Tag: Holiness

The Place Where Holiness Is Present

 

And when they came unto the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzzah put forth his hand to hold the ark; for the oxen stumbled. 

And the anger of the LORD burned against Uzzah, and He struck him down because he had put his hand on the ark. So he died there before God.…

1 Chron. 13:9

This instance seems shocking when we first read it, why does YHVH, the One we know as the God of unconditional love; the One Who we call Father, Savior and Friend as well as Lord, allow such an instant punishment to happen?

It is because He loves us and in truth, there is a very serious lesson for us to learn from this seemingly tragic account.

We must recall the command both in the TaNaKH

Leviticus 11:44-45
For I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, because I am holy. You must not defile yourselves by any creature that crawls along the ground. / For I am the LORD, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt so that I would be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.

Leviticus 19:2
“Speak to the whole congregation of Israel and tell them: Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.

Leviticus 20:7
Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, because I am the LORD your God.

Leviticus 20:26
You are to be holy to Me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be My own.

and the Brit Chadashah/New Testamnet for us to

be Holy as he is Holy. 1Peter 1: 15-16.

But just as He who called you is holy,

so be holy in all you do, because it is written,

“Be holy, for I am holy.”

Hebrews 12:14
Pursue peace with everyone, as well as holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.

1 Thessalonians 4:7
For God has not called us to impurity, but to holiness.

and we are further reminded in

Hebrews 13:8 that He is the same yesterday today and forever and

I am the Lord I do not change.

Malachi 3:6.

Sadly we sometimes forget the holiness of the creator of the universe, and many do not understand what His holiness is and why we must respect it.

In the Old Testament YHVH gave Moses very precise instructions for how sinful man was to approach a Holy God. Sin cannot survive in the presence of His holiness and if a human, who is born in sin, tried to approach Him without the correct procedure, his/her physical flesh would instantly die/be consumed. As spirit beings we will never die, in the sense of what decay and corruption does to a flesh body. The meaning of spiritual death is eternal separation from the Fathers presence.

Leviticus tells us that the life is in the blood and that ALL sin has to be paid for. Romans 6:23 the wages of sin is death.

Sin must be atoned for, by the shedding of blood; life for life, that of a sinless, innocent, sacrificial animal, one of which is a lamb. On seeing Yeshua/Jesus in John 1:29, he declared

‘behold the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world,’ referring to Him as the perfect and ultimate sacrifice.

Since Messiah came and shed His Blood for all of humanities sin and the grace and mercy that our Heavenly Father is showing to us on a daily basis; we have a tendency to neglect just how Holy our Heavenly Father is. We don’t have to continually bring sacrifices for our sins and so, we are sometimes forgetful that sin always brings forth death. James 1:15. We know to ask for forgiveness and bring our sins, iniquities, transgressions and missteps before Him to be covered by Messiahs blood. However, is there true repentance, teshuvah, turning 180 degrees away from that sin and never committing it again; or do we just not worry and that next time we just say again that we are sorry, God understands?

Have we become so blasé with our salvation, treating our relationship with the Father as with some casual friend and not respecting Him for Who He is?

It might help us to read some of the accounts in the Bible of what happened to the chosen people of Israel when they became casual and disrespectful, and began thinking more highly of themselves that they ought. Reverential respect towards the Father needs to be fully restored to the body of Messiah, because we sometimes have a somewhat skewed view of the Holiness of the Creator and King of His universe.

One account has troubled many who believe in a God of love, Who doesn’t judge, condemn or deal un-righteously with sin at every level.

In I Samuel 6:19: “And he smote the men of Bethshemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the LORD, even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men: and the people lamented, because the LORD had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter.”

There are different interpretations as to the reasons behind these incidents. Josephus wrote concerning the accuracy of the number of those who died. He notes that it doesn’t say how these 50,070 people died, and that the village of Bethshemesh could not possibly have contained such a large number of people; and cites that some Hebrew manuscripts which omit the 50,000 are more accurate. There are those that say 70 is the number of those who died and 50,000 is the number of those who were present. In other words, only 70 actually came close enough to the ark to be killed.

There are other miraculous incidents concerning the ark and according to the commentary in the Midrash, (in Yalkut Shimoni Shmuel II 5:142), it is believed that the ark actually carried its carriers and when the priests lifted the ark for transport, the ark carried them. The poles on the ark that were used by the priest to carry it were never to be removed and only certain priests were allowed to carry it; and Numbers 7:9 records that the family of Kehat was assigned this duty and specifically instructed to

“carry it on their shoulders.”

The ark was to move only with the priests in attendance and was not to be moved on a wagon, particularly one being pulled by natural means, e.g. by oxen, because the transport of the ark was to be purely supernatural. Our Heavenly Father is a Spirit and everything about Him is super natural, over and above everything natural to our way of thinking.

I Chronicles 15:2 records:

Then David said, “No one may carry the ark of God but the Levites, for the LORD has chosen them to carry the ark of God and to minister before Him forever”

In I Samuel 4-6 we read that the ark was captured by the Philistines when they defeated the Jews and they brought it back with them to their lands.

Because they took possession of the ark many plagues and afflictions came on the Philistines and it even destroyed their idol Dagon when they placed it in their temple.

 

Finally the Philistines sent it back to Israel on a cart where immediately the Levites took the ark from the cart and used the cart as firewood to sacrifice the cows that had pulled it.

Various explanations are given as to why, there were many who died when the ark was opened at Bethshemesh, from them being disrespectful to the ark, to disobeying YHVH.  Some scholars say that they were not properly sanctified or purified before coming close to the ark to look at what was inside.

The second reason may have been the most likely, in that they entered into that ‘space’ between heaven and earth. This ‘space’ where only someone in a physical body that has been properly cleansed, made to be sinless before the Lord, could enter; otherwise, their corruptible physical bodies could not exist in the presence of His Holiness. With this option it makes the requirements for the kohanim/priests strict purification, take on a whole new meaning.

Our Fathers ways are not our ways, Isaiah 55:8-9, and He operates both in the revealed or natural realm, and in the hidden or supernatural realm at the same time.

At first glance, there doesn’t appear to be supernatural presence in the natural physical realm on a continuous basis, this is the because of our Heavenly Fathers’ ability or power to conceal Himself.  We call His power miracles, when the laws of the natural physical world are broken, they are an expression of His power and are openings into the hidden dimension of the Fathers presence. However, the reality is that our Creator Father is beyond both the natural and supernatural and He isn’t completely hidden and He isn’t completely revealed either, because He is not inhibited by anything or anyone at anytime or anywhere.

We in our physical form, are stuck in only the natural, physical realm or dimension within the boundaries of this earth. 

Unless by means of a supernatural act of an individual being caught up into His presence/the heavenlies, our physical bodies can’t pass into the supernatural realm, the place of His presence; and if we try to without the covering of the blood of Messiah our bodies will be destroyed. Pauls experienced was recorded for us along with many others in both the old and new testaments.

2 Cor.12:3 And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) 4 How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for man to utter.

There is an expression in Hebrew for this ‘place between’, it’s called the tzim tzum, referring to the point/place where heaven and earth sometimes meet, merge or blend.

YHVH wanted to dwell with His people and instructed Moses to make the Ark where His presence could reside, then the Ark was placed in the Holy of Holies, which was the most sacred spot on earth, because that was where the supernatural reality of YHVH was revealed.

This meant that the Ark did take up actual space in the natural physical realm and at the same time it didn’t… due to the supernatural presence of the Shekinah Glory. The sages say, it was the perfect connection, the blending between Heaven and Earth.

As well as in the TaNaKH, there are places in the New Testament where it is recorded that the realms or dimensions merged. Matthew 3:13-17. The Fathers Voice was heard, some said it thundered, His Spirit was seen like a dove and His Son was physically being immersed. The mount of transfiguration was another, where both realms were revealed at the same time; Peter, James and John from the natural realm and Moses and Elijah from the supernatural realm. They were in that tzim tzum, that place that heaven and earth touched. Matthew 17, Mark 9, Luke 9. Jacob found himself in that place too, the gate of Heaven, after wrestling all night with the Angel of the Lord. Gen. 32:24.

This may help us to understand our question about why Uzza died, because when the priests were carrying the Ark back to a permanent place after its captivity by the Philistines, the priests did not follow the God-given directions for carrying the ark. Instead they placed the ark on a cart pulled by oxen in total disregard to the laws and command of YHVH.  It may be true to say that if they disregarded those directives, it’s likely they also disregarded the procedures for cleansing that the priest had to go through before carrying the ark?

I Chronicles 13:10: “And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzza, and he smote him, because he put his hand to the ark: and there he died before God.”

Some see this as an angry God with no love or understanding of why Uzzah was just trying to help.

The name Uzzah means strength,

more specifically, personal strength.

עזה

From the verb עזז (‘azaz), to be strong.

Uzzah was treating the ark like any other piece of furniture when he reached out to steady it, not respecting its significance.

In himself, Uzzah was not prepared to enter the place between the realms, where heaven meets earth, nor was he seeking to draw closer to the Lord. He was just using his own strength, his own resources to accomplish what only YHVH alone could accomplish and that was to steady His own Ark.

By this action his flesh made contact with the spiritual realm, the realm of the tzim tsum; and as a result, being in his physical body, it did not have the capacity to make or endure that transition.

Tzimtzum is a way of being present in one’s absence. A way of describing this space between, it was being present and absent at the same time. A concept which is hard for us to comprehend.

Tzimtzum also means:

contraction or concealment

hidden and hiding.

This very interesting abstract idea was established by the 16th century Rabbi Isaac Luria, known as the Arizal.

It could be more easily understood by our phrase:

hidden or hiding in plain sight.

The idea of TzimTzum is that from YHVH”s vantage point, nothing exists besides Him, and nothing can exist, because He must will it into existence. He upholds all things by the word of His power. Hebrews 1:3. So in essence everything is just a manifestation of Him. In Him we live and move and have our being. Acts 17:28.

Tzimtzum is a hiding/concealment of the Father that enables a physical creation that “feels” as if it has an existence independent of Him. That explanation connects with both giving us free will and predetermined destiny…we are free to choose, but choose life, and the plan He has for us.

It is important to note YHVH’s instructions pertaining to the ark, and why Uzzah was punished and killed on the spot.

It is correct that only the Levites could carry the Ark in a very specified way, and that they were not allowed to touch any of the Holy things. Numbers 4:15,19-20; Exodus 25:13-16. When David had the Ark transported, but not in the prescribed way, compare 1 Chronicles 13:7, Uzzah saw how the ark started to slip, and he “put his hand to the ark” 1 Chronicles 13:9-10 and was killed.  

It is interesting that we read that the Philistines, (non-Levites), took the Ark and placed it in the temple of Dagon, and that they sent it later to other cities, but they were not killed in the process! 1 Samuel 5. They clearly moved the Ark without being authorized to do so, and even touched it, 1 Samuel 6:8, 11. As a consequence, they were plagued by God, but not killed.

Why then was Uzzah killed?

Note the following explanation by the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary:

“Fearing that the ark was in danger of being overturned, Uzzah, under the impulse of momentary feeling, laid hold of it to keep it steady. Whether it fell and crushed him, or some sudden disease attacked him, he fell dead upon the spot…

It is of importance to observe the proportionate severity of the punishments attending the profanation of the ark. The Philistines suffered by diseases, from which they were relieved by their oblations, because the law had not been given to them [1Sa 5:8-12]…

But Uzzah, who was a Levite, and well instructed, suffered death for his breach of the law. The severity of Uzzah’s fate may seem to us too great for the nature and degree of the offense. But it does not become us to sit in judgment on the dispensations of God; and, besides, it is apparent that the divine purpose was to inspire awe of His majesty, a submission to His law, and a profound veneration for the symbols and ordinances of His worship.”

The Lord brought judgment upon certain men of Beth Shemesh who were guilty of the presumptuous sin of gazing into the ark. They had shown a lack of reverence for the holy things of God and had directly violated Mosaic Law.

Numbers 4:20.”

In the case of the people of Beth-Shemesh, God acted forcefully because of their presumptuous discontent for His instructions, which were clearly spelled out for them. But we don’t read that God killed them immediately when they touched the ark, nor was their death an automatic consequence of their touching the ark—an additional action of God was of course required; and so it appears that He reacted when they opened the ark and perhaps even removed the pot of manna and Aaron’s rod from it, as some commentaries suggest. Note that 1 Samuel 6:19 states that God struck the men AFTER they had looked into the ark—requiring of course that they first touched and opened it. 

Whether the men of Beth-Shemesh removed the pot with manna and Aaron’s rod, before being struck, or whether the Philistines had done so; or, whether it occurred during another unrecorded event.

It is entirely possible that at one time, these items were in the Ark, while at the time of the dedication of the 2nd Temple, there was nothing in the Ark except the tablets with the Ten Commandments. Hebrews 9:4; 1 Kings 8:9. At the same time, it is also possible that the pot with manna and Aaron’s rod were never IN the Ark of the Covenant, but simply close to, before, or BESIDE it.

The Lord struck the people with judgment because they committed a terrible sacrilege against Him. The Ark of His Covenant was a symbol of His very presence among His people. Regulations concerning the Ark and how it was to be treated, were of the strictest nature because of the huge difference between the Holiness of YHVH and the sinfulness of man. Ex. 25:10–22; 26:32–34; 37:1–9. Such an impious act of disregard for His holiness certainly was the reason for the sudden and terrible judgment.

In the Acts of the New Testament, there is a situation where 2 people lied to the Holy Spirit about their income as a result of selling property and they died as judgment fell on them immediately. We should not take the grace of our Heavenly Father lightly, or play with His merciful loving-kindness towards us. He is the Almighty, omnipotent, all powerful Creator, Master and King of His Universes who sits on the eternity of eternities. Rev.11:18 And the Ever–living One [I am living in the eternity of the eternities].  Amp.

Our prayer should be that, we spiritually have a new found respect for the Holiness of the One we have been given the merciful grace to call Father; and that we commune with Him in honesty and truth. Then maybe, He will invite us into that tzim tzum, that place that contains both heaven/His presence and earth, where we are, at the same time.

1 Chronicles 13:9 is a sobering account of the consequences of disobedience and presumption in the Father’s presence. It emphasizes the importance of approaching Him with humble, reverential respect.

The lesson is that our Fathers’ ways are not our ways, His thoughts are not like ours. Isaiah 55:8-9. He sees from heavens perspective and our world view is still so natural, carnal and objective in so many aspects. We still walk too much in the flesh and not after the spirit. We try to fix our own problems by putting out our hands in our own strength to direct, support and interfere in the plans of our Father. Often simply getting in His way and not waiting on Him in faith. Just as Uzzah in his instinctive natural reaction, put out his hand to steady the ark, not thinking that there was no question that the Lord of all creation could not take care of His own Mercy Seat. Uzzah was not in a position spiritually or physically to enter in and be exposed to the pure holiness of the Creator of the Universe. Only the High Priest/Kohen haGadol could, once a year after very careful specific preparation. Sin cannot remain in the presence of holiness. Let our prayer be that we receive a deeper understanding and respect for the Holiness of our Heavenly Father and do not presume to approach Him on our own terms.

https://www.minimannamoments.com/what-is-the-connection-between-blood-gold-and-the-mystery-of-beth-shemesh-part-2/

Shalom aleikhem

chaverim and mishpachah!

Peace to friends and family.

Shavua Tov, Have a blessed week.

Make certain Messiah Jesus/Yeshua is your Redeemer, Savior, Lord and soon returning King and that you have a personal relationship with Him.

It’s all about Life and Relationship, NOT Religion.

You are very precious in His sight.

Not sure ..you can be…

SIMPLY SAY THE FOLLOWING MEANING IT FROM YOUR HEART..don’t delay one more minute,

SAY IT RIGHT NOW…

Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus/Yeshua asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.

I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus/Yeshua is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus/Yeshua rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus/Yeshua. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’/Yeshua’s name.

Thoughts On Love During Omer

As the week of Unleavened Bread – Matzah are completed, it is not an end in itself but rather a transition into the next season and within that week, there is a Moed without an official name, though some call it yom haBikuriym, day of the first fruits. Lev. 23:9 -16

At this appointed time the sons of Israel are commanded to bring an omer to the priests. An omer is simply a sheaf of the harvest, specifically a bundle of grain from the beginning of the first crop. The priest is then to wave the omer before the Lord as a wave offering so that the omer and the entire harvest as well will be accepted.

This is also significant of Messiah and His resurrection from the dead, being the first fruit of the harvest of souls that will be gathered in at the final spiritual harvest. He was’ waved’, presented  before the Father and His offering of Himself was accepted. The children of Israel were further instructed …

Then from the day of your bringing in the omer of the wave offering count 50 days and you will bring near a new offering to the lord.

Counting from the omer began this year, according to one Hebrew calendar, on 24th of April and will extend to 11th June when Shavuot/Pentecost begins.

There is some dispute concerning which day the counting is to begin, and has been since before Yeshua/Jesus day. This dispute hangs on the interpretation of Lev. 25:15 which says the counting is to begin from the day after THE shabbat.

The time to begin the count could be the day after the first day of the feast of matzah, the 16th day of the first month; which is the day after the 7th day Shabbat week of rest/no work. or the day after the last day of the feast of matzah. The current Jewish calendar fixes the date for the wave offering on the 16th day of the 1st month, the day after the 1st day of the feast of matzah. This is because Judaism considers the 15th day of the first month to be a Shabbat. Hence the day after the Shabbat, according to this interpretation, is the 16th of the month. According to scripture however, neither the first nor the last days of the feast of matzah, are notated within the text as shabbats, they are simply designated as days to do no regular work. Since the days of the month fall on different days of the week every year, the ocurence of the 7th day Shabbat during the feast changes from year to year. The date is always the same but the day varies, which can sometimes be on a weekly Shabbat day; i.e. Friday evening to Saturday evening. Remembering in Hebrew the days are as scripture reads in Genesis – day one through day 7. In Hebrew, day= yom, not as we designate the 7 day week named as Monday through Sunday.

The days are named simply by their numerical order in the week, and a Hebrew week starts with Sunday. “The First Day” Sunday in Hebrew: Sunday in Hebrew is Yom Rishon which literally means “first day”. It is written like this in Hebrew:

יום ראשון

Monday is the second day in the Hebrew week. Thus it is called Yom Sheni which literally means “second day”. Written like this in Hebrew:

יום שני

Tuesday in Hebrew is Yom Shlishi which means “third day”. Written in Hebrew this way:

יום שלישי

Wednesday in Hebrew is Yom Rvi-ee meaning “fourth day”. Written like this in Hebrew:

יום רביעי

Thursday in Hebrew is Yom Chamishi, you guessed it! Yes, it means “fifth day”. This is how it is written in Hebrew:

יום חמישי

Friday in Hebrew is Yom Shishi, meaning “sixth day” and this is how it is written in Hebrew:

יום ששי

Saturday Shabbat. This is how we write Yom Shabbat or Shabbat in Hebrew:

יום שבת or simply שבת

The modern Hebrew calendar has been designed to ensure that certain holy days and festivals do not fall on certain days of the week. As a result, there are only four possible patterns of days on which festivals can fall. Note that Jewish days start at sunset of the preceding day.

 

This time of counting is the combined period when Yeshua/Jesus was 40 days on earth after His resurrection and before His ascension; and it included the added 10 days He instructed them to wait in Jerusalem until the promise of the coming of His Holy Spirit. These 7 weeks are an important link between the first 3 feasts and the last of the 4 spring appointed times. They call for introspective thought on our lives and to focus on where we are walking daily.

Are we on that narrow Way?

Are we staying true to our commitment to Him?

In the agricultural sense, this is a season of growth, are we growing and maturing spiritually, ready for the harvest soon to come?

The counting from the Omer is a feature of Israel’s calendar that instructs her regarding the correct time to harvest and make an offering from the mature wheat crops. As we walk through the spring Moedim, we can also see a picture of our own walk with Messiah.

At Pesach/Passover, we are reminded of being set free from sin, then during the Feast of Matzah, we have opportunity to practice walking in our unleavened-ness.

As we count from the Omer, we are like the wheat crops growing toward maturity, ultimately destined to become an abundant harvest for Messiah. During this season of counting we can focus on certain spiritual themes such as: sowing, growing, increase, being fed and nourished by our Heavenly Father and being mindful of how we are growing in obedience toward maturity in Messiah.

One very important area is love, everything we do must be done in the love of the Father; which was very evident in Messiahs life.

This is a key to holiness.

1 Thess. 3:12-13 11 Now may our God and Father Himself, and Jesus our Lord guide our steps to you [by removing the obstacles that stand in our way]. 12 And may the Lord cause you to increase and excel and overflow in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you; 13 so that He may strengthen and establish your hearts without blame in holiness in the sight of our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His [ a]saints (God’s people).

Our Fathers desire for us is that one day, at the coming of the Lord, we will stand blameless in holiness before our God and Heavenly Father. By what means does He expect us to come to this state of perfection/maturity? As we find ourselves right now, how can we hope to achieve such a perfect/mature state?

Our Father must have some miracle plans of intervention in order to make us appear before Him with all His Holy Ones – His Kedoshim.

When we think of holiness, we usually liken it to levels of sinlessness. In other words, we think we are holy when we are able to resist acting on our physical desires and not fall into sin; and we think that to be really holy, we need to achieve some state of being, where we no longer even have any sinful desires. However, Paul shows us that holiness can be much more human than that and he indicates that holiness is present when the Lord causes us to overflow in love toward one another and toward everyone.

Only when we increase and overflow in such love will we receive the strengthening of our hearts to be blameless. When our hearts are weak we are too easily led away into sin. Strengthening in blamelessness comes as we take the focus off ourselves and pour out love toward one another. We are holy, not simply because we keep ourselves from sinning, but because we give away the love in our hearts; we walk the way the Master walks, we lov

1Cor. 13:4 love suffers long and is kind.

e the way the Master loves. Being holy is not just a matter of being on our best behavior, it requires our submission and active surrender to the Holy One. We do not automatically possess the inner strength to be blameless because of anything we do or think, it is the Lord alone who makes holiness grow and increase in our lives. Let’s choose to humbly and willingly submit and walk in God’s ways, and then yield ourselves fully to Him. He is the one who causes us to increase and to overflow in love –

toward the strengthening of our hearts, to be blameless in holiness.        

1Cor. 13:4 love suffers long and is kind.

Love is not premeditated, it is spontaneous, that is; it bursts forth in amazing ways. Paul’s description of love doesn’t speak of precise certainty of how it will show itself. We cannot predetermine our thoughts and actions by making statements such as: now I’ll never think any evil thoughts and I’ll believe everything that Jesus/Yeshua would have me to believe.

No the characteristics of love is spontaneity.

We don’t deliberately set the statements of Jesus/Yeshua before us as our standard but when His Spirit is having His way with us we live according to His standard without even realizing it. Then, when we look back, we are amazed at how unconcerned we have been over our emotions; which is the very evidence that real spontaneous love was there.

The nature of everything involved in the spiritual life of God in us, is only discerned when we have been through it and it is in our past. We all have 20 20 vision in hindsight!

The fountains from which love flows are in our Heavenly Father, not in us. It is careless of us to asume that the love of God is naturally in our hearts as a result of our own nature.

Human love is inherently selfish.

His love is there only because it has been poured out in our hearts by His Holy Spirit. Romans 5:5

If we try to prove to God how much we love Him, it is a sure sign that we really don’t love Him. The evidence of our love for Him is the absolute spontaneity of our love, which flows naturally from His nature within us, and when we look back we will not be able to figure out why we did certain things, but we can know that we did them according to the spontaneous nature of His love within us.

The life of God exhibits itself in this spontaneous way because the fountains of His love are in the Holy Spirit given to us, Who abides within. As we continue on our way towards Pentecost/Shavuot, let’s prepare our hearts and purge ourselves from any hindrance to receiving a fresh outpouring from those cleansing purifying flames; and be ready to be filled afresh with all the fullness of the One Who can complete the work in us. As we engage in this process and let the overflow of His love pour out to those around us, it will enable us to be all He has called us to be.

Keep counting family!

Shalom aleikhem

chaverim and mishpachah!

Peace to friends and family.

Shavua Tov, Have a blessed week.

Make certain Messiah Jesus/Yeshua is your Redeemer, Savior, Lord and soon returning King and that you have a personal relationship with Him.

It’s all about Life and Relationship, NOT Religion.

You are very precious in His sight.

Not sure ..you can be…

SIMPLY SAY THE FOLLOWING MEANING IT FROM YOUR HEART..don’t delay one more minute,

SAY IT RIGHT NOW…

Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus/Yeshua asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.

I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus/Yeshua is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus/Yeshua rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus/Yeshua. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’/Yeshua’s name.

What is Sanctification?

The nature of sanctification and its cost.

1 Thess. 5:23.

23 And may the God of peace Himself sanctify you through and through [separate you from profane things, make you pure and wholly consecrated to God]; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved sound and complete [and found] blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah).

We are to be as He was in the earth…

As He is, so are we in this world. 1 John 4:17.

Do we really know what that is, and what it means?

When we pray asking the Father to sanctify us, are we prepared to measure up to what that really means? We take the word sanctification much too lightly and in not understanding what it means, how can we be serious about it in our lives?

Are we prepared to pay the price of sanctification? The cost will be a deep restriction of all our earthly concerns and an extensive cultivation of all our Godly concerns.

Sanctification means to be intensely focused on our Heavenly Fathers point of view and the only way to know what that viewpoint is, is to get to know Him intimately.

It means to secure and keep all the strength of our body, soul and spirit for His purpose alone. To be completely dedicated to Him. It is the action of making or declaring something holy, separating us from sin..

Sanctification is the state of proper functioning of something or someone which is set apart for God’s use. It is the work of God in grace, who sanctifies human beings and creation by His presence.

Sanctification is the Holy Spirit ‘s work of making us Holy. When the Fathers’ Holy Spirit creates faith in us, He renews in us the image of Himself, so that through His power we produce good works.

 Now, may the God of peace himself cause you to be completely dedicated to him; and may your spirit, soul, and body be kept intact and blameless at our Lord Jesus Christ’s coming. 2 Thess. 3:16.

Initially God does a work in us, then we are to not only maintain that position by our freewill, choosing daily to walk as called apart children; but we are to press in to maturity, growing in grace and becoming more and more like Messiah.

Are we truly prepared for our Heavenly Father to perform in us everything for which He separated us?

Sanctification is an act of sanctifying or

the state of being sanctified,

which means growing in divine grace after being born again from above by His Spirit and water immersion.

By this will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time. Hebrews 10:10

 Sanctification is the work of God’s grace that makes believers holy in their whole person by virtue of their union with Messiah, and has both definitive and progressive qualities.

And after He has done His work in us, are we then prepared to separate ourselves to Him just as Jesus/Yeshua did? This is how we follow Him.

As He said in John 17:19 for their sakes I sanctified Myself.

Strong’s Hebrew: 6942. קָדַשׁ (qadash) — to be set apart or …

1 be set apart, consecrated, hallowed, of shew-bread 

Strong’s Hebrew: 6944. קֹ֫דֶשׁ (qodesh) — apartness, sacredness

From qadash; a sacred place or thing; rarely abstract, sanctity — consecrated (thing), dedicated (thing), hallowed (thing), holiness, (X most) holy (X day, portion, thing), saint, sanctuary.

The Hebrew word kiddush

translates as

“sanctification” or “separation.”

 It’s a mitzvah to verbally declare Shabbat, the seventh day of the week, sanctified, separate and holy.

Mitzvah

מִצְוָה

The simple meaning of the word mitzvah is command.

Mitzvot are commandments.

They are traditionally understood to come from God and to be intended for the Jewish people to observe. Understood as the state of being connected to the Father. It is usually referring to a charitable, beneficial act or good deed performed by another person. 

הַקְדָּשָׁה

hakdasha

consecration sanctification.

The term “sanctification” here is from the Greek word

hagiasmos

Strong’s Greek: 38. ἁγιασμός

(hagiasmos) — consecration …

Original Word: ἁγιασμός, οῦ, ὁ.

Part of Speech: Noun, Masculine.

Transliteration: hagiasmos.

Phonetic Spelling: (hag-ee-as-mos’)

Definition: consecration, sanctification

hagiazó: to make holy, consecrate, sanctify

Original Word: ἁγιάζω
Part of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: hagiazó
Phonetic Spelling: (hag-ee-ad’-zo)
Definition: to make holy, consecrate, sanctify
Usage: I make holy, treat as holy, set apart as holy, sanctify, hallow, purify.;

which is also translated as “made holy.”

The reason some of us haven’t entered into the experience of sanctification, is that we haven’t realized the meaning of sanctification from our Father’s perspective. We have not understood how He sees it. Sanctification means being made one with Messiah Jesus/Yeshua, so that the nature that controlled Him will control us.

It is literally Him in us.

Being, or calling oneself a Christian, or a believer in Jesus/Yeshua, is not an end in itself; nor is it a ticket to heaven so a person can continue to live their preferred lifestyle. It only truly begins at the point of repentance for sin and being born again from above by the Holy Spirit of the Heavenly Father. It is a 180 degree turn around in the direction of our lives. A freewill choice to live according to the ways of the Holy Creator God of the universe.

Are we really prepared for what that will cost? Because it will cost absolutely everything in us which is not of God.

Every bit of the old man/woman we hold on to, will hinder the fullness of the provision Messiah Jesus/Yeshua paid the price on Calvary for us to receive. We are to no longer live after the flesh but after the spirit.

For if you live after the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Romans 8:13

We are no longer to be led around by our carnal nature and desires, cravings and comfortable choices of a preferred lifestyle with self at its center. We are to crucify, literally kill the flesh life and die to self and all that means. Are we prepared to be immersed into the full meaning of Pauls prayer here; and are we willing to say, Lord make me, a sinner saved by grace as holy as you can? Messiah prayed that we might be one with Him, just as He is One with the Father. John 17:21-23.

The obvious evidence of His Holy Spirit in the life of any individual, is the undeniable likeness to Jesus/Yeshua, as in family resemblance; and the freedom through deliverance from everything which is not like Him.

I will no more speak much with you, for the prince of the world comes, and he has nothing in me. John 14:30

The devil comes and finds nothing in Me He said, He has nothing in common with Me; there is nothing in Me that belongs to him, and he has no power over Me .… can we say the same?

Is there anything in our lives that the devil can identify as his attributes? Is there any darkness in us, hidden deep away, buried that the light of Messiahs truth has not yet reached?

At this time of the year many people do their spring cleaning and call it a deep clean for their homes. Our bodies are our physical homes for our spirit and sou while here in the earth. Maybe its time to do a deep clean there also?

Are we truly prepared to set ourselves apart for the Holy Spirits work in and through us?

There is a serious reason for His calling to us.

 Are we willing to trust our whole life and being to Him, to the point of physical death and through suffering?

Job 13:15

is a verse where Job expresses his trust in God despite his suffering and his intention to defend his ways before God. We are not supposed to be defending our ways to the Lord but to be humbly submitted to Him and trust His process.

1Pet. 4:13 we are to be a partaker of His sufferings

because the divine nature is revealed in those times.

But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

A true child of God is no stranger to affliction, grief and death are common to every single one of us. Darkness falls on both saint and sinner alike, just as the rain does.

Matt. 5:45.

The difference is, those with an intimate relationship with the Lord will find joy, and peace in the midst of life’s bitter experiences. The indwelling, abiding presence of His Holy Spirit sustains us, providing spiritual stamina, fortitude and endurance in the face of hardship; which tests our faith and tries our patience. The Way we travel is not so smooth for us that there are not obstacles and pitfalls along the way. If they were not there how could we ever testify of His provision and deliverance? It is better for us to keep our mouths closed and our lips forever sealed in silence, rather than deny Him in the times of calamity and devastation.

The reason for our preparation is not for our progress and spiritual maturity alone, it is so that He can use us in the hour of crisis and for the needs of others.

When we find ourselves in the crises of life, these are not the times to cry out for deliverance and help, saying, save me from this situation; but instead we should already be prepared and able to cry out instead, ‘Lord use me where you can.’

We need to stop being so self aware, so self centered and selfish, that our life is all about us. It is not only about us. The only part that is about us, is how we as individuals respond to His usage of us; and deny ourselves, take up our cross daily and follow Him. We are to lay down our life for Him and our brothers and sisters. We are to be selfless, that’s the only acceptable place for the word self to be, is in the word, selflessness.

Greater love has no man than he lay down his life…

John 15:13

We need to stop complaining how hard our life has been and how much we have given up, and all we have sacrificed for the Lord. Why are we keeping count of what we think we have had to forego?

2 Cor. 4:17.

Most of us especially in the west have never, and will never, know or experience real fiery trails that so many martyrs have gone through. We need to stop murmuring and complaining, or we are no better than the children of Israel in the wilderness; and it didn’t end well for them.

They never entered the promised land!

Our promised land is eternal life with our Heavenly Father when we leave this world, and there are several lists in scripture of those who will not enter in. Let us make certain we are not among them.

 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor [a]homosexuals, nor [b]sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were [c]sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11; Matthew 7:21-23; Galatians.5:21; Jude 16-25; Ephesians 5:5; Revelation 21:8, 27; Rev. 22:15;

Sanctification is the process of becoming more like Messiah and being set apart for God’s purposes. It is our free will choice.

In everything that our Heavenly Father does, there is His part and our part; that is the essence of covenant, it takes two parties to agree. Here the Blood of Messiah offers us the cleansing sanctification and then our part is to sanctify ourselves with the help of His Holy Spirit.

Joshua 3:5; And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.

God is telling the people to hithekadashu or to sanctify themselves. This comes from the root word

קָדַשׁ

קֹדֶשׁ

kodesh  – to make holy.

Here it is in a Hithpael form which makes it reflexive, in other words, the people are to make themselves holy.

How do we make ourselves holy?

6944 qodesh: apartness, sacredness

Original Word: קֹדֶשׁ
Part of Speech: Noun Masculine
Transliteration: qodesh
Phonetic Spelling: (ko’-desh)
Definition: apartness, sacredness

Strong’s Hebrew: 6918. קָדוֹשׁ (qadosh) — sacred, holy

holy One, saint . Or qadosh {kaw-doshe’}; from qadash; sacred (ceremonially or morally); (as noun) God (by eminence), an angel, a saint, a sanctuary 

There is further insight to be gained from the meaning of the letters of the Hebrew Alefbet.

Qop, Daleth and Shin which spell out

Qodesh/Kodesh = Holy, sanctification.

קֹ Qop represents holiness and sanctification.

דֶ Daleth represents a doorway through to the next letter, the

שׁ Shin which represents the power and wonders of the Lord God.

We all understand that:

holiness is the doorway to God’s power.

Qop, Daleth and Shin.

קַדָּ֑שׁ

The numerical value of each of these three letters taken together help us to know how we can become holy.

First the Qop, is the number 100 which represents a new beginning. This new beginning involved leaving behind the old and making peace with the changes that need to take place for our new beginning.

Next Is the letter Daleth, with a numerical value of 4, which represents creation; as we become a new creation in Messiah.

Lastly, the Shin has the numerical value of 300 which represents our separation from sins. 

Together, the total value of Kodesh/Qodesh is 404 and we could interpret these values as helping us to understand that:

 to make ourselves holy, we need to

Qop – קֹ

make peace with the changes our Heavenly Father

has brought into our lives;

we need to

Daleth – דֶ 

allow God to create something new in our lives; 

and then we are to

Shin – שׁ

allow this new change and new creation in our lives to separate us from the cares and sins of this world.

The bottom line is that, we need to make ourselves holy by allowing Messiah Jesus/Yeshua, complete His work in us and let Him do what He wants to do in our lives; even if it means going through many trials that will remove all the trust we place in ourselves. We need to realize that all these trials in our lives are making us holy. We simply need to allow God to continue this work within us, so He can complete the miracle of bringing us, like the children of Israel into His promise land.

What does the number 404 have to do with any of this?

Recall from previous posts, that the Hebrew teachers/rabbis say that, Hebrew words with the same numerical value are connected in their meanings, and have a further message from the Lord God.

Two other words with the numerical value of 404 are, the words vabahanasim, which means: to carry me

and hafashim which means: to strip away.

Is this a key to being made holy?

Could we read this as saying it this way?

We must allow our Heavenly Father to strip away  – hafashim – all that extra heavy burden weight of guilt and sin, so He can carry us – vaahanasim – into His promise land. 

Today is the day of salvation!

Luke 19:44 They will not leave in you one stone on another, all because you did not [come progressively to] recognize [from observation and personal experience] the time of your visitation [when God was gracious toward you and offered you salvation].”

Don’t miss the day of our visitation and the opportunity to clean house so that nothing will prevent us from entering in.

 2 Corinthians 6:2 says, “For God says, ‘At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.’” Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation.”

By living a sanctified life, we can walk in harmony externally with our Heavenly Fathers’ plans and purposes and be intensely focused on His point of view; and internally we can live a life submitted to, and controlled by, the Holy Spirit of Messiah.

Then all the strength of our body, soul and spirit are

sanctified –

set apart for Gods purpose alone.

In Psalm 119:33-40 The psalmist doesn’t ask for help in a situation or for material blessing, but for a transformation that leads to a greater submission to the Lord God. He asks for the Father to teach him, to grant him understanding, to change the direction of his heart and his gaze, to confirm the promise to him and to turn away reproach.

It is a prayer of holiness.

Let this be our prayer today…

33. Teach me, O LORD, the way of thy statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end.

34 Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.

35 Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight.

36 Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.

37 Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way.

38 Stablish thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear.

39 Turn away my reproach which I fear: for thy judgments are good.

40 Behold, I have longed after thy precepts: quicken me in thy righteousness.

Shalom aleikhem

chaverim and mishpachah!

Peace to friends and family.

Shavua Tov, Have a blessed week.

Make certain Messiah Jesus/Yeshua is your Redeemer, Savior, Lord and soon returning King and that you have a personal relationship with Him.

It’s all about Life and Relationship, NOT Religion.

You are very precious in His sight.

Not sure ..you can be…

SIMPLY SAY THE FOLLOWING MEANING IT FROM YOUR HEART..don’t delay one more minute,

SAY IT RIGHT NOW…

Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus/Yeshua asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.

I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus/Yeshua is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus/Yeshua rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus/Yeshua. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’/Yeshua’s name.

Walk With Me & Is God Inhabiting Holiness Or Praises?

First a P.S. for those who read last weeks post

Shade of Shaddai.

We looked at the name for

All sufficient – El Shaddai

spelled in Hebrew with the letters:

Alef, lamed, shin, daleth, yod.

In Exodus 17:1 

God asks Abraham to walk before Him.

Genesis 17:1-2, “And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.”

The word before means “in front of, or in the presences of” (Webster’s 1828). God was calling Abraham to a personal relationship with Himself. He wanted Abraham to live in His very presence. 

In Hebrew/Jewish literature the Rabbis and Sages teach that this verse should read

Walk WITH Me.

This is interesting because we are to understand that only after the fullness of 99 years, Abraham was finally invited to Walk WITH YHVH/Yahoveh/God as we are informed in Genesis that Enoch did also.

And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. Amplified Bible And [in reverent fear and obedience] Enoch walked with God; and he was not [found among men], because God took him. Genesis 5:24

Was Abraham able to do this because He understood that YHVH/God was El Shaddai, the Almighty or all sufficient God/YHVH? The rabbis and sages further say that 90 is the number of humility and 9 is the number of completion. So this infers that when Abraham was 99, he became complete (9) in humility (90) and recognized that YHVH/Yahoveh/God was truly El Shaddai – all sufficient, only then he could walk WITH Yahoveh/ YHVH/ God.

Humility is defined as: not for one moment trusting in self, in the arm of the flesh or in all securities we have built up; but having complete and total trust in our Heavenly Father God/El Shaddai, to be all sufficient for us.

אל שדי (el shaddai) the almighty

Genesis 17:1 
HEB: אֲנִי־ אֵ֣ל שַׁדַּ֔י הִתְהַלֵּ֥ךְ לְפָנַ֖י
NAS: to him, I am God Almighty; Walk
KJV: and said unto him, I [am] the Almighty God;

And when Abram was ninety nine years old and the LORD appeared to Abram, and he said to him, I am El Shaddai, walk before me, and be perfect
Genesis 17:1

7706 Shadday: Almighty

Original Word: שַׁדַּי
Part of Speech: Noun Masculine
Transliteration: Shadday
Phonetic Spelling: shad-dah’-ee

ALMIGHTY: Shaddai.

Masculine noun. (Strong’s 7706).

Root: שַׁדַּי

Sounds like: sha’dah-eye.

שדי

Click link below if you missed last weeks post:

https://www.minimannamoments.com/shade-of-shaddai/

El Shaddai – ale shad-dah’-ee

yds lA

אל שׁדי

The ‘Aleph’

and ‘Lamed’

form the root word

‘El’ which means God or strong controller.

The ‘Shin,’ ‘Dalet,’ and ‘Yud’ form another root. 

In the previous post we looked at the meaning of the word

אל  el,

as found in אל שדי (el shaddai),

and the word שדי (shaddai).

Most Bible translations translate this word as Almighty.

Many times a translator will not, or is reluctant to, translate a Hebrew word literally;

Why?

Because the literal meaning would not make sense to the Western mind and in some cases could or would actually offend them.

This is the case with the word שדי (shaddai).

The use of the word “Almighty” by the translator is their attempt at translating the text in a manner that will both make sense to the Western reader as well as to retain some of the meaning of the original Hebrew word.

Let’s take another look at this word.

The parent root for this word is שד (shad).

The original pictograph for this word is:

The (sh) is a picture of the two front teeth

and has the meaning of:

“sharp,” “press” (as from chewing)

as well as “two.”

Shin: His Heartbeat apparent in the fervent ardency and the intense, fiery, consuming, passionate power of His essence; A picture of His desire which is evident in; the works of His hand – the brought forth One – the author and finisher. 

The picture is the two front teeth.

The whiteness of the teeth shine.

Picture: Teeth

Associations: Shine

Sound: sh

Ancient Name: Shin

Modern Name: Shin

Modern Form: ש

Meaning: Sharp, Press, Eat, Two.

The (d) is a picture of a tent door

with a meaning of

“hang” or “dangle” as:

the door is hung or dangles down from the top of the tent.

Dalet – Door, passageway –

Process of entering-in; according to the Instructions, through the ‘Promised’ Instructor!

Move, hang, entrance, open, path or way.

The entrance of the Hebrew’s tent was covered by a curtain suspended from a horizontal pole.

The picture of this letter represents the “door” of the tent.

Picture: Door

Associations: Door

Sound: d

Ancient Name: Dal

Modern Name: Dalet

Modern Form: ד

Meaning: Move, Hang, Entrance

The combined meanings of the

shin and dalet

could be two danglers.

The goat was a very common animal within the herds of the Hebrews. It produces milk within the udder and is extracted by the goat kid by squeezing and sucking on the two teats dangling below the udder.

The function of these teats is to provide all the necessary nourishment for the kids, as they would die without it.

The Hebrew word שדי (shaddai)

also has the meaning of a teat.

Just as the goat provides nourishment to its kids through the milk, God nourishes His children through His milk and provides all the necessities of life.

This imagery can be seen in the following passage:

“And I will come down to snatch them [Israel] from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a good and wide land to a land flowing with milk and honey.” Exodus 3:8

The word שדי (teat) is often coupled with the word

אל (mighty, strong)

creating the phrase

אל שדי (el shaddai)

and literally meaning

the “mighty teat,”

hence we can see the translator’s reluctance to literally translate this phrase and instead using the more acceptable “God Almighty.”

It has also been termed as the Almighty breasty One.

The idea of God being characterized as having breasts/teats does not sit well in our Western culture. We are familiar with identifying with God as a father, but not as a mother.

The Hebrew word for

mother is אם (em)

or

in the ancient pictographic script.

The ox head

meaning strength

combined with the picture for water 

forms the word meaning: strong water.

Animal’s hides were placed in a pot of boiling water.

As the hide boiled, a thick sticky substance formed at the surface of the water and was removed and used as glue, a binding liquid or “strong water.” The mother of the family is the “one who binds the family together.”

Our Heavenly Father God can be seen as the

“glue” that holds the whole universe together;

which is more than a figurative statement however it is also quite scientific. We know that all matter is made up of atoms, each atom consists of protons which have a positive charge and electrons which have a negative charge. The protons are packed together in the nucleus, which is the center of the atom, while the electrons orbit/surround the nucleus. Since each proton has a positive charge, each proton should repel the others causing the protons to fly apart, but for some unknown reason, they do not. This phenomenon is called nucleic bonding. Our Heavenly Father God literally binds the entire universe together. WOW!

In Genesis 1:27 we are told “male and female he created them.”

This passage states that man was created as male and female and also that man was created in the image of God. God has the characteristics of both male and female and these characteristics were put into His creation, male characteristics in men and the feminine characteristics were placed in women. When a man and a woman come together, they unite these characteristics as one, now a perfect ‘representation’ of God. As Genesis 2:24 states and they shall become one flesh.

(In His image and likeness.)

God promised the nation of Israel that he would bring them into a “land flowing with milk and honey.”

God as the אל שדי (el shaddai), the mighty teat, will supply His children with His life sustaining milk.

A brief note highlighting some of the problems with Biblical translations.

There are many aspects that comprise a translation which are both unknown and unseen to the reader. Many people assume that the English translations of the Bible are all equal representations of the original text in which it was first written down. Due to the huge difference between both the ancient Hebrews language and culture compared to our own, an exact translation into our English language is impossible. The job of any translator is extremely difficult as they attempt to bridge the gap between both languages and cultures.

Because the Hebrew text can be translated various ways, sometimes the translator’s personal beliefs have an influence how the text is translated; then it becomes more of a interpretation of the original text based on the individuals own theology and doctrine.

Whoever reads this translation has no choice but to believe the translators understanding of the text and it then also becomes the readers’ foundation.

For this reason, readers will often compare translations, but are usually limited to Christian translations. And many do not have the resources or education to do the research themselves and just simply accept what is presented in the version they have available.

A wise recommendation for any student of His Word is to include a “Hebrew/Jewish” translation when comparing texts, as this will give a different and more authentic perspective. Of course it will be biased toward the Hebraic/Jewish faith, but then Christian translations are biased toward the Christian faith too; so being able to compare the two translations can certainly help to understand the different viewpoint each one contains. We miss so many hidden gems and pearls when we confine ourselves to just one translation…Hopefully these posts help to illuminate and explain some of the more obscure scriptures which because of language ambiguities can seem to be contradictions.

The aim and heart of these posts are not to offend any readers, nor to take the place of personal study and research. No one understands it all and we are all learning along the Way. Our relationship with our Heavenly Father is the most important aspect, drawing closer to Him through His Word and so; having even a small glimpse into Hebrew language/culture, albeit clumsy, hopefully reminds us how little we really know and then only with the help of His Spirit. As always be encouraged to study for yourself and forgive any errors in the text, the writer simply wants you to fall in love with His Word.

Here is one that we can ponder on..

Is God Inhabiting Holiness or Praises?

In Psalm 22:3 it is written:

and thou art holy sitting …the praise of Israel.

Youngs Literal Translation.

In KJV it reads

3But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.

 

In other translations it reads as

enthroned

 

The word inhabit in Hebrew Strongs# 3427

is

יָשַׁב

YASHAV or Yashab

Phonetic Spelling: yaw-shab’

(recall the letters for v and b are interchangeable.)

Yashav means many things related to dwelling,

so, it could be sitting,

as used in Youngs translation,

or it could be

remaining, staying,

set in one place an abode or establishing.

Again, depending on the context where the word is used and is most applicable to what the original writer was trying to convey.

Here is a question.

Are our bodies the temple/sanctuary of God

or

are they the Yashav/yashab of God?

Many translations insert the word Temple

yet sanctuary is more appropriate.

Ephesians 2:21

Why?

Because the inner, holiest part of the temple complex was the place where YHVH/Gods’ shekinah presence dwelt.

hieros; a sacred place, i.e.

The entire precincts

(whereas naos denotes the central sanctuary itself) of the Temple (at Jerusalem or elsewhere) — temple.2411. hieron

3485 naós (from naiō, “to dwell”) Phonetic Spelling: (nah-os’)
Definition: a temple, a shrine,

that part of the temple where God himself resides.– properly, a sanctuary (divine dwelling-place);

a temple (sacred abode), the place of divine manifestation. 3485(naós) refers to the sanctuary (the Jewish Temple proper), i.e. with just its two inner compartments (rooms).

As His Spirit of Holiness is now imparted into our innermost being, then it would seem more likely that the holiest place would be just that, in our innermost being – the sanctuary of our hearts.

Something to think about…

Returning to yashav/yashab,

And some more questions..

Are we hoping Gods’ presence will somehow come

… when we praise Him?

Is it that we somehow think/believe we can entice Him to join us by praising Him?

Doesn’t this signify that He is not yet in the midst of us or that He is not indwelling each of us by His Spirit? Yet 

Does He inhabit the praises of His people

or

does He inhabit His Holiness?

Or maybe it could read literally from the Hebrew as:

He the praise of His people?

A serious and more revealing question is:

what is the praise of our congregations?

What are we as a body of believers lifting up?

Is it the leadership, the building?

The number of those attending, is it the denomination and it doctrines and beliefs?

Then we must ask… what is the individuals focus in praise?

Is it our family, job, career, house car etc etc?…

because what we praise

and give our allegiance to and focus on is what our priority is.

All we have to do is listen to conversations all around us, because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. What’s in there in abundance will come out of our mouths in conversation.

The Lord is Holy and we are to let no unholy thing come out of our mouth.

1Peter 1:15 be holy in all manner of communication.

Kadesh – holy means:

to be separate and sacred.

The One we are to be in intimate communication with, is Our Heavenly Father and in that intimate relationship, we are drawn to Him Who, Jesus/Yeshua and His Spirit of Holiness always point us to;

and when He dwells within us,

He becomes our praise.

The word for praise here is

HALAL which means: to SHINE.

When we say Hallelujah, we are saying:

God SHINE in us let the world see You not us.

God already inhabits His people so

He obviously inhabits the praises that come forth from them.

God is our praise and He dwells in us, there’s no treasure anywhere that can even come close to who He is;

2Corinthians 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

Our treasure is that holy spirit within our “earthen vessels”. Earthen vessels are jars or containers made of clay. Jar of clay or earthen vessel is a figurative description of the human body as formed of clay (Gen. 2:7; 3:17)

and it should cause us to be continually praising Him, which in turn will give no room to be praising anything else.

As Yeshua/Jesus said, if people are forbidden to shout praises the The very stones will cry out..

Let it be our aim to

walk with Him

and to let the

el shaddai who

(yashab) inhabits us

as His sanctuary here on earth;

inspire the praises that issue forth from our lips

by His indwelling Spirit of Holiness.

He is then inhabiting the Holiness of our praises!

Here I bow – live common gathering.

Shalom

friends and family!

Shavua Tov, Have a blessed week,

you are greatly loved and prayed for daily.

Please don’t leave here without assurance of your salvation

Not sure ..you can be…

Make certain Messiah Jesus/Yeshua is your Redeemer,

Savior, Lord, and soon returning King

and that you have a personal relationship with Him.

It’s all about Life and Relationship, NOT Religion.

You are very precious in His sight.

SIMPLY SAY THE FOLLOWING MEANING IT FROM YOUR HEART..don’t delay one more minute, SAY IT RIGHT NOW…

Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus/Yeshua asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.

I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus/Yeshua is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus/Yeshua rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus/Yeshua. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’/Yeshua’s name.