Today began the new year’s cycle of Torah portions. Our family attended a small fellowship in Columbia and enjoyed participating in a fun discussion/midrash that took a jaunt through Genesis 1:1-6:8, this week’s portion. We also participated in their ongoing study in both Romans and Joel. Certainly, a blessed way to spend several hours on a Shabbat!
Following are a couple thoughts from this week and our discussion:
– ‘God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it….’
“Central to rejecting Creation is the rejection of the seventh day Sabbath.”
I don’t remember who said it, or if that is the exact quote, but that is what I heard as our discussion concerning the creation week touched on evolution and the ‘priest class’ of scientists who espouse it. Our discussion turned briefly to considering the great blow to the credibility of Creationism when Christendom would declare that God’s sanctification of the Seventh Day is no longer valid.
When did He ‘un-sanctify’ it??
Elsewhere this week I read a quote concerning the Sabbath along the lines of,
“Marriage was instituted at Creation and we don’t call that Jewish!”
The very simple fact is, whether by logic or force, but distinctly lacking in Scriptural mandate, the Roman Catholic church and her daughter the Protestant church significantly undermine any claim to taking God at His Word when they declare the Sabbath, instituted in the Garden, is no longer valid. The speaker with the above quote hits the nail on the head. Rejecting the Sabbath undermines any claim of the credibility of the Creation story.
– ‘So [God] drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword…’
Reading this verse earlier in the week prompted some return thoughts to last year and further ideas to ponder… Last year in a midrash I postulated that the flaming sword between the cherubim was Yeshua. We see the ‘sword of His mouth’ in Revelation 19:15. Later in the year we were studying the veil between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies as described in Exodus 26:31ff. Interestingly, the veil has cherubim on it and itself is a picture of the Messiah. The High Priest, in passing through the veil on Yom Kippur, would have to pass between the cherubim to access the Ark of the Covenant and the source of Life. Interesting.
So with that as background, I read ‘east gate’ and immediately began to ponder the fact that Yeshua will return via the Eastern Gate. I next realized that the entrance to the Temple, Holy Place and Holy of Holies were all on the East end. Our hope is to one day return to the Garden of Eden, through Messiah, who stands guard at the east gate… Certainly, there are some connections here. I’ll have to keep rolling this one around in my head, but it is interesting food for thought.
11:3 Restoration 
I love the way God weaves the Bible together with threads that can be followed all through the scripture. In the creation story (Genesis 3:24), the flaming sword is placed at the east side of the Garden of Eden guarding the way to the tree of life. John 1:1 says that the Word was in the beginning, was with God, and was God. Verse 14 says that the word became flesh and dwelt among us. That would be Jesus. Ephesians 6:17 says the sword of the Spirit is the word of God. Revelation 1 and 2 wrap it all up by giving us a picture of Jesus (1:16) with a sword coming out of his mouth and his face shining like the sun – the flaming sword, the word of God – and (2:7) Jesus as the one who gives the right to those who overcome to eat from the tree of life which is in the paradise of God. Our God is amazing!
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Lois,
Thanks for dropping by and welcome!!
Good comments… If you are new here, you might really enjoy reading the posts about ‘the Angel of the Lord’ and the ‘Memra,’ both also closely connected with Yeshua/Jesus. Just search the terms in the search block on the blog and you will find much other related material.
Shalom.
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If God’s name is YHWH, Yahowah, then the Son is Yahowsha; you can’t really get ‘Yeh’ from ‘Yah’. The Masorites corrupted the Hebrew language in order that no one could pronounce ‘Yahowah’. Also notice that Yahowsha has only two letters different from Yahowah — the Shin and the Ayin – the ‘eye’ and the ‘tooth’ . . .
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