Tag Archives: Genesis

What are you still holding on to that’s keeping you from moving forward?

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Genesis 12:1, Get thee out of thy country. Did Abram immediately leave his father’s house and go directly to the country that YHVH would show him, or did he fulfill YHVH’s will for his life in incremental steps? (Compare Gen 11:31 with 12:1.) Did Abram leave his father’s house completely, or take part of his father’s house with him including his father and nephew? Haran is located in northern Mesopotamia and is nowhere near Canaan. When Abram finally made his way to Canaan minus his father, did he still have part of his kindred with him, something YHVH instructed him to leave behind (Gen 12:1)? Did his nephew Lot prove to be a help or a hindrance to Abram in fulfilling YHVH’s mission for his life in a new land?

What lessons can we learn from this account? First, YHVH is gracious to us even when we don’t obey him completely and immediately. Scripture still refers to Abraham as the father of the faithful or faithfulness (Rom 4:12, 16). Second, Abram was a man of prominence in Babylon (or Chaldea), was recognized as a mighty prince (Gen 23:6), and was 75 years old when YHVH asked him to leave the comforts of life in Babylon to trek across the desert to the backwoods region of Canaan. No doubt, this was not an easy move for Abram for the reasons stated above.

What did Yeshua tell his disciples about the sacrifices that would need to be made to be a follower of YHVH? (Matt 10:35–39). What did Yeshua say would be the eternal rewards of those, who like our father Abraham, set out in faith for a new spiritual destiny? (Matt 19:29) What physical obstacles stand in your way of fulfilling YHVH’s spiritual calling, mission and destiny for your life?

 

Noah—Prophetic Pictures of Yeshua and End Time Events

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Genesis 6–8, Noah’s flood provides allegorical insights relating to end-times prophecy. In Matthew 24:37, Yeshua compares the end times to the days of Noah. The story of Noah has allegorical implications that give hints about end-times prophecy.

Noah's Ark

In 1 Peter 3:18–22, we learn that the story of Noah is also a picture of salvation and water baptism. Noah is a prophetic type of Yeshua.

To start with, Noah building the ark is a prophetic picture of the redeemed believer working out his own salvation (Phil 2:12), yet while doing so according to YHVH’s exact plans or specifications (e.g., repentance from sin, faith in Yeshua, baptism for the remission of sins, and faithful obedience to YHVH’s commandments).

Noah builds an ark of safety from Elohim’s wrath or judgments against sinful man. The ark is a metaphorical picture of the believer’s salvation, and Noah is a spiritual picture of Yeshua. The flood is also a picture of water baptism for the remission of sins, which ceremonially pictures the death of the old sinful man, and the birth of the new spiritual Continue reading →

 

Where Are YOU?

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Genesis 3:9–13, Where are you? Elohim asks Adam and Eve direct and specific questions, but instead of taking personal responsibility and answering the questions, they defend themselves, make excuses, justify themselves, blame shift, and accuse others including blaming Elohim. When confronted with their sin, humans have been doing this ever since — defending self and ego at all expenses. This is the result of the taint of sin and this behavior has been passed on from one generation to the next. The Spirit-led person must counter this proclivity of the soul to justify, excuse and obfuscate one’s sin.

Furthermore, when YHVH asked the first humans where they were after they had sinned, he wasn’t asking them where they were physically. Being obniscient, he knew this already. Instead, he was asking them them, “Where are you spiritually in your relationship with me in regards to obedience to the instructions in righteousness I gave you to obey?” This is the same questions the Creator is still asking men to this day.

 

Gardening—Man’s Noblest, Elohim Ordained Profession

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Genesis 2:15, Tend/dress and keep it. Tend is the Hebrew word avad meaning “to work or serve.” Being a gardener was Adam’s occupation. Yeshua was the second Adam. After Yeshua’s resurrection, interestingly, he was mistaken as the gardener (John 20:15).

Gardening tools.

The Torah teaches sustainable living and stewardship of the earth. The terms sustainability or sustainable living are currently fad concepts that are bandied about by those seeking to be politically correct—whatever that is supposed to mean. Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, defines sustainability as follows:

Sustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of responsibility, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of stewardship, the responsible management of resource use. In ecology, sustainability describes how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time, a necessary precondition for the well-being of humans and other organisms.

As the writer of the Book of Ecclesiastes said, there is nothing new under the sun. In the beginning, Elohim placed man in the idyllic paradise called the Garden of Eden instructing him “to tend” (serve, work, till, dress) and “to keep” (guard, observe, protect) the garden (Gen 2:15). Man was commanded to become the steward of what Elohim had created—to preserve, maintain and to care for it.

To this day, YHVH has never rescinded these instructions to man even though modern environmentalists and conservationists may think they originated the idea of responsible stewardship of the environment. Long before Rosseau, Thoreau, the Continue reading →

 

Two Messiahs? One from Joseph and Judah?

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Genesis 49:24, Shepherd…Stone of Israel. This seems to be an irrefutable prophetic reference to the Messiah of Israel whom Scripture refers to in various places as “the Stone the builders rejected,” “the Chief Cornerstone,” “Precious Cornerstone” and “the Rock of our Salvation” (Ps 118:22; Isa 28:16; Mark 12:10; Eph 2:20; 1 Pet 2:6–8). Yet this verse appears to be saying that this Messiah is coming from the tribe of Joseph. At the same time, Jacob’s prophecy to Judah contains another classic Messianic prophecy in the reference to the Shiloh to come (Gen 49:10). These two prophecies led some Jewish sages to believe that two Messianic figures would arise out of Israel: one from Judah and other from Ephraim.

What kind of blessing was this prediction that one day his descendants—the Ten Tribes—would be scattered among the nations? R. Munk explains: while it is true that the dispersion was caused by the unfaithfulness and sinfulness of Ephraim’s descendants (Hos 7:8ff), Jacob’s blessing was not in vain for “they will return to God” and will have their share in the world to come (Sanhedrin 110b). And R. Eliezer adds: “Even the darkness in which the Ten Tribes were lost will one day become as radiant as the day’ (according to the version of Avos d’Rabbi Nosson 36). And in the perspective of history, did not these exiled children of the Patriarchs enlighten the nations among whom they were scattered? They did so by teaching their conquerors the fundamental ideas of the knowledge and love of God, ideals they had never forsaken. Hence they too have a messianic vocation and their Messiah the. … Messiah son of Joseph (Succah 52a), also called Messiah son of Ephraim (Targum Yonasan on Exod 40:11), will play an essential role in humanity’s redemption, for he will be the precursor of the … Messiah Son of David …” (The ArtScroll Bereishis/Genesis Commentary, pp. 2121–2122).

How do we explain this seeming contradiction in view of the facts that there was only one Messiah, and his name was Yeshua, and he came from the tribe of Judah? These two Messiahs are explained in Yeshua’s two comings. In his first coming, he was like Joseph, a suffering servant who then become a king after enduring great hardships (read Isa 53). When he comes back the second time, he will be like David, the conquering, triumphant or warrior king where he will rule over the world and a united Israel (Rev 19:11–16). The Jewish sages had a concept of these two Messiahs, as well, but were unclear as to whether they would be the same person or not and how much time would separate their two comings. With perfect 20-20 hindsight, we can now look back and see how Yeshua fulfilled this prophecy as the Messiah Son of Joseph (figuratively speaking) at this first coming, and how he is yet to come as the Messiah Son of David at his second coming where as the Conquering King he will defeat Babylon the Great and establish his earthly millennial kingdom where he will rule as King of kings (Rev 19–20).

 

A Family Once Divided, Now Reunited — to Happen Again!

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Genesis 46:1–7, The reuniting of Jacobs family — the twelve tribes of Israel. These verses recount the move of Jacob and his family to Egypt where they were reunited with Joseph and his family. This prophetically foreshadows a time in the future, which the Jewish sages call the final redemption, which is to occur just prior to and at the coming of Messiah Son of David as he comes to establish the Messianic Era (Millennium).

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The Jewish sages teach that part of that final redemption includes the reunification of the two houses of Israel (i.e. the Messiah-loving Jews and Torah-loving Christians) into one kingdom under Messiah Son of David. Where do we find this prophesied in the Scriptures? (Read Ezek 37:15–28, which interestingly enough is this week’s Haftorah portion!) This speaks of the family reunification or ­reconciliation of Judah and Ephraim at Messiah’s return. (Hos 5:15–6:4; 1:11; Acts 3:21; Ezek 37:25). This will be a supernatural work of the Ruach haKodesh (Holy Spirit) of Elohim (Ezek 36:19–32).

After the reunification of the divided family, where did the reunited and reconciled family move to? (Read Gen 46:34.) Goshen was in the Nile River delta area and was, and to this day is, the prime farm land of Egypt. It was a veritable promised land compared to the arid regions of Canaan. Could this be a tiny shadow-picture of the Millennium?

The Jewish sages have a sense that history for the people of Israel is continually repeating itself, over and over again in cyclical patterns as YHVH works his purposes out among his people. He is continually endeavoring to reveal his plan of redemption and reconciliation to those who have eyes to see, and continually reaching out the loving hand of reconciliation to the next generations of Israelites.

This is but one more picture of the cyclical pattern of redemption that we see YHVH working out in the pages of Scripture all pointing toward a final climax at the end of the age where all of the children of Israel will worship YHVH in spirit and in truth (John 4:23) under the rulership of King Yeshua the Messiah, Son of Joseph/David.

 

Genesis 42–46 Two Brothers and the Two Houses of Israel in End-Time Prophecy

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Biblical Types and Antetypes

A major key to understanding biblical prophecy is to recognize the relationship between antetypes and types in the Scriptures. This means that an event or a series of events occurred once, was recorded in the Scriptures, and then at a later time a similitude of the event repeats itself, but with different characters and scene.

Joseph reveals self

An antetype is a type or pattern of something that occurs before the actual event occurs (sometimes incorrectly referred to as an antitype, which means opposite rather than before). In other words, the first event predicts or points prophetically to the future event. This is a way for the Creator to give clues and hints about future events that will come to pass. Those who are ardent students of his Word and those “who have (spiritual) ears to hear” will pick up on these clues and be able to have a sense of what the Creator is going to do at some future date. In this way, those who diligently seek him are rewarded with understanding or “inside information” about what he is planning to do in the future. At the same time, his divine plans and purposes will be obscured from those who don’t have a diligent heart to seek him and his truth, and who could possibly misuse the truth, if they were to discover it, for selfish purposes if they were to learn it.

Similarly, the Gospels record that Yeshua explained deep spiritual truths via parables not to make the meaning clear to the general public, but rather to obscure it. His teachings were meant to be understood only by those whom he had called that they might know the mysteries or secrets of the kingdom of Elohim (Matt 13:10–11; Luke 8:9–10).

For thousands of years, the prophets of the Bible, as well as biblical students, scholars and sages have understood the concept of antetypes and types and it has helped them to understand Bible prophecy and future events.

Biblical antetypes are identified in three ways. First, the Scriptures themselves identify events as being ante­typical. Examples would be: Continue reading →