Grace

Genesis 6:8 Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

This verse is the first mention of the word “Grace” in Scripture. The Law of First Mention says that to best understand a word in scripture you go to its first mention and there you will discover its basic meaning.

The Hebrew word for grace is “chen”. It literally means favor.

What is very interesting is that grace is Noah spelt backwards. Let’s look at Noah’s name first.

Noah means rest, derived from the root word which means resting place. His name is spelt with a “Nun” and a “Chet”. Nun, in the pictogram, looks like a seed or even a sperm. Chet, in the pictogram, looks like a gate or wall and means protected.

Therefore, from the ancient alphabet Noah gives the picture of a seed being protected, a seed behind the gate. This would take us back to God’s prophecy in Genesis 3:15 about the seed of the woman. In God saving Noah and his wife, the seed in the prophecy was protected. If God had wiped out Noah and his family also then the prophecy would have been false.

What protected the seed? Grace. Noah in reverse is grace, chet and then nun (the gate and then the seed). Grace is the protector of the seed.

Man had become corrupt on the earth and truly God had every right to start all over again. He did, to an extent, but keep the seed alive in Noah and his wife. He did not have to, but He did because of His grace, His favor.

As a result, the seed of a woman was born 2,000 years later – Jesus Christ.

The same grace that kept the seed alive from Eve all the way to Mary is the same grace that is enacted when we accept the seed, Jesus Christ, into our lives. It is the very same favor that Noah experienced. The prophecy of Genesis 3:15 becomes ours, not by who we are or what we have done, but by the favor of God.

It is at the point that we believe in Jesus that His grace, the protector of the Seed, allows the seed to abide in us.

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God

Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord and, through believing, we too have that same grace in the eyes of the Lord.

To understand more about the seed, see my previous blog at https://wordnuggets.wordpress.com/2011/04/19/seed-of-abraham-deeper-meaning/

To find awesome iPhone & iPad apps for the Christian Walk and Ministry go to n8slist.com

Seed of Abraham – Deeper Meaning

Genesis 15:5 Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”

This promise is related to several other references to the promise of descendants that God gave to Abram, now Abraham.

1. Genesis 13:16 – seed as numerous as the dust of the earth.
2. Genesis 15:5 – count the stars, so shall your seed be.
3. Genesis 22:17 – seed will be as numerous as the stars and the sand on the seashore

But, there are three things different about this particular verse.

First – bowels: In verse 4 God said that he would have an heir from his body. The King James says from his “bowels.” Abram will have an heir from his “bowels.”  Does this mean that God did not know that the bowels have nothing to do with the bowels? No. In Genesis 3:15 God knew that the woman carried the seed and science did not prove this until 180 years ago.

This word can also means “womb.” So, does Abram have a womb? So to speak, yes. That womb would be in Sarai. This is one reason why it was not enough for Hagar to have a son for Abram. Hagar was not his womb. Sarah was. This is on the same terms by which God describes a nake wife as the husband’s nakedness.

Second – seed: “Zera” – This word is translated as “descendants” in the New King James and offspring in others. Whereas, it is translated as “seed” in the King James. This is one time that the King James has the better translation.

The word is not plural but singular. At first glance we would say that it would be ok to translate the word as descendants. That is the meaning, right? But to translate it as descendants removes a deeper level of meaning. On the surface we can look ahead and know that this seed is Isaac. But, it has a deeper meaning. The original word literally means seed. It’s the same word used in Genesis 1 during creation.

To better understand the deeper meaning of the word seed, let’s go back to Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.

Then, let’s remember that in the pictograph of the Hebrew alphabet for Noah’s name means protected seed and grace, with the same two letters but reversed, means the protector of the seed. Grace secured God’s promise in Genesis 3:15 across the flood. The seed that God told about, the first mention of the Messiah in Genesis 3:15, came across in the ark through the undeserving favor or grace of God.

Therefore, the deeper meaning of Genesis 15:5 is that God is promising the coming of the Messiah through Abraham.

Am I stretching this? Not if you believe what Paul says:

Galatians 3:16 Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ.

Therefore, “Zera” should remain as seed not descendants.

If it is ONE seed then how do we explain counting the stars? It goes back to translation again. There is Genesis 15:5 again, Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”

Third, – count & number: Both of these words are the same Hebrew word – Safar, which also means “rehearse or relate.” How do you relate or rehearse the stars?

According to God in Genesis 1:14 the stars were for a sign. Today we have a zodiac that is very similar to constellation signs found in many old cultures around the world.

Have you every asked how in the world do they get a Virgin or a lion out of a constellation? What the constellations look like are not by connecting the dots but by knowing the names and means of the brightest stars in each constellation, going to the brightest to the next to the brightest and so forth. Most of the pictures we still have but many of the names of the stars have been lost through time.

It is believed that through the names of the stars that even Adam understood the history of man and the coming of Jesus. Man, after the flood, customized the signs to center around him rather than God.

If this is true, could God have been saying to Abram, “Look at the stars and rehearse the stories told by them and the seed promised in the stories will come from you.”

Therefore, in light of Genesis 1:14, 3:15, and Galatians 3:16, verse 5 of Genesis 15 could be translated as follows: Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and rehearse the stars if you are able to relate to them.” And He said to him, “So shall your seed (the Promised Messiah) be.”

To find awesome iPhone & iPad apps for the Christian Walk and Ministry go to n8slist.com

Born To Be Wild?

Genesis 1:25-28 And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

On the sixth day God created and called it good. It was not until after this that He created man. Of all the creations during the six days, only two were not declared good: when God divided the heavens from the earth on the second day and when God created man on the sixth day. Why?

As for the second day, it was all about division – separation. Heaven and earth were no long link together. Nothing can be good outside of the presence of God.

And as for man, man was not created to be good but to choose good. Therefore, man received God’s blessing instead. Man needed God’s spoken power in order to choose good and it came in the form of His blessing. Another argument of man’s free will.

Some have even gone as far as to say that there is a correlation between the second day and the creation of man. Both were divisions from God’s presence. Only the breath of God can reunite the dust of the ground (what man was created from) to the heart of God, “and man became a living soul.”

Today it takes the breath of God breathed, the Holy Spirit, for us to be reunited with Him (Romans 8:15-16). We may not have been born good but we can choose good because God spoke His blessing upon us. We were not born to be wild, we were born TO BE good.

Romans 8:15-16 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

Peter said in Acts 3:19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,

Repenting is the one act that will reunite us to God’s presence. Then, and only then will the times of refreshing come from God.

LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL !!!

Why Curse Canaan?

Genesis 9:25 Then he said: “Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brethren.”

Why did Noah curse Canaan if it was Ham who was guilty? Well, maybe Ham was not guilty.

Think about the clues that these verses offer as well as verses in the next chapter.

1. Ham saw Noah naked. There is no evidence that Ham DID anything to Noah besides accidentally seeing his father’s nakedness.
2. Verse 22 points out that Ham, who saw his father’s nakedness, was the father of Canaan. Keep in mind that up to this point in Genesis everything is about the “firstborn.” if you will read verse 10 in the next chapter you will discover that Canaan was Ham’s youngest son. So, why throw in this fact unless it meant something.
3. Verse 24 says that Noah knew what his younger son had done. Someone did something to him and it had to have been worse than seeing the naked body of an old man.

So, someone did something to Noah while he was naked and verse 24 gives no names, Canaan is mentioned twice while not not even close to being the oldest son, and Canaan gets cursed.

You do the math and take it from there.

The Message In The First Genealogy

family tree

I have met only a few who enjoy reading genealogies. Some call them the “begot’s.” Family history does not interest everyone. I did a genealogy of my family a few years back and discovered that there was history that went back farther than my dad’s grandfather, of which he knew very little about. By the time I was finished we had a family tree that was 3 feet wide and 5 feet tall.

Genealogy gives great insight as to where you came from. Family history is important enough that two gospel writers wrote in detail the linage of Jesus. And, sometimes you can find nuggets even in genealogies.

In Genesis chapter 5 is recorded the very first genealogy, from Adam to Noah. Ten men. As you dig in you will discover that many of these men knew Adam. You will also discover that these ten men, ten generations, covers nearly 1,600 years. It is also interesting that Methuselah means “his death shall bring” and it would seem that his death was right about the same time as the flood.

Prophetic? I think so. It was at Methuselah’s birth that his father began to walk with God. There had to have been some kind of encounter that caused a 65 year old man to turn to God. Possibly God began to show Enoch things that were to come? So, believe that people have to be walking with God in order to for God to show them something? Then how do you explain the meaning of his son’s name and at his son’s birth was when he began to walk with God? It would see that there are times that God brings revelation which in turn brings a change of heart.

How can we dig deeper? How about if we went to the Hebrew to discover what their names meant? Would there be a message in their names? Let’s try. Some of the names were easy to translate where others had to be taken all of the way back to the root word.

1. Adam means “man”
2. Seth means “compensation” or “payback”
3. Enos means “mortal” or “mankind”
4. Kenan means “nest in a lofty rock” or “out of reach”
5. Mahalalel means “praised of God”
6. Jerad (yarad) means “came down”
7. Enoch means “to train”
8. Methuselah means “His death shall bring”
9. Lamech means “powerful”
10. Noah means “rest”

Now, let’s put these names together and see if there is anything.

man, compensation, mankind, nest in a lofty rock, praised of God, came down, to train, his death shall bring, powerful, rest.

What I am about to do is a matter of interpretation. I am not stating this as fact, but take a look at this through my eyes and see if you see what I see.

“Man’s compensation or payment for the human race set him in a nest, far removed. The praised of God came down to train, his death shall bring a powerful rest.”

or “Man’s compensation or payment came upon the human race . From a high place the praised of God came down to train,his death shall bring a powerful rest.”

So, what do you think. Do you think that too much was added to the names to form this message? If I am right then the first genealogy gives the full plan of man’s fall and God’s salvation.

Let me know what you think.

Are You Hiding?

Hide & Seek

Genesis 3:8-9 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”

This is the first occurrence of a human attribute that is described to God which does not fit. It is not a misprint, bad translation, or a weakness of God. When He asked “where are you” it was not a matter of not knowing where Adam and Eve were but served two purposes:

1. It was a way to open up a conversation with Adam and Eve from the comfort of their own hiding place and give them a moment to explain themselves. He did not accuse them but expressed a desire for them. God was applying therapy. They had developed the first baggage that could have been carried with them throughout their marriage and passed on to their children. But, God opened up that baggage by asking the questions, “Where are you,” “Who is to blame,” and “Did you disobey.”

2. He was playing their game. My grandkids are very small and their favorite game is hide and seek. They have even told me where to hide. I played it their way. God played it their way.

So, did God know where they were all the time? If we are to believe that not only does God know everything but He knows the future, then the answer is yes.

There is a deeper principle here.

1. Sin makes you stupid. When you look at these two verses it is very easy to conclude that God walked with Adam and Even on a regular basis. We really have no idea as to how many weeks, months or even years have past since their creation. Surely, by now, they understand the vastness of God’s knowledge and the limitless sight that He has.

Adam had to be anything but dumb. He was given an assignment by God – to name all of the animals. Could you do that and remember them without the use of a computer or even a pen and paper? And yet, following their sin, they really believed that they could hide from the presence of God.

They hid from the “presence” of God. They attempted the impossible.

2. Sin introduced fear. In verse 10 they were afraid. But, with this fear they experienced shame and possibly guilt. Can you just imagine experiencing these kinds of feelings for the very first time in your lives?

3. Sin reveals the absence of God. Many have tried to explain why sin made such a big deal about being naked. Sin does not keep people from being naked today. This is just my conclusion. I believe that before their sin they were somehow covered with the glory or presence of God and now they were, for the first time, uncovered.

Not only does sin have a price but God cares about your baggage.

The Small “Hey”

They Were Created

Genesis 2:4 This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

In this verse is a letter in the Hebrew that has been written smaller than it should be. It is the fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the “Hey.”

Because this letter looks like an open window it is said to represent breath, revelation and light.

In the word for “created” in the above verse it begins with the second letter “Bet” which represents the Son of God, Jesus the Messiah. The next letter is the “Hey” which has been written small. The remainder of the word literally means create.

Therefore, the word could be read, “The Son of God breathed forth creation.”

Could it be for this reason that Paul was able to write with confidence in Ephesians 3:9 “…God who created all things through Jesus Christ”.

Elohim: What Is Truly In A Name?

Elohim

The very first mention of God is found in Genesis 1:1.

In the beginning God (Elohim) created the heavens and the earth.

Elohim is the plural form of El which you would find in a name like Beth-el – Beth, the second Hebrew letter, means house and El means God, therefore, house of God. Although Elohim is plural it is always used in the singular. This adds strength to the understanding of the trinity, especially in light of Genesis 1:26 – “let US make man in OUR own image, according to OUR likeness . . .” And God created . . .

What is very interesting are the letters that are used in the spelling of Elohim. You can see the Hebrew alphabet in Psalm 119 above every ninth verse. The word is pictured above, reading from right to left.

1. Aleph – the first letter which means strength or leader. In it’s numerical it represents 1, meaning only one God. It is the first letter in the first translated word in Genesis. It is the first letter in the first word in the Ten Commandments. It is also the first letter of the word for Father – aleph, bet. “Aleph” represents Father.

2. Lamed – the center letter of the Hebrew alphabet and the tallest. It is said to represent the King of kings, supported by the fact that the preceding letter represents the throne of glory and the following letter represents kingdom and the three letters together spell king. In the ancient text the Lamed was a picture of a shepherd’s staff. “Lamed” represents our King of kings, Jesus.

3. Hey – it is the breath just as it takes much breath to say it’s name. Tradition says that the letter “Yod” left the letter “Aleph” to join with the letter “Dalet” to form the letter “Hey”. Thus, because the “Aleph” represents God and “Dalet” is the brokenness of man, the Hey is a picture of God’s presence in the heart of man. God did breathe His breath into man to make him a living being. In it’s block form it looks like an open window. In it’s ancient  form it is a may with his arms raise as if to say, “Behold!” The “Hey” is the Holy Spirit. This is the very letter that was placed in the middle of Abram’s name to make it Abraham. God put His breath in the middle of Abraham’s name.

Now we have a three in just the one word – Elohim.

The Yod and Mem – are what makes the name plural and yet it is used in the singular.

Elohim is a name of authority and is often used throughout the Old Testament for the generic term for god or gods, yet it still represents God’s authority that man tries to attribute to other beings or objects.

It is not until chapter two of Genesis that He is introduced by His personal name. God is first establishing His authority as the creator in Chapter one. Once we understand His authority then we can understand Him personally.

Still, it is very interesting that this name of authority has a trinity picture, three combined into one.

Knowledge of Good And Evil

Genesis 3:4-7 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the ree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.

Up until this point in time Adam and Eve enjoyed the pureness of God’s presence. They lived in complete obedience with God’s boundaries. This does not mean that they were slaves to God but, as children with their parents, lived fulfilled and pleasant lives within the safety of God’s oversight.

Was there something magical in the fruit that they eat. My opinion is no. I don’t believe that it was the fruit that had some kind of powers or chemical reaction with their brains. It was the act of disobedience.

When God breathed into them they became living souls. The breath of God is what the bible refers to as the spirit of Man. Man is spirit, soul, and body. God’s Spirit communes with us through our spirit to the soul. It was at the point of disobeying that, for the first time, they made a decision from their lust of the flesh to determine what was good. She saw that the tree was good for food.

It was at the point that she determined that it was good. She became her own authority. When our decision concludes good when God has already deemed it bad, it makes God’s word seem as evil. It was disobedience. Do you see where to knowledge of good and evil come in now? In the decision to eat from the tree Eve became her own authority or elohiym, disqualifying God as her authority.

God’s name, Yawah, is never introduced until chapter 2 when He created man. Genesis 1 refers to Him as Elohiym which literally means authority. He spoke. He created. Now, in chapter 3 man attempts to be his own elohiym, his own authority. It is in this way he attempted to become like elohiym, not Yawah (verse 5).

In Genesis 5:3 Adam begot Seth in his own likeness. If Adam were still in the likeness of God then so would Seth be in the likeness of God. But, not so. Adam and Eve sinned, and produces offspring after their kind of which we are still in the likeness of Adam, inheriting the knowledge of good and evil

It is one of the hardest things to overcome in a Christian life, listening only to God’s voice and not giving in to what our flesh determines good.

The challenge: If Jesus has been asked to come into your life, let Him call the shots. Let Him speak the good into our lives and learn to know your own voice that tries to pick out what is good. It is make God the authority again.

The God Who Hears And Sees

Genesis 16:14 Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; observe, it is between Kadesh and Bered.

Ten years have passed since God’s promise to make Abram a father of many nations. So, Sarai came up with a plan, she would allow Abram to take her maidservant as wife and have a child with her.

That did not go so well. This servant from Egypt, now pregnant with the child of a wealthy man (Genesis 13:2) she no longer felt as an outsider but felt herself better than Sarai. She was carrying Abram’s child, not Sarai. Problem!

Sarai, after complaining about Hagar’s attitude, was given the authority to do whatever she wished to Hagar. She kicked her out of camp and sent her home.

A messenger of God found her be a spring, possibly heading back to Egypt. But God had a message for her.

• I will multiply your descendants exceeding.
• You will have a boy.
• His name will be Ishmael (God hears).
• He will be a wild man.
• Every man’s hand will be against him.
• He will dwell in the presence of all his brothers.

She was so excited that God had seen and heard her affliction she called the well, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees.

But, God says to observe where it is located. It is located between Kadesh and Bered. Does that mean anything to you? Well, let’s translated the words and see what it says.

Observe, it (the God who sees) is between Kadesh (holy) and Bered (hail or judgment). Nothing escapes God’s notice. He sees everything between what is holy and what has to be judged. And to remind her he gave her a son whose name is God-hears.