GOD’S WAY – OR ANOTHER WAY
“I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live” (Deut. 30:19)
I believe in order to understand God’s ways as Moses understood His ways (Psalm 103:7), it is imperative to understand the Hebrew language and the accurate meanings of its words. This takes much time, effort and sacrifice. In my years of ministry, I have been persecuted for saying those very words. I am glad the Lord Himself continues to give me the courage and strength to endure because, as I look back over my life, I see more clearly than ever the obvious blessings of God in my personal life and in my family for pursuing His truth.
To help us understand where I am headed with this message, I am quoting John 1:1. “In the beginning was the WORD and the WORD was with God and the WORD was God.” The words “In the beginning” are first found in Genesis 1:1. As always, we must return to the beginning to understand the heart of the Father. As “in the beginning” is the Word, we look to its Hebraic interpretation. In the beginning was written with the aleph-bet (alphabet). The alphabet is therefore an intrical part of the Word. Because Jesus is the Word, we can say that Yeshua (Jesus) is integral to the Alphabet.
In Revelation 1:8, we read that Jesus says He is the “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.” In Hebrew, Alpha and Omega is the Aleph-Tav, the first letter and the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Those who say that the Old Testament is obsolete are so very wrong because in Rev. 1:8, Jesus says that He is the Aleph-Tav meaning He is (present), He was (past), and He is coming again (future). He is saying that He is the Forever, He is The Almighty. We would do well to know His ways and do as He did, wouldn’t you say?!
As we return-to-the-beginning in this new season at Olive Tree Connections, I believe much order will be restored to our lives. Most of us will agree that when words are not defined properly, readers and/or hearers are led into misunderstandings. If not defined properly, words that are meant to be life giving can become life threatening. It is one of my greatest desires and challenges to present the Word to you succinctly and accurately.
THE HEBREW ALPHABET
The 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet are considered by most Hebraic scholars to be the fundamental building blocks of life. It may be very challenging to be asked to study the Word from its Hebraic understanding, but if we knew the blessings that awaited us by doing so, we would be eager to discover the hidden truths that can only be discovered through the Hebraic language. I present this thought to further spark our interest in what I am stating. Modern science believes that the chemical elements are the building blocks of everything we can see. The same is believed by the Hebrew thinkers about the Hebrew alphabet, that these letters are the fundamental building blocks of our lives, in fact of life in its totality.
I leave us with this thought. If the letters which make up our lives are combined to create words which line up with God’s Word, we can be used to produce righteous life with healthy results; or we can settle for strange interpretations and mis-quotes of God’s Words and face eternal death. Death and life are in the power of the tongue (Prov. 18:21). Precise interpretation is necessary for life and no variations are fruitful. In science class, many of us probably remember that if you take two parts of hydrogen and one part oxygen, we produce H2O, water. If we were to take two parts of hydrogen and mix it with one part sulphur you would create H2S, hydrogen sulphide, a poisonous gas. Hopefully, this illustration demonstrates the need to be as accurate in Word knowlege as the scientist must be in combining the elements into useful compounds. The outcomes of either creates life or death.
Remember the first one to misquote the Word was found in the Garden of Eden. His name is Satan and he operates the same way today.
I invite you to join us this Wednesday night at OTC, as we discover more about the beginning and how to stay accurate in The Word.
