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A Story within a Story by Fran Regan
11/14/2010
A story within a story. What happens to the fathers, happens to the sons.
The circumstances were different, however, the reasons for leaving their home and going to a foreign land were the same – to escape certain death. Jacob was welcomed whole-heartedly and spent a month with Laban before his ordeal began. Just so, the Pharaoh of Joseph’s time welcomed his family and gave them the choicest land in Egypt. However, in both cases, the ‘honeymoon’ was soon over and the land that welcomed them became a land of bondage and affliction, from which they could not escape. But there did come a time that Jacob gathered his family, his livestock, all his possessions (which were great) and fled across the river to the mountains. When the children of Israel (his sons) left Egypt, they left with great possessions. They crossed the Red Sea, with Yah’s help and came to the mountain, where they were given a covenant. It was in the mountains that Laban caught up with Jacob and they made a covenant to do only good to each other and not evil. As can be seen, Jacob’s experience was a pattern of what was to happen with his sons. We can also see Jacob, as the son, replaying, in a sort, what happened to his father, Isaac. When Yah told Abraham he must sacrifice his only son Isaac, Abraham obeyed. It was on the third day that Abraham looked and saw the place [mountain](Genesis 22:4). So, for 3 days, Isaac was as good as dead to Abraham because he knew what Yah had told him to do. It was on the third day that Laban was told that Jacob had fled. Jacob was gone (dead to Laban) for three days. When Abraham’s obedience was established, Yah stopped him from killing Isaac and provided a ram for a sacrifice. When Laban finally caught up with Jacob, he told Jacob that what he had done was not right and he (Laban) had the power or right to do him evil (kill him). But again, Yah had intervened by appearing to Laban in a dream and telling him not to say either good or evil to Jacob. And so the pattern continues. We are actually given a clue as to how Jacob’s journey would go right in the beginning of this Torah portion. Genesis 28:10 “And Jacob went out from Be’ersheba (7656 to 7650) and went toward Haran.”(2771) 7650 – shaba – ayin, beit, shin – to be complete (also an oath, to ‘seven’ oneself) 2771 [see 2740] – charan: nun, resh chet/nun, vav, resh, chet: parched (place), a burning anger, sore displeasure, jealousy, fierce, wrathful We were told last week that Jacob was a ‘complete’ man, dwelling in tents – a man of Torah (Genesis 25:27). He left this ‘completeness’ and stability behind and became a nomad, a wanderer in another country. His actions had led him to a place of dryness (no Torah), where he had to confront fierce anger, jealousy and much displeasure. When we leave Torah, the world is not a good place. “And he came upon a place and stopped over for the night, for the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at this head, and he lay down in that place to sleep.” (Genesis 28:11) “And he dreamed and saw”……”And Yah ….. said..” In the darkness, for we’re told “… the sun had set…”, Yah gave Jacob hope to sustain him in his journey – as He will with us also. Jacob came upon ‘a place’ (mentioned 3 times in Genesis 28:11– the number of Messiah) where Yah appeared to him, establishing the promise of his fathers with him. The Greek word here states he “encountered or met” a place. Jacob, later known as Israel, from whom the patriarchs came, “put one of the stones of that place at his head”. Could the stone he took and put at his head, which he set up as a standing column (representing the covenant between him and Yah [who is, Himself, the covenant - Isaiah 42:6]), and anointed with oil, [“…We have found the Messiah (which means the Anointed”) John 1:41] could this stone be the cornerstone of (at that time, future) Temple -- the House of Elohim Jacob vowed to build? Did Jacob ‘encounter’ the Messiah here? The Temple (a place) and The Messiah (a Being) are beginning to appear intertwined. Jacob put the stone at his head. Who is the Head of Israel but Messiah? Jacob lay beneath the stone. Who is the body of Messiah but Israel? What is the body doing (even today) but sleeping? Messiah is the Stone, the Rock of Israel. 1Corinthians 10:4 “… and the Rock was Messiah.” Through Hosea, Yah states He is in our midst (a place) [“For I am El, and not man, the Set-apart One in your midst” Hosea 11:9] . Through John, He states again He is in our midst (a place). [“John answered them, saying, “I immerse in water, but in your midst stands One whom you do not know, the One coming after me, who has become before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loosen.” John 1:26, 27 ‘Midst’ is (H7130 – qereb – beit, resh, qof - the nearest part, the center; from H7126 – to approach, bring near, join, make ready), and (G3319 – middle, way, among; from G3326 – amidst, association, with which it is joined) Through definition of midst, we understand Yah is drawing near to our center (heart) to associate with us; to make us ready as His bride. He is approaching to join with us. John makes reference to Y’shua coming for His bride through the allusion to the ‘Kinsman-Redeemer whose shoe cannot be removed.” Genesis 28:21,22 “when I have returned to my father’s house in peace, and Yah has been my Elohim, then this stone which I have set as a standing column shall be Elohim’s house, and of all that You give me, I shall certainly give a tenth to You.” What did Yah give to Jacob? Genesis 28:13-15 tells us that beside the land, Yah was giving him seed or descendants, ‘which shall be as the dust of the earth.’ So of all his descendants, Jacob vows a tenth back to Elohim. Could the tenth be the remnant, the body, with the tenth of the tenth (which is the tithe of the priesthood - Numbers 18:26), the bride? Interesting that Jacob “called the name of that place Beyth El, however, the name of that city had been Luz previously” (Genesis 28:19). Beyth El is Strong’s #1008 and means ‘House of Yah’. Luz is Strong’s #3879 and means ‘Levite’, to whom the tithe is given, as his inheritance, with the tenth of the tenth being the best of the best given to Yah by the priests. Again Temple language Where did Yah instruct the Temple to be placed? Exactly where He says He is – in our midst. “And I shall set My Dwelling Place in your midst, and My being shall not reject you. And I shall walk in your midst and shall be your Elohim, and you shall be My people.” Leviticus 26:11,12 “The Set-apart One in your midst” Hosea tells us is Yah, [“For I am El, and not man, the Set-apart One in your midst” Hosea 11:9] and John tells us is Y’shua [“I immerse in water, but in your midst stands One whom you do not know, the One coming after me, who has become before me, ...” John 1:26, 27]. . In John 17:11b “…Set-apart Father, guard them in Your Name which You have given Me, so that they might be one, as We are.” Yah and Y’shua are One. To further identify Y’shua as Yah….. speaking of Him as One “whom you do not know…” (as well as being One with the Father as the Lamb of Yah) John 8:19 “…Y’shua answered, ‘You know neither Me nor My Father. If you knew Me, you would have known My Father also.” John tells us twice that he did not know Y’shua. John 1:31 “And I did not know Him, but that He might be revealed to Israel, therefore I came immersing in water.” John 1:33 “And I did not know Him, but He who sent me to immerse in water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit coming down and remaining on Him, this is He who immerses in the Set-apart Spirit.” John 1:26 “…in your midst stands One whom you do not know,…” “…the Set-apart One (whom you do not know) stands in your midst, ….” And is “He who immerses in the Set-apart Spirit.” Stands is the Greek ‘stao’, and means to abide, appoint, continue, covenant, establish, set up, stand up. It’s complimentary form is ‘theo’, meaning to place, appoint, commit, conceive, give, kneel down, lay aside or lay down, ordain, purpose, set forth, settle The One standing in our midst (near to us, approaching us) is the One covenanting with us, establishing His Torah, committing His works to the Father, submitting Himself to the Father, laying aside all His heavenly glory for the purpose of settling the dilemma here on earth, so that we might be conceived in a new birth – not of flesh and blood – and be near to/approach Him – be one with Him and the Father. But how many of us really know Him, who stands in our midst? “…I (John) came immersing in water that He might be revealed to Israel…” How was John’s immersing in water to reveal Y’shua, to Israel? To be hidden under the waters is figurative of death. Y’shua’s mission – defeating death both physically and spiritually, was hidden in the water of the Word, which was John’s mission to reveal. Defeating the death of Israel as a nation and resurrecting and restoring her as His people, was hidden in the waters of the Word, which John was revealing. Coming out of the water depicts Y’shua’s resurrection – our hope, the Word springing forth to bring us life both individually and collectively as His people, as Israel. John pointed Israel to the “one in their midst they did not know” – to Y’shua, the Lamb of Yah, who takes away the sins of the world by the washing of the water of the Word (Torah) (Ephesians 5:26). Individually we come; collectively we are raised. The first occurrence is also usually the pattern. When was the first time Israel, as a people, was ‘immersed in and came forth from the waters’? When was their new beginning as Yah’s people? John’s immersing in water should remind them of what Yah had told them never to forget. Exodus 14:22 “And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, and the waters (Torah) were a wall (of protection) to them on their right and on their left.” They did not turn to the right or to the left but walked the straight (thought at times, difficult) path of Torah. Hosea 14:9 “Who is wise and understand these words, discerning and knows them? For the ways (paths) of Yah are straight and the righteous (believing/obedient Israel) walk in them, but the transgressors (Egypt/world) stumble in them.” Israel went into the Sea as ‘dead men’ (if not for Yah); they came forth to a new life (as His resurrected people). John was demonstrating that Y’shua, as the Lamb of El, was the One who had brought them out of bondage and death by bringing them through the waters of the Red Sea – by bringing them through the cleansing waters of Torah and giving them a new identity in Him. The same waters that delivered Israel, consumed Egypt. Exodus 14:27-30a “And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its usual flow, at the break of day, with the Egyptians fleeing into it. Thus Yah overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea and the waters returned and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them, and not even one was left of them. And the children of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea, [where the Egyptians had been overthrown, Israel walked] and the waters were a wall to them on their right and on their left. Thus Yah saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians….” When did this happen? “at the break of day”. It was “when the sun had set”, in the darkness that Jacob received the promise (in that place). It is “at the break of (a new) day” that Yah destroys the enemies of Israel and delivers us. Yah comes to us in our darkest hours and gives us hope and comfort. The full realization of the promise when all our enemies (including death) are destroyed will be the beginning of a new day. “You have destroyed yourself, O Israel, but your help is in Me.” Hosea 13:9 All Israel – as well as the rest of the world – knew that it was Yah who delivered Israel out of the hands of the Egyptians (the greatest nation on earth at the time) and brought them out of the midst of the sea. John was ‘a voice crying in the wilderness’, reminding Israel, revealing to Israel, who their Yah was, where they had come from, how they had gotten where they were and that without His mighty Hand they could move no further – they would only wander in the wilderness (world) until they died. It stands to reason we must be immersed in the Word. To move further, to cross over into the land of promise, it will take being immersed, also, in the Set-apart Spirit, as the Spirit will be the only One who can unite this kingdom, restore or resurrect this kingdom from the throes of death. The ‘Kingdom of Elohim’ is the kingdom of Israel united – both houses. John came immersing in water that the ‘Lamb’ might be revealed to both houses. Water can represent Torah. John immersed in Torah (taught Torah) because it is the Torah that reveals who Elohim is. Elohim is Spirit. Y’shua, in the Spirit of the Father, came to regather scattered Israel into one – after providing the way to be born anew into this kingdom. The Word and The Spirit are One – “For we know that the Torah is Spiritual….” Romans 7:14 We have identified Y’shua as Yah. *Yah is the Dwelling Place. “And I saw no Dwelling Place in it, for Yah El Shaddai is its Dwelling Place, and the Lamb. Revelation 21:22 *Yah is the High Priest. “But Messiah having become a High Priest of the coming good matters, through the greater and more perfect Tent not made with hands, that is, not of this creation….” Hebrews 9:11 “…You are a priest forever according to the order of Malkitsedeq.” Hebrews 5:6 with Psalms 110:4 “Yah has sworn and does not relent, ‘You are a priest forever according to the order of Malkitsedeq.” *Yah is the sacrifice. (demonstrated through immersion) “how much more shall the blood of the Messiah, who through the everlasting Spirit offered Himself unblemished to Elohim, cleanse your conscience form dead works to serve the living Elohim?” Hebrews 9:14 The One standing in our midst – in our hearts – is the One who gives us hope in the darkness, life in the face of death. “From the power of the grave I ransom them, from death I redeem them. Hosea 13:14a His Word is sure: “And see, I am with you and shall guard you wherever you go, and shall bring you back to this land. For I am not going to leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.” Genesis 28:15 What should we do to enter the land of promise, the United Kingdom of Israel promised to our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? How are we to be immersed in the Spirit? Hosea tells us…. “Take words with you, ….” How important are words? They are who we are – what we’re made of. Words are Torah. Take Torah with you. Become Torah. “Take words with you and return to Yah…” It is through Torah we know and recognize Yah and so can return to Him. “…Say to Him, ‘Take away all crookedness…”, (all sin, transgressions and iniquities – by the washing of the water of the Word (Ephesians 5:26)- immersion) “…and accept what is good,…” What is good? Romans 7:12 “…the Torah truly is set-apart, and the command set-apart and righteous, and good.” The Torah is good. If we have Torah, if we become Torah, we are accepted. The Torah is good – and also “… we know that the Torah is Spiritual…” Romans 7:14 “…and we render the bulls of our lips.” Hosea 14:2 The Spirit and The Word are One. “I am Yah your Elohim since the land of Egypt, and an Elohim besides Me you shall not know, for there is no Saviour besides Me.” Hosea 13:4 Yah identifies Himself as our Saviour. As The Father (Yah)…so The Son (Y’shua). “I am El, and not man, the Set-apart One in your midst, and I shall not come in enmity.” Hosea 11:9 He came in love – not enmity –“ For Yah so loved the world…” “He came that we might have life…” Yet John says we do not know Him – “…in your midst stands One whom you do not know”. It is time O Israel, that we do. A story within a story….continues……
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