God – adonainissi

Your heart in the presence of God (part 5 of 5)

Dreams are the language of symbols. Looking at what symbols might mean in the context of scripture and its Hebraic roots, often reveals interesting insights.

As a recap from part 4, we have been looking at the ark of testimony and the things inside it. First described in the book of Exodus, the book of Hebrews piques our interest in the ark and suggests that there is symbolic relevance.

Hebrews 9:3-5
3 Behind the second curtain, the tabernacle was called the most holy place.
4 It contained the gold altar of incense and the ark of the covenant, covered with gold on all sides, in which there was a gold jar containing the manna, Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant.
5 The cherubim of glory were above it overshadowing the mercy seat. It is not possible to speak about these things in detail right now.

As I mentioned in the first of the series, I believe that the ark is a metaphor for your heart.

The ark along with your heart were created to bring glory to God and to be pure both inside and out. The ark was coated with pure gold both inside and covering the ark. Gold is a symbol representing purity and high value.

Your heart was created to be in the presence of God, 24×7, just like the ark.

The three items inside the ark were the pot of manna, Aaron’s rod, and the tablets of testimony.

In part 2, we established manna as a symbol for faith.
In part 3, we established the rod as a symbol for hope.
In part 4, we established the tablets as a symbol for love.

Faith, hope, and love are what is referred to be a “triad.”
There are a number of interesting triads in the new covenant. In terms of dream symbols, the number three often represents the holy trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit). Yeshua said “I AM the way, the truth, and the life,” another triad.

I believe many things in the scriptures are intentional and that God knew what he was doing when he established numbers and details. Yeshua said himself that not one jot or tittle would pass away until everything had been fulfilled. The elements in the ark form a triad. Are there other triads in the new covenant that we can connect with the triad in the ark? I believe there are.

Not to get carried away with it, but there are some interesting symbols in the ancient Hebrew pictographs. For example, the Hebrew pictograph for Father (“Ab” in Hebrew) is aleph-bet, symbolized by an ox head as a strong leader (aleph), and a house or dwelling place (bet). The Father was to be a strong leader for His house. “Coincidentally”, it also happens to be the first Hebrew word in the Strong’s concordance (#1).

אב

I was praying about which pictographs out of the 22 Hebrew letters would best represent faith, hope, and love, and here is what I believe I received.

1. Faith is best represented by the cross (tav), as this is the truth that will set us free. In the ancient Hebrew pictographs, the cross was a sign, mark, or memorial.

The cross is a symbol of humility. God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. That is the truth connected to love and life. It is the secret to every marriage and relationship.

2. Hope is best represented by the seed (nun), as it correlates to offspring, heir, and sonship.

This also matches very nicely to power and resurrection life. The promise of eternal life gives us hope. Yeshua is known as the seed of Abraham, producing new life and many sons for its fruit (Rom 4, Gal 4).

3. Love is best represented by the house (bet), as it represents belonging and being cared for as part of a family.

Love is the way we are called to live our lives. Love is what will impact others and is eternal.

Here are some pairings of triads which you might find interesting…

Faith <-> Truth <-> Cross <-> Son              <-> Manna
Hope <-> Life    <-> Seed    <-> Holy Spirit <-> Rod
Love   <-> Way   <-> House <-> Father         <-> Tablets

See if the Holy Spirit leads you to other triads, i.e., righteousness, peace, and joy. How do those words connect with the trinity?

It is these things in your heart which bring glory to God. Faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love.

To return to our original text in Hebrews, the scripture concludes that the old covenant is a shadow of the substance that is fulfilled in Christ. In fact the thread of the text comes to these conclusions (Hebrews 10:19-24).

19 Therefore, brothers, since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus,
20 by a new and living way He has opened for us through the curtain (that is, His flesh),
21 and since we have a great high priest over the house of God,
22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water.
23 Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
24 And let us be concerned about one another in order to promote love and good works.

By believing, we have life in His name. The same power that raised Christ from the dead lives in you, if you have accepted His offer. It is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We are called to be like Christ who humbled himself for the sake of love.

To conclude, my encouragement to you is to spend time in the presence of God where your heart can find acceptance, hope, and your faith strengthened. Every person is uniquely created. As such, we experience God in different ways. How can you creatively connect with the presence of God? Take some time to rest in His presence, reflect, and be loved. There, your heart will find life.

Hosea, An Invitation to Know

Do you Know Adonai?

Hosea 6:6 has been rattling around in my spirit recently. When I look at Hosea 6, particularly at verses 1-6, what jumps out at me is the call to know the Lord. I see an invitation to know God and the ways of God. Looking at certain Hebrew words in the passage helps give us understanding (English translations are from the NASB). While Hosea has been called to bring a difficult message to Israel (e.g. they haven’t pursued knowing Adonai), there is also hope in the message.

Hsa 6:1 Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us.

(The translation of ‘torn’ and ‘wounded’ causes us to stumble. God does this? A point of view which may be helpful is that that sometimes a parent has to allow natural consequences be the appropriate way to train wayward children. Focusing on the encouragement in the verse reveals something better. Whenever anyone turns to the LORD, they can find hope and healing)

(The word LORD, which is represented by ‘yhvh’ in Hebrew, is a relationship term for God. God wants a growing relationship with you)

Hsa 6:2 He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day, That we may live before Him.

(It is translated ‘And we shall be whole by His favor’ in the JPS Tanakh. That which is translated ‘before Him’ is the Hebrew word ‘paniym‘ meaning face, in front of, with favor, and being in God’s presence)

(I find the metaphor for the favor to be found in Yeshua (Jesus) to be striking. Resurrection life has now become possible. A way has been made for us to have favor with God and live continually in His presence).

Hsa 6:3 So let us know, let us press on to know the LORD. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; And He will come to us like the rain, Like the spring rain watering the earth.”

(The Hebrew for the phrase ‘to know’ is the word ‘yada‘ meaning to know or to come to know, a relational word as one comes to know their spouse relationally and sexually – Gen 4:1. This is only possible in a place of trust and open communication).

Hsa 6:4 What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? For your loyalty is like a morning cloud And like the dew which goes away early.

(The word translated as ‘loyalty’ is the Hebrew word ‘checed‘, which is best represented as a three-fold cord of love, kindness, and steadfastness. In our humanity and brokenness, our ability to love like this quickly fades)

Hsa 6:5 Therefore I have hewn them in pieces by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth; And the judgments on you are like the light that goes forth.

(The word translated as ‘hewn’ is the Hebrew word ‘chatsab‘, which is used in the context of a stonecutter or quarry – Isaiah 51:1)

(The word translated as ‘judgments’ is the Hebrew word ‘mishpat‘, used in the context of deciding on a case)

(The word translated as ‘light’ is the Hebrew word ‘owr‘, a metaphor for truth and righteousness. When stones are cut, whatever is hidden is revealed, whether flaws or beauty)

Hsa 6:6 For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

(The word translated as ‘loyalty’ is the Hebrew word ‘checed‘, which is best represented as a three-fold cord of love, kindness, and steadfastness)

(The word translated as ‘knowledge’ is the Hebrew word ‘da ath‘ , which represents discernment, understanding, and wisdom and comes from the root ‘yada’ as described above)

(The word translated as ‘God’ is the Hebrew word ‘Elohiym‘, which can be represented by the word ‘rulers’. The same word as used as the ‘God’ who creates. It is a plural word. There is an invitation to come to know the ways of God and how light goes forth)

When we come to know God and the life that we find in the son Yeshua, we can understand that Yeshua was the sacrifice to end all sacrifices. God delights when we demonstrate love (‘checed’) for one another.

Do you know Me?

The Smile of God

I heard a theme at a few recent outreaches lately; this theme was of them serving both a God and a goddess. Of course, I find this disturbing, but more and more common as people make up their own religions. Why do you suppose this is?

I wonder if it’s because of poor teaching. One thought is that perhaps the things of scripture and God have been presented as a men’s club.

God is spirit. There are both masculine and feminine attributes of God described through scripture.

It was this way from the beginning:

Genesis 1:27
God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

In the trinity, we obviously have the Father and the Son presented as masculine. The Holy Spirit, however, forms distinctly feminine attributes. The Holy Spirit is our comforter, our encourager, and our helper.

Wisdom in the book of Proverbs is described as a “she.”

Of course, in Christ, we have neither male, nor female. Christ was no respecter of persons.

The other thought I have is how was God portrayed to these people where they can’t accept His love and His kindness?

Perhaps they never understood the Aaronic blessing? The book of Hebrews indicates that Jesus became our High Priest.

Numbers 6:24-26
The LORD bless you, and keep you;
The LORD make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you;
The LORD lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace.

A countenance lifted up is a smile. Perhaps they never knew about the smile of God. Perhaps they never knew His pleasure over them, His desire to bless them and give them joy.

Psalm 149:4
For the LORD takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation.

If people knew that they could bring a smile to God’s heart, would that make a difference? If they knew the love of God, the kindness of God, the nurture that comes from God, does gender really matter anymore?