Hebrew Thought

According to Hebrew thought when the Lord gave Moses the Law on Mount Sinai the Law represented a marriage covenant between the Lord and His people - the Lord was literally betrothing Himself to the nation of Israel…

Jeremiah 31:31, 32
“Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD.

After the children of Israel entered the promised land they began to turn away from following the Lord and started to worship idols.  They broke the marriage covenant and began to play the harlot…

Hosea 1:2
When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry; for the land commits flagrant harlotry, forsaking the LORD.”

In Hosea 2 the Lord takes drastic measures in order to win His people back to Himself.  And even though these measures may seem harsh it is the Lord’s great love, mercy and compassion which motivates Him.  And even though the nation of Israel broke the marriage covenant with their Husband the Lord never divorced Himself from His people.

Hosea 2:16
“It will come about in that day,” declares the LORD, “That you will call Me Ishi (My Husband) and will no longer call Me Baali (My Master).”

The nation of Israel is a picture of you and me.  There are times in our lives when we play the harlot, when we turn away from following the Lord and put other things (idols) before Him.  And sometimes our Husband must take drastic measures in order to win us back to Himself, but His motivation is always the love, mercy and compassion that He has for you and for me.

 Though you and I may break the marriage covenant and turn away from our Husband, our Husband will never divorce Himself from us.  He will always be there waiting for us to return to Him.

Hosea 2:19, 20
“I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, in lovingkindness and in compassion, and I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness.  Then you will know the LORD.”


So..

Have you played the harlot?

Jesus still wants to be your Husband if you will return to Him.


Hebrew Thought

Hebrew life revolved around the Torah (the first five books of the Bible or the books of Moses or the Law).  The Torah is the written Word of God containing the statutes and the judgments of the Lord.  It also shows us the Lord’s justice, righteousness, purity and holiness.  To the ancient Hebrew following the Torah meant life and blessing…

Leviticus 18:4, 5
“You are to perform My judgments and keep My statutes, to live in accord with them; I am the LORD your God.  So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am the LORD.”

Leviticus 26:3, 4
“If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments so as to carry them out, then I shall give you rains in their season, so that the land will yield its produce and the trees of the field will bear their fruit.”

The Torah is a picture of Jesus.  Jesus is the Living Torah (the Word of God) in whom there is justice, righteousness, purity, holiness, life and blessing…

John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:14
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The Torah speaks of and points to Jesus and in Jesus the Torah is fulfilled…

John 5:45, 46
“Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope.  For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me.”

Luke 24:44
Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

 As you and I study the Scriptures we must be looking for Jesus in them.  And when we find Jesus, the Living Torah, He will give us His justice, His righteousness, His purity, His holiness, His life and His blessing.

Hebrews 10:7
“THEN I SAID, ‘BEHOLD, I HAVE COME (IN THE SCROLL OF THE BOOK IT IS WRITTEN OF ME) TO DO YOUR WILL, O GOD.’”


So…

Have the Scriptures come alive for you?

Have you found Jesus in them?
Hebrew Thought

The Hebrew concept of covenant…

In 1 Samuel 18:1-5 and 1 Samuel 20 Jonathon and David make covenant with each other.  Making covenant literally means two become one.  All the assets and liabilities of one become the assets and liabilities of the other, the family of one becomes the family of the other and the two will lay down their lives for each other.

When two people made covenant they would take an animal and split it down the middle placing the two halves opposite one another.  They would then walk between the two halves and say “if I should break this covenant may it be done to me as it was done to this animal.”

Making covenant was literally a life and death proposition.  Making covenant was not taken lightly.  Making covenant was like a marriage.

Genesis 15:9, 10, 17, 18
He said, “O Lord GOD, how may I know that I will possess it?”  So He said to him, “Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”  Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds.

It came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces.  On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates:”

In these passages we see that the Lord (the Creator of the Universe, the I AM WHO I AM) made a covenant with Abraham.  This is an amazing thing.

First, it was the Lord who initiated the covenant with Abraham.

Second, the Lord desired to become one with Abraham by giving Abraham the land.

Third, the Lord made covenant with Abraham knowing full well that Abraham would not be able to keep his end of the bargain (though the Lord of course would always keep His).

 Fourth, according to Hebrew thought the Torch (or Lapidote) is a symbol of the Messiah.  Instead of Abraham walking between the two halves of the animals it was Jesus (the flaming Torch) who would pay the penalty in place of Abraham.  Jesus would be the substitute sacrifice who would die if Abraham broke the covenant.

The Lord desires to make this same covenant with you and with me.

The Lord initiated this covenant 2,000 years ago when He sent Jesus into the world to die on a cross.

The Lord desires to become one with you and me through His Holy Spirit and share all of who He is with us.

The Lord knows full well that you and I will stumble and not be able to keep our end of the bargain (though He will always keep His).

But the Father loves you and me so much that He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus, to be the flaming Torch - the substitute sacrifice - to die in our place when we break the covenant.

Isaiah 53:5, 6
But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed.  All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.

John 3:16
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”


So…

Have you made covenant with the Lord?

Is Jesus your Lapidote who died in your place?

Hebrew Thought

During the coronation ceremony of a Hebrew king he was given the Eduth. The Eduth was like a legal document which gave the king power and dominion over the people and the land.  The Eduth was symbolized by a bracelet which the king wore on his arm.   When the Amalekite killed king Saul…

2 Samuel 1:10
“So I stood beside him and killed him, because I knew that he could not live after he had fallen.  And I took the crown which was on his head and the bracelet which was on his arm, and I have brought them here to my lord.”

In Exodus 20:13 the Lord says, “You shall not murder”.  According to Hebrew law when a person committed murder (shed innocent blood) they lost all of their rights and privileges and were cast out of the camp or stoned to death.

Genesis 1:26-28
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”  God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.  God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

According to Hebrew thought when the Lord created Adam and Eve and gave them dominion over all the earth He gave them the Eduth.

In Genesis 3:1-7 Adam and Eve listened to the voice of Satan and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  In this act of obedience to Satan Adam forfeited the Eduth to Satan giving Satan dominion over the earth and over Mankind.

When Jesus, who was without sin, was slain by Satan, Satan shed innocent blood and became a murderer.  And in becoming a murderer Satan lost all of his rights and privileges forfeiting the Eduth to Jesus - the second Adam. After Jesus rose from the dead conquering Satan He said to His disciples…

 Matthew 28:18
And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”

As believers we too have become partakers of the Eduth with Jesus.  Not only does Satan have no power or authority over you and me but we have power and authority (through Jesus) over Satan and over all the earth.


So…

Have you exercised the power and authority of the Eduth lately?
Hebrew Thought

What is faith?

The Hebrew word for faith is Emunah which means confidence.

According to Hebrew thought Emunah is depicted as a triangle, the first leg of which is knowledge - a knowledge of the Lord.  Without a knowledge of the Lord it is impossible to have faith.

As we get to know the Lord we experience His love for us.  And as we experience His love we in turn begin to love those around us.  Love is the second leg of the Emunah triangle.  Without love it is impossible to have faith.

As our love for others grows we become motivated to do things for them. We begin to invest our time, money and energy into those people whom the Lord has brought into our lives.  Doing things, or works, is the third leg of the Emunah triangle.  Without works it is impossible to have faith.

As we get to know the Lord we experience His love which motivates us to do works.  As the Lord blesses these works we gain confidence (Emunah) in Him which results in us getting to know Him more intimately whereby we experience more of His love which motivates us to do more works.

If any one of these three ingredients - knowledge, love, works - is missing it is impossible to have faith.

Hebrews 11:6
And without Emunah it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

One of the reasons Jesus got so upset with the Pharisees was because they had works but they did not know the Father and they were not motivated by love - they had counterfeit works produced by the flesh and not by the Spirit.

John 15:16
“You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.”

 The difference between works produced by the Spirit through Emunah and works produced by the flesh is that works produced by the Spirit will remain forever.

When Jesus said “that your fruit would remain” He meant that the works which the disciples would perform through Emunah would last forever.  And their confidence would be such that anything they asked of the Father He would give to them.


So…

How confident are you?

Produce any fruit that will remain lately?
Hebrew Thought

The Hebrew concept of Chachmah.

Chachmah means wisdom - not man’s wisdom but the Lord’s wisdom. Chachmah is not a clever saying or anecdote but rather Chachmah is eternal truth - truth which does not change and cannot be refuted - truth which is just as valid today as it was yesterday.  With Chachmah also comes understanding.

In 1 Kings 3:5-14 Solomon asked the Lord for Chachmah to govern His people. The Lord granted Solomon his request and he became the wisest man who ever lived.  All of the other kings of the earth came to Solomon to hear his wisdom.

The book of Proverbs, which was written by Solomon, contains Chachmah - wisdom that is just as true today as it was in the time of Solomon.  And here Solomon tells us how we can acquire Chachmah…

Proverbs 9:10
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of Chachmah, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Chachmah is also one of the gifts of the Spirit - the gift of wisdom.  The gift of Chachmah may fall upon any believer at any time when, in the spontaneity of the moment, we receive a flash of insight or revelation in response to a particular situation.

Jesus demonstrated Chachmah throughout the Gospels.  His teachings such as the Sermon on the Mount are examples of Chachmah.  He also manifested the gift of Chachmah.  In Luke 20:19-26 the Pharisees sent spies to Jesus in an attempt to trick Him by asking if they should pay taxes to Caesar.  Jesus responded…

Luke 20:24, 25
“Show Me a denarius. Whose likeness and inscription does it have?” They said, “Caesar’s.” And He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

Again in John 8:1-11 the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery before Him and asked if she should be stoned…

 John 8:7
But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”

In both cases the Pharisees were dumb-founded by Jesus’ response, they could not refute Him and their only response was to walk away in silence.

As you and I read the Scriptures and grow in our relationship with the Father we too will acquire Chachmah.  And as we learn to walk in the Spirit and become open and receptive to Him then we too will experience the gift of Chachmah when, at a critical moment, we will receive a flash of insight and bring glory and honor to the Father.


So…

How wise are you?
Hebrew Thought

The Hebrew concept of Da’at.

Da’at means a personal knowledge as opposed to a facts and figures knowledge.  It’s like two best friends know each other or a parent knows their child.

John 8:54, 55
Jesus answered, “If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me, whom you say ‘He is our God’; and you have not come to know Him, but I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you, but I do know Him and keep His word.”

Jesus obviously knew God and the best example of someone else who knew God was David.  When the Lord was about to take the kingdom away from Saul and give it to David Samuel said to Saul…

1 Samuel 13:14
“But now your kingdom shall not endure. The LORD has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, and the LORD has appointed him as ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.”

David knew the Lord and His ways because he was a man after the Lord’s own heart.  The book of Psalms, many of which were written by David, describe his knowledge of the Lord and the intimacy of the relationship he had with Him…

Psalms 25: 4-6
Make me know Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths.  Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; for You I wait all the day. Remember, O LORD, Your compassion and Your lovingkindnesses, for they have been from of old.

Psalms 86: 11-13
Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your truth; unite my heart to fear Your name.  I will give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and will glorify Your name forever.  For Your lovingkindness toward me is great, and You have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.

Jesus, of course, had Da’at.  He knew the Father and was intimately acquainted with all of His ways…

 John 5:19, 20
Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.  For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel.”

As you and I seek after the Lord’s own heart as David did we too will acquire Da’at.  We will come to know the Lord in an intimate and personal way and He will begin to show us what He is doing.


So…

Do you know the Lord and His ways?
Hebrew Thought

Matthew 4:23
Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.

What is the Gospel?

The Hebrew word for Gospel is Basar which literally translated means meat. And just as meat gives life to us physically the Basar gives life to us spiritually. Jesus preached the “gospel of the kingdom” and in many of His parables He likens the Kingdom of Heaven to something - a sower of seed, tares in a field, a mustard seed, a woman with three loaves of bread, treasure hidden in a field, a merchant seeking fine pearls and a dragnet cast into the sea (Matthew 13).

According to Hebrew thought the Kingdom of Heaven is the Garden of Eden and the Basar is the restoration of both Mankind and the earth back to the way it was in the Garden of Eden.  A time and a place where there will be no sickness, no sorrow, no pain, no death, no oppression, no sin and most importantly when our relationship with the Father will once again be restored.

The Basar…

Isaiah 61:1-3
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me
to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners; to proclaim the favorable year of the LORD and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting.  So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.

Jesus (the Messiah, the Sent One, the Anointed One) would be the agent through whom this restoration would take place.  Through His sacrifice we may be saved, by His death our relationship with the Father may be restored.

 Isaiah 53:4-6, 10-12
Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.  But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed.  All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.

But the LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.  As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; by His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the booty with the strong; because He poured out  Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors.


So…

Proclaim the Basar lately?


Hebrew Thought

The Hebrew concept of the Go’el.

Leviticus 25:47-49a
“Now if the means of a stranger or of a sojourner with you becomes sufficient, and a countryman of yours becomes so poor with regard to him as to sell himself to a stranger who is sojourning with you, or to the descendants of a stranger’s family, then he shall have redemption right after he has been sold. One of his brothers may redeem him, or his uncle, or his uncle’s son, may redeem him, or one of his blood relatives from his family may redeem him;”

In Hebrew culture if a person fell into debt he might have had to forfeit his possessions or his land to the person he was indebted to.  Or he may even have had to sell himself and his family to his debtor and serve him until the debt was paid back.

Oftentimes however, a family member or close relative would buy back or redeem the person who was in debt by paying the debt for him thus fulfilling the role of the go’el (or redeemer).

In Jeremiah 32:6-15 Jeremiah is acting as Hanamel’s go’el when he buys the field from him…

Jeremiah 32:7
“Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle is coming to you, saying, ‘Buy for yourself my field which is at Anathoth, for you have the right of redemption to buy it.’”

In the book of Ruth, Boaz is Naomi’s go’el…

Ruth 2:20 (NASB 1988)
Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed of the LORD who has not withdrawn his kindness to the living and to the dead.” Again Naomi said to her, “The man is our relative, he is one of our go‘el(s).”

Because of our sin and our rebellion against God you and I were once indebted to Satan and under his rule.

We sold ourselves to the prince of this world - he was our master and we were his slaves.

 But Jesus, our Go’el, redeemed us.  He paid the debt which we could not pay with the sacrifice of His own life.  Jesus did for us what we could never have done for ourselves.

And because Jesus has redeemed us and bought us back by the shedding of His own blood, not only are we no longer slaves of Satan but we have become the children of the Father and the Bride of Jesus…

Isaiah 43:1
But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine!”


So…

Has the Go’el redeemed you?
Hebrew Thought

In addition to the go’el the Lord gave the nation of Israel a second way in which one’s debt could be canceled.

Leviticus 25:10
“You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family.”

Every fifty years would come the year of jubilee or the favorable year of the Lord.  In this year everyone’s debt was cancelled - the slate was wiped clean. Those who had sold themselves into slavery were set free.  They returned to their families and their land was restored.  It was truly a year of great gladness and rejoicing.

Luke 4:17-19
And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him.  And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.”

The Gospel which Jesus preached was one of freedom, restoration, peace and jubilation.  Jesus preached the favorable year of the Lord.

Unfortunately however, there are people out there in the world today who are preaching a different gospel.  They are preaching a gospel of judgment, condemnation, wrath, fear and guilt - the opposite of the Gospel which Jesus proclaimed.

The Gospel of Jesus caused multitudes to follow Him.

The gospel of judgment pushes the multitudes away from the Father.

Matthew 11:29, 30
“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

 Jesus’ Gospel is easy and light and we must beware of those who preach a burdensome gospel.


So…

Has your debt been cancelled?

Have you been set free?

How light is your burden?
Hebrew Thought

The Hebrew festival of the New Moon.

Genesis 1:16
God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also.

Like everything else the Lord made He created the sun and the moon to teach us something about Himself.  The sun symbolizes the Son and the moon symbolizes the believer.

John 3:3
Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Here where Jesus is talking about being born again He uses the same term used in the festival of the New Moon when the moon is in total darkness at the beginning of it’s cycle, ready to be born again. Before becoming a believer and being born again of the Spirit you and I were in total darkness.

As each night passes the moon becomes brighter and brighter just as you and I become brighter and brighter as we grow and mature in our walk with the Father and become more like His Son.

The sun is a true source of light but the moon only reflects the light of the sun - it has no light of it’s own.  The Son is the true source of Light and as you and I get to know Him we begin to reflect His Light.  We have no light of our own but are totally and completely dependent on the Light of the Son.

Jesus (the sun)…

John 1:4, 5
In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.  The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

John 1:9
There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.

John 8:12
Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”

 John 12:46
“I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness.”

You and I (the moon)…

Matthew 5:14-16
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.  Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

Jesus is the source of all Light and it is not our light which the world sees but the Light of the Son who shines within us.


So…

How full is your moon?

How bright is your light?
Hebrew Thought

In Hebrew Adam literally means God’s blood.  And in the Old Testament blood symbolizes life.

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

Genesis 2:7
Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

When the Lord created Adam in His own image and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, He put His Spirit (His life, His blood) into Adam and he became a living being.

It was the Holy Spirit (God’s blood) which gave Adam and Eve life and allowed them to commune and fellowship with God in the Garden of Eden.

When Adam and Eve sinned the Spirit left them and they died spiritually - God’s blood was shed and the relationship between Adam and Eve and the Lord was broken.

It is only through the shedding of Jesus’ blood that our relationship and fellowship with the Father can once again be restored.

When you and I came to believe in Jesus His Spirit (His life) was breathed into our nostrils and for the first time we became living beings.

John 6:54-56
“He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.  For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.  He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.”

Jesus’ blood is true drink because it represents spiritual life.  And when we abide in Jesus His blood (God’s blood) begins to flow within us and we become like Adam and Eve when they were first created - able to walk with the Father in the Garden of Eden.
So…

Has the Lord breathed into your nostrils the breath of life?

Does God’s blood flow in you?
Hebrew Thought.

In Hebrew thought and culture the very name of the L-rd is so awesomely holy that it cannot be spoken or written.

John 5:18
For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.

Not only did Jesus speak the name of the Lord but He referred to the Lord as His Father, something which really upset the religious leaders of His day.

Mark 14:36
And He was saying, “Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will.”

The word Abba is a term of endearment and it implies familiarity and intimacy. In our culture today abba might best be translated as daddy or papa.

Not only did Jesus speak the name of the Lord and not only did Jesus refer to the Lord as His Father but Jesus called the Lord (the Almighty, the Creator of the Universe, the I AM WHO I AM) - Daddy.

John 20:17
Jesus said to her, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’”

One of the last things Jesus said before He ascended into heaven was that His Father is also your Father and my Father and that His God is also your God and my God.


So…

How well do you know the L-rd?

Well enough to call Him Abba?


                                           Hebrew Thought

There is a theme throughout the Bible of the Jew and the Gentile - two different peoples.  In John 10 Jesus is talking to the Jewish people in a figure of speech saying He is like a shepherd and those who follow Him are His sheep…

John 10:16
“I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.”

The sheep which are not of this fold (the Jewish fold) are the Gentiles.

And just as there are the Jewish people and the Gentile people there is also the Hebrew mind and the Gentile mind - two different ways of thinking and perceiving things.

It is helpful to recognize the difference between the Hebrew mind and the Gentile mind as we study the Scriptures.

The Hebrew mind hears with it’s ear whereas the Gentile mind sees with it’s eye.

The Gentile mind thinks in terms of formulas and equations whereas the Hebrew mind thinks in terms of pictures and illustrations (or parables).

The Epistles of Paul characterize the Gentile mind and how it thinks and the words of Jesus characterize the Hebrew mind and how it thinks.

Paul analyzes and reasons, Jesus illustrates and paints pictures.

In Matthew 13 Jesus uses seven different parables (pictures) to explain the Kingdom of Heaven.  In John 4 Jesus says He’s living water.  In John 6 Jesus says He’s the bread of life which comes down out of heaven.  And in John 15 Jesus likens Himself to a vine, the Father to a vinedresser and the believer to a branch.

Throughout the Bible the Lord draws us many pictures and we must learn to recognize them.

Jesus and Paul are saying the same things, they are just presenting them in two different manners, two different frames of mind, two different ways of thinking and perceiving things.

As we study the Scriptures we must learn to see with our eyes and hear with our ears.  We must learn to analyze as well as paint pictures because by doing so we will gain a better understanding of what the Lord is trying to tell us.  And we will see Him and hear Him as we have never seen or heard Him before…

Luke 10:23, 24
Turning to the disciples, He said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see, for I say to you, that many prophets and kings wished to see the things which you see, and did not see them, and to hear the things which you hear, and did not hear them.”

Mark 4:9
And He was saying, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”


So…

What do you see?

What do you hear?