B'reishit

After the recent conclusion of the Feast of Tabernacles, the Sabbath reading cycle swings back around to the beginning of scripture - Genesis 1. This sabbath reading is titled B'reishit translated as "(In) the beginning". The Hebrew meaning and root of the word is "beginning, the first (in order, rank. place or time), firstfruits, best, chief, captain, head, top, summit, to shake". When we think of the beginning of creation, we usually think of the physical elements that manifested when God spoke the words. However, the sabbath readings of B'reishit for this week began to lead me down a path that took me further than that first thought. As we start on the path of this week's sabbath readings together, we will find confirmation and additional revelation waiting for us in New Testament scriptures as well. What is the nature of "the Beginning" in God? When we look at an overview of Genesis 1, we can see that God created things that He called "good" (tob - goodness, prosperity, excelling, precious, first fruits, first of its kind, fine, beautiful, benefit, kind, right, happiness, welfare, glad, delight, confer benefits), and "very good" from an existing situation that was full of deep darkness and hopeless emptiness. The idea of "good" is not just a description, but contains the active quality of God's benevolence also. As we continue, we will also see that this good intent of God in the Beginning, included His Son, Jesus, before the world ever "saw" Jesus. In fact, He is the Person of the Beginning. In one of this sabbath's readings about "the Beginning", we are able to see that even after Adam and Eve fell by choosing to believe a lying serpent (nahas - serpent, snake, enchanter, practice divination, sorcery, fortune telling, whisper (hiss) a magic spell), God brought forth the goodness of His Son, Who had been hidden in "the Beginning", into this seemingly hopeless situation. To the serpent, God prophesied: "And I will put enmity (eba/ayab - hatred, hostile mind, be a foe to, be an adversary with anger and hatred) between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head (ros - head, chief, captain, rulers), and you shall bruise His heel." (Gen. 3:15). God brought forth "good", a benefit out of His kindness, hidden in the Beginning, by prophesying the Savior to be born who would overcome the serpent and its ruler(s). In another sabbath portion, Cain, only the second generation of man on the earth, murdered his brother, Abel. As Cain realized the consequences for this act, he cried to God: " My iniquity (aon/ava - iniquity, punishment, fault, sin, depravity, guilt from sin, evil, perversity, crime, wrongdoing) is greater than I can bear!...driven out this day from the face of the ground; I shall be hidden from Your face; I shall be a fugitive (nua - stagger, wander, tremble, tottering, be tossed about) and a vagabond (nud - sorry, shake, grief, wander aimlessly) on the earth, and it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me." (Gen. 4:13-14). At this cry from Cain, the LORD set him apart with a "mark". What could this mark have been? It is the Hebrew word ot meaning "miraculous sign, token, mark, banner, warning, evidence, signal, consent, to come". The individual Hebrew letters of the word ot, or mark, form the meaning "Adonai God nailed to a cross". Cain committed one of the most heinous crimes there is - he murdered his brother. However, there was a hidden provision within the Beginning that set him apart with a hope - the crucified Christ as a "mark" upon Cain. Jesus, in Rev. 3:14, says that He is "the Beginning of the creation of God", so we shouldn't be surprised to see these references to His (hidden) presence from the very beginning of man's walk on earth. In another sabbath reading from this week's portion titled B'reishit, we see again an example of Jesus Christ in the Beginning of creation. God spoke a prophecy to Isaiah of the Messiah, the Savior. Revealing the Messiah to come, the LORD said: "Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him...He will bring forth justice for truth. He will not fail nor be discouraged, till He has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands shall wait for His law...I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison..." (Isa. 42:1-4, 6-7, see also Mt. 12:15-21). God brought forth this prophecy in connection to the Beginning of His work of creation by saying: "Thus says God the LORD, who created the heavens...who spread forth the earth...who gives breath to the people on it..." (v. 5). God established all things from the beginning of creation. As He said, "I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done...". (Isa. 46:9-10). Jesus also personified this same principle as He called Himself the Alpha (Aleph) and the Omega (Tav), the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last (Rev. 22:13). Looking at the Greek word and roots, arche/archomai/archo, translated as "Beginning" in this verse, we not only find that the meaning is a starting point, but also a ruler behind the starting point. The meaning is: "beginning, origin, that by which anything begins to be, the active cause/chief, ruler, leader/to lead, to rule". The Greek word and root for "End" used in the above verse, telos/tello, is also interesting. The meaning is: "end, uttermost, that by which a thing is finished, the end to which all things relate/to set out for a definite point or goal". According to the meanings of the Greek, the concept involved in the Beginning and End of something, in this case, creation, is not accidental or coincidental, but is specifically and deliberately introduced and directed towards a planned and expected conclusion. Intelligence and personal will must be behind it to purposefully start it, and direct it to a goal. In this case, the intelligence belongs to God, of course! Paul wrote the following to help us understand God's purposeful intentions behind "the Beginning": "He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things consist." (Col. 1:15-17). John also wrote: "He (the Word, Jesus) was in the beginning with God, and without Him nothing was made that was made (see Jn. 1:1-3). It is because of this preeminence in all things that Jesus is also stated by Paul as being "the beginning, the firstborn from the dead", and the One who is able "to reconcile all things to Himself". (Col. 1:18-20). Death was not beyond the scope of His preeminence, and therefore was under the same authority of that which was present in the Beginning. We see this when God was challenging Job regarding Job's limited understanding, and God's limitlessness that was set into the Beginning of creation, God said this to Job in another portion from this sabbath's reading: "Where were you when I laid the foundations (yasad - to found, to place, set, fix, establish, begin, appoint, ordain) of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding...Have you entered the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in search of the depths? Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the doors of the shadow of death? Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth? Tell Me if you know all this." (Job 38:4, 16-18). God had set the limits or boundaries of all creation, including death, from the Beginning. Jesus said this about His authority over the gates and doors of death mentioned in Job above: "Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys (kleis - key, the power to open and to shut) of Hades (Hell), and of death." (Rev. 1:17-18). God had already set the limits of death in and by Christ before physical creation and physical death had been established in the earth. We see this same connection to the Beginning when we read that Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8, see also 17:8). We have seen death's limits established in the Beginning, what about each individual life? David sang about his life that existed before he was physically born in another portion from this sabbath's B'reishit reading: "...You LORD understand my thoughts afar off...For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O LORD, You know it altogether...Such knowledge is too wonderful for me: It is high, I cannot attain it...For You formed my inward parts; You covered (sakak - a covering, defense, hedge in, shut in, overshadow, weave together) me in my mother's womb...My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret (seter/satar - covering, shelter, hiding place, secret place, protection, a veil/conceal, hide carefully, lie hidden, guard, defend), and skillfully wrought (raqam - embroider, mix or adorn with colors, woven, the formation of the embryo in the womb {of the formation of the members of Christ's mystical body})in the lowest parts (tahti/tahat/toah - the depths, low parts, the under part, from under the hand of, lowly, humble) of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them." (Ps. 139:2, 4, 6, 13-16). Before David was born, God had already known the thoughts he would have and the words he would speak! Everything concerning David was known and written in God's book before David manifested in physical birth. We associate the creation of Genesis 1 with the physical elements of the heavens and the earth, including Adam and Eve, but all things, like David, were hidden in the depths of creation's Beginning. Even now, our lives are hidden in that Beginning, because we are hidden in Christ, "the Beginning and the End". (Col. 3:3, Rev. 22:13). Scripture also says: "...just as (God) chose us in (Christ) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love..." (Eph. 1:4), and that even the good works in which we are to walk were prepared "beforehand" (Eph. 2:10). Christ, Himself, was hidden in the Beginning: "He (Christ) indeed was foreordained (proginosko - known before) before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you..." (1 Peter 1:20). So there are things that have been hidden in the Beginning, and then the hidden is made manifest, or visible. The meaning and roots of "manifest" are very helpful. The word in Greek is phaneroo meaning "to make actual and visible, to make visible and known what has been hidden or unknown". The Greek root words give us more understanding. When we look back to several roots, phaneros/ phaino/ phos, we begin to see the secret. The roots mean: "evident, plainly recognised or known/bring forth into the light, cause to shine, to become clear, to be seen/light, to shine, make manifest, that which is exposed to the view of all". Hidden things are made manifest in the presence of light, according to our meanings here. The first thing that God spoke in the Beginning, before any of the rest of creation came forth was: "Let there be light"; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good." (Gen. 1:3-4). This light was not a natural source of light, which would be created later, but the revealing light by which all things hidden in the Beginning, would be made manifest or seen in the proper time, including God's Son. Paul also wrote about this revealed mystery saying, "...making all see what is the dispensation of the mystery, which from the beeginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places...", as Paul also additionally commnds us: "...now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light." (Eph. 3:9-10, 5:8). The other side of the coin is that the evil things that are hidden are also made manifest by that same light. They are exposed at the appointed time for judgment: "But all things that are exposed (elegcho - admonish, convict, shame, to call to account) are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light." (Eph. 5:13). The world tries to convince us that the formation of creation, and life itself, is an undirected accident acted upon by a series of haphazard events, with no divine, intelligent planning, no direction, and no assigned purpose or goal. However, as we can see, when God said in His Word, "In the beginning...", or "B'reishit, in Genesis 1:1, He was saying an awesome mouthful! He was including everything that will ever exist, and His intelligent purpose that drives it to its completion or end. If you would like to know more about being part of God's Beginning in Christ, you can pray with me: "Dear Father, You created all that exists, including me, in a Beginning that is in and through Your Son, Jesus. You saw my form before it was made. You knew my thoughts and words before I was even born. I was, and am, hidden in Christ, the Beginning and End. My sabbath rest in You comes from the knowledge that You have declared the end from the beginning concerning all creation, including myself. You have revealed the mystery of purpose hidden in the Beginning, B'reishit. As David said, "These things are too wonderful for me!". Fill me with Your Holy Spirit and understanding so that I can walk in the light that makes the hidden things of the Beginning manifest in their appointed time. I ask these things in Jesus' name AMEN."

Hidden

I have been noticing something for a while now, and trying to understand the lesson waiting for me in it. I think I have discovered what one of those lessons might be.
For several years now, we have been putting seed out in winter, and a bird bath out in summer to provide for the birds in our yard. At this point, there must be thirty birds or more living in the bushes. They are concealed in the forsythia bushes that line the side of the yard. The sound of them all chirping in the morning is great to wake up to. It is delightful to see them all come out when we spread the seed on the ground on the winter mornings, or to see them drinking and splashing in the water of the birdbath on hot summer days. Even the beautiful, but timid, woodpeckers come out from their hiding places in the trees of the yard in order to eat the suet feeding block placed there for them. It is charming to see the fledglings of a new generation learning to fly in our back yard.
This year, however, I have noticed something happening that is not so charming. A hawk, seeing the birds come out from hiding in the bushes to eat the seed on the ground, has taken up residence in the area. I have seen it land on one of the birds, and carry it off. Cats come into the yard when they become aware of bird activity. The other day, for the first time, I was shocked to see a rodent appear to eat the seed, the provision meant for the birds.
The provision, the seed, brings the birds out from covering, and also, draws predators and undesirables. Oh no, this will not do.
I began to see a connection to spiritual things. The provision of God, in the way that we wish to see it in our lives, will likewise draw predators and vermin. There are some in the kingdom of God whom God desires to keep hidden for His own timing or purpose. He does not want them out in the open to be destroyed before He reveals them in the manner and timing that He knows is best. There is a direct connection between the provision of God, and the eyes of a spiritual destroyer seeking to devour. The devourer follows the provision.
Sometimes we chafe against God's plan to conceal or hide us for a time, because we don't like to be hidden, but God's enemies are looking for these hidden ones:
"For behold, Your enemies make a tumult; and those who hate You have lifted up their head. They have taken crafty counsel against Your people, and consulted together against Your sheltered (hidden) ones."  Ps. 83:2-3
Even enemies that would never have worked together, work and consult together to find the hidden people of God (v. 5-8).
In the times of trouble, when there is an increase in wickedness and evil, God will hide His people:
"For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock. And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me."   Ps. 27:5-6
One of my favorites is:
"He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge (shelter from rain, storm, danger, flee for protection) and my fortress; my God in Him will I trust."  Ps. 91:1-2
The LORD does not just hide us from spiritual devourers, but from the human kind as well:
"You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the plots of man; You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion (sukka- booth, tent, thicket, den, shut in, blocked off, screened, shut off, cover) from the strife of tongues."   Ps. 31:20
We can see how it is possible for us to chafe in the hidden place of God. How pleasant can it be to be hidden in a thicket, or a den? to be shut off, or shut in, blocked off? We don't like it. Obscurity may not be what we desire, but it has its uses. Even Jesus retired to the wilderness from those who plotted to kill Him, until it was time for Him to go to Jerusalem (Jn. 11:53-54).
It is wisdom,not cowardice, to remain hidden from the enemy:
"A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself; The simple pass on and are punished."
                                                                                                             Prov. 27:12
For a time, the great warrior, David, and his men had to hide in dangerous enemy territory, and in the cave Adullam ("Justice of the people, Justice of Jehovah") from Saul's pursuit (1 Sam. 21-23). Under the murderous reign of Jezebel, the prophets of God had to be hidden from her in caves, with only bread and water to eat and drink (1 Ki. 18:4). They were so well hidden by Obadiah ("servant, worshipper of Jehovah"), that the greatest prophet in the land, Elijah, thought that he was the only one left (1 Ki. 19:14). Sometimes, while in hiding, we feel that we are the only one left, but not so. Elijah himself, was hidden in the wilderness by Cherith ("cut off, cut down"), and provided for by angels (1 Ki. 19:5) and ravens (1 Ki. 17:2-7). It was while in hiding in a cave in the mountain of God, Horeb ("dried up, desolate, laid waste"), that Elijah discovered the power of the "still, small voice" of God (1 Ki. 19:12). Eventually, God pushed Elijah out of the cave, and back onto the scene.
We understand the difficulty of being hidden for a time. Warriors itch for the battle, and prophets long to prophesy. It is made more difficult, if it seems that God's provision is not of the nature that we would normally expect. In fact, it is easy to believe during this hidden time that God's provision has dried up, or has been diverted. However, if we remember the example of the birds, overt provision can lead to being uncovered from the protection provided by a hiding place. So what to do?
In the case of the birds, we changed the nature of the provision from the spreading of seed on the open ground, to putting the seed on a raised wooden platform with a covering. It is positioned near the birds' protected place in the bushes. We didn't want our provision for them to be the type that brings them out into the open, and puts them in increased danger. We didn't want the provision for the birds to be accessible instead to vermin, allowing those things to thrive and multiply.
The same is true of God's provision, I think. The nature of it, by necessity, must change when we are in that place and time of hiding. The prophet Isaiah reveals something interesting regarding a special provision:
"I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I the LORD, Who call you by your name, am the God of Israel."  Isa. 45:3
There are treasures and riches hidden by God in these secret places. They may be of a different nature than we would like, or are used to receiving, but they are treasures that we would never find out in the open. They are appointed for the secret places.
Jesus, in Revelation, talks about giving us the hidden manna to eat:
"...To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna to eat..."   Rev. 2:17
It is not like the manna that was strewn across the open ground of the wilderness so that when the Israelites walked out of the door of the tent, they were able to gather it easily every morning. This manna of Jesus is of a hidden type, but it is still daily bread (root meaning-to raise up from the ground, lift up, to take upon one's self and carry what has been raised up) (Mt. 6:11).
If we find ourselves in that secret, hidden, obscure place, it may well be that we are there because it is where God wants us for a time, in order to protect us from His enemies. Our provision may not be spread out in the open before us, as it was previously, but the hidden provision will be there. Even if part of the provision is bread and water for a time, it will be the Bread of Life, and the Living Water. Perhaps if we train our eyes to look for the hidden riches, the treasures of darkness, we will find it.

God hides us, and provides for us under His covering in His secret place.

"Psalm 91 Song"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67wC6-kWWSo