Spirit, to be a living sacrifice, the fragrance of Christ, the sacrifice that appeases Your holiness. I thank You that You have made a way for us to run into Your outstretched arms of forgiveness and acceptance. This is Your desire for all mankind. As we remember Your great deliverance and salvation this Passover, and remember Your Son's sacrifice and victory over death on this coming Resurrection Sunday, write our names in Your Book of Remembrance as those who think upon Your holy name with heart-felt thanks and praise. I ask this in Jesus' Name. 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.

          

 

Commands

       This week's Sabbath reading portion is titled Tzav which means "Command" and includes Leviticus Chapters 6 through 8. In Lev. 6:8-9, the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Command (sava - command, appoint, order, ordain, send a messenger, set up, cause to exist, to commission) (aleph-tav written in Hebrew as אֶת/Alpha and Omega in Greek as Α Ω , referring to Jesus Christ: see Rev. 1:8, Rev. 21:6, Rev. 22:13)-Aaron and his sons, saying, 'This is the law of the burnt offering...". The Hebrew letters of sava shown above for the word "command" are tsadhe, vaw and heh, which have the combined meanings of "Behold the nail that joins to righteousness."  We believers in Christ can't help but see Him and the nails of His crucifixion in this meaning. We also see Messiah/Christ in the meaning of the word sava/command because in another Sabbath reading from Malachi Chapter 3, the LORD promises to "send My messenger...even the Messenger of the covenant" who will purify the Levites like a refining fire in order to restore righteousness to an offering that will be pleasant to the LORD (Mal. 3:1-4). The attitude of the priests towards the offerings to the LORD had become mixed with a natural or worldly attitude which caused the offerings to become unacceptable, and the priests were not even aware that this had happened. The priests had lost the significance and holy value of the offering. This Messenger (malak - messenger, representative, angel, deputy, priest, prophet, teacher, ambassador, king) of the covenant is described as "the LORD, whom you seek...Behold He is coming".

     Before the Book of Leviticus, there were no offerings specified by God for sin, trespass or peace (for the purpose of thanksgiving). Before the Book of Leviticus, the Law of Moses only mentioned offerings and sacrifices in connection to the Feasts of the LORD (Ex. 23:14-19) including Passover, and for the tabernacle, and for the sanctification of the tabernacle along with Aaron and his sons. At the beginning of Leviticus, the LORD called (cried out) to Moses and began to give him instruction on the various offerings that would be required for sin, trespass and peace.  Why had this sudden development become necessary? The prophet Jeremiah gives us understanding below.

     In another reading portion from this Sabbath, the Word of the LORD to the prophet Jeremiah gives this revelation regarding these offerings: "For I did not speak to your (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega)-fathers, or command (see sava, above) them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. But this (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega)-thing (dabar - speech, word, things, commandment, purpose, promise, oracle, commune, setting or hanging in order, to lead flocks to pasture, involving leading and following) is what I commanded (sava) them, saying, 'Obey My voice (qol - voice, speech, sound, thunderings, call aloud), and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded (sava) you, that it may be well with you.' Yet they did not obey or incline (nata - stretch out, extend) their (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega)-ear (ozen/azan - ear, hearing, receiver of divine revelation/to hear, listen, perceive by the ear, hear and obey), but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward (ahor/ahira/ra/ra'a - back parts, behind, backside, on the back/"brother or kindred of evil, wickedness, mischief, hurt, sore, affliction, grieved, injury, malignant, distress/evildoer, afflict, hurt, be broken in pieces) and not forward (panim/pana - face, presence, turn towards/to face, to turn back)." (Jer. 7:22-24). Jeremiah is referring to the original command that God had intended for and promised to His people as He told Moses: ",,,tell the children of Israel: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself. Now, therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel...Then all the people answered together and said, 'All that the LORD has spoken we will do'...And the LORD said to Moses, 'Behold, I come to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and believe you forever." (Ex. 19:3-9). However, when the time came, the people with the aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega-ears refused to hear for themselves (Ex. 20:18-19). They did not go forward (turning to face the LORD), but turned backward, as Jeremiah said.

     Jesus repeatedly exhorted the people who came to Him to hear Him: "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!" (Mt. 13:9, 43, Mk. 4:9, 23, Lk. 14:35, 8:18, 9:44). Jesus also gave this same command to the seven churches of Revelation who needed to hear by the Holy Spirit either the Lord's correction or encouragement (Rev. 2:7, 11, 17. 29, 3:6, 13, 23). Jesus also spoke of the aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega kind of ears when He said during one of His Sabbath teachings: "My sheep hear My voice (phone/phaino/phos/phao - sound of uttered words/shed light, bring forth into the light, cause to shine, be resplendent, become evident/light, heavenly light, having an extremely delicate, subtle, pure, brilliant quality, of truth and knowledge together with the spiritual purity associated with it/to shine, make manifest), and I know them, and they follow (see dabar, above) Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand...I and My Father are one." (Jn. 10:27-28, 30). There were also those who "stopped their ears" in order to refuse hearing Stephen as he related God's plan of salvation, and then they stoned him to death (Acts 7:54-60). The Greek language gives us a beautiful picture of the nature of the LORD's spoken voice (see above phone/phaino/phos/phao). This is the same voice that spoke, and the creation was brought into the light and manifested, including the life in men (see Gen. 1:1-28, Jn. 1:1-5, 14). 

     The prophet Isaiah wrote about hearing the voice of the LORD: "Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live (haya - save, quicken, revive, recover, be restored to life, revive from death); And I will make an everlasting covenant with you - The sure mercies of David." (Isa. 55:2-3). Here, the LORD was not just talking about physical life as a result of hearing, but the life of the soul, even revival from death, according to the meaning of the Hebrew above. In another part of scripture, God told the prophet Ezekiel to speak the prophetic Word of the LORD over the valley of dry bones. Those very dry bones, although they didn't have physical ears, "heard" the Word of the LORD and began to manifest flesh, and draw breath, "...and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army." (Ezek. 37:1-10). No wonder the LORD told His people to hear His voice and obey His commands and live! (Deut. 4:1).

     Ezekiel told us that there can even be the resurrection of the dead by hearing. Jesus raised Lazarus after four days of death by commanding in a loud voice: "Lazarus come forth!", and he did (Jn. 11:43-44). Jesus also said: "Most assuredly I say to you, he who hears My word (logos/lego - a word uttered by a living voice, of speech, anything reported in speech, thing spoken of/to say, to speak) and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live...Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth - those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation." (Jn. 5:24-29 excerpt, see also Dan. 12:1-3). Our resurrection from the dead is manifested by our having aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega-ears that hear the voice command of the Son of God.

     This Tzav Sabbath is the Sabbath that comes right before Resurrection Sunday this year. Jesus, the righteous offering before God, was crucified on Passover, and raised three days later on the Feast of First Fruits. Because of this, scripture calls Him our Passover Lamb (1 Cor. 5:7-8), and the First Fruits (Lev. 23:9-14) of the resurrection of the dead (1 Cor. 15:20-23). The apostle Peter wrote that Jesus had received (lambano - to take with the hand, lay hold of, to take upon one's self) from God the honor and glory "when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: 'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' And we heard this voice when we were with Him on the holy mountain (meaning the Mount of Transfiguration)." (2 Peter 1:17-18). This Resurrection Sunday is a time of thanks, triumph and celebration in the resurrection of Jesus, and therefore the promise of our own resurrection. It is also a perfect time to confirm our commitment and understanding that we will hear the resurrection voice of the Son of God with our aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega-ears in all that He tells us and obey it.

     If you would like to learn more about hearing the voice of God, you can pray with me:  "Dearest Father, You have called me to have ears to hear and a heart to obey Your Words. Forgive me when I have "stopped my ears", refused to hear You, and turned backward instead of turning forward towards Your face. The wondrous resurrection of Your Son, Jesus, was accomplished so I could follow Him as He commands and calls me by His voice into everlasting life. All creation responds and manifests to the commands of Your voice and, by Your Holy Spirit, so do I. In Jesus' name, I pray and give You thanks. AMEN."