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Monday
The Bible is a beautiful
love story between God and his people from Genesis to
Revelation. A lso, in the Bible (Genesis 24), there is an
individual love story which has great application for us
as believers in Yeshua; it's the story of Isaac and
Rebecca. In this story, there are four main characters:
Abraham (God the Father), Isaac (Yeshua), Eliezer (the
Holy Spirit), and Rebecca (the Bride of Messiah)
In Genesis 24, we see that
Abraham sends Eliezer to find a bride for Isaac. After
finding Rebecca, he brings her directly to Isaac. Isaac
then takes Rebecca to be his wife.
The application for us as
believers is that God, the Father, has sent the Holy
Spirit to find a bride for his son, Yeshua. It's the job
of the Holy Spirit to bring the bride directly to Yeshua
straight to our heavenly bridegroom and the wedding supper
of the Lamb. To further understand this, we must look at
the ancient Jewish wedding customs (fulfilled in Yeshua).
First of all, a bride-price
had to be paid (in Hebrew “mohar”). Eliezer brought out
jewelry and clothing for Rebecca and gave it to her
family. Yeshua paid the highest possible price for us, his
very life!
Then the bride had to give
her consent. Rebecca said, “I will go with Eliezer to
Isaac.” Believers today must give their consent by asking
Yeshua into their heart. Saying “I do receive you as my
savior and my heavenly bridegroom”.
The bride went into the
“Mikveh” (water baptism) a ritual of cleansing and
purification signifying that the bride was leaving a
former way of life (parents' household) to a new way of
life with her bridegroom. As Believers, we are baptized
for the same reasons, leaving a former life of sin to a
new way of life in the Messiah.
The bride and the groom
shared a cup of wine as a n act of betrothal to each
other. When Yeshua took the cup at the last supper
(Passover) shortly before his death, He said “drink from
this, all of you, this is the cup of the covenant.”
Betrothal was further
sealed by the giving of a ring. Eliezer presented a gold
“nose ring” to Rebecca, sealing her betrothal to Isaac. In
Ephesians 4:30, it shows that we have been “sealed” by the
Holy Spirit until Yeshua comes back for us.
After sharing a cup of
wine, the groom then departed back to his father's house t
o prepare the wedding chamber for his bride. Before he
departed he said, “I go to prepare a place for you.”
The groom could not return
until the father of the groom gave the final okay a fter
all the preparations had been made. Yeshua said, “No one
knows the time of my return, only my Father in heaven.”
The bridegroom would then
come quickly and steal away his bride. The scriptures say,
“Yeshua will come for us like a thief in the night,” and
“in the twinkling of an eye, we shall all be changed.”
The groom would often
return at midnight with a loud shout and the blast of the
shofar. We see this in the parable of the 10 virgins
(Matthew 25). It says “and at midnight a cry rang out
“behold the bridegroom cometh!”. Also, in 1 st
Thessalonians 4:16-17 (shout, blast, Yeshua coming on
clouds to claim his bride!)
Then came the marriage
supper itself; a ll the invited guests could come. A
picture of the wedding supper of the Lamb, where only
believers in Yeshua can attend; as the scripture says,
“blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper
of the Lamb!”
Tuesday
Today, I'd like to talk to
you about angels.
Angels, pronounced
malacheem in Hebrew a re mentioned 340 times in the Bible;
are heavenly beings created by God; and are immortal. They
worship God, but they are not to be worshiped themselves.
They have their own language, but can also speak the
language of men. They can appear in human form and have
emotions. According to Luke 15, angels “rejoice” when one
sinner repents and in Isaiah 6:3, the angels “cry” holy.
There are three “named”
angels in the Bible. Gabriel (Gavriel in Hebrew), meaning
“God is my strength” is the announcing angel, who a
nnounced the birth of John the Baptist and Yeshua (Luke 1)
and will probably announce the 2 nd coming of Messiah (1
st Thessalonians 4:16)
Then there is Michael
(pronounced Mee-kah-yaal in Hebrew), meaning “Who is like
God”. This is the prince of the angels; the arch-angel
closest to God; the chief divine messenger who carries out
God's judgments. He is the one who came to help another
angel who was answering Daniel's prayer (Daniel 10:12) and
the one who protects God's people in the last days during
the “time of Jacob's trouble” (Daniel 12). Michael is also
the one who overpowered the dragon and his angels
(Revelation 12:7)
Lucifer, HaSatan in Hebrew,
means “The Accuser”. He is the fallen angel who was cast
out of heaven with all of his angels. His heart was filled
with pride and he refused to worship God. Lucifer was most
probably the “worship leader” in heaven before his fall
(Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28)
Angels are sent by God to
protect God's people. In Exodus 14:19 an angel stood
between the Israelites and Pharaoh's army at the Red Sea .
According to 1 st Kings 19 an angel protected Elijah when
he was fleeing from Jezebel. Daniel 6:22 says that God
sent an angel to protect Daniel in the lion's den. “He
will command His angels to guard you in all your ways.” as
recorded in Psalm 91:11 and in Acts 12, God sent an angel
to deliver Peter from prison.
Angels are sent to destroy
God's enemies. Two angels destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah
(Genesis 19) and God sent an angel to destroy the
Canaanite nations as the Israelites marched into the
Promised Land (Exodus 23:23 and Joshua 24:12)
Angels are sent to minister
to God's people. In Matthew 4, angels were sent to Yeshua
when He was tempted by Satan in the wilderness and in the
Garden of Gethsemane as recorded in Luke 22. An angel
ministered to Paul as he was about to stand trial before
Caesar (Acts 27). Hebrews 1:14 says “are not all angels
ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit
salvation (not only those already saved, but those whom
God is going to save!)
Wednesday
Yesterday I began speaking
to you about the subject of angels. Angels are mentioned
340 times in the Bible. They are “heavenly beings” created
by God. They are immortal; they worship God but are not to
be worshipped themselves. Angels have their own language
but they can speak the language of men. Angels can appear
in human form and they have emotions. They “rejoice” when
one sinner repents and they “cry” holy. (Luke 15 and
Isaiah 6)
Additionally, we saw that
angels are sent by God to protect and minister to God's
people and to destroy God's enemies.
We also saw that in the
Bible, there are three named angels. Gabriel (Gavriel in
Hebrew, “God is my strength”), who is the announcing
angel. Michael ( Mee-kah-yaal in Hebrew, “Who is like
God”), who is the strongest of all the angels. And then
there is Lucifer (in Hebrew HaSatan, “The Accuser”), the
fallen angel.
Today, I'd like to talk to
you about “the angel of the Lord” (Malach Adonai, in
Hebrew). He is different than all the other angels in the
Bible. He is the One who appeared to Hagar in the
wilderness when she was fleeing from Sarai, Abraham's
wife. (Genesis 16) He is the One who called out to Abraham
from heaven (Genesis 22) and told Abraham not to kill
Isaac. He is the One who appeared to Moses from the
burning bush (Exodus 3). He is the One who makes covenant
with the children of Israel (Judges 2:l). This angel has
God's name in Him and even forgives sins (Exodus 23:20 ).
The “angel of the Lord” is also synonymous with the “man”
who Jacob wrestled with in Genesis 32 and with the “man”
who appeared to Joshua (Joshua 5) as “Commander in Chief”
of the armies of God.
In some mysterious way, the
Angel of the Lord, the “Man” whom Jacob wrestled with, the
Commander in Chief of the armies of heaven and the God of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are all one and the same. They
are all a “divine appearance” of the 2 nd person of the
Triune nature of God – Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the
Messiah), who is also known as “Melech Ha Kavod” (King of
Glory) and “Adonai Tz'vaot” (the Lord of Hosts).
Other scriptures that
identify Yeshua as the “Lord of Hosts” and “The King of
Glory” are Psalm 24, “lift up your heads O ye gates and
the King of glory shall come in” Psalm 68:33 & 34 says
that “He rides above the ancient skies and that His power
and majesty is over Israel:. Revelation 19:11-16 sees Him
as a “rider” called “faithful and true”, riding on a white
horse leading the armies of heaven and coming back in
victory as King of kings and Lord of lords!
When He does come back, He
is going to judge the nations and rule them with an iron
scepter! He's going to feed the flesh of kings and
generals to the birds of the air! He's going to capture
the “beast” and the “false prophet” and throw them into a
“lake of fire”! He's going to bind up Satan and throw him
into an abyss for 1,000 years and eventually into the
“lake of fire” with the beast and the false prophet, where
they will be tormented day and night forever and ever!
(Revelations 19:17-21)
ll I can say is one thing –
I'm glad that Yeshua, the “Angel of the Lord” is on our
side!
Thursday
Today I'd like to talk to
you about persistence in prayer and being determined to
get the blessing of God. Throughout the scriptures, we see
that God honors persistence in prayer and that it does
result in His blessing.
Here are some examples: In
Genesis 32:24-30, we see that Jacob wrestled with God all
night long and would not let go of Him until God gave
Jacob His blessing, which He did in the end. Exodus
32:11-14 tells that Moses pleaded with God, who was going
to destroy the Israelites altogether for worshipping a
golden calf. The intercession of Moses was so powerful,
that God actually repented and changed His mind. In 1 st
Samuel 1, Hannah, who was old and barren, desperately
cried out to God year after year for God to give her a
son, which He did, the great prophet, Samuel. Then in 2 nd
Kings 20:1-6, King Hezekiah wept bitterly before the Lord
after the prophet Isaiah told him that he was going to
die. The Lord heard the cry of Hezekiah and added 15 more
years to his life.
In the B'rit Hadashah (New
Covenant), we see other examples. Matthew 15:21-28 tells
about a Canaanite woman, a Gentile, who came to Yeshua and
begged Him to heal her daughter who was demon possessed.
Yeshua's reply to her was that He “was only sent to the
lost sheep of the House of Israel” and that He “could not
take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs” but
the woman did not give up and said “Yes, Lord, but even
the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their Master's
table”. Yeshua commended her for her great faith and her
daughter was instantly healed.
In Mark 10:46-52, blind
Bartimaeus cried out to Yeshua, “Son of David, have mercy
on me”. Even Yeshua's disciples rebuked him and told him
to be quiet, but he kept crying out “Son of David, have
mercy on me.” Yeshua then sent for Bartimaeus and said to
him, “What do you want from me?” Bartimaeus replied, “Lord
I want to see.” Yeshua commended him for his faith and
immediately restored his sight.
Luke 8:43-48 tells of a
woman who had an “issue of blood” for 12 years, who
“pressed through the crowds” determined to touch the hem
of Yeshua's garment and she was instantly healed. She laid
hold of the fringes (called tzitzit in Hebrew) of Yeshua's
tallit, the Jewish prayer shawl. Mark 14:36 tells us that
many who touched the “tzitzit” of Yeshua's tallit were
also instantly healed. (Perhaps many of us who have a
desperate need today need to reach up and touch the hem of
Yeshua's garment and not let go until He grants what we're
asking for.)
And finally, in Luke
11:5-10, Yeshua tells a parable about a man who has a
friend who comes to his house at midnight asking for three
loaves for another friend who has come from a long
journey. The man within the house yells to the friend to
stop bothering him for the hour is late, that his children
are in bed with him and that he cannot give him what he
wants. Yeshua, who is telling the parable, goes on to say
that even though the man in the house will not rise and
give the friend what he needs, yet because of the friend's
persistence, he will rise and give him whatever he needs.
Yeshua then adds: “So I say to you: ask and you will
receive, seek and you will find, knock and it will be
opened to you.”
My friends, persistence in
prayer gets the blessing of God.
Friday
At The Tabernacle, we are
always lifting up the name of Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus the
Messiah, the Holy One of Yisrael. Listen to the words of
this song, “Yeshua HaMashiach”, which glorifies the name
of the Lord. You can purchase the CD “On Mount Zion”
here.
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