The title of this week's Sabbath reading portion is Va-etchannan, meaning "And I besought the LORD." This title comes from the words of Moses in Deuteronomy 3:23-24: "Then I pleaded (hanan/hana - have mercy, be gracious, implore favor, be pitied/abide, dwell, encamp, rested, grows to an end) with the LORD at that time, saying: 'O LORD God, You have begun to show (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega)-Your-servant (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega)-Your-greatness and (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega)-Your-mighty-hand, for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do anything like Your works and Your mighty deeds?"
Moses was pleading above with the LORD to allow him to cross over the Jordan River and see the land to which the Israelites would soon enter. The meaning of Moses' pleading indicates that Moses has placed himself or dwells in the mercy and grace of God and knows that the LORD will bring him to a perfect end. The LORD will show Moses mercy and satisfy his plea, but in a way that will be different from what Moses is specifically requesting. The qualities of the LORD that Moses is relying upon, His greatness and His mighty deeds, are connected with the written Hebrew *aleph-tav (see *note below) and are therefore connected to the identity of the Messiah/Christ. The Hebrew scriptures indicate that Moses himself is also connected to Messiah/Christ because of the same *aleph-tav before his name, above.
The New Testament describes this truth perfectly: "But without faith it is impossible to please Him (God), for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder (one who pays wages, to recompense, give, perform, reward) of those who diligently seek (seek carefully, search for, crave, worship) Him. (Heb. 11:6).
No one asks the LORD for anything in prayer unless that person is confident that the Lord, in His mercy and favor, will hear that prayer, and has the power to answer that prayer in a manner that brings the situation to a perfect end according to His good and perfect will for us and for others involved.
Moses also reminded the Israelites of how the LORD spoke His commandments and wrote them on tablets: "These (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega)-words the LORD spoke to all your assembly, in the mountain from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice..." (Deut. 5:22). How could His people forget the power and majesty that the LORD displayed by His presence as He delivered the *aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega Word to His people? We will see that it is sadly an easy thing for God's people to forget even their most principal knowledge of Him.
The words that the LORD commanded were to live in the hearts of the people: "Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the LORD God of your fathers has promised you - a land (land, country, nations, the whole earth) flowing with milk (as abundance and fatness, the richest and choicest part, most excellent) and honey (honey, syrup, concentrated sweetness). Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart." (Deut. 6:3-6).
The Word of God was never meant to remain simply words on a page. The living Words were meant to be seeds planted in the good soil of our hearts where it can live, thrive, multiply, and bear fruit abundantly. (see Mt. 13:23). The Words of God are to become an inseparable part of our being. As we also know, Jesus is defined as the Word of God become flesh (see Jn. 1:1-2, 14), and He is in the same manner to be part of our innermost being as we are to be in Him.
Moses pleaded with God's people to understand the vision of God and to walk in it, reminding them how the LORD had delivered them with His great power.
From another of this Va-etchannan, "And I besought" Sabbath reading portion, the prophet Isaiah also calls God's people to perceive how immense the LORD truly is: "Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning (head, chief, beginning, first, captain, ruler, the top, highest, forefront)? Have you not understood from the foundations (the act of laying a foundation, a foundation that remains, founded, established, appointed, sure, ordain) of the earth? It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. He brings the princes (king, prince, ruler, weighty, commanding) to nothing; He makes the judges of the earth useless...'To whom then will you liken Me, or to whom shall I be equal?' says the Holy One. 'Lift up your eyes on high, and see (see, consider, behold, foresee, perceive, have vision, look intently at) who has created these things, who brings out their host (host, war, army, sun, moon, stars, go out to war, organize for war, appointed time) by number; He calls them all by name, by the greatness of His might and the strength of His power; Not one is missing....Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." (Isa. 40:21-31, excerpt). The beginning and the foundation that Isaiah asks us about not only established the beginning, but also the middle, the end, and all things forever.
Isaiah is asking God's people several questions above about their knowledge of the LORD. It is a knowledge that they should have already known: "Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?" Isaiah expected us to know what was revealed from the beginning, and from the foundations of the earth. Have we forgotten it? Is there an effort to keep this knowledge from us? We today must also answer Isaiah's questions. Do we know? Have we not heard? The beginning and the foundation of all creation, including the earth, was built upon one truth, and one substance. Let us look at some verses:
"In the beginning (beginning, first fruits, first, chief, principal thing, choice part/head, chief, beginning, top, captain, best) God created (create, form, of new conditions and circumstances, of transformation, of birth, of miracles, of something new, choose, carve out, cut) (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega)-the-heavens (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega)-and-the-earth." (Gen. 1:1)
The beginning was not a moment in time, but it was contained in a Person - the Head, the Chief, the Captain. By the Person, God brought forth something new, a birth, a transformation, a miracle, the chosen (see also Eph. 1:4). All that which would be created, which were the heavens and the earth, belonged to the *aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega Messiah/Christ as designated in the written Hebrew (see also Jn. 1:1-3 and Rom. 11:36). Hebrews 1:1-3 also confirms: "God...has in these last days spoken to us by His Son (Jesus), whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom He also made the worlds/ages; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high...". We know that the beginning was Messiah/Christ, and was in and through Messiah/Christ.
We also read: "He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn (see "beginning" above) 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. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist." (Col. 1:15-17). There is nothing that was created without Him or outside of Him. Is this truth being robbed from our knowledge by religions, fables and theories of men?
The foundation (see meaning above) that Isaiah also asked us about above was built, we will read, upon and as the result of something that happened prior to the foundation, as a prerequisite to the foundation. We read in these verses:
"...knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver, or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God." (1 Pet. 1:18-21). Revelation also tells us of a "...Book of Life of the Lamb (Jesus) who was slain from the foundation of the world." (Rev. 13:8).
We view the natural foundations of the earth as rock and molten rock, but the eternal spiritual power upon which the foundation was established is not only the Son/Word of God, but more specifically, the foundation was built upon the preceding event in eternity of the sacrificed perfect Lamb of God, Messiah/Christ Jesus, and His redeeming blood.
Since ancient times and up to today, there has been an effort to erase this knowledge that Isaiah asked us about from mankind, and to erase the resulting faith and hope of mankind.
Scripture asks the question: "If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? (Ps. 11:3). However, the victory is already won. It was won from the beginning. The LORD has already set His eternal and ordained King in place: "Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion.' I will declare the decree: The LORD has said to Me, 'You are My Son, today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession." (Ps. 2:6-8). AMEN!
If you would like to understand more about the beginning and foundation in Jesus Messiah/Christ, you can join my prayer: "Heavenly Father, how great You are! Though the heathens rage, You have already won and set Your King, our Savior, the Lamb of God over all the ends of the earth. Father, I will declare the holy Beginning and the sacrifice of Your Son upon which You have set the foundation of all creation. I will declare the knowledge so that it is not forgotten or lost. I will declare the hope in God that was established for us before anything made that was made. Your Word says that at the name of Jesus, all that is created must bow their knees before the King of heaven and earth. I ask, Lord, that the memory of this power and truth be restored and revived to all creation. The plans of the wicked to destroy this knowledge from our hearts has already been overcome by Your Son. Help me, Lord, to keep Your Word within my heart as Moses taught. I ask these things in the name of Your Son, 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.
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