TheOnlyGod

      The various nations, cultures and individuals around the world today have different forms of worship. Some worship God, meaning the God of Israel, the God of Scripture. Some worship a form of "God" according to their own definitions and desires regarding Him. Some worship their ancestors. Some still worship a pantheon of gods, many gods. Some worship a philosophy or a state system. Some worship a political leader as if he is a god. Some worship nature and the gods that they believe rule over each object in nature. Some worship certain animals as holy. Some worship the idea of atheism. Some worship what is called science, and others worship man's "reason". Then there are the more subtle objects of worship based upon what people view as being the most important thing/person to them such as money, possessions, career, success, power, influence over others, self, fashion, music, sports, and many more such things, ideas, and people who have been elevated into idols.     

     One of the reading portions from this Sabbath is Psalm 96. This Psalm is credited to King David because it is also recorded in 1 Chron. 16:23-33, when the Ark of the Covenant was brought up to Jerusalem by David. The psalm makes clear that the knowledge of the Hebrew God and His salvation is expected to be known by all people, by all nations: "...Sing to the LORD all the earth...Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day...Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all (kol/kalal - all, the whole, any, each, every, anything, totality/make complete, make perfect, to put a crown upon) peoples...He is to be feared above all gods, for all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the LORD made the heavens...Give to the LORD, O families of the peoples, give to the LORD glory and strength. Give to the LORD the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come into His courts. Oh, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness! Tremble before Him, all the earth. Say among the nations/heathen, 'The LORD reigns....He shall judge the peoples righteously.'...For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with His truth." Jesus also commanded His disciples to proclaim the good news of His salvation to all nations and people (Mt. 28:19, Mk. 16:15, Lk. 24:46-47). When the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) in Jerusalem fifty days after the crucifixion of Christ on Passover, the multitude who were gathered nearby heard the disciples speaking in every language of every nation (Acts 2:5-12) to their amazement. When the only God offered His gift of salvation, His Son Jesus, it was to the whole world, which He loved (Jn. 3:16-17). When scripture describes those who have become part of the Kingdom of the only God, they are from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation (Rev. 5:9, Rev. 7:9-10). When the prophet described God's house, he described it as a house of prayer for all nations (Isa. 56:7).

     Whether the nations or cultures accept the LORD as the only God or not, it is the LORD who created all, and it is He who will judge all of His creation according to the psalm above. None will be exempt from His expectation that they will have this knowledge. The apostle Paul also wrote that the knowledge of the only God, the LORD who is God as identified in the Hebrew scriptures and the New Testament, is expected of all mankind without exception or excuse: "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened." (Rom. 1:18-21). People may purposefully reject the knowledge of God, or try to substitute something else for God, but God knows that they know who He is, has always been, and will always be. He is the One who created us, and everything that we see, and scripture says that we all know it, regardless of what man says or chooses to believe instead.

     God has always been God of all of the nations. He has caused even the most powerful kings of various nations throughout history to proclaim Him as God: Pharaoh of Egypt was not a big fan of the LORD, commenting, "Who is the LORD, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, nor will I let Israel go." (Ex. 5:2). During one of the plagues of Egypt (lice), Pharaoh's magicians said to him: "This is the finger of God.' But Pharaoh's heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, just as the LORD had said." (Ex. 8:19).  After the plague of thunder and hail, Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron to him, and said: "I have sinned this time. The LORD is righteous, and my people and I are wicked. Entreat the LORD, that there may be no more mighty thundering and hail, for it is enough. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer." (Ex. 9:27). Although Pharaoh went back on his word here, after the tenth plague of death to the first born, Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron and told them to leave Egypt, with the children of Israel and all of their animals, saying: "...go serve the LORD as you have said...be gone; and bless me also." (Ex. 12:31-32). Pharaoh would again go back on his word, but not because he didn't know who the LORD was. He knew.

     King Nebuchadnezzar, the great king of the Babylonian Empire, asked the prophet of the LORD, Daniel, to include in the prophet's book Nebuchadnezzar's letter to all which begins: "Nebuchadnezzar the king, to all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you. I thought it good to declare the signs and wonders that the Most High God has worked for me. How great are His signs, and how mighty are His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion is from generation to generation." (Dan. 4:1-3). The king then continued to write his personal testimony of what he had witnessed and experienced with God.

     Isaiah the prophet spoke of a future king, Cyrus, who would be established by God as a great conqueror of nations, and prophesied to this future king: "That you may know that I, the LORD, who called you by your name, am the God of Israel...I have even called you by your name; I have named you, though you have not known Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other; There is no God besides Me. I will gird you, though you have not known Me." (Isa. 45:1-5). Centuries before Cyrus of Persia was born, the LORD was calling him forth prophetically. Cyrus' existence and success would be for Israel's, the LORD's elect's sake (v. 4), and we will see that. Later in time, Cyrus did become a conquering king of Persia (Iran/Iraq).

     In the first year of Cyrus' rule, he was moved by the Spirit of the LORD to issue a decree in order that the prophetic word of Jeremiah the prophet might be fulfilled ending the captivity of God's people (Ezra 1:1). This was the king's proclamation: "Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the LORD God of heaven has given me. And he has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. Who is among you of all His people? May his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel (He is God), which is in Jerusalem..." (v. 2-3). Cyrus also brought all of the captured holy furnishings and vessels of God's temple out of his treasury, had them accounted for, and gave them to Sheshbazzar (Zerubbabel), the prince of Judah, to take back to Jerusalem with the now former Israelite captives (v. 7-11).

     In this week's Sabbath portion there is a mention of Hiram, King of Tyre (Lebanon), and the help and materials that he agreed to send to King Solomon in Jerusalem for the building of the Temple for the LORD's name in 2 Chron. 2. When King Hiram responded to King Solomon's request, Hiram also wrote: "Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, for He has given King David a wise son...who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself." (v. 12). There were also over one hundred thirty thousand foreigners who were living in Judah who were recruited by Solomon to provide labor and to act as overseers for the building of the Temple (v. 17-18). 

     This week's Sabbath reading portion is titled Ki Tissa, meaning "when you take" (nasa - lift up, bear up, bear continuously, take, forgive, carry, support, be lifted up, exalted, rise up, marry, magnify). The title comes from a principle in Exodus 30:11-16.  Moses was to take a (aleph-tav in written Hebrew letters, or Alpha and Omega in Greek letters which refer to the identity of Jesus Christ: see Rev. 1:8, Rev. 21:6, Rev. 22:13) sum or census of the Israelites, everyone twenty years old and above. Look at how the LORD has magnified His aleph-tav people according to the Hebrew meaning of the word "take", above! However, as much as this Sabbath portion reveals that the LORD is God over all of the earth and its inhabitants, over all of the nations and their peoples, this portion also sadly reveals how God's own people chose to worship the gods of foreign nations and make idols of them.

     In one Sabbath portion from Ex. 34, while Moses was on the mountain receiving the commandments of God written by God's own finger (Ex. 31:18), the Israelites in the camp were demanding that Aaron make them a god to worship. Of these commandments of God that had already been told to the Israelites were: "I am the LORD your God...You shall have no other gods before Me...You shall not make for yourself a carved image...of anything...You shall not bow down to them nor serve them..." (Ex. 20:2-4). The Israelites had witnessed the great wonders of God, but they chose to worship a god that they could see with their eyes, saying to Aaron: "Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses...we do not know what has become of him." (Ex. 32:1). Aaron made a golden calf from the gold (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) earrings (nezem - earring, nose ring) that Aaron had told the people to "break off" (paraq - cast away, tear apart, break away, broken in pieces, rent). When Aaron presented the completed golden calf to the people, they said: "This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!" (v. 2-4). We saw in Genesis that gold nose rings and jewelry are betrothal and marriage gifts among the Hebrews (Gen. 24:22). The LORD considered Himself betrothed and married to (and jealous of) the aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega sum of His people, and they were "breaking off" this betrothal in favor of an idol of an Egyptian god, Apis/Hapi/Hep, the most popular of the three great bull cults of ancient Egypt, connected to their city of Memphis. The world is expected to know the LORD God of Israel according to scripture, but His own people rejected the knowledge of Him.

     In another portion from this Sabbath, God's people again chose a foreign (Canaanite) fertility god also in the form of a bull called Ba'al, over the LORD God. In 1 Kings 18, the prophet Elijah, in front of the king and all of the people, had a confrontation with the prophets who served Ba'al and demonstrated the omnipotent power of the LORD God. The LORD answered by fire from heaven: "Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, 'The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!" (v. 38-39).

     If you have been told that because of your nationality, race, heritage or culture, that the LORD God cannot be your God as the only God, this is not what the LORD Himself has said. History also has borne out this truth, as we have seen above. The LORD God has said that He wants to bring you to His holy mountain, and into His house and into His Kingdom with joy (see Isa. 56:7 above). His salvation, His Son Jesus, is also offered freely to all the world, to any and all who will accept and believe Him.

     If we consider ourselves to be part of the aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega sum of the LORD's betrothed people, we cannot allow the worship of false gods and idols into our relationship with Him for He is a jealous God - and anything or anyone can become an idol in our lives.

     If you would like to learn more about the only true God and the people who belong to Him, you can pray with me: "Father and LORD of All, how wonderful and welcoming You are to all of us. The world may be racist, but You are not. The world may exclude persons based upon nationality or culture, but You do not. You hold Your hand out to all of the families of the nations to become Your family. All of us, through Your Son, Jesus, and by Your Spirit, can cry out to you saying, 'Abba, Father'. Cleanse my heart of all idols, Lord, and of any desires and "self" that I have made more important than You, and all false understandings that are not founded in You. You alone are God in my life, the only God. I ask these things in the name of Your Son, Jesus. AMEN."

     

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."

Enemies

This week's Sabbath reading portion is named after one of the enemies that came against the Israelites as they journeyed through the wilderness after their deliverance from slavery in Egypt. The title of this reading portion is "Balak". Balak was the king of Moab, a nation that bordered the land that the LORD had promised to give to the Israelites, the covenant descendants (from whom the Messiah would come) of Abraham. Balak's name means "devastator, annihilate, make empty, void". This brings to mind the condition of the earth before God spoke miraculously in Genesis: "The earth was without form and void." (Gen. 1:2). From his name we can see that this enemy, Balak, represented a spiritual enemy as well as a natural enemy. Up to this point in the Book of Numbers, or B'Midbar in Hebrew, we read how God had numbered His people, whom He called "armies" (Num. 1:2-3). The males of the Israelites, except for the Levites, who were of fighting age, "able to go to war", numbered 603,550 (Num. 2:32-33). If we add the Levites, the women and the children, the total number of Israelites in the wilderness was well over one million, and many believe the number could have been over two million. By the time we come to the account of Balak, king of Moab, in chapters 22-24, the Israelites, by the favor and might of the LORD, had already defeated other kings who had attacked them. For this reason, as the Israelites approached the territory of Moab, those people became afraid: "Now Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. And Moab was exceedingly afraid of the people because they were many, and Moab was sick with dread (qus - sickening dread, grieved, abhor, loathing, cut, cut up, cut off) because of the children of Israel. So Moab said to the elders of Midian, 'Now this company will lick up everything around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field." (Num. 22:2-4). Here's something for the people of God to know about their spiritual enemies: while the Israelites were totally unaware of the ideas of Balak and the Moabites, the Moabites were sick with dread over the Israelites. The enemy's dread was so intense, that it caused them to loathe the people of God, according to the Hebrew meaning. The fear and loathing was so intense that the enemy sought to destroy, or cut off, the people of God in any way possible. Here's something else to know about the spiritual enemy: Balak, this devastator and annihilator, had a father named Zippor. Zippor means "sparrow, small bird, twittering, hopping little bird, skip around in a circle". I'm not saying that this spiritual enemy is not strong enough to "devastate" and "annihilate", but compared to the Father of the people of God, Who carried those millions of Israelites on His great eagles' wings, there's no comparison. We see this description when the LORD told Moses to say to the children of Israel: "You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega - see Rev. 1:8, 21:6, 22:13) covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." (Ex. 19:3-6). In this week's Sabbath reading portion, we will see the awesome and terrifying might of the LORD against the enemies of His people. Can God not save His covenant people from little sparrows, no matter how evil? (see also Isa. 14:12-17). We will also see later what drives God to pour out all of His tremendous power against these enemies. Balak, king of Moab, sent his men to hire a certain sorcerer-soothsayer named Balaam (meaning "not of the people, foreigner"), son of Beor ("burning, stupid, dull-hearted, unreceptive, brutish, feed upon, consume"), from Pethor ("soothsayer"). (Num. 22:5-6). King Balak of Moab wanted Balaam to curse the Israelites, so that Balak might then be able to defeat them. However, God would not allow Balaam to curse whom He had blessed, and Balaam could only speak bountiful blessings over the children of Israel. (Num. 23:8, 11-12). Not only did Balaam bless Israel, but the Word of the LORD which Balaam received, revealed the shout of a King among the Israelites (Num. 23:21, 21, 24:7, 9). He compared the Israelites to a lion, which is the identity of the Messiah: the Lion of the tribe of Judah (see also Gen. 49:8-12). In Balaam's fourth prophecy, as he again blesses the people of God, he also again prophesies the Messiah (Num. 24:17, 19). When Balaam looked upon the Israelites, he prophetically saw the Messiah Who was to be born many centuries later. Balaam was not able to curse Israel, but we see that Israel immediately thereafter begins to "commit harlotry with the women of Moab". The Moabite women invited the people (of Israel) to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel was joined to (samad - fasten, bind, join, attach oneself to, combine) Ba'al of Peor, this Moabite god, and the anger of the LORD was aroused against Israel. (Num. 25:1-3). Those who had joined themselves to the false god, Ba'al, were killed. Phinehas stopped this wholesale destruction of the Israelites by killing one man who refused to put aside his idolatrous foreign wife. Twenty-four thousand Israelites died in this plague from the LORD. (v. 7-9). It turned out, that this idolatry of God's people with the gods of the Moabite women resulted from Balaam advising King Balak to use this strategy to lead the Israelites away from God, leaving them vulnerable (see Num. 31:15-16). This is still a strategy used by spirits of darkness against God's people (see. Rev. 2:14). Although the LORD intervened powerfully to prevent the curse that the enemy tried to bring on His people, which was the devastation and annihilation that King Balak desired against the Israelites, the Israelites opened the door, invited it in, and brought a plague of destruction upon themselves. From another "Balak" reading portion of this Sabbath, a generation later, Joshua gathered the Israelites and demanded that they decide and commit to either the God who delivered them out of Egypt, or the false gods of the other nations. He demanded: "Now therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served...Serve the LORD! And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve...But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." (Josh. 24:14-15). The Israelites agreed, saying, "We also will serve the LORD, for He is our God." (v. 18). As Joshua and the Israelites spoke of "the LORD", it is written in Hebrew as (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) Yehova, or LORD. In another reading portion, titled Balak, for this Sabbath, the prophet Micah (meaning "Who is like YHWH Jehovah") brings forth the Word of the LORD concerning His great victory over His enemies. In Micah 5, the prophet brought a beautiful description of the coming of the Messiah-Savior, whose origin is from eternity: "But you, Bethlehem Ephrahthah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Iarael, whose goings forth (mosa'a/mosa/yasa - origin, family descent/rising, place of departure/begotten, break out, germinate, come out of, water flowing and gushing forth from a fountain) are from of old (qedem/qadam - ancient time, eternal, before-time/hasten to meet, receive, anticipate), fromn everlasting (olam/alam - perpetual time, always, continuous existence, eternity, hidden time/hidden, secret thing).' ...He shall stand and feed His flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD His God; and they shall abide, for now He shall be great to the ends of the earth; and this One shall be peace." (Mic. 5:2-5a). This prophecy is emphatic that the Ruler who was to come had His origins in eternity and was eternity. Jesus (Yeshua- "Salvation of God") was continually existent before the beginning, although His natural birth was to be in Bethlehem. Even many Christians erroneously believe that Jesus' "beginnings" were at His birth in Bethlehem, but this is not correct. He was before time itself. He was, and is, and will be "always". From this amazing revelation in Micah 5, the prophet wrote of the LORD's complete victory over the enemies of His people, concluding: "And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury on the (aleph-tav) nations (goyim/geva - nations, people, heathen, Gentiles/body) that have not heard (sama - hear, perceive, obedient, discern, give heed, agree, yield to). We may think that this sounds unjust, but when we look at the Hebrew meanings, those who did not "hear" were those who refused to receive and obey what they knew. They knew because they were aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega nations, people, a body, that belonged to the LORD. These people would not be ignorant of the Lord, Jesus Christ. They would know, but refuse to receive and obey the King of Kings. Man is responsible for what God has faithfully and mercifully revealed to them. These aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega nations, divinely destined to belong to Christ, cannot make war against God's people, and then say, "Lord, I didn't know." In another reading portion from this Sabbath, the prophet Habakkuk (meaning "embrace,clasp") also wrote about this: "He (the LORD) stood and measured the earth; He looked and startled (natar - drive asunder, undo, shake (off), unfasten) the nations. And the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills bowed. His ways are everlasting...The sun and moon stood still in their habitation...You marched through the land in indignation; You teampled the nations in anger. You went forth for the salvation of Your people, for salvation with Your (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) Anointed (masiah - Messiah, anointed [same as "Christ"], anointed prince or priest). You struck the head from the house of the wicked, by laying bare from foundation to neck. Selah...When I heard, my body trembled; my lips quivered at the voice; rottenness entered my bones; and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble..." (Hab. 3:6, 11-13, 16). The prophet was terrified by what he saw and heard in the Spirit, as the LORD went forth for the salvation of His people through His (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) Messiah, or Christ in Greek. The LORD shook all of creation, stopping the sun and the moon, on behalf of the salvation He had provided for His people with the Messiah. A Balak-type enemy, the son of a "tweet-tweet, hop-hop" sparrow, cannot compare with our God marching forth on behalf of the salvation of His people. As for me and my house, we will fear and serve the LORD of awesome power and might. If you would like to know more about the LORD who shakes the heavens and the earth, and all of the nations on behalf of the salvation of His people by His Messiah, Jesus, you can pray with me: "LORD God, You are mighty and great on behalf of my salvation. You shake all of creation in order to bring me to, and keep me in, Your salvation, Jesus. You sent Your Son to die, to descend into Hell, and to be raised from the dead, to defeat all of the enemies of darkness that, like Balak, would try to destroy me, and all of Your people. Keep me from evil by Your Word, and by Your Holy Spirit, so that I remain steadfast in You, Aleph-Tav/Alpha and Omega Yehova, where my salvation dwells. I ask, as always, in the name of Your Son, Jesus, who saved me. AMEN."

Cause/Effect

In the two previous posts, we have looked at some interesting scriptures regarding the last days and the nations of the earth. We have seen the importance of the role of Jerusalem among the nations, even in the comprehensive meaning of the name of the city of which the Hebrew means, "teaching of peace". We read why the command in the Psalm 122 to "pray for the peace of Jerusalem", means so much more than that short phrase encompasses, not only in regards to the destinies of the nations, but for our individual destinies found in the phrase, "for the sake of my brethren and companions".
In this entry, I would like to look at how our individual walks as believers and followers of Christ directly effects the nations of the earth:

"I will greatly rejoice ("suws suws" , a word repeated here in Hebrew reflecting the intensity of meaning as "to be bright, exult, display joy, to leap of spring with joy) in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful ("giyl"-go in a circle, dance, leap for joy) in my God;
For He has clothed me with the garments ("beged"- cloth, covering, vesture, precious garment, with which anything is "wrapped up"*) of salvation ("yesha"- deliverance, salvation, rescue, safety, prosperity, victory, liberty. Root: avenging, defend, ample, broad, opulent, to set free),
He has covered me with the robe ("m'iyl"- mantle, cloak, outer robe, garment of the high priest) of righteousness ("tsedaqah"- justice, righteous acts. Root: cleansed, to justify, to vindicate, to clear self),
As a bridegroom ("chathan"- bridegroom, husband, circumcised child as a species of religious espousal as in "bridegroom of blood" as a sign of covenant relationship. Root: to cut off, to circumcise) decks ("kahan"- priest's office, to mediate in religious services, prophet, put on regalia, rich, opulent) himself with ornaments ("pe'er"- fancy headdress, beauty, bonnet, tiara, turban. Root: glorify, beautify, to gleam, white glowing heat),
And as a bride ("kallah"- bride, betrothed, crowned with a chaplet meaning a garland or wreath for the head or a number of beads strung together signifying prayers. Root: to complete, to perfect, to put a crown upon) adorns herself with her jewels ("kelly"- vessel, instrument, weapon, armor, armor-bearer, utensil, implement (of hunting, war, music, labor), yoke of an oxen, artillery, vessel for the temple. Root: to end, to finish, be completed, be fulfilled, vanish, wholly reap).
For as the earth brings forth its bud,
As the garden causes things that are sown in it to spring forth,
So the LORD God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth ("tsamakh"- to sprout, to grow abundantly or thickly, to cause to sprout, to shine, shining forth, to cause deliverance (righteousness) before all nations."   Isa. 61:10-11

As usual, the wonderful prophet Isaiah gives us a prophetic look into things that most others were seldom shown. This is an individual and personal revelation of Isaiah using the words "I, my, me". The salvation work produced in the individual living in the earth has an inevitable witness or impact upon the nations of the earth, in the same way that the purpose and achievement of a garden is to bring forth buds. The manifested effect must follow the cause.
Jesus pointed us to this chapter of Isaiah when He preached the first verses of this chapter in the synagogue, and announced that He was the fulfillment of those verses (Lk. 4:18-21). We are a fruit of that fulfillment in a special way.
As we look at the meanings of the Hebrew words used in the verses from Isaiah, above, we can learn many things that perhaps the English meaning wouldn't show us. We can learn what the believer looks like in the Spirit, and the effect the properly clothed believer has in the earth.
First of all, Isaiah reveals that the joy found in the person who receives salvation is so great that it cannot be contained in a calm body, but the body must explode with it in jumping, dancing, or movement of some kind. When is the last time we felt or exhibited this kind of all-consuming joy? Most of our thoughts, emotions, actions and reactions unfortunately are responses to earthly circumstances and conditions, and not around the joy of the salvation glory with which we have been filled. This joy of the LORD is our spiritual and physical strength (Neh. 8:10, Ps. 21:1) and it is of eternity, yet we quickly forget it in our changing circumstances, which are temporal. Just when we need strength the most, we seek it in other ways, but it is found in the joy. Even in daily struggles and challenges, we are so much more spiritually effective if we keep and activate that joy, knowing that God turns for good, even what the enemy meant for evil (Gen. 50:20, Rom. 8:26-28). It is in the worst of circumstances that we especially need that strength of joy for ourselves and others. Maintaining this kind of joy is a big challenge for me, but Isaiah's words teach me its importance and encourage me to keep it in mind.
The salvation and righteousness with which we have been clothed, have a rich and extensive meaning in these verses from Isaiah. Isaiah is speaking here of spiritual clothing, but that spiritual clothing can still be discerned by others. The spiritual outerwear reflects the inner condition, the working of God's salvation and righteousness within us, making it readily apparent. Scripture tells us that the wife of the Lamb is clothed in clean, bright, fine linen garments that reflect "the righteous acts of the saints" (Rev. 19:7-8).
We are familiar with the imagery of the Bridegroom and Bride as it refers to Christ and His believers or "ekklesia" church, but the image of the bridegroom here in these verses very much centers around circumcision, and the covenant it represents, and the sacrifice with which it is sealed. Paul taught that circumcision was not an outward act, but an inward condition of the heart (Rom. 2:28-29). This is where covenant with God is made and kept. Have we allowed our hearts to be circumcised in this manner? Do our lives reflect the sacrifice surrounding our covenant with our Lord and Savior? The receiving of salvation is free to us, though it was not free for Jesus to make that provision for us, but the working of it in us is accompanied by this kind of spiritual circumcision in order for it to have an effect on others.
According to the Hebrew words used in the verses from Isaiah, the bridegroom's garments express his priestly office, and his prophetic calling. Do we intercede and mediate for others, or are our "religious" duties mostly concerned with benefit to ourselves? Do we believe in the prophetic promise contained in every word of God, therefore speaking it and praying it? These are the garments we must wear to be effective in the earth, as well as in the Spirit.
In the above verses, the jewels with which the bride adorns herself are not earthly precious stones, which man would find impressive, but it refers to weaponry, tools and implements that produce a work (effect) of some kind, even a creative work. According to the meaning of the word used, the bride is adorned with temple vessels that contain sanctified elements of worship and sacrifice. Do we love the glory of jewels of honor and wealth, but fail to value the true glory of the jewels of effective, creative works produced by faith, saving many, rather than religious works of the law which are dead (James 2:14-20, Heb. 6:1)? Are we wearing temple vessels representing cleansing and sanctification? In these verses according to the Hebrew, the bride's crown, which is made of a living garland that the she wears around her head, also contains beads representing her prayers. The prayers of the righteous are effective and avail much, even saving the sick (James 5:15-16).
Isaiah wrote that the coverings put upon us by God represent the spiritual work of salvation in us that have an impact on nations and peoples even as gardens bring forth the fruit of what has been sown in them. Are we wearing the garments that have been provided for us by God, garments that impact and effect, or have we woven and worn our own idea of what the garment of salvation and the robe of righteousness should look like: whitewashed and impressive to others on the outside, but inside filled with corruption (Mt. 23:26-28)?
At His death, Christ was "wrapped up"* in a garment that not only carried His image, and reflected His death and resurrection, but the garment carried the signs of His suffering on behalf of many others (Isa. 53:11). This is indeed the nature of our garment of salvation, and our robe of righteousness, but will we wear them? If we will wear them, then the nations of the earth will see, and we will be a witness and an instrument in God's desired effect upon the nations through us.

Our Father desires to cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all nations.

Yeruwshalaim

Metaphorically speaking, there is a hub around which a huge wheel turns. There is a sun around which planets revolve. There is a nucleus around which electrons orbit. As important and central as this hub, sun, or nucleus is to our spiritual walk, we don't give it much thought, prayer or recognition. We tend to neglect it, but it is by this center, or "hub", that nations will rise or fall- our nation, your nation, all nations, regardless of continent or hemisphere. That "hub" is Jerusalem.
On the long timeline of history, we are currently living in the age of nations (goyim). Nations didn't always exist. In fact many nations are relatively new, but today there is no territory on earth that has not been mapped, bordered in, and defined as being within a nation. One of the last nations to be carved out of the earth, mapped with boundaries set, with the official approval of the other nations: Israel. The completion of this age of nations brought with it the beginning of the countdown of a scriptural prophetic clock. Jesus spoke of the significance of the completion of the age of nations and its connection to Jerusalem, which was also translated to us from the Greek as "the time (meaning includes: a limited period of time, a fixed and definite time; the time when things are brought to crisis, the decisive epoch waited for) of the Gentiles (meaning includes: a tribe, a nation, a people group)" (Lk. 21:24). Around that time in history when Jesus prophesied, there were few independent or self-governing nations. With a few exceptions, most of the earth was sectioned into huge empires, vast barbarian territories, a few city-states, and uncharted whole continents. His audience must have wondered what Jesus was talking about, but now, we can see it and understand it.
All nations are going to be drawn, and are now being drawn to an ultimate destination, and that destination is Jerusalem. What happens to those nations will depend upon how they deal with Jerusalem. This is the word of the LORD:
"Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it...In that day the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the angel of the LORD before them. It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem."   Zech. 12:2-3, 8-9
The nations are raging as never before. Frightening headlines of deep espionage and sabotage, underhanded election tampering, aggression, warfare, attacks and counter-attacks, assassination, missiles, nations blatantly supporting terrorist organizations, fill our eyes and ears daily. The LORD connects all of these things to the coming of His Anointed (Christ), His Son in Psalm 2:
"Why do the nations rage, and the people plot (imagine, growl, utter, mutter, fervor of mind, devise, roaring) a vain thing (emptied, worthless, fruitless)? The kings of the earth set themselves...against the LORD and His Anointed ("Messiah")..."  v. 1-2
In this Psalm the LORD guarantees:
"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...I will give you the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession." v. 6-8
The nations, and the spiritual strongholds over them (Dan. 10:12-14, Eph. 6:12, Rom. 8:38-39, 2 Cor. 10:4-6), do not want to belong to the Messiah, their anointed and appointed King. They rage and writhe against the decree of God. They plot, kill, and destroy on a scale never seen before. Eventually they will all turn against the place from which the Word and Law of God flows which is Jerusalem, as we will see.
It is important here to look at the meaning of the word Jerusalem, the original Hebrew being Yeruwshalaim. Simply put, the word means, "teaching of peace". The use of the verb "teaching" means it is an ongoing activity. It was before, it is now, and it is continuing into the future. The Hebrew root word is "yara", meaning archers, to shoot (an arrow), instructed, teacher, flow as water (rain), to point out, aim the finger, i.e. to teach. The second root word that makes up the word "Yeruwshalaim" is "shalam". It means peace and more: "peace, to make peace, to recompense, to repay, to restore, restitution, amends, make safe, to complete and perform, to make an end of that is perfect, prosperous, reward, to live friendly, to submit oneself to the dominion of any one".
We can see the importance of this meaning of Yeruwshalaim, or Jerusalem, and the importance of its fulfillment in these verses from the prophets Isaiah and Micah:
"...concerning Judah and Jerusalem...Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, "Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths." For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. O house of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of the LORD."  Isa. 2:1-5, Micah 4:1-3
The Law, the Word, and the teaching of the LORD will go forth from Jerusalem and Zion, and the nations will be taught and learn peace.
There is an interesting story about this verse above from Isaiah. The United Nations in New York City is a very impressive building inside and out. Across a wide avenue from the U.N., there is a small park named for the first African-American to win the Nobel Peace Prize, Ralph Bunche*. Inside that small park a wall was built that faces the U.N.. An excerpt from the verse above from Isaiah was carved into that wall, but there was no attribution to Isaiah under the carved quote. A decade later, a group of citizens went to Mayor Koch and told him that the name of Isaiah should be added beneath the quote, and he agreed to add it. That wall facing the U.N. has been referred to as "the Isaiah Wall" since that day (see here). The prophecy of Isaiah regarding the nations of the earth faces the one place on earth where all of those nations meet daily. It is the nature of the Word of God that all creation must eventually manifest it, or conform to it, and so must the nations.
Our governments wrestle continually with how to deal with the dangerous events among the nations today. However, scripture has told God's people what to do. David prophesied/wrote/sang of the importance of Jerusalem in this matter, "For the thrones are set there for judgment, the thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: "May they prosper who love you. Peace be within your walls, prosperity within your palaces." For the sake of my brethren and companions, I will now say, "Peace be within you." Because of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your (Jerusalem's) good." 
                                                                                                    Ps. 122:5-9
David said that for many reasons, it is required of us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and all that its meaning contains.Do the headlines and threats of war alarm you? Are you concerned about the havoc surrounding the nations of the earth? Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, because the fates of all of the nations are directly tied to it. Within our prayers is the understanding that Jerusalem is indeed a physical place, but it also encompasses a meaning and truth for our age and for all time that prophesies regarding Zion, the Mountain of the LORD, the House of God, the thrones of judgment, the thrones of David, the out-flowing of the Law and the Word of God, the "teaching of peace" to all people and nations. Jerusalem is the sun, and all the nations revolve round it, whether they know it or not. As we pray for the peace of Jerusalem, we are praying the will and Word of God, and we are also praying for the nations, even the darkest and most oppressive of them, for God has promised that His kingdom will be composed from every nation, kindred, tongue and tribe (Rev. 5:9-10, 7:9-10).

Our Father has commanded us to "Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem".

*Ralph Johnson Bunche ( August 7, 1904 – December 9, 1971) was an American political scientist, academic, and diplomat who received the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize for his late 1940s mediation in Israel. He was the first African American to be so honored