Daily Bible Portion (Sunday)
Daily Bible Portion – 1 of 7
"AND I APPEARED"
(Weekly Reading>>Exodus 6:2-9:35, Ezekiel 28:25-29:21, Romans 9:14-17, 2 Corinthians 6:14 to 7:1, Revelation 16)
The last portion examined the children of Israel’s four hundred years in captivity, and how Yahweh’s hand of deliverance was beginning to work on their behalf as spoken in Genesis 15:13-14. Moses was prepared as Yahweh’s prophet and ambassador to bring about the deliverance and redemption of His people. As Yahweh gave assurances to Moses, He also confirmed His name – I AM – stating that He alone was the God of Israel, the same God who had appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and gave them His Covenant. Yahweh heard the groaning of enslaved Israel and remembered the Covenant He had made with His chosen people (Exodus 3:14-15).
God Promises Deliverance
These seven I wills are a gift from Yahweh not only for Moses and the Israelites at that time, but also for us today. As part of Israel, this is our inheritance by Covenant. It is not our faith that brings these promises; it is only by Yahweh’s faithfulness to His Covenant that we obtain redemption and fulfillment, which reflects our willingness to follow His directions/principles. Our part is to believe in order to hear and to obey His word(shema in Hebrew), to pursue holiness and rest in His faithfulness. The words of Yahweh in Exodus 6:6-8 are a prophetic language spoken to the children of Israel/Jacob as we see through the writings of the prophet Ezekiel. His prophecy was directed to a people who had broken faith with Yahweh but was the same redemptive message that was spoken to Moses centuries earlier.
Israel’s Response
(Exodus 6:9)
When Moses reported to the people what Yahweh would do for them, they were not overjoyed. Their struggles and deep discouragement under Pharaoh’s cruelty had left them with little hope in their hearts. They had longed to believe the words that Moses said but because of their bondage and slavery their hearing had grown dull. Many of us have persevered through struggles in our lives and have waited for Yahweh’s deliverance. During these challenging times our walks are strengthened (as were Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph’s). We know that when we are in Yahweh’s Covenant relationship we are a people who do not lose hope and still have open hearts to perceive and receive when our redemption draws near.
The House of Israel needs to keep these words close to their hearts to remember that they were found by Yahweh in the wilderness in the first place, because of their rebellion to His ways and the rebellion of their forefathers. We need to also remember that once we make repentance [teshuvah] and start our walk of redemption back to Him, we will no longer be dull of hearing or blind to His ways. Our walks will become stable and the desert – or wilderness –experience will no longer seem parched and dry but will suddenly be full of abundant life, like refreshing streams of water to our souls. The wilderness will deal with the sinful nature of our lives as we pursue the goal of our faith: holiness. That is why the way home is called the Highway of Holiness in Isaiah 35 and 40, a highway that starts at Mount Sinai with the receiving of the ten utterances (commandments) of Yahweh. There are many today, not just a few, who are coming out of a wilderness experience and beginning to see the way of Holiness through Yeshua in His Word.
continues tomorrow...
"AND I APPEARED"
(Weekly Reading>>Exodus 6:2-9:35, Ezekiel 28:25-29:21, Romans 9:14-17, 2 Corinthians 6:14 to 7:1, Revelation 16)
The last portion examined the children of Israel’s four hundred years in captivity, and how Yahweh’s hand of deliverance was beginning to work on their behalf as spoken in Genesis 15:13-14. Moses was prepared as Yahweh’s prophet and ambassador to bring about the deliverance and redemption of His people. As Yahweh gave assurances to Moses, He also confirmed His name – I AM – stating that He alone was the God of Israel, the same God who had appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and gave them His Covenant. Yahweh heard the groaning of enslaved Israel and remembered the Covenant He had made with His chosen people (Exodus 3:14-15).
God Promises Deliverance
Therefore say to the children of Israel: 'I am LORD; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. 'I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 'And I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you as a heritage: I am the LORD' (Exodus 6:6-8).
These seven I wills are a gift from Yahweh not only for Moses and the Israelites at that time, but also for us today. As part of Israel, this is our inheritance by Covenant. It is not our faith that brings these promises; it is only by Yahweh’s faithfulness to His Covenant that we obtain redemption and fulfillment, which reflects our willingness to follow His directions/principles. Our part is to believe in order to hear and to obey His word(shema in Hebrew), to pursue holiness and rest in His faithfulness. The words of Yahweh in Exodus 6:6-8 are a prophetic language spoken to the children of Israel/Jacob as we see through the writings of the prophet Ezekiel. His prophecy was directed to a people who had broken faith with Yahweh but was the same redemptive message that was spoken to Moses centuries earlier.
(A Prophecy to the Mountains of Israel) For I will take you from the nations/gentiles, gather you from all the lands, and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God. I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and multiply it, and I will not bring a famine on you. I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, that you may not receive again the disgrace of famine among the nations. Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and your abominations (Ezekiel 36:24-31).
Israel’s Response
(Exodus 6:9)
When Moses reported to the people what Yahweh would do for them, they were not overjoyed. Their struggles and deep discouragement under Pharaoh’s cruelty had left them with little hope in their hearts. They had longed to believe the words that Moses said but because of their bondage and slavery their hearing had grown dull. Many of us have persevered through struggles in our lives and have waited for Yahweh’s deliverance. During these challenging times our walks are strengthened (as were Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph’s). We know that when we are in Yahweh’s Covenant relationship we are a people who do not lose hope and still have open hearts to perceive and receive when our redemption draws near.
Say to those who are fearful-hearted (the redeemed ones in the wilderness), ‘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 in the desert. The parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water; in the habitation of jackals, where each lay, there shall be grass with reeds and rushes. A highway shall be there, and a road and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for others. Whoever walks the road, although a fool, shall not go astray. No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast go up on it; it shall not be found there. But the redeemed shall walk there, and the ransomed of Yahweh 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 (Isaiah 35:4-10).
The House of Israel needs to keep these words close to their hearts to remember that they were found by Yahweh in the wilderness in the first place, because of their rebellion to His ways and the rebellion of their forefathers. We need to also remember that once we make repentance [teshuvah] and start our walk of redemption back to Him, we will no longer be dull of hearing or blind to His ways. Our walks will become stable and the desert – or wilderness –experience will no longer seem parched and dry but will suddenly be full of abundant life, like refreshing streams of water to our souls. The wilderness will deal with the sinful nature of our lives as we pursue the goal of our faith: holiness. That is why the way home is called the Highway of Holiness in Isaiah 35 and 40, a highway that starts at Mount Sinai with the receiving of the ten utterances (commandments) of Yahweh. There are many today, not just a few, who are coming out of a wilderness experience and beginning to see the way of Holiness through Yeshua in His Word.
continues tomorrow...
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