Radiant!

      

"Shin", The Name of the LORD

     In a little over a week, the Feast of Trumpets will occur, which is one of the Feasts of the LORD commanded in His Word. This Sabbath reading portion is titled Ki Tavo, meaning "When you come in." The vo letters in the title Ki Tavo, refer to the Hebrew word bo, which means: "enter, come in, lead in, cause to come in, to attain to, to bring near, to bring upon." Our Sabbath title comes from Deuteronomy 26: "And it shall be, when you come into (bo - enter, come in, lead in, cause to come in, to attain to, to bring near, to bring upon) the land (eres - land, country, ground, world, earth, nations, whole earth and its inhabitants) which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you possess it and dwell in it, that you shall take some of the first of all the produce/fruits of the ground, which you shall bring from your land that the LORD your God is giving you, and put it in a basket (tene' - basket, to weave, woven) and go to the place where the LORD your God chooses to make His name abide." (v. 1-2).

     What I learned from this Sabbath reading portion was awesome and beautiful. It shouts, "Prepare to be changed, and to bring change!" to me, especially in view of the coming feast. The two verses above begin us on our journey. The rest of the Sabbath study will show us the radiant result of the journey. The journey of change is not just for our sakes, but for what the world will see in us, affecting them also.

     As we look at the two verses from Deuteronomy, above, the Israelites were to enter into something. The meaning of the Hebrew word bo also includes the idea of leading in, attaining, to bring near, to bring upon. Their entering in will cause something to be brought near, and to bring upon or cause to happen. They not only enter themselves, but the idea of leading others in is also part of the meaning. The land (eres), which they are supposed to enter, is not limited in meaning to a specific piece of ground, but also refers to nations and the whole earth. The Israelites entering into the land has far-reaching spiritual implications. They are not just to enter and visit the land, but they are to possess (yaras - to occupy by driving out previous tenants, to expel, devour, new wine) it, and dwell (yasab - dwell, remain, abide, continue, have one's abode, to sit down, thrones) in it as given to them by the LORD.

     Upon entering the land, the Israelites were to bring the first fruits of the land as an offering. They were to bring it in a basket. Jesus is identified in scripture as the first fruits of the resurrection: "But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming. (1 Cor. 15:20-23). It is specifically written above that the first fruits of the land are to be placed in a basket. The Hebrew word for basket as shown above, not only means a basket, but to weave or woven. Jesus, in accordance with Jewish burial customs of the day, as illustrated by the Shroud of Turin, was enveloped in a linen cloth, which is a woven fabric. This was the "basket" that held Him, if you will. Peter and John, the disciples, saw the empty linen fabric laying in the open tomb after Christ's resurrection. Seeing the empty linen caused John to believe. (see Jn. 20:3-8).

     The above is not the only reference to resurrection in this week's Ki Tavo, "When you come in," Sabbath reading portion. When the Israelites brought in their offering of the first fruits of the land after they entered in, they were to proclaim: "My father was a Syrian/Aramean, about to perish (abad - perish, surely, utterly, destruction, broken, undone, be exterminated, put to death, blot out, cause to vanish, be lost, have no way to flee, to be wretched, to slay, to cut off), and he went down (yarad - sank, fell, go down, descend, sink down, be taken down, brought down to a lower region) to Egypt (misrayim/masor/sur - Egypt/besieged places, fortified, distress, hemming in/assault, adversaries, bind up, enclose, confine, shut in, show hostility and to treat as a foe) and dwelt there...." (v. 4-5).

     Hopeless in death and utterly cut off, taken down to the lower region so fortified that none can escape: death, the grave and hell. Evil was inflicted upon them in that place (v. 6). This would have been a place without any hope, however: "Then we cried out to the LORD God of our fathers...and the LORD heard our voice...So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders. He has brought us to this place and has given us this land...and now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land which you, O LORD, have given me." (v. 7-10, excerpt). With a great personal effort, the LORD brought His people out of the previously inescapable place of death and torment. And we remember, honor and proclaim this great liberation with the Firstfruits, Christ, encased in a woven "basket," who descended into hell after His death in order to preach to and liberate the prisoners there. (see Eph. 4:8-10, 1 Pet. 3:18-20). 

     This is the greatest victory in the history of man: the liberation of the human soul from the fortified prison of death, the grave and hell. Is anything therefore too difficult for God? As we live with tragic current events that reek with the presence of evil, are we remembering our own proclamation regarding the power of First fruits of resurrection, Jesus? We are to proclaim His death until He returns in our remembrance of Communion, or the Lord's Supper. (see 1 Cor. 11:23-26). This is the food of life, His own life, with which He fed us. The Communion is essential to our spiritual life in Christ, and our proclamation contained within it goes out to the eres: the whole earth and its inhabitants. (see eres above). Do we believe this?

     In the two verses from Deuteronomy at the top of the page, the LORD commands Israel to bring their firstfruits and "go to the place (maqom/qum - place/rise, raise, abide, become powerful, to be proven, be raised up) where the LORD chooses to make His name (shem - name, reputation, glory, conspicuous position) abide." (Deut. 26:2). The LORD said that there was a place where He has put His name. Many have written that the geographical features of the city of Jerusalem form the Hebrew letter "shin ש" on the face of the earth (see photo at the top of the page). The shin ש is the letter that begins the word shem, meaning "name." Often the letter shin ש alone represents the name of the LORD. That is an amazing fulfilment of scripture. However, the power and purpose of that Name, ש, is even greater.

     The shin letter on the face of Jerusalem is formed by three valleys around and through the area. One might think that the LORD would place His name over a place of beauty, however, the meanings of the three valleys is just the opposite. The Valley of Kidron has the meaning, "turbid, murky, foul, dirty, dark, gloomy, be squalid, to go in filthy garments, a place of refuse." The Valley of Hinnom has the meaning, "lamentation, wailing, groaning, place of the sacrifice of children by fire which is an inhuman and idolatrous practice abhorred by God, also known as Gehenna: the place of constant fires that dispose of refuse and filth, a symbol of hell." Lastly is the Valley of Tyropoeon, also called the Central Valley, that runs through the middle of Jerusalem. This valley has been filled over the centuries with vast amounts of debris. These three valleys also separate the holy mountains of God in or around Jerusalem: Zion, Moriah and Olivet. So this is not only a valley of debris, but a valley of separation. The LORD has used garbage dumps to spell out and magnify His Name in all the eres earth! The LORD God exalts Himself over every situation, condition, and hopeless place. Do we just see the garbage, the gloom, the darkness, the abomination and filth, or do we discern the shin ש Name of the LORD inscribed in the earth as His possession? Do we spiritually write His shin ש  Name and proclaim it? Do we scrape His shin ש Name into the soil with our shoe or with a stick as a child might? We have recently seen acts of great darkness, full of murders and expressions of hatred and anger. The weapon against that darkness is the light of the Lord in us, and the power of His Name engraved into the earth..

      In another portion from this Ki Tavo "When you come in" Sabbath, The LORD assures us that the way to overcome darkness is with resurrection light: "Arise, shine (or - become lighted up, shine, become light); For your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the LORD will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Lift up your eyes all around, and see: They all gather together, they come to you...Then you shall see and become radiant (nahar - to flow, a stream of light, to beam light, be radiant, flow together, the sheen of a running stream), and your heart shall swell with joy." (Isa. 60:1-5, excerpt).

     Jesus said, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." (Mt. 5:16). Shining our light before men is not for the glory of our name, but to glorify the shin Name of the Father.

     This same power of resurrection light transforms "garbage dumps" into glory and beauty in another Sabbath portion from this week: "The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose; It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice, even with joy and singing...Say to those who are fearful-hearted, 'Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God; He will come and save you.' Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams (see "radiant", nahar above) in the desert." (Isa. 35:1-6, excerpt).

     Let us flow together as a stream of radiant light. The LORD's Name has already been engraved into the earth.

     If you would like to learn more about shing with resurrection light, you can join my prayer: "My Father in heaven and on earth, the whole earth is full of Your glory, and the resurrection glory of Your Son, Jesus Messiah/Christ. Even as darkness thickens, Your light overcomes it. Teach me by Your Holy Spirit how to shine the resurrection light within me, given to me, and prayed for me, by Your Son. Let that light so shine that those who are lost in darkness will see it and follow it to Your salvation. Let unrestrained rejoicing fill the air, replacing the sound of the weeping and groaning of suffering. I ask these things in the Name of Jesus. AMEN."

Inheritance

The title of this week's Sabbath reading is Ki Tavo, meaning "When you come in", based on the words that Moses spoke to Israel "It shall be when you come into the land which the LORD your God is giving to you as an inheritance..." in Deut. 26. The Israelites were about to cross over the Jordan River from the eastern direction into the land promised to them by God. The situation changes for the people of God when they come into their inheritance, and there are important principles for us to learn, as we also come into an inheritance when we become followers of Jesus Christ. Paul wrote of our being "...heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ..." and spoke of "...the glory which shall be revealed in us", and "...the glorious liberty of the children of God...", having "the firstfruits of the Spirit". (Rom. 8:17-23, excerpt). In another place, Paul wrote: "In Him (Christ) also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory." (Eph. 1:11-12). We who have received an inheritance from God are called to function at a different level. We will see this in this Sabbath's readings also, because we have "come in". The first thing the Israelites were to do when they arrived in the land was to bring an offering to God. This offering was not to be from what they had brought with them from Egypt, and it was not be what they had planted and grown themselves, nor accumulated during their journey. The LORD commanded: "...you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground, which you shall bring from your land your God is giving you...and go to the place where the LORD your God chooses to make His name abide...". (Deut. 26:2). This offering was to come from what they found already growing in their new land, from their inheritance given to them. However, a declaration was to accompany this offering. The one bringing the offering must say before the priest: "I declare today to the LORD my God that I have come to the country which the LORD swore to our fathers to give us...My father was a Syrian (Aramean), about to perish, and he went down to Egypt and dwelt there, few in number; and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. But the Egyptians mistreated us, and laid hard bondage on us. Then we cried out to the LORD God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and looked on our affliction and our labor and our oppression. So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders. He has brought us to this place and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land which You, O LORD, have given me." (v. 3-10). Then the offering is set before the LORD and He is worshipped, "So you shall rejoice in every good thing which the LORD your God has given to you and your house..." (v. 11). In the third year in the land, the Israelites were to begin bringing the tithe they had laid aside of all of the increase they have received. The offering of the tithe (a tenth) was also to be accompanied by a declaration ending with "I have obeyed the voice of the LORD my God, and have done according to all that You hve commanded me. Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the land which You have given us, just as You swore to our fathers, 'a land flowing with milk and honey'." (v. 13-15), excerpt). As the people further proclaimed that the LORD was their God, and that they will walk in His ways, His commandments, and His judgments, and obey His voice, the LORD makes a proclamation in exchange: "Also today, the LORD has proclaimed you to be His special people, just as He promised you, that you should keep all His commandments, and that He will set you high above all nations which He has made, in praise, in name, and in honor, and that you may be a holy people to the LORD your God, just as He has spoken." (v. 17-19). All of these declarations are made in conjunction with the giving of tithes and offerings to the LORD, and, as we read, the LORD proclaims amazing things over His people in return. Those amazing things sound very similar to what Peter wrote to the Church of believers (see 1 Peter 2:9-10). I must ask myself, then, what I am declaring, if anything, as I bring my tithes and offerings to the LORD. We can see that making a declaration of the Lord's deliverance and inheritance to us is to be a powerful, appropriate, even a commanded, part of our giving. I have received an amazing inheritance from Him. When I bring something to the LORD, I should be declaring that inheritance. An inheritance that first found me in sin, oppression, bondage, darkness, and death, as the Israelites were in Egypt, and brought me into that place of glory that Paul wrote about above - even to the sharing of Christ's own inheritance from His Father! Isn't this worth a declaration or two? The LORD has promised here in Deuteronomy 26 that if I make my declaration while giving to Him, He will make a declaration or proclamation to me. We should be aware that there are expectations of a people "when they come in", and have received their miraculous inheritance. God has given them and us a guideline to guarding and keeping the inheritance that they, and we, have been given. In Deuteronomy 28, another portion from this Sabbath's reading, Moses brought to the Israelites the Word of the LORD: "...if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments...the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth." (v. 1). This is the same declaration that the LORD made to His people previously in Deut. 26. This is part of their inheritance of the land, if they obey. On top of that, the LORD declared: "And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God." (v. 2). The LORD then told them of all of the blessings that will manifest in their lives, including the fruitfulness of their own bodies in children. Enemies would flee from before them. "The LORD will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments...and walk in His ways. Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they shall be afraid of you...and the LORD will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath (see Jesus' words in Jn. 8:23), if you heed the commandments...and are careful to observe them." (v. 2-13, excerpt). Observing the commandments and voice of God preserves and guards the inheritance which the LORD has given to His people. His intentions were not to bring them to the land, and then set them on their own without His counsel. As we continue in this Sabbath's readings, we will find that this is just the beginning of the expectations, proclamations and miraculous manifestations that God has in store for His people to whom He has given an inheritance. The inheritance includes, as Paul wrote above, the LORD's inclusion of His people in His own glory. This Sabbath's reading also includes specific portions from the prophet Isaiah: "Arise (qum - rise up, stand, come on the scene, be established, raise up, give effect to), shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness (hosek/hasak - darkness including destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow, wickedness; the dark place of Hades, dark as withholding light, to be surrounded with darkness) shall cover (kasa - overwhelm, hide, conceal, spread over, clothe) the earth, and deep darkness (arapel/arap - thick darkness, heavy or dark cloud, gloom, night, darkness dropping down) the people; but the LORD will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you...Surely the coastlands shall wait for Me...to bring your sons from afar, their silver and their gold with them, to the name of the LORD your God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because He has glorified you...And they shall call you 'The City of the LORD', 'Zion of the Holy One of Israel'." (Isa. 60:1-2, 9, 14). The inheritance of glory is not for our sake alone, but in order that the Gentiles and the nations will glorify the LORD also. The inheritance of glory given to us, if we will rise up and stand in it, is the only light that will be available to a world and its people who have been totally swallowed up in a natural and spiritual darkness, even the darkness of Hell. To understand and obediently walk in our inheritance from God through His Son, has grave importance to the world. Paul also wrote of our inheritance as sons of God: "For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing (apokalypsis - a disclosure of truth, appearance, of something previously withdrawn from view but now made visible to all, lighten) of the sons of God...because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption (phthorah- destruction, perishing from defilement, eternal misery in Hell) into the glorious liberty of the children/sons of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now." (Rom. 8:19, 21-22). We see Paul's teaching again in the Sabbath reading for this week in another selection from Isaiah regarding our salvation inheritance's effect on creation and other people: "...the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice, even with joy and singing...They shall see the glory of the LORD, the excellency of our God...Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing (see also the words of Jesus in Mt. 11:2-6). For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert. The parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water...A highway shall be there, and a road, and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it...And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." (Isa. 35:1-2, 5-8, 10). As the ancient order of weekly Sabbath readings was established many generations ago, we can see that the miraculous inheritance from God of the Promised Land by the Israelites also promised and was joined to an even greater inheritance, which would include other people as well. It is an inheritance that transforms from the deep darkness of Hell into the light of God's Glory through Jesus Christ. This is an inheritance well worthy of guarding and keeping as God instructed His people to do with all diligence. If you would like to learn more about this precious inheritance from the LORD of Glory, you can pray with me: "Dear Father, You have promised in Your Word that the whole earth will be filled with Your glory. You have given Your people an inheritance of shared glory with You through Your Son, Jesus. As You gave the land to Israel, You called them to be Your holy people set high above all nations, declaring the inheritance You gave to them as You delivered them out of Egypt and bondage, and into holiness and liberty. I have also received an inheritance of salvation through Your Son, and I declare how You delivered me from deep darkness and death into Your kingdom of marvelous light and glory. Fill me with your Holy Spirit so that I can diligently obey Your Word and Your voice in guarding this inheritance received from You. All creation waits eagerly, and depends upon seeing Your people walk in this inheritance. I thank and praise You in the name of Jesus. AMEN."