At this time of year, after the Feast of Tabernacles, the Torah Sabbath readings come to an end with the last chapters of Deuteronomy, but at the same time, the Torah Sabbath readings are renewed with readings beginning again in the Book of Genesis (Greek word meaning "origins, source, generation, beginning"), or the Hebrew name of the first Book, B'reishit, which means "In the Beginning." The Hebrew Title of this first Book of the Torah comes from the first verse: "In the beginning (re'sit/ro's - beginning, first fruits, first, chief, best, choice, principal thing, first of its kind/head, top, beginning, first, rulers, captain, summit, height, choicest, best, height, summit, forefront) God created (bara - create, creator, select, choose, make, done, shape, form, fashion, to cut, to carve out, to produce) (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) the heavens ([vaw]*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) and the earth." The presence of the two *aleph-tav's and their written locations in front of the heavens and the earth bring an eternal meaning to those two parts of creation. The presence of the *aleph-tavs also connects the heavens and the earth with the identity of the Messiah/Christ Jesus, who is eternal, and calls Himself "the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last". (see *note at bottom). We see this eternal characteristic of the heavens and the earth, including new beginnings, in these prophecies: Isa. 65:17-25, 2 Pet. 3:13-14, Rev. 21:1-4. When Father God connected the heavens and the earth to His Messiah/Christ by the written Hebrew *aleph-tav, He incorporated into them the ending and the beginning of them as well.
This Book could have been titled "Created" from the Gen. 1:1 verse above, but the title and emphasis is placed instead upon "beginning". The end of the Torah reading in Deut. 33 and 34 deal with Moses' blessings spoken over each tribe of Israel, the laying on of Moses' hands upon his appointed successor, Joshua, and the death of Moses on Mount Nebo (meaning "prophet") after the LORD showed (ra'a - look, behold, appear, consider, seer, perceive, provide, foresee, to be visible, be shown, cause to see, discern, have vision) Moses all of the land that the children of Israel were about to possess. Within this ending was the prophetic spiritual seed for the new beginning found in the ra'a vision which the LORD caused to be seen by Moses. (Deut. 34:1-4). Moses would end, but the new beginning, the land soon to be possessed by the children of Israel, was incorporated into the vision given to the prophet. There is no ending without the accompanying provision of God of the new beginning. Don't despise the ending of something, but look for the new and greater beginning that is about to come.
Another reading from this B'reishit Sabbath brings forth a prophetic revelation of the Messiah/Christ in Isa. 42:1-9. The LORD covers this prophecy with His authority as Creator: "Thus says God the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it (se'esa'im - offspring, issue, descendants, children, produce), who gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to those who walk on it." (v. 5). The LORD also is prophesying by the principle of endings and beginnings: "Behold, the former things (ri'son/ri'sa - first in time, foremost, primary, former, aforetime/beginning time, early time) have come to pass, and new things (hadas - new, new thing, fresh, unheard of, renew, make anew, rebuild, repair, be new) I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them." (v. 9).
The LORD is both the beginning of something and the end of something (see Isa. 46:9-10, Rev. 22:12-13), followed by another new beginning (see Isa. 43:18-19, Isa. 65:17-18, Eph. 4:22-24, 2 Cor. 5:17, Rev. 21:5-6). As we can see from Eph. 4:22-24 and 2 Cor. 5:17 linked above, part of what the Lord is able to create anew is a person, whoever believes Him through Jesus Messiah/Christ, who IS the beginning and the end.
As we can see from the first verse of Genesis, above, the meaning of the words in Hebrew includes the truth of a Creator who chooses or selects, forms, shapes and fashions. The Creator makes the purposeful decisions. Creation does not occur by happenstance or accident but is purposefully directed. Challenging the idea of Creator God is not just a recent phenomenon. The LORD understood that man in foolishness would deny this truth: "Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, and He who formed you from the womb (see also Ps. 139:13-18): 'I am the LORD, who makes all things, who stretches out the heavens all alone, who spreads abroad the earth by Myself; Who frustrates (para - makes void, come to naught, make ineffectual) the signs of the babblers (bad/bada - lie, liar, used in regard to soothsayers and false prophets/devise, contrive, invent, feign), and drives diviners mad; Who turns wise men backward, and makes their knowledge foolishness." (Isa. 44:24-25). Many of those who deny a Creator consider themselves wise intellectuals, but the LORD says here that he makes their "knowledge" into foolishness.
It is very important that we know God as Creator. The absolute power and authority of the Creator is so great and high, that it is beyond human understanding and imagination without a revelation from Him. In that power and authority, what can't God do? Jesus and the angel of the Lord both said that nothing is impossible with God. (see Mt. 19:25-26, Lk. 1:35-38).
He is a Creator of things that no man can create in the natural world, as He notes above in Isaiah 44. For example, God spoke light energy, both spiritual light (Gen. 1:3-5) and natural light energy (Gen. 1:14-19) into existence, when the scientific law of the conservation of energy states that in the physical realm, energy cannot be created by man: "Energy can neither be created nor destroyed; rather, it can only be transformed from one form to another."
Not only did God command light to manifest from nothingness, but that Light was the spoken Word of God, and that same Light is the Light of life in man (see Jn. 1:1-5). That Light, Who also became flesh, Jesus, (see Jn. 1:14-18) was the Author/Prince and Beginning of Life. (see Acts 3:14-15).
It is essential that man understands that he has a Creator and did not create or evolve himself by chance into existence. The LORD directly connects His authority to redeem and save us to His authority as Creator. He is able to redeem man because He created man. He is able to extend His Salvation to man, because He created man. We see this connection in the verses above from Isaiah 44. Isaiah also gave us even more declarations from the LORD of this connection: "But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: 'Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior...I am the LORD, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King." (Isa. 43:1-3a, 15). Here we see again, the Creator has the authority to provide redemption and salvation to the uttermost extreme condition, distance and need through His Salvation, Messiah/Christ Jesus. (Heb. 7:24-25). God created that uttermost and has authority over it. David said in another reading from this Sabbath that there was no extreme distance where he could go over which God does not inhabit and have authority. Therefore, in every circumstance, God can see him, David, and rescue him. (Ps. 139:7-12).
In another declaration through the prophet Isaiah, the LORD speaks over His people as their Creator: "For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens, who is God, who formed the earth and made it, who has established it, who did not create it in vain, who formed it to be inhabited: 'I am the LORD, and there is no other....Who has declared this from ancient time (qedem/qadam - ancient time, before time, eternal, that which is before, earliest time, beginning/beforehand, before)? Who has told it from that time ('az - beginning, old, earlier, at that time or place, of old, now)? Have not I, the LORD? And there is no other God besides Me, a just God and a Savior; there is none besides Me. Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other." (Isa. 45:18, 21b-22). Only God is Creator and therefore, only God is Savior. Man cannot save himself or anyone else. There is only one Savior.
Again we read from Isaiah: "I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I the LORD do all these things...I the LORD have created it (referring to heavens that rain down righteousness and earth that opens to bring forth salvation). Woe to him who strives with (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) his Maker!" (Isa. 45:7-9, excerpt). The earth, the grave, indeed opened and Salvation (Yeshua, Jesus) was brought forth! The earth could not disobey its Creator. Only man will disregard His Maker, even though it is his Maker who has called forth righteousness and salvation on man's behalf from the beginning.
In another reading from this B'reishit, "In the beginning" Sabbath, we find God's faithful servant Job suffering great affliction through no fault of his own. He is undergoing a testing of his faith that is extreme. In this testing, he is looking in the wrong places for his help. His search, probably like ours would be also, involves the question, "Why did this happen to me?" His friends were not much help to him either, as they also searched for the reason that this affliction came upon Job. In chapters 38 through 41, the LORD begins to present the wonders of His creation to Job through questions. There were mysteries, impossibilities, specific characteristics of creation that were all meant to illustrate the presence and control of a Creator. Man could neither explain nor duplicate any of the marvels about which the LORD asked Job. The LORD "answered ('ana - answer, testify, speak, to sing, utter tunefully) (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) Job out of (min/men - from, among, a part of anything/string of a harp, a musical chord as parted into strings, slender threads) the whirlwind (sa'ar - storm, whirlwind, tempest, be troubled, tossed with tempest, be sore, be made, insane, violently shaken, scatter by wind)." (Job 38:1, 40:6).
The LORD entered into Job's whirlwind of affliction and sang His testimony to him with musical chords of strings according to the Hebrew words of the verses. After beginning His revelation of His power in creation, the Lord asked Job these questions: "Have you an arm like God? Or can you thunder with a voice like His? Then adorn yourself with majesty and splendor, and array yourself with glory and beauty." (Job. 40:9-10). No man can do what God has done as evidenced in His creation.
After the LORD continues His revelation to Job, Job answered (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) the LORD: "I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You...I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees (ra'a - see above) You. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." (Job 42:1-2, 5-6).
The LORD "restored Job's losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before...Now the LORD blessed (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) the latter days of Job more than his beginning (re'sit -see above)..." (v. 10, 12).
Within the LORD's revelation of His authority and power over His creation, Job found a new knowledge of God and a new beginning prepared for him that was even greater than his former blessings or ending. We also see the *aleph-tav eternal Messiah/Christ thread that we first saw in Genesis 1:1 throughout Job's experience.
The "in the beginning" B'reishit message of this Sabbath has great meaning for all creation, and for each one of our lives. Contained within it for the heavens, the earth and all that springs out of the earth are endings and beginnings and then again new beginnings enveloped by the identity of (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) Messiah/Christ Jesus, who is the spoken Word of creation. Our Father, the Creator, has authority over all, and as Job said, "You can do everything, and...no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You." Are we able to walk in this powerful knowledge where nothing is impossible with God?
If you would like to know more about this awesome creation power of God, or if you need a new beginning, you can join in my prayer: "Father, Creator, help me to walk in the knowledge of the endings and beginnings contained within the power of creation. Renew me, LORD, by faith in the redemption and salvation of Your Son, Jesus Messiah/Christ. The old things have ended and passed away, and Jesus has made me and all things new. Strengthen me in faith, LORD, and heal my unbelief. You have a new beginning already planned for the heavens and the earth, as well as for me. I praise You and exalt You as my Creator and King, my Redeemer and my Savior. I pray today in the name of Jesus, my *aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega". 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.
