Elected

      From the beginning, the LORD was bringing into manifestation the not-yet-seen things that were in Him from before the beginning. One of the greatest promises that existed before the foundation of the world, and would be manifested at the appropriate time, was the promise of the Savior/Messiah/Christ who would rescue mankind from the inevitable consequence of sin, which is death. Titus wrote of that promise from eternity this way: "...in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began, but in due time manifested His word..." (Titus 1:2-3). Both Peter and John's Book of Revelation also tell us that the sacrificial Lamb, Jesus, was not slain only on a date in history, but was slain in eternity before the world even manifested. (see 1 Pet. 1:18-21, Rev. 13:8). 

     In the same way, the creation in Genesis Ch. 1 reveals that God set the seed of future generations in every living thing, to bring forth after its own kind. The woman, Eve, contained the purpose that would bring forth all living (see Gen. 3:20). However, especially mentioned in the curse upon the serpent, is the Seed which refers to the Savior, Jesus that had been set within Eve that would crush the lying serpent's head. (see Gen. 3:14-15). Not only would the Seed of the woman crush the serpent's head, but there would be an eternal enmity ('eba/'ayab - enmity, hatred, hostility/to hate as one of an opposite tribe, to be an adversary, to persecute as an enemy, to breathe or blow with anger and hatred) between the woman (and her Seed of Deliverance) and the seed of the serpent/Satan, according to the above verses. We will also see this eternal and violent hatred and persecution again below.

     We must start from this point of knowing that the LORD set every seed of life of every generation from before the beginning. Those who know the LORD are assured by scripture that they were known by Him before they were ever born. (see Ps. 139:13-17, Rom. 8:28-31). 

     This understanding will help us with this week's Sabbath reading portion titled Toldot, meaning "Generations", and begins in Gen. 25:19: "This is the genealogy/generations (toldot/yalad - descendants, results, proceedings, generations, account of men and their descendants, birth, history, origin/beget, be born, bring forth, midwife, child, delivered, birth, labor, lineage, declare pedigrees) of Isaac, Abraham's son. Abraham begot (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) Isaac." 

     The Hebrew letters that compose the word toldot, or generation/descendants, are very interesting in meaning, and interestingly placed within the word. The letters are tav-vaw-lamed-daleth-vaw-tav. The repeated letters that mean "cross/covenant" and "nail/peg/joining", tav, and vaw, surround the two letters, lamed-daleth, that mean "the shepherd's staff that urges forward to the door." Jesus said, "I am the Good Shepherd (who gives His life for the sheep)," and He also said, "I am the Door of the sheep." (Jn. 10:7-11). He goes before, calling His own sheep, and the sheep follow Him in because they know His voice. (Jn. 10:3-4). So within the word toldot, I see a picture of the cross, the Shepherd, Jesus, and the sheep who follow Him. 

     We can see then that Jesus created a kind of "generation" or "line of descendants" through the work of the cross. As Isaiah Ch. 53 prophesied about the Servant of God, referring to a future Jesus, who would give His life for the sins and transgressions of God's people, the prophet also refers to a "generation" and "seed": "And who will declare (*[vaw]-aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) His generation (dor - age, dwelling, evermore posterity, habitation)? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of My people He was stricken." (v. 8). The question is asked here, "How will His generation be declared when He has been cut off from life, and therefore there are no descendants?" However, Isaiah also reveals the answer: "...When You (LORD) make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see (ra'a, meaning to prophetically see, discern, perceive, foresee) His seed (zera/zara - seed, child, fruitful, offspring, descendants, posterity of moral character and practitioners of righteousness, harvest, produce of fields/sow, bearing, yielding, to scatter seed), He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand." (v. 10). We who have believed and received Jesus' sacrifice for our sins are His spiritual seed, His spiritual fruit, descendants, posterity.

     There were toldot generations or lines of descendants that were identified as being those that would bring forth the Messiah/Christ even before Israel became a nation in the land. This line of descendants would be challenged severely by the one, the serpent or Satan, who did not want his hated enemy, the Messiah/Christ, to be born from this elected generational line. 

     This Sabbath reading portion will also show us that when the LORD revealed His election of one line of descendants that carried the Messiah/Christ's seed over another, the line not elected would go to war against them. Those who were not elected both coveted and resented the elected.

      In this toldot Sabbath portion, (*Aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) Isaac married (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) Rebekah, and he pleaded to the LORD that Rebekah would conceive because she was barren. The LORD heard Isaac and Rebekah did conceive. However, Rebekah felt the children (twins) in her womb struggling together (rasas - oppressed, broken, break, bruised, crush, struggle, crush to pieces, grievously oppress, "a crushed reed", to treat violently) and so she enquired of the (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) LORD concerning this. The warfare against the elected one had already begun in the womb. The LORD revealed this about the babies in Rebekah's womb: "Two nations are in your womb, two peoples shall be separated from your body; One people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve ('abad - serve, worshipper, serve as a subject) the younger." (Gen. 25:20-23).

     Although the twins would be born together, the people and nations that came from each would remain separated. The election would go to the younger twin, and the older twin would serve that younger brother. 

     The two brothers were born and the first-born twin was named Esau, and the younger twin was named Jacob. Rebekah knew that Jacob, the younger twin, was the elected one because of the prophecy given to her by the LORD. As the twins grew, they were of different characters. Esau, the older, who despised (baza - despise, contemptible, vile person, scorn, worthless, make light of) his birthright, sold that birthright to Jacob, the younger, for nothing of greater value than a bowl of red lentil stew when he was hungry. (Gen. 25:29-34). 

     Rebekah also managed through deception to gain Isaac's paternal blessing over Jacob rather than Esau. This blessing included the words: "Let peoples serve ('abad - see above) you, and nations bow down (saha - worship, reverence, bow down to royalty or God) to you. Be master (gebir - lord, ruler) over your brethren, and let your mother's sons bow down (saha - see above) to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be those who bless you!" (Gen 27:29). This is the royal election of the Messiah/Christ, who is both King and God, passed on from Isaac to Jacob, the younger son, as the LORD prophesied previously to Rebekah.

     As a result of his father's blessing of Jacob, "Esau hated (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) Jacob...and Esau said in his heart, 'The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) Jacob." (Gen. 27:41).

     Generations later, in another reading portion from this Toldot Sabbath, Esau's descendants, which became the nation of Edom, also sought to destroy Judah, the southern kingdom of Israel, and the judgment of God was rendered against them. The seed of election, the Messiah/Christ, had already been identified as coming down the toldot generations of King David (see 2 Sam. 7:16-18), who was of the tribe of Judah. The LORD condemned Edom for their actions against Jerusalem/Judah: "For violence against your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever...You should not have entered the gate of My people in the day of their calamity...You should not have stood at the crossroads to cut off them who escaped...As you have done, it shall be done unto you; your reprisal shall return upon your own head...But on Mount Zion there shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions...and no survivor shall remain of the house of Esau,' for the LORD has spoken." (Obadiah v. 10-18, excerpt).

     Many generations before, Edom had also refused to help Israel when they were in the wilderness after their deliverance from slavery in Egypt. (see Num. 20:14-21). Moses had requested that Edom allow Israel to follow The King's (melek - king, royal, prince) Highway (derek - journey, manner, path, direction, course of life, way of living), which passed through Edom. Edom had refused to allow them to do this and gathered an army to keep them out.

     The descendants of Esau were the nation of Edom, as mentioned. However, that nation was also called Idumea. The Herods were Idumean kings that took the throne of Israel. The first Herod, Herod the Great of Judea, sought to kill all of the young male children of Bethlehem in order to kill the Messiah/Christ Child, Jesus, after He was born. This event is known as "The Slaughter of the Innocents." (see Mt. 2:16-18). Again, we see the enmity of the serpent for the woman and her Seed, and the despising for the election of God. This enmity is concentrated upon the Savior Messiah/Christ.

     The hatred of Esau for his brother Jacob did not remain between two individuals as we see above, but it was carried down the toldot generations of Esau against the elected of God, who were identified as those who carried the Seed and the promise of the Messiah/Christ. The hatred is about more than the land. It is the hatred that the serpent/Satan of the Garden of Eden carries for the prophesied Seed (of the woman), and the people who have been elected to carry that Seed. The hope in and prayers for the Messiah/Christ, the King of Israel, are still held in the hearts of Israel.

     From another reading portion from this Toldot Sabbath, the LORD reminds Israel/Jacob that He elected them even as He hated (sane - to utterly hate an odious enemy) Esau the twin brother of Jacob.  However, the prophet Malachi wrote that even though the LORD elected Israel/Jacob, they did not appreciate Him as their Father and Master, and they despised (baza - see above) His name. (Mal. 1:2-3, 6). Israel was elected by the foreknowledge of God, yet they treated Him with the same baza contempt that Esau had regarding his birthright. It is very grievous when the elect despise or take for granted their election.

     What does this understanding of election mean for those, both Jew and Gentile, who believe that Jesus is Messiah/Christ, the Son of God?

     Jesus described our direct attachment to Him and the resulting fruit of that attachment. He used the illustration of Himself as the vine, and us as the branches produced by that vine. So long as we remain attached to Him as our Vine, we will produce much fruit. Without Him as our life-giving vine we cannot produce that fruit (see zera/zara above as being His seed/fruit/harvest). (Jn. 15:1-8). This is what it means to be the toldot spiritual descendants of Jesus.

     Jesus also pointed out that because He chose us, we, like Him, will be hated and persecuted by the world (Jn. 15:18-25), which brings us back to that same enmity between the serpent and the woman who has the Seed. This enmity is eternal and ongoing.

     This enmity continues to manifest against Israel and also those who believe Jesus, the Messiah/Christ. The Book of Revelation gives us the prophetic unveiling of this continuing enmity against the royal woman who gives birth to the promised Seed: "...And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne...the dragon...that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan...persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child...And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." (Rev. 12, excerpts).

     One reason that the serpent continues to war so continuously against the woman, who I believe are the elect of Israel/Jacob, and those who are Christ's progeny and fruitful seed in the earth, is because both will play a role in the return of Messiah/Christ to rule and reign on earth. Jesus told Jerusalem: "...for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!" (Mt. 23:39). Jesus was not referring to His entrance into Jerusalem when the crowds previously said: "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD! Hosanna in the highest!" (Mt. 21:9), because His words over Jerusalem above are said after that event.

     They will call out to Him again, He will answer, and they will see Him again.

     The Book of Revelation closes with the words of Jesus and this prayer to Him from His chosen disciple, John: "He (meaning Jesus) who testifies to these things says, 'Surely I am coming quickly.' Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" (Rev. 22:20).

     The elect, and the seed of Christ are still testifying, and calling out.

     If you would like to learn more about the elect of God in the earth, you can pray with me: "Father, You have elected individuals and generations of descendants in order to fulfill Your gracious plan of Salvation through Your Son, Jesus. Although Satan continues his enmity against You, You have rescued and preserved Your people. You have placed within those whom You elected a purpose and fruitfulness that will yield a great harvest for Your Kingdom, and for Your King of Kings, Jesus. Please Father, I never want to despise Your election, but ask that by Your Word and Your Spirit in me, and Christ in me the hope of glory, that I would show forth the good and miraculous works of Your election through Christ so that others may see them and praise God. Let my testimony and prayers bring Jesus closer to moment of His return. I ask 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. 

Hearts&Nations

"And He (God) has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being..." (Acts 17:26-28, Deut. 32:7-8, Job 12:23). There isn't a nation or group of people in the world for whom God has not ordained a time that they should find and know Him. The nations are not about race, as we read here in Acts, but about the blood of all life, and the heart of worship. In this week's Sabbath reading portion called Toldot, or "generations/genealogy", from Gen. 25 through 27, it seems to me that the LORD is teaching a principle that can be a mystery to us. The starting verse is: "This is the genealogy (toldot/yalad - descendants, results, proceedings, generations, genealogies, account of men and their descendants, origin of things/to bear, bring forth, declare pedigree, gender, birth, midwife, lineage) of (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega [see Rev. 1:8, 21:6, 22:13, as relating to Jesus Christ]) Isaac, Abraham's son." (Gen. 25:19). The concept of toldot, as we know from scripture, is very important to God and His plans. He makes careful mention of who begat whom. There is an additional meaning of the Hebrew word toldot that captures interest in regard to this Sabbath's reading portion. Toldot also includes the root meaning "wicked bringing forth iniquity, to bring forth fraud, iniquity". Isaac and his wife, Rebekah, had twin sons, Esau and Jacob. The LORD made a separation and difference between the two brothers that will carry through their generations forever. Esau, the elder brother, sold his birthright to his younger brother, Jacob, for a serving of lentil stew. Scripture says that Esau despised his birthright as the elder son (Gen. 25:34). Esau later sought the blessing as his father's favorite, but it was too late (v. 34-37), and when he discovered this, he threatened to kill his brother, Jacob. Esau's hatred of his brother carried down the generations, as we will see, and Jesus would also warn of this hatred (Mt. 5:21, 1 Jn. 3:14-15). Jacob was sent to his mother's family to find a wife, but Esau married local Canaanite women, and then a daughter of Ishmael (Gen. 28:8-9). Before Esau married the daughter of Ishmael, we read: "When Esau was forty years old, he took as wives Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. And they were a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekah." (Gen. 26:34). The Hittites descended from Ham, a son of Noah, and Ham's son, Canaan. The Hittites were a very ancient nation of people whose name in Hebrew means "fear, terror, dismayed, break in pieces, discourage, beaten down, shattered, broken, break down by violence, confusion and fear". Abraham, Esau's grandfather, would not accept any free land from the Hittites for the burial of Sarah, his wife, but insisted on paying them market price in silver, with the transfer done by deed in front of witnesses (Gen. 23:12-18). He was very cautious in dealing with the Hittites, and perhaps he would have been very shocked to find that his grandson had married into that nation. According to Jewish oral history, but not mentioned in scripture, Esau's wife, Judith, was also known as Oholibamah/Aholibamah (meaning "tent of the high place") because she built altars in the high places, or bamot, for idol worship. There is further mention of her as a matriarch of Esau's children in Gen. 36. We had the initial problem with Esau regarding his despised birthright and intention to kill his brother because of it, and now we see Esau has begun a toldot, or genealogy, with the Hittites. As we saw in part of the definition of toldot, this will be a matter of the "wicked bringing forth iniquity" throughout history. In another portion from this Sabbath's Toldot reading, the prophet Obadiah will speak the judgment of the LORD against the descendants of Esau, which became the nation of Edom. While Esau and Jacob struggled against each other even from the womb, that struggle continued between the two nations that would come from them: Edom and Israel. When Israel was travelling through the wilderness under Moses, Edom refused to sell them anything to help them survive, nor to allow the Israelites to cross their territory (see Num. 20:14-20). When Judah was taken away into Babylonian captivity generations later, Edom took advantage of it, and settled onto their land near Hebron. Obadiah wrote the judgment of the LORD: "In the day that you stood on the other side - in the day that strangers carried captive his forces, when foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem - even you were as one of them. But you should not have gazed on the day of your brother in the day of his captivity; nor should you have rejoiced over the children of Judah in their day of destruction; nor should you have spoken proudly in the day of distress. You should not have entered the gate of My people in the day of their calamity...nor laid hands on their substance...You should not have stood at the crossroads to cut off those among them who escaped; nor...delivered up those among them who remained..." (Obad. v. 11-14). The LORD said to Edom: "The pride of your heart has deceived you...You who say in your heart, "Who will bring me down to the ground?" (v. 3). For their violence against their brother Jacob/Israel, "...shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever...and no survivor shall remain of the house of Esau,' for the LORD has spoken." (v. 10, 18). Present-day nations should heed the warning as to how they should treat Israel, especially during Israel's times of trial. Obadiah said: "For the day of the LORD upon all nations is near. As you have done, it shall be done to you; Your reprisal shall return upon your own head." (v. 18). Scripture tells us that the LORD sets the boundaries of the nations, and we read here that the LORD sees the condition of the heart of a nation. Edom continued to carry the hatred of a brother in their hearts as their forefather Esau had done. After the Babylonian captivity of Judah, mentioned above by Obadiah, the Edomites inhabited a portion of Judea, and that territory was called Idumea. Herod the Great was an Idumaean/Edomite who married into what was left of the once-ruling Jewish Maccabee family, and whom Rome supported as it declared Herod to be "King of the Jews". Although Herod was also said to be half-Jewish through his mother, he was no doubt one of the most blood-thirsty tyrants of his age, and killer of the children of Bethlehem as he unsuccessfully sought to destroy the baby Jesus. His son, Herod Antipas, also known as Philip Tetrarch, who had previously ordered the execution of John the Baptist, had Jesus mocked and beaten in his court before Christ's death (Lk. 23:6-12). Here again we see the wickedness in the heart of Esau against his brother, Jacob/Israel, carried to a future generation. In another portion from this Toldot Sabbath reading, the prophet Malachi also wrote the Word of the LORD against Edom: "They (Edom) may build, but I will throw down; They shall be called the Territory of Wickedness, and the people against whom the LORD will have indignation forever. Your eyes shall see, and you shall say, 'The LORD is magnified beyond the border of Israel'." (Mal. 1:4-5). The LORD traces their history of wickedness back to Esau (v. 3). History tells us that the Edomites had turned their backs on any knowledge of the LORD, the God of Israel, the God of their grandfather, Abraham, and their father, Isaac, and had instead worshipped a false god called Qaus, or Qos. However, the purpose of the Book of Malachi was not to write the judgment against Edom, but to indict God's own people, His own nation, Israel. Even as the LORD pointed out to Israel that He had graciously loved and chosen them, Jacob, long ago instead of Esau, saying to them, "I have loved you", Israel had stopped loving the LORD in return. Even though the nation was still carrying out its worship of the LORD, God knew the resentment that was secretly harbored in their hearts. He said that His priests despised His name! They expressed their contempt for Him by bringing to Him their least, rather than their best (v. 7-8). They treated the LORD with less fear and honor than they treated their political leaders. The LORD's name was profaned, as the LORD saw that in their hearts they said: "The table of the LORD is defiled; and its fruit, its food, is contemptible'. You also say, 'Oh, what a weariness!' And you sneer at it, says the LORD of hosts." (v. 12-13). By the end of the Book of Malachi, the LORD prophesied of a work that He would do to cleanse, purge, refine, and renew their hearts towards Him (Mal. 3:1-3). God's people of the heart do not worship and give to Him to fulfill a religious obligation only, but to express their love and understanding of Who He is, and what He has done, and will do, for them. The LORD sees the hearts of the people and the nations. Finally from this Sabbath, the Book of Proverbs contrasts the paths of the wicked with those who learn the ways of the LORD: "Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of evil...For they do not sleep unless they have done evil; and their sleep is taken away unless they make someone fall. They eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence. But the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day...give attention to my words...Keep them in the midst of your heart; for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life." (Prov. 4:14-23, excerpt). Others may judge by the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart (1 Sam. 16:7), including the heart of a nation. What are our hearts revealing of us to the LORD, and what is the heart of our nation revealing to Him? This is His promise: "All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before You." (Ps. 22:27). If you would like to know more about the LORD's dealings with the toldot generations, the nations, and the people, you can pray with me: "Heavenly Father, You are King over all of the earth. You have set the nations, and You will weigh them in the balance. You promised Abraham to make of him a great nation, and that all of the nations of the earth would be blessed because of him. Your Son, Jesus, the returning Messiah, will rule the nations with a rod of iron. Let my heart be cleansed and filled with love for You, and let my manner of life reflect that love and worship. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit so that Your Word would dwell in my heart as an inward circumcision, an inward renewal. I pray also for my nation. It exists because, at the appointed time, You created and set its boundaries so that my nation would know that You are God. Help the heart of my nation to turn back to You as we seek Your face, and Your forgiveness. I thank You, Father, in the name of Your Son, Jesus. AMEN."