Daily Bible Portion (Tuesday)
Daily Bible Portion - 3 of 7
"IN THE BEGINNING"
(Weekly Reading>>Genesis 1:1-6:8, Isaiah 42:5-21, John 1:1-18)
Yahweh Makes Man in His Image
Jesus is God in the Flesh
Plurality of God
Note: Elohim (Strong’s #H430) is thought to be plural and is said to support the next part of the sentence “let us make man in our image” as being plural, but the Hebrew word Elohim is followed by a singular Hebrew verb ‘said’/amer (Strong’s #H559). Hebrew grammar specifies that a singular verb must be preceded by a singular noun; consequently the nature of the name of God/Elohim is singular or echad meaning one in Hebrew. Elohim has multiple meanings but is not multiple ‘persons’ in a godhead.
Monotheism – One God
God is Lord/Yahweh (Strong’s #H3068) meaning He exists and He is God/Elohim (Strong’s #H430)He is God and not just any god; He is the all-powerful One - He is One/echad (Strong’s #H259) meaning One. Monotheism focuses on Yahweh Who is:
•Omnipresent, exists everywhere at all times, fills the universe and beyond but is always near.
•He is Omniscient, knowing all things, all our thoughts and deeds in the past present and future.
•He is Omnipotent, all-powerful eternal without beginning and without end. He transcends time and exists everywhere at all times with no special boundaries or limitation. God manifests through scripture by progressive revelation - the One same God. He is One and is not separated into distinct persons, modes or manifestations, as in the doctrine of the Trinity where He is known as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God is One/Echad - There is no beginning and no ending.
•Omnipresent: Father, Creator, Shepherd, First.
•Omniscient: Son (Yeshua) redeemer, King, Last.
•Omnipotent: Holy Spirit, Savior “I AM” Rock - One Eternal God
The LORD/Yahweh is the great I AM, the Righteous King, our Provider, Our Peace, Covenant, Father Healer, Shepherd, Savior, The Rock, the First and the Last, the Door, the Way, the Truth, Life, the Light, Living Water, Redeemer, the Root of David, the Branch, the Word, the Vine, the Tabernacle in the Wilderness. He is the Sacrifice and the Deliverer, the Lord of the Sabbath and the fullness of the appointed Feast days/moedim. He is the author of the Commandments and Guarantor of the Covenant. He is the manna from heaven, the anointing oil, the shofar blast, the Ark of the Covenant, the Prince of Peace, the Yom Kippur offering, the wine and the bread, our sanctification. His is the King of Kings. He is compassion, kindness, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and much more… He is our Life - Yahweh the Word, Torah, Yeshua and the Light - the author of all Creation.
The Seventh Day
Each day in Creation holds a key to Yahweh’s purpose and plan for our lives. This pattern flows throughout Scripture. The seven days of Creation relate to the seven thousand year redemptive plan of Yahweh, as each day is as a thousand years in Him (Genesis 1:1-2:3; Psalm 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8).
In Hebrew gamatria, the number seven means to be full, or satisfied, to have enough of, thus Yahweh rested on the seventh day, as what He had created was perfect, full and complete, and He was satisfied.
Only the seventh day holds the eternal blessings of God. He did not appoint this to the first day or the third day or the fifth – only the seventh day did He appoint in this respect. People can meet and worship on any day of the week they want, but only the seventh day holds the blessing and sanctification of Yahweh; that is the true Sabbath day of rest for all mankind.
Seventh Day in various languages:
Arabic: Sabet
Armenian: Shabat
Bosnian: Subota
Bulgarian: Sabota
Corsican: Sàbatu
Croatian: Subota
Czech: Sobota
Georgian: Sabati
Greek: Savvato
Indonesian: Sabtu
Italian: Sabato
Latin: Sabbatum
Maltese: is-Sibt
Polish: Sobota
Portuguese: Sábado
Romanian: Sambata
Russian: Subbota
Serbian: Subota
Slovak: Sobota
Slovene: Sobota
Somali: Sabti
Spanish: Sabado
Sudanese: Saptu
Ukranian: Subota
Sabbath is universal and ancient beyond memory or record in its observance by the nations. Those who observe the Sabbath (which includes Yahweh’s High Holy Sabbaths, His Feast Days) enter into the eternal timelessness and find the supernatural Sabbath rest established there. It is the place in which the seed of the Marriage Covenant between Yahweh and His Betrothed germinates and takes root. Without the Sabbath, there is no Bridal Chamber.
The Image of Yeshua
The names, attributes and images of Yahweh are His moral and spiritual character and they illuminate what our image is to be. Man is made in this spiritual image of Yahweh’s characteristics. As we come into the fullness of our identity through the walk of redemption we transform into His likeness and image. These attributes are in us and are part of us when we are in Him and part of Him. Only mankind bears the spiritual image and likeness of God. He has gifted us with the same wonderful range of capabilities as Himself.
Man was formed out of the dust of the earth; designed and patterned after Yahweh, the Creator of the Universe. He created man to reflect His image, which is why Yahweh/Elohim breathed His own breath, The Breath (naphech - Strong’s #H5301) of Life (chai) into Adam’s nostrils. Thus man became a living soul (chai nephesh - Strong’s #H5315).
The First Covenant: The Covenant of Eden
Yahweh made a Covenant with mankind in Genesis 1:26-28 and in Genesis 2:15-17. It is called the Covenant of Eden and is universal to all mankind. In this Covenant, man was to multiply and fill the earth with descendants. He was to have dominion over the animals and manage the Garden.
Of the two trees that existed in the Garden, man was told not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil as its fruit creates chaos, disorder and death. This is called the sinful nature, the realm Satan accesses and accuses mankind through. Yahweh instructed man to only eat from the Tree of Life. It is this tree that produces functioning order and life governed by the truth of His word to yield abundant fruit of His heavenly nature in mankind. The penalty Adam and Eve suffered for their disregard to Yahweh’s instructions was that their status in His Kingdom changed from walking with Yeshua in His Garden/Kingdom, to walking in a foreign realm open to the wiles of Satan. What they lost was dominion in Yeshua’s Kingdom (Deuteronomy 28).
Adam and Eve
In Genesis chapter two we have the account of a bride for Adam. Adam was created by Yahweh/ Elohim from the dust of the earth and was made both male and female (Genesis 1:27). Female is neqebah (Strong’s #H5347) from the root word naqab (Strong’s #H5344), meaning: to pierce, perforate and set firmly. When Yahweh saw that it was not good for Adam to be alone, He brought him all of the animals that He had created so that Adam could name them. No suitable helper was found among them for Adam. He could not find another spiritual nature like himself among the animals.
The woman was suitable because she shared with Adam the same spiritual image and attributes of Yahweh/Elohim. It is only the image of Yahweh in mankind that permits us to relate to every dimension and personality of chai nephesh. Woven into our being is His very nature, which can be understood only by the fruit it produces. This fruit is called the Fruit of His Spirit. Only another being like Adam, who was shaped in the image of Yahweh, would be suitable (Galatians 5:22; Ephesians 5:9).
The Hebrew phrase for Eve is ezer lenegedu, best understood as a helper corresponding to him. Adam had not seen his nature in the animals Yahweh brought him. He did, however, see his nature in the woman when Yahweh brought her forth from his side.
The Gospel - Flesh of My Flesh
These were Adam’s words when Yahweh brought the woman to him. In essence he was saying, “Now, at last, here is one who shares my identity – one to whom I can relate because she is everything I am, and I am everything she is.”
The root of the word flesh in Hebrew is basar Strong’s #H1320/TWOT 291 בָּשָׂר. Basar means to publish, to bear good tidings, to preach, to show forth. The derivatives of basar are flesh, blood relative, skin and bone, heart and soul. This word indicates that Yahweh placed in humans the Seed of His Word called the gospel – His wisdom. Adam recognized himself in the woman because they both carried the gospel message, the principles and nature of Yahweh’s Kingdom. This is the same gospel that was given to Abraham (Galatians 3:8), the same gospel that was given to Moses by Yeshua at Mount Sinai (John 5:46-47), the same gospel that was written on stone tablets at Mount Sinai that became the Bride’s marriage covenant, her ketubah, and the same gospel message Yeshua gave to His disciples (Matthew 4:23 & 35,11:5; Mark 1:1&14-15; Luke 4:18, 9:6). This is the Seed that Yahweh said Satan would hate (Genesis 3:14-15). We see this hostility surrounding the gospel all through scripture. Preaching the gospel cost Yeshua His life as well as His disciples, including Stephen and Paul. All through history many have tried to mock, slander and discredit those who upheld the truth. Counterfeit gospels have been written but none will stand. When Yeshua returns for His Bride, He will be looking for the one who walks as His mirror image; one who lifts up His Gospel, desires to keep His principles, has a sanctified heart and has separated light (the Tree of Life) from darkness (the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil), the sinful nature.
Adam is a prophetic picture of Yeshua. The Bride of Yeshua is birthed from Yeshua’s pierced side. The Greek word egkentrizo Strong’s #G1461 means grafted: to cut into for the sake of inserting or grafting in a scion (pronounced similar to the Hebrew word zion). Etymology for scion is: sprout, shoot. 1. A detached living portion of a plant (as a bud or shoot) joined to a stock in grafting and usually supplying solely aerial parts to a graft. 2. A descendant, child especially a descendant of a wealthy, aristocratic, or influential family; 3. Heir.
continues tomorrow...
"IN THE BEGINNING"
(Weekly Reading>>Genesis 1:1-6:8, Isaiah 42:5-21, John 1:1-18)
Yahweh Makes Man in His Image
Ephesians 1:3-10 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ/Yeshua Ha Mashiach, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ/Messiah. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ/Yeshua Ha Mashiach, in accordance with his pleasure and will - to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ/Messiah, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment-- to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even [in] Christ/Messiah.”
Jesus is God in the Flesh
John 14:8-9 “Philip said to Him [Yeshua], ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.’ Jesus/Yeshua said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’”
Plurality of God
Genesis 1:26 “Then God/Elohim said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.’ ”
Note: Elohim (Strong’s #H430) is thought to be plural and is said to support the next part of the sentence “let us make man in our image” as being plural, but the Hebrew word Elohim is followed by a singular Hebrew verb ‘said’/amer (Strong’s #H559). Hebrew grammar specifies that a singular verb must be preceded by a singular noun; consequently the nature of the name of God/Elohim is singular or echad meaning one in Hebrew. Elohim has multiple meanings but is not multiple ‘persons’ in a godhead.
Monotheism – One God
God is Lord/Yahweh (Strong’s #H3068) meaning He exists and He is God/Elohim (Strong’s #H430)He is God and not just any god; He is the all-powerful One - He is One/echad (Strong’s #H259) meaning One. Monotheism focuses on Yahweh Who is:
•Omnipresent, exists everywhere at all times, fills the universe and beyond but is always near.
•He is Omniscient, knowing all things, all our thoughts and deeds in the past present and future.
•He is Omnipotent, all-powerful eternal without beginning and without end. He transcends time and exists everywhere at all times with no special boundaries or limitation. God manifests through scripture by progressive revelation - the One same God. He is One and is not separated into distinct persons, modes or manifestations, as in the doctrine of the Trinity where He is known as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God is One/Echad - There is no beginning and no ending.
•Omnipresent: Father, Creator, Shepherd, First.
•Omniscient: Son (Yeshua) redeemer, King, Last.
•Omnipotent: Holy Spirit, Savior “I AM” Rock - One Eternal God
The LORD/Yahweh is the great I AM, the Righteous King, our Provider, Our Peace, Covenant, Father Healer, Shepherd, Savior, The Rock, the First and the Last, the Door, the Way, the Truth, Life, the Light, Living Water, Redeemer, the Root of David, the Branch, the Word, the Vine, the Tabernacle in the Wilderness. He is the Sacrifice and the Deliverer, the Lord of the Sabbath and the fullness of the appointed Feast days/moedim. He is the author of the Commandments and Guarantor of the Covenant. He is the manna from heaven, the anointing oil, the shofar blast, the Ark of the Covenant, the Prince of Peace, the Yom Kippur offering, the wine and the bread, our sanctification. His is the King of Kings. He is compassion, kindness, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and much more… He is our Life - Yahweh the Word, Torah, Yeshua and the Light - the author of all Creation.
The Seventh Day
Each day in Creation holds a key to Yahweh’s purpose and plan for our lives. This pattern flows throughout Scripture. The seven days of Creation relate to the seven thousand year redemptive plan of Yahweh, as each day is as a thousand years in Him (Genesis 1:1-2:3; Psalm 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8).
In Hebrew gamatria, the number seven means to be full, or satisfied, to have enough of, thus Yahweh rested on the seventh day, as what He had created was perfect, full and complete, and He was satisfied.
Genesis 2:3 “Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”
Only the seventh day holds the eternal blessings of God. He did not appoint this to the first day or the third day or the fifth – only the seventh day did He appoint in this respect. People can meet and worship on any day of the week they want, but only the seventh day holds the blessing and sanctification of Yahweh; that is the true Sabbath day of rest for all mankind.
Seventh Day in various languages:
Arabic: Sabet
Armenian: Shabat
Bosnian: Subota
Bulgarian: Sabota
Corsican: Sàbatu
Croatian: Subota
Czech: Sobota
Georgian: Sabati
Greek: Savvato
Indonesian: Sabtu
Italian: Sabato
Latin: Sabbatum
Maltese: is-Sibt
Polish: Sobota
Portuguese: Sábado
Romanian: Sambata
Russian: Subbota
Serbian: Subota
Slovak: Sobota
Slovene: Sobota
Somali: Sabti
Spanish: Sabado
Sudanese: Saptu
Ukranian: Subota
Genesis 2:3 “Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it.”
Sabbath is universal and ancient beyond memory or record in its observance by the nations. Those who observe the Sabbath (which includes Yahweh’s High Holy Sabbaths, His Feast Days) enter into the eternal timelessness and find the supernatural Sabbath rest established there. It is the place in which the seed of the Marriage Covenant between Yahweh and His Betrothed germinates and takes root. Without the Sabbath, there is no Bridal Chamber.
Hebrews 4:9 “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God.”
Isaiah 58:13-14 “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of Yahweh honorable, and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself in Yahweh; and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of Yahweh has spoken.”
Exodus 20:8-10 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy[set apart]. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates."
The Image of Yeshua
Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit [of Yahweh’s image] is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”
The names, attributes and images of Yahweh are His moral and spiritual character and they illuminate what our image is to be. Man is made in this spiritual image of Yahweh’s characteristics. As we come into the fullness of our identity through the walk of redemption we transform into His likeness and image. These attributes are in us and are part of us when we are in Him and part of Him. Only mankind bears the spiritual image and likeness of God. He has gifted us with the same wonderful range of capabilities as Himself.
Genesis 2:7 “Yahweh Elohim formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”
Man was formed out of the dust of the earth; designed and patterned after Yahweh, the Creator of the Universe. He created man to reflect His image, which is why Yahweh/Elohim breathed His own breath, The Breath (naphech - Strong’s #H5301) of Life (chai) into Adam’s nostrils. Thus man became a living soul (chai nephesh - Strong’s #H5315).
The First Covenant: The Covenant of Eden
Yahweh made a Covenant with mankind in Genesis 1:26-28 and in Genesis 2:15-17. It is called the Covenant of Eden and is universal to all mankind. In this Covenant, man was to multiply and fill the earth with descendants. He was to have dominion over the animals and manage the Garden.
Of the two trees that existed in the Garden, man was told not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil as its fruit creates chaos, disorder and death. This is called the sinful nature, the realm Satan accesses and accuses mankind through. Yahweh instructed man to only eat from the Tree of Life. It is this tree that produces functioning order and life governed by the truth of His word to yield abundant fruit of His heavenly nature in mankind. The penalty Adam and Eve suffered for their disregard to Yahweh’s instructions was that their status in His Kingdom changed from walking with Yeshua in His Garden/Kingdom, to walking in a foreign realm open to the wiles of Satan. What they lost was dominion in Yeshua’s Kingdom (Deuteronomy 28).
Adam and Eve
In Genesis chapter two we have the account of a bride for Adam. Adam was created by Yahweh/ Elohim from the dust of the earth and was made both male and female (Genesis 1:27). Female is neqebah (Strong’s #H5347) from the root word naqab (Strong’s #H5344), meaning: to pierce, perforate and set firmly. When Yahweh saw that it was not good for Adam to be alone, He brought him all of the animals that He had created so that Adam could name them. No suitable helper was found among them for Adam. He could not find another spiritual nature like himself among the animals.
Genesis 2:21 “So Yahweh Elohim caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, He took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh.”
The woman was suitable because she shared with Adam the same spiritual image and attributes of Yahweh/Elohim. It is only the image of Yahweh in mankind that permits us to relate to every dimension and personality of chai nephesh. Woven into our being is His very nature, which can be understood only by the fruit it produces. This fruit is called the Fruit of His Spirit. Only another being like Adam, who was shaped in the image of Yahweh, would be suitable (Galatians 5:22; Ephesians 5:9).
The Hebrew phrase for Eve is ezer lenegedu, best understood as a helper corresponding to him. Adam had not seen his nature in the animals Yahweh brought him. He did, however, see his nature in the woman when Yahweh brought her forth from his side.
The Gospel - Flesh of My Flesh
Genesis 2:23 “The man said, ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called “woman,” for she was taken out of man.’”
These were Adam’s words when Yahweh brought the woman to him. In essence he was saying, “Now, at last, here is one who shares my identity – one to whom I can relate because she is everything I am, and I am everything she is.”
The root of the word flesh in Hebrew is basar Strong’s #H1320/TWOT 291 בָּשָׂר. Basar means to publish, to bear good tidings, to preach, to show forth. The derivatives of basar are flesh, blood relative, skin and bone, heart and soul. This word indicates that Yahweh placed in humans the Seed of His Word called the gospel – His wisdom. Adam recognized himself in the woman because they both carried the gospel message, the principles and nature of Yahweh’s Kingdom. This is the same gospel that was given to Abraham (Galatians 3:8), the same gospel that was given to Moses by Yeshua at Mount Sinai (John 5:46-47), the same gospel that was written on stone tablets at Mount Sinai that became the Bride’s marriage covenant, her ketubah, and the same gospel message Yeshua gave to His disciples (Matthew 4:23 & 35,11:5; Mark 1:1&14-15; Luke 4:18, 9:6). This is the Seed that Yahweh said Satan would hate (Genesis 3:14-15). We see this hostility surrounding the gospel all through scripture. Preaching the gospel cost Yeshua His life as well as His disciples, including Stephen and Paul. All through history many have tried to mock, slander and discredit those who upheld the truth. Counterfeit gospels have been written but none will stand. When Yeshua returns for His Bride, He will be looking for the one who walks as His mirror image; one who lifts up His Gospel, desires to keep His principles, has a sanctified heart and has separated light (the Tree of Life) from darkness (the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil), the sinful nature.
Daniel 12:1-3 “And at that time [reference to the Feast of Yom Kippur/ the Wedding Day in the 7000 year] your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book [of Life]. And many of those [believers] who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise [Brides who walk in the of His Spirit - wisdom] shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness [Torah/Yeshua’s right ways] like the stars forever and ever” (Matthew 25:1-13).
Adam is a prophetic picture of Yeshua. The Bride of Yeshua is birthed from Yeshua’s pierced side. The Greek word egkentrizo Strong’s #G1461 means grafted: to cut into for the sake of inserting or grafting in a scion (pronounced similar to the Hebrew word zion). Etymology for scion is: sprout, shoot. 1. A detached living portion of a plant (as a bud or shoot) joined to a stock in grafting and usually supplying solely aerial parts to a graft. 2. A descendant, child especially a descendant of a wealthy, aristocratic, or influential family; 3. Heir.
Romans 11: 24-27 “For if you [Ephraim] were cut out of the olive tree [due to worldliness/being outside Yahweh’s Kingdom] which is wild by nature[without principles] and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated[with principles] olive tree [Israel], how much more will these, who are natural branches [House of Judah], be grafted into their own olive tree? For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel [House of Judah] until the fullness of the Gentiles [House of Israel/Ephraim] has come in. And so all Israel [Descendents of all twelve tribes] will be saved, as it is written: ‘The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob [the whole house of Israel]; For this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins’” (Jeremiah 31:33-34; Hebrews 8:8-10).
continues tomorrow...