Category: Pentateuch Genesis-Deuteronomy

IN THE BEGINNING… Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy – Pentateuch [5 books] It’s the LAW of GOD!
Forgive us our trespasses. Jesus teaches many lessons from these books of the Bible and we have forgotten MANY of the issues and applications to our 21st century life. How can you SHARE from the beginning of the Bible with your SOCIAL ‘Friends’ and talk of Jesus as Lord? Please TITLE your post by the topic, not the verse. Include links to scriptures and helpful references. — Please post or tell us in a COMMENT how you talk of Jesus through this topic and these Old Testament scriptures.

Ashes to Ashes

Genesis 18:27 KJV And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes:

Do you know the context of this? (Answer in a moment; but first another quote and some additional background.)

Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God of his great mercy to take unto himself the soul of our dear brother here departed, we therefore commit his body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change our vile body, that it may be like unto his glorious body, according to the mighty working, whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself.

Remember: you are dust and to dust you will return.

Genesis 3:4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

17 And to Adam he said,

“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you…
19 By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”

Numbers 19

9 And a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place. And they shall be kept for the water for impurity for the congregation of the people of Israel; it is a sin offering. 10 And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. And this shall be a perpetual statute for the people of Israel, and for the stranger who sojourns among them.

The ashes are a sin offering to the Lord for the altar of worship.

Returning to Abraham in Genesis 18:

Abraham is standing before God pleading for mercy for the people of his nephew Lot’s city. It is a city and a place full of sin on which God will rain down His Almighty wrath and judgment – the city of Sodom.

26 And the Lord said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

27 Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. 28 Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” 29 Again he spoke to him and said, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.” 30 Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.” 31 He said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.” 32 Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” 33 And the Lord went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

It is the office of the Priest to intercede for the sins of the people. Abraham, in this instance, is a Priest before Almighty God.

Christians have a greater Priest and Perfect Sin Offering, Christ Jesus the Very Son of God.

Abraham failed in saving Sodom, because not even ten righteous men could be found; only Lot. Even Lot’s wife (who did not obey the Lord) was lost for her sin. The wrath of God brought quick and unexpected justice against the entire town and valley.

Ashes rained down and purified the sinful.

God had formerly judged the whole earth and purified it by water, saving only Noah and his family. Yet God kept His covenant to never destroy the whole earth again by water. Part of it? Yes. Cities by fire? Yes. By war? Certainly. God confirms in scripture His support of enemies to purify the unfaithful Chosen who by obedience to God’s Law are supposed to live with God’s righteousness.

Time after time and Prophet after Prophet, up until John the Baptist and even the teaching of our Lord, Christ Jesus; the message of God does not change.

Repent. Return to God. Turn from your sin. Return to righteousness.

Repent to dust and ashes and bow down in worship to the Lord, your God.

We have been following Jesus’ early ministry and many miracles in Galilee. (This is not even to mention His Sacrifice of the Cross for your sins and for mine.)

Do you recall what Jesus said of repentance to these towns where He has just preached to the multitudes, yet most would not follow Him by faith?

Here is Jesus’ warning to those who refuse to hear the Gospel from us:

Luke 10

10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’

12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.

Woe to Unrepentant Cities

13 “Woe to you, Chorazin!

Woe to you, Bethsaida!

For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it will be more bearable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.

15 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven?

You shall be brought down to Hades.

16 “The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.”

Therefore, dear brother or sister in Christ Jesus, know that as you call on the world around you to repent to dust and ashes and they will not listen; neither did they hear our Lord. For they hung Him in disgrace on a Cross, for all to see His Sacrifice for the sins of the world.

The Blood of Christ, sacrificed in Jerusalem, cries out from the Altar of all Righteousness for the wrath of God to rain down, even as His mercy has been sacrificed for us.

It is Ash Wednesday – a time for repentance, in these last days.

It is a time of urgency for us to proclaim the love of our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus, who gave Himself that we might have eternal life.

February 26, 2020
Supernatural Before Adam – Because the days are evil – 2
Demons, evils spirits and of course Satan are all part of the unseen supernatural. They oppose the Lord and deceive many, but Jesus knew them all and exercised power over their evil.

We introduced this series, Because the Days are Evil, with a quote from a letter written to the first century church at Ephesus. Now we’ll take a brief look at the relationship between Jesus and the spirit world and the seen and unseen we question in this day.

The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!”
And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
Luke 10:17-18 ESV

Before Adam

Genesis answers some of our questions about the supernatural and creation of the physical universe, yet seems to lack an explanation of the origin of spirits, angels, Satan and the supernatural.

Consider an explanation of creation from Genesis 1 and Adam, Eve, original sin and the serpent all come to mind. But follow this timeline from Genesis and you may wonder about the creation of the serpent in the garden.

Moses relates God’s covenant with the forefathers of the Hebrews and includes some explanation of the beginnings of things. We clearly see supernatural occurrences orchestrated by the Lord.

In the garden, a perfect setting God created for man, we observe supernatural events and a supernatural explanation of the influence of evil by Satan, a talking serpent, a snake with poisonous words against God tempting man (adam) to death.

Jesus claims the supernatural more than once, offering insight into the eternal not understood in the chronology of mankind. He says, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”

Have you ever wondered where that fit into the timeline of creation?

Natural vs Supernatural time

How do the created measure time of the Creator?

The supernatural is sometimes observable, but not naturally measurable.

Science provides reliable natural explanations of the observable, but fails in unproven theories of the supernatural. We just don’t get it – we want to understand everything as if we are above a creation not of our making.

We want to be gods of the unseen and the immeasurable. Yet we cannot be and should not try to be God!

Therefore a human measure of the infinite with billions and billions of stars and trillions and trillions of atoms in this visible place is just as unfathomable as time and its supernatural beginning.

A world introduced to the risen Christ Jesus once measured time in terms of the Son of Man, King above all kings who proved, “I and the Father are One.”

This year is A.D. 2019, that is, anno Domini (from the Julian calendar) or ‘in the year of our Lord‘ twenty-nineteen.

Theories of time immemorial and explanations of the unobservable supernatural have come and gone. Even faithful men of God and followers of Christ have come up short in our proofs of the unprovable.

Yet by faith all men must start with faith that One exists in the unseen realm of the supernatural who was and is and will always be – One who reigns over a vast and glorious creation.

The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky displays what his hands have made.

One day tells a story to the next.
One night shares knowledge with the next
without talking,
without words,
without their voices being heard.
Yet, their sound has gone out into the entire world,
their message to the ends of the earth.
Psalm 19: 1-4 GW

Christ, Lord over the supernatural

Luke 10: excerpt

After this, the Lord appointed 70 other disciples to go ahead of him to every city and place that he intended to go. They were to travel in pairs.

He told them, “The harvest is large, but the workers are few. So ask the Lord who gives this harvest to send workers to harvest his crops. Go! I’m sending you out like lambs among wolves…

Jesus, Son of Man, sends followers to proclaim the Gospel to an unbelieving world.

“But whenever you go into a city and people don’t welcome you, leave… If the miracles worked in your cities had been worked in Tyre and Sidon, they would have changed the way they thought and acted… Judgment day will be better for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to heaven? No, you will go to hell!

So Jesus warns of hell and speaks of judgment day. Many refuse to believe it because they can’t quantify it.

Woe to those deceived by the great deceiver Satan, the serpent of sin who enters the natural creation with slithering supernatural power over those who turn against God!

Do you believe only your eyes?

Jesus continues instruction to faithful followers:

16 “The person who hears you hears me, and the person who rejects you rejects me. The person who rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”

He had commissioned the eleven Disciples again after after He rose from the grave:

“Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.
Mark 16L15b

Some men and women will not believe you, He previously had told seventy-two disciples. Yet, ‘Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves, Jesus had commissioned them. [Luke 10:3]

17 The 70 disciples came back very happy. They said, “Lord, even demons obey us when we use the power and authority of your name!”

Jesus has power over demons you also do not believe exist — if you are deceived.

18 Jesus said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like lightning.

Jesus told an unbelieving religious establishment, “Before Abraham was, I am!” Here the Lord witnesses to disciples, “I watched Satan fall from heaven…” Yet unless some see Satan or demons or unseen supernatural powers they will dismiss all as myth.

Seventy men came back to Jesus, the Gospel records, and witnessed:

“Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.” [KJV]

Yet many do not believe because they cannot see these supernatural beings of spirit.

a Supernatural Serpent

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, —
Genesis 3:1a KJV

STOP! Two things here in Moses’ narrative of creation.
1. A serpent (who we later learn is Satan) is talking. Not only is that crafty, but seems to an unbelieving world an impossibility.
2. The supernatural serpent asks an evil question of the woman, “Did God actually say … (you know the questions object about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil). Satan is asking Eve to question the word of God!
Then the serpent tells the woman a lie.

3:4 וַיֹּאמֶר הַנָּחָשׁ אֶל־הָֽאִשָּׁה לֹֽא־מֹות תְּמֻתֽוּן׃
The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!
Genesis 3:4 Hebrew & NASB

Go ask her then, “Eve, do you believe the evil one who told you, ‘You will not die?”

Of course not even followers of Moses could do that, because Moses also records that both Adam and Eve died. After their original sin of disobeying the Lord God, their flesh and bones returned to the dust.

Therefore, consider the supernatural influence of spirits, demons, fallen angels, men possessed by evil and especially Satan could have on your life and death, your merciless judgment or eternal life by grace.

Jesus IS the Lord, One with God the Father of all creation and the Holy Spirit. God loves you and asks for your eternal love of good.

Yet Satan would sway the uncertain toward the gravity of Hell and battle of evil against good.

Choose this day who you will follow. Christ Jesus our loving Savior? Or Satan the angel of darkness asking you to prove, “Did God really say…?”
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To be continued...
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October 5, 2019
Between Sabbaths – Convocations and Holiness
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.
Leviticus 23:2 KJV

Holy Holidays

We’ve lost something of the holiness of the holidays in the translation. Worldliness seeps steadily into our daily lives and we don’t necessarily relate to what some versions of the Bible call, ‘sacred assemblies,’ or ‘holy feasts.’

Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.
Leviticus 23:3 KJV

Do we hear of or even know what “holy convocations” might be?

Even though raised in the church, I didn’t until I looked it up during my college years. A convocation מִקְרָא is a sacred gathering, a called public meeting for the reading of God’s word.

Perhaps you’ve noted our digression from holy worship to a more culturally palatable feast of entertainment at church.

Priests and religious officials would have taken all sorts of rules (and definitions of work) from Leviticus, which we recognize as the Sabbath Commandment. Yet what many contemporary gatherings may miss or dismiss from Exodus and Deuteronomy is holiness.

Seasons and celebrations between the sabbaths may be designated as holy convocations; days for feasting — neither a time for fasting, nor ordinary work day.

The sabbath of the LORD, which Christ points out it is ‘made for man,‘ is, never-the-less, set aside by the LORD for Holiness.

So what are these convocations? And more importantly, how do their principles apply to us today?

Note that these seven prescribed seasons of holy rest do not include certain notable minor holiday observances.

Hanukkah חֲנֻכָּה and Christmas??

Christmas and Hanukkah both focus on light and God’s faithfulness in helping men (and women) of faith to be restored to holiness.

The minor celebration of Hanukkah began during the second temple period, about 200 years before Christ and was also known as the feast of dedication.

The minor convocation of Christmas points to the holiness of God, humbly descending to us as the Son of Man; a baby like all others, yet without sin, like no other man.

Jews have recently celebrated eight days of Hanukkah.

Christians have begun a preparatory season of Advent leading up to the festival of Christmas.

Do you feel rested?

Has God been a part of your celebrations of this season?

I mention these holidays blown out of proportion by our sustained worldly emphasis on minor celebrations, because we fail to rest in the Lord.

Return to the Lord’s rest

“I hate all your show and pretense—
the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies.
Amos 5:21 NLT

This, too, is nothing new, as you can see from the rebuke of the Lord through the prophet Amos. His complaint sounds much like that of contemporary unbelievers, when Christians most of all ought to be questioning our own Christmas traditions.

God deserves worship שָׁחָה, not occasions of excess and entertainment.

“Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star at its rising and have come to worship him.”
Matthew 2:2

Religious Convocations

Without drilling down to the detail of ancient worship to the Lord called for in the Law, let’s briefly examine these other Sabbath rests. I invite you to research these scriptures and celebrations further, since I will only comment on each briefly.
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Most scriptures and quotes in this section from BlueLetterBible.org
Below are festivals linked to this article from Easton's Bible Dictionary.
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1. The weekly Sabbath
2. The Passover feast:
3. Pentecost, or the feast of weeks.
4. The Ingathering, or feast of Tabernacles
5. The seventh new moon or the feast of Trumpets (Num 28:11-15; Num 29:1-6)
6. The Sabbatical year (Exd 23:10-11; Lev 25:2-7)
7. The year of jubilee (Lev 25:8-16; Lev 27:16-25)
“The Passover was kept just before the harvest commenced, Pentecost at the conclusion of the corn harvest and before the vintage, the feast of Tabernacles after all the fruits of the ground had been gathered in.

As previously mentioned, Jews celebrated additional feasts after destruction of the first Temple.
- The feast of Purim
- The feast of Dedication (Hanukkah)
The Day of Atonement, the tenth day of the seventh month (Lev 16:1; Lev 16:34; Lev 23:26-32; Num 29:7-11).

Christians cannot overemphasize God’s requirement of holiness, achieved by atonement for our sins.

God presented Christ Jesus as an atoning sacrifice in his blood, received through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his restraint God passed over the sins previously committed.
Romans 3:25

The Sacrifice and death of Christ, made possible by the incarnation of God in the flesh of Jesus, exceeds the importance of our holy celebrations.

Traditions of Sabbath Rests

Contemporary worshipers may not relate to cultures of the times of these designated rests from the Lord; however, hear the Lord’s purpose in these additional Sabbaths made for man.

On each of these occasions every male Israelite was commanded “to appear before the Lord” (Deu 27:7; Neh 8:9-12).

The attendance of women was voluntary. (Luk 2:41; 1Sa 1:7; 1Sa 2:19.)

The promise that God would protect their homes (Exd 34:23-24) while all the males were absent in Jerusalem at these feasts was always fulfilled.

“During the whole period between Moses and Christ we never read of an enemy invading the land at the time of the three festivals. The first instance on record is thirty-three years after they had withdrawn from themselves the divine protection by imbruing their hands in the Saviour’s blood, when Cestius, the Roman general, slew fifty of the people of Lydda (Joppa) while all the rest had gone up to the feast of Tabernacles, A.D. 66.

A few details of worship

Of the new moon festivals the Lord commands: “this is the burnt offering of every month throughout the months of the year ‘And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work.’

All men worship the Lord and all men have rest for this worship.

Of the Sabbatical year the Lord commands rest for the field, the vineyard and orchard.

Celebration of the year of Jubilee each fiftieth year: “In the Year of Jubilee each of you may return to the land that belonged to your ancestors…Be assured that I will send my blessing for you in the sixth year, so the land will produce a crop large enough for three years…

‘The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me.
Leviticus 25:23

“You are to allow the redemption of any land you occupy.

We walk with the Lord: our land, a temporary possession of sojourners in this temporary world where we work. The Lord grants redemption to us, the ability to repurchase what He has rightfully given to us from all that is His. Our worship returns but a portion of His abundance to our Lord.

The Lord’s laws are unlike our own unbalanced views of righteousness and justice. His ways are higher than our ways. Though the birth of our Redeemer is important, Jesus’ sacrificial death and resurrection challenge the sinners of this world with consequence for our worldly ways.

Are you caught up in the restless rush of the holidays?

1 Peter 1:

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…

Christmas defines the beginning of the life of God Incarnate, His gift to us: “new birth into a living hope…”

14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires of your former ignorance.

15 But as the one who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct; 16 for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy.

“Be holy, because I am holy. – 1 Peter 1:15b, Leviticus 11:44-45; 19:2; 20:7

Christ-mass: ‘because I am holy.’

Be holy, because I am holy. – This is our promised rest, through a babe in a manger, a sinless Savior born for the Cross.
December 15, 2018