Tag Archives: Christian Life

In the Current of Peace

12 Monday Sep 2022

Posted by in Isaiah 45:7, Studies

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“Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.”

This is Matthew 5:9 and is the passage of scripture I’ve had in mind since beginning this particular study on peace.  I have been certain that I must understand exactly what peace is before I can make it and now, after gaining a greater understanding of the peace of God, I want to take a look at this scripture.

First, a brief recap on just what is the peace of God.  It is not the absence of something.  The way the world looks at peace is it exists as long as there is no open conflict and this conflict can mean anything from verbal disagreements to open warfare.  I have seen this is not the case in the peace that comes from God.  His peace is a facet of His life and becomes a way we live.  It does not depend on circumstances and, in fact, His peace is all the more real in the midst of conflict.  Peace is an aspect of the Fruit of the Spirit and the peace of God grows in us and flows out of us more and more as we understand who we are in Jesus Christ and who He is in us by the Indwelling of His Spirit.

As I studied the Hebrew letters comprising the word for peace (shalom), I was struck at the relation to the heart.  The letter Lamed is the middle letter of shalom and is the tallest of the Hebrew letters.  It is the only one that ascends above the line and I learned this extending upward symbolizes the aspiration of the heart.  The first letter of the Hebrew word for heart (Leb) is the Lamed and Lamed has to do with what the heart longs for: to rise up, to elevate, and to connect to God.1 The third letter of shalom is the Mem and, while studying the Mem, I found another reference to the heart.  In his book, Mr. Bentorah writes the Mem represents a broken heart.  The little break in the left hand corner of the letter Mem shows us a picture of our hearts as vessels filled with pain and suffering but with a little hole in the corner where all that pain and suffering can pour out so God Himself can refill the heart with His love and presence.2

I do want to devote more study specifically to the heart but wish to stay focused on peace for the sake of this current study.  Reading these references to the heart reminded me of two scriptures.  The first is Isaiah 26:3 and I’m quoting it out of the Amplified Bible: “You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You.”  The second is Colossians 3:15 and, again from the Amplified: “And let the peace (soul harmony which comes) from Christ rule (act as umpire continually) in your hearts [deciding and settling with finality all questions that arise in your minds, in that peaceful state] to which as [members of Christ’s] one body you were also called [to live].”

I see in these two scriptures both the absolute truth of God’s statement in my study passage-“I make peace”-and how we are peacemakers.  The peace is not ours in the sense that we have anything to do with making it.  God Himself is the source of it, it belongs exclusively to Him, and He freely gives it to us.  We are not passive recipients.  We keep our minds stayed-and other translations have fixed-on Him and I do like all the verbs listed in the Amplified: commit, lean, and hope.  We also let His peace rule in our hearts.  The English word ‘let’ in this passage amuses me because it sounds so easy.  We just simply let His peace rule.  I don’t know about you but the “letting” is one of the most difficult things I’ve had to do, especially when I am in a situation where I am being verbally and emotionally attacked.  When I am faced with being-by necessity-in close proximity to someone who is dismissive, belittling, and patronizing, the most difficult thing for me to do is “let” His peace rule.  I have to constantly remind myself that all I am in Christ and all He is to me is also His desire for that person.  I have to remind myself of their identity, choose to see them as one beloved of the Lord, and one for whom Jesus is actively seeking. 

We say the words “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” every time we quote the Lord’s Prayer and I wonder how often we take time to consider what that means.  I know Jesus Christ.  I know my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.  I know this is true because the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation has opened the eyes of my heart to see this reality.  That’s it.  I don’t know it because I have studied hard and learned it although I learn more and more what exactly my inheritance in Jesus is through study so will not ever disparage study!  My point is I am not who I am in Christ Jesus because I’m special.  I do choose to respond to what He has shown and continues to show me.  I fix my heart and mind on Him and choose to keep my attention there no matter how I am treated or what I might experience.  This keeping of my focus on Jesus Christ can be a battle but I can do all things through Christ who infuses His strength to mine (Philippians 4:13) and His Spirit in me is my strength.

It is so very difficult to explain this Christian life.  I choose but can only choose what He has revealed to me.  I commit myself but can only do so because His Spirit strengthens me.  It is me but it’s also Him.  It is a we and us but I am not disappearing into Him.  I’m aware of constantly aligning my will and thoughts and decisions with His.  There really is no better description that “I am crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in (of) the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). 

This is how we make peace.  The Strong’s Concordance gives the Greek word translated “peacemakers” in Matthew 5:9 as eirenopoios.  The word is a compound word and can be broken down into eirene-peace- and poieo.  It takes a veritable paragraph to define poieo.  The main definition is “to make or do” but then there is a list of words which all seek to fully explain its meaning.  The very first is “abide” and I am immediately taken to the upper room where Jesus is explaining the life that was about to be the disciples’ life and is our life now.  “Abide in me and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself (and let us not forget Peace is part of that fruit!) unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.  I am the vine, you are the branches.  He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5).

“I make peace,” God declares through His prophet.  My study of Isaiah 45:7 has shown me how true that is.  I won’t repeat my study on the word “make” but I do not think I am wrong when I say He is peace and, through the workings and processing’s and chastising’s and corrections; makes the peace He is a reality in us.  His is the strength enabling us to keep ourselves in Him.  We abide in Him, and His peace flows out of us like a never ending stream to the world around us.  Truly we are blessed to be peacemakers because we will be recognized as sons of God! (Weymouth New Testament).

Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!  Amen.

Unless noted otherwise, all Scriptures are quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1982

  1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRp8BGVAt8k
  2. Bentorah, Chaim, Hebrew Word Study: Beyond the Lexicon, Trafford Publishing, USA, 2014, Pages 119-120

Other References

Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. (biblehub.com)

The Amplified Bible, Expanded Edition, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, The Lockman Foundation, 1954,1987

Strong, James, LL.D., S.T.D., The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1990

Carried on the Water

05 Monday Sep 2022

Posted by in Isaiah 45:7, Studies

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Hello, Readers!  Welcome to Renaissance Woman and the post that almost didn’t happen.

I did spend last week focusing on my study of Isaiah 45:7 and began looking at the last letter of shalom, the Mem.  I found it fascinating but did not feel I was gaining understanding as there are so many different aspects to the Mem.  I learn a great deal from the Hebrew letters and I find there are times where it is easy to feel cast adrift in a sea of information, treading water-as it were-and searching for an anchor from which to write a post. This analogy is apropos as the closest word to the spelling of Mem (מם) is the word mim (מים) which is the word for water.

The Mem is a bit different than the other letters I’ve looked at so far in that Hebrew letters are words themselves and yet Mem is not.  It is spelled with two Mems: the open Mem at the beginning and the closed Mem at the end and, according to Robert Haralick, is not vocalized anywhere in the Pentateuch or, for that matter; anywhere in scripture.  The closest word is, again, water which is spelled with the open Mem, the Yod, and the closed Mem.  Chaim Bentorah writes, “From this we learn that water is the carrier of the Yod.  The Yod is a messenger from heaven, a message of heaven” (Bentorah, 120). 

It is in this idea of a messenger and message from heaven that I find my anchor.  The Mem is not only associated with water but with the Hebrew word for mother (ahm or em אם) and the word for womb (rechem רחם).  The opening at the lower left hand corner of the Mem is a picture of the opening in the womb through which the mother gives birth.  But, the final form of the Mem is closed. Robert Haralick says that, since the Mem is the balancing point of all manifestation, the open Mem is the female aspect and the closed Mem is the male aspect.  They are married by the Yod.” (Haralick, 199)  Reading this reminded me of Genesis 5:2: “He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them Mankind in the day they were created.” 

It also reminded me of a book I recently finished reading which I have mentioned in a previous post.  The book is Evidence Not Seen by Darlene Deibler Rose and, in it, she recounts how her husband heads into the jungle to share the gospel with the Kapauku people.  Darlene is left behind in the city of Macassar as the trail is considered to be too difficult for women.  Darlene’s husband Russell is speaking with the Kapauku chieftain who finally says the gospel is all well and good for Russell, who is obviously a spirit person who comes from the spirit world beyond the mountains, but means nothing to a mere man like him.  Russell Deibler protests and insists he too is a mere man but the chieftain doesn’t believe him because neither he nor any of the other missionaries who came with him have a wife or children.  Russell Deibler tells the chieftain he does too have a wife and the chieftain demands to know where she is.  The story is both humorous and fascinating and I don’t have space to share it all.  The upshot is, Darlene is sent for and it isn’t until she arrives in the village and the Kapauku people see her that the gospel begins to be believed.  I was struck how this story shows the importance of both men and women.  None is more important or of more worth than the other: both are necessary. 

Fascinating as the story is, since this is not a post on gender equality, I move on to an article I found titled “The Mystery of the Closed Mem” by Daniel Botkin.  The open Mem is the form that appears at the beginning or middle of Hebrew words while the final form, the closed Mem, appears at the end of words with one exception.  That exception is in Isaiah 9:7 and is the word l’marbeh which is translated “of the increase”.  Mr. Botkin points out the word marbeh appears in other places in the Hebrew bible and is always spelled with the open Mem at the beginning.  The only place where the word appears with the closed Mem is in this passage where Isaiah is prophesying the birth of the Messiah.  Like Mr. Bentorah and Mr. Haralick, Mr. Botkin also describes the closed Mem as a closed womb and the open Mem as an open womb.  His conclusion is this instance of a closed Mem where it ought to be an open Mem tells us that this child will be concealed within the closed womb of the Virgin Mary.  The Epistle to the Hebrews opens with: “God who at various times and in various ways, spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son…” (Verses 1-2a) and, in this study, I see a picture of the water of the womb of Mary carrying the best message from heaven: the Word made flesh, God from God.

Both Mr. Bentorah and Mr. Haralick say the Mem represents knowledge of God.  Mr. Bentorah uses water as his analogy and says the open Mem is like the surface of the water that can be seen from a boat and is the revealed knowledge of God.  The closed Mem is like the world hidden in the depths of the sea which cannot be readily seen and is like the hidden knowledge of God.  Mr. Haralick writes, “…the beginning Mem has an opening at the bottom.  This alludes to the fact that from below we can perceive God through the functioning of the universe.  The final Mem is closed.  This alludes to the fact that although we perceive God, the king (melek מלך), through the functioning of the universe, ultimately God remains unknowable and hidden” (Haralick, 203).

I cannot deny the truth of this.  I am finite and cannot begin to comprehend the Infinite Person, the One who created all that is and was and ever shall be.  I would not be able to know Him were it not for Jesus.  He is the interface-if I can use that word.  He is the One in whom the fullness of the Godhead dwells (Colossians 1:19, 2:9-10).  He is the place where heaven and earth meet (John 1:51).  In Him we are One with The Father (John 17:20-26).  Because we are in Him we can know God because, although “No man has ever seen God at any time; the only unique Son or the only begotten God, Who is in the bosom [in the intimate presence] of the Father, He has declared Him [He has revealed Him and brought Him out where He can be seen; He has interpreted Him and He has made Him known]” (John 1:18, Amplified).

The seventh chapter of John’s Gospel records Jesus saying, “’He who believes in Me [who cleaves to and trust in and relies on Me] as the Scripture has said, From his innermost being shall flow [continuously] springs and rivers of living water.’ But He was speaking here of the Spirit, Whom those who believed (trusted, had faith) in Him were afterward to receive” (7:38-39a, Amplified).  The Holy Spirit is this living water and He carries the reality of the message from heaven that is the risen and ascended Jesus to us today in that He bears witness of Jesus and leads us into all truth (John 15:26, 16:13).  The Mem is the first letter of the Hebrew word meleah (מלאה) which means “something fulfilled, abundance”.  The living water of the Spirit fills us to overflowing, we know Jesus as our very life, and our peace is made complete.

Unless noted otherwise, all Scriptures are quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1982

References

Microsoft Word – THE MYSTERY OF THE CLOSED MEM-2.docx (jewishroots.net)

Bentorah, Chaim, Hebrew Word Study: Beyond the Lexicon, Trafford Publishing, USA, 2014, Pages 119-122

Diebler Rose, Darlene, Evidence Not Seen: A Woman’s Miraculous Faith in the Jungles of World War II, HarperSanFrancisco, Harper Collins Publishers, San Francisco, California, 1988, Pages 22-33

Haralick, Robert M., The Inner Meaning of the Hebrew Letters, Jason Aronson Inc., Northvale, New Jersey, 1995, Pages 193-204

Strong, James, LL.D., S.T.D., The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1990

Let’s Put A Pin in That

23 Tuesday Aug 2022

Posted by in Walking in the Way

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Hello and welcome to another post on Renaissance Woman.

I do intend to move on to looking at the Hebrew letter Mem but, before I do that, I have come across another side path I have found it necessary to take.  I hope to be back to my main study track next week but we’ll have to see how it goes.

In last week’s post, I wrote; “The call to all mankind now is ‘Come!’” and included the scripture references Matthew 11:27-29, John 7:37-38, and Revelation 22:17.  To these three I ought to perhaps have added John 12:32 which says, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself” which is a spectacular scripture I would love to hear more teaching on as I have only come across one.  There are other passages of scripture I could include but I think these four make clear that the call to return to the heart of God does go out to all mankind.  Perhaps though, as you read last week’s post, a passage popped into your head and you wondered, if it is true the call to Come! is to all mankind, then what does this passage mean?  It certainly popped into my head but I did not have the space to address it in last week’s post.  I am doing so this week and thus my brief foray down this side path.

The passage that popped into my mind was Matthew 22:14: “For many are called but few are chosen”. It is Jesus’ closing statement to the parable of the Marriage of the King’s Son.  You can read the parable in Matthew Chapter 22 verses 1-14 but, briefly, it is this: A king has arranged a marriage for his son and he sends his servants out to call those who were invited to the wedding.  The invited ones were not willing to come so his servants went to them a second time telling them all was ready.  Again, those invited refused to come.  Some busied themselves with tasks and others abused and killed the servants.  The king is angry and, after dealing quite harshly with those invited, tells his servants to go out and gather all they could find and bring them to the wedding.  The servants do so and verse 10 says “both bad and good” were brought to the wedding hall.  The king comes out to see the guests and finds one man who did not have on a wedding garment.  The king asks how the man managed to get in without a wedding garment and the man has nothing to say.  The king tells his servants to “bind him hand and foot, take him away, and throw him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (verse 13).  Then, Jesus ends the parable by saying “For many are called, but few are chosen.”

I read through the parable and found the act of choosing was all on the side of both those invited and those gathered by the servants.  The parable is not describing auditioning for the kingdom of heaven as in the call goes out and so we come with our very best ideas of what we think the caller wants and then he decides if we get the part or not based on how close we came to the ideal.  In describing Jesus’ statement in verse 14, the Abingdon Bible Commentary says, “This is a detached saying.  By it Jesus could only have meant that while many hear the word calling to repentance it is only a few who respond to the call.”1  I have a quibble with the word “repentance” but I’ll address that in a bit.  I do see that whether or not one was chosen was based on how they responded.

There is so much to be learned from this parable but I don’t want to stray too far from the main path of my Isaiah 45:7 study.  I will thus put a pin in this parable and will perform an in depth study at a later time.  In this post, I want to look at the responses of the various parties and especially at the one man who was found without a wedding garment.  Those who were of the invited ones chose not to come.  Those gathered from the highways by the servants came but would have had no time to procure a wedding garment.  Both the Abingdon Commentary and the commentary on this parable in The Passion Translation point this out.  The Passion Translation says, “Those invited to come from the streets had no opportunity to buy wedding clothes.  This wedding robe is a picture of the garment of righteousness that grace provides for us.  The man without the wedding garment had one provided but he didn’t want to change into new clothes.  A change is necessary, for our King provides garments of white linen for us to wear, our wedding garments” and then references Isaiah 52:1, Revelation 19:8 (TPT).2

Ellicot’s Bible Commentary describes how this providing of a wedding garment was a custom of the day: “The framework of the parable probably presupposes the Oriental custom of providing garments for the guests who were invited to a royal feast.  Wardrobes filled with many thousand garments form part of the wealth of every Eastern prince (6:19; Jas. 5:2), and it was part of his glory (II Kings 10:22), to bring them out for use on state occasions.  On this assumption, the act of the man who was found “not having a wedding garment” was one of willful insult.  The “wedding garment” is nothing less than the “holiness” without which no man shall see the Lord (Heb. 12:14), and that holiness, as in the framework of the parable and in the realities of the spiritual life, Christ is ever ready to impart to him who truly believes”.3

I don’t know about you but, whenever I come across scripture references used to back up a statement, I look them up.  As I looked at the scriptures referenced in Ellicot’s Bible Commentary, I did not see that providing a wedding garment was indeed an ancient custom.  That cannot be inferred from those specific scriptures.  I checked through my history books and could not find a reference to that custom.  My history books do have examples of garments being given as gifts and there are examples of this in scripture as well.  (See Genesis 45:22, 2 Kings 5:22, Esther 8:15).  The internet did not help me as I searched for examples of kings providing wedding garments.  I was unable to find one but I did find that this was indeed a custom is a belief almost universally held.  That’s good enough for me at this moment.  I will continue to look into it-and if anyone does know of a reference, please let me know-but, for now, I put a pin in that as well.

That the wedding garment was provided is, I think, inferred by the parable.  That the man was expected to be in a wedding garment is clear and, when questioned, the man had no defense.  If there had been any way to appease the king, no doubt the man would have done so.  I accept the servants offered a garment to the man and he refused.  Vincent’s Word Studies speaks on the man not having a garment saying, “It is hardly possible to convey the subtle sense of the negative particle to the English reader.  A different word for not is used in the preceding verse, expressing an outward, objective fact which attracted the king’s notice.  The man had not a wedding garment.  When the king addresses the guest, he is thinking not so much of the outward token of disrespect, as of the guest’s mental attitude toward the proprieties of the occasion….It implies, as Dr. Morison observes, that the man was conscious of the omission when he entered and was intentionally guilty of the neglect.”4

Both the Abingdon Commentary and The Passion Translation point out the universality of the king’s call.  The Passion Translation says, “Many are called.  This can be understood to be a Semitic figure of speech that universalizes the invitation.  See also Matt. 20:28” (TPT)5 while the Abingdon Commentary says, “The deep universal note of the gospel sounds forth clearly in this parable.”6  I am fascinated by the fact that Matthew’s gospel says “both good and bad” were brought to the feast.  There was no distinction between the guests.  The right to stay and enjoy the king’s celebration was based entirely on whether or not they chose to wear the appropriate garment.  Just what is this garment?

I concur with all of the writers I’ve read who say it is the garment of Jesus’ righteousness.  I do not concur with those who speak of this garment as something external to us.  I hear teachers saying things along the lines of, “God doesn’t see your sin because He sees you through his Son” like we believers are wearing Jesus suits and that makes us acceptable to God.  God doesn’t see our sin because the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7).  The parable is not explicit but I think washing is implied.  If those the servants brought in from the highways had no time to procure a wedding garment, neither would they have had time to bathe.  I cannot imagine a wedding garment would have been put over smelly stinking skin and then the guests sent in to the feast where their aroma would fight it out with the aromas of the food the king had had prepared.  I think this parable points to the fact that we are cleansed by the blood of Christ and we are presented to Him glorious, without spot or wrinkle or blemish by the washing of water by the word (Ephesians 5:26-27).  Not only are we cleansed but clothed in fine linen which is the righteous acts of the saints: not self-righteousness which is as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6) but the righteousness we now are in Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21). 

The call is to each one of us and it is not to repentance.  The fact that the Greek word metanoia has been translated “repentance” in our Bible is, I think, a travesty.  Repentance at its core means to do penance over and over and over and anyone caught in that loop does not know the truth: that Jesus Christ has put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself and did so one time for sins forever.  (Hebrews 10: 26, 10:12, 7:27).  Instead of repentance, metanoia! Change your mind! That Jesus Christ did live and die and rise again thus putting away sins is not dependent on our belief.  It was done long before any of us lived though He acted as and for all mankind and we living today were included.  The life it is possible to live is ours because Jesus our Saviour is self-giving love and whether or not we believe it doesn’t change what is.  However, it is impossible to live in the freedom that is ours in Christ Jesus without believing it.  Let’s remove the pin and no longer keep this life in Christ something to think about at a later time.  Heed His call!  Respond! Ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes and change your mind!  Come and live a life where there is no guilt or condemnation.  Walk according to His Spirit rather than the flesh because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and death! (See Romans 8:1-2) 

That is something to celebrate!

  1. Eiselen, Frederick Carl, Edwin Lewis, and David G. Downey, editors., The Abingdon Bible Commentary, The Abingdon Press, Inc., Nashville • New York, 1929, Page 988
  2. Passion and Fire Ministries, The Passion Translation, 2020 Edition, Broadstreet Publishing Group, LLC, 2020, Page 65
  3. Ellicot, Charles John, Ellicot’s Bible Commentary, Zondervan Publishing, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1971, Pages 733-734
  4. Vincent, Marvin R., D.D., Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament, Volume I, Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, Massachusetts, Pages 120-121
  5. Passion and Fire Ministries, The Passion Translation, 2020 Edition, Broadstreet Publishing Group, LLC, 2020, Page 65
  6. Eiselen, Frederick Carl, Edwin Lewis, and David G. Downey, editors., The Abingdon Bible Commentary, The Abingdon Press, Inc., Nashville • New York, 1929, Page 988

Unless noted otherwise, all Scriptures are quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1982

More Reading on the Wedding Garment:

The Wedding Garment (gracegems.org)

He Got Kicked Out Of The Wedding! – Michael A. Verdicchio (confidenceandjoy.com)

My previous post on our thoughts being our garments:

https://renaissancewoman.blog/2022/06/20/hey-what-are-you-wearing/

Pathways of Peace

22 Monday Aug 2022

Posted by in Isaiah 45:7, Studies

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Good morning!  Welcome-or welcome back-to Renaissance Woman where I am continuing my study of Isaiah 45:7 specifically the word “peace” which is the Hebrew word shalom.  Shalom is spelled Shin (ש) Lamed (ל) Mem (ם) and, this week, I am continuing to look at the Lamed.

The word Lamed means “to learn, study, become familiar with” and also means “to teach”.  Over the past few weeks, I have written about the importance of having the Holy Spirit as our teacher.  Teachers, Pastors, and Church Leaders are important but it is the Holy Spirit alone who leads us into the truth that is Jesus Christ (See John 16:13, John 14:6).  Jessica Hottle recently posted to her social media “let Jesus guide you. Not people!” and that made me chuckle.  She made the same point I’ve been trying to make over multiple posts and thousands of words but she managed to do it in six. No one has ever accused me of brevity!  I agree: let Jesus be our guide.  In Matthew 11:29 He bids us come to Him and learn of Him and, as I’ve meditated on the meaning of the Lamed, I’ve been wondering just how in this day and age we learn from Jesus.

Interesting, the word Lamed spelled Lamed (ל) Mem (מ) Dalet (ד) but pronounced Lim-mood means “a disciple, one who is taught, a follower”.  I have heard people lament the age in which they have been born and heard them wish they’d been alive during Jesus’ day.  What would it have been like to walk with him on the shores of the Sea of Galilee! Oh, to sit at his feet, to walk with Him, to listen to His words as He spoke them!  Oh, to be one of His disciples!

I have a book on everyday life and customs during Bible Times and, out of curiosity, I looked up what it would have meant to be a disciple.  I read: “In Old Testament times, young men had the chance to become pupils of the prophets and priests.  Samuel, for example, was given to Eli while he was a small boy and trained by the priest.  The prophet Isaiah gave private teaching to a group of disciples.  These disciples lived with their masters, learning from them throughout the course of the day.  They sometimes sat at their feet, learning by lecture and discussion.  At other times they learned by their teacher’s example, or from object lessons that presented themselves throughout the day.  They would quiz their students, checking to see if any light bulbs were going on in their heads.  This one-on-one relationship was the best way to instill learning in the next generation…when Jesus walked upon the earth, he called disciples to his side, and for three and a half years they lived at his side and learned from his teachings.  Sometimes they sat at his feet (Luke 10:39), or learned from his example (John 13:15).  Many object lessons were presented to them (Mark 4:2), and Jesus quizzed them to see if they understood what was spoken (Luke 9:20). 

I laughed a little at the anachronism of “light bulbs going on in their heads” but zeroed in on the necessity of the one-on-one relationship.  I understand the desire to have been there in person at the beginning but I cannot help thinking how limited walking with the man Jesus would have been.  He couldn’t have a one-on-one relationship with all of his disciples at the same time.  I read through the gospels and find the crowds getting smaller and smaller until it’s just the Twelve.  Of the Twelve, only Three saw His transfiguration and, of the Three, only One laid with his head on Jesus’ breast.  Not everyone experienced the same level of closeness so I personally do not look on the days when Jesus walked this earth as a man as halcyon days.  Indeed, Jesus Himself said: “Nevertheless I tell you the truth.  It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you” (John 16:7).

Those days of Jesus’ ministry were limited to a tiny segment of the planet and, even if I’d been alive and living there and then, it would have been impossible to choose to be His disciple.  I don’t necessarily mean my gender would exclude me but rather that the custom of the day was a disciple would choose which Rabbi he wished to follow.  Not so with Jesus: He did the choosing.  It’s better to be alive in this moment because now we live in a day of no limitation.  The call to all mankind now is “Come!” (Matthew 11:27-29, John 7:37-38, Revelation 22:17). We don’t have to run after Him and ask Him where He’s staying because we know He sits at the right hand of the Father and we know we are in Him. 

 Luke 6:40 says, “A disciple is not above his teacher but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher.” What an amazing thing it would be if all we had today was the same as that possessed by Old Testament and Jesus’ disciples.  We can read the Red Letters in our Bibles and learn from the very words of Jesus.  What an example He left for us to emulate!  How tremendous that His words and example are not all we have!  We do not live alongside Him but abide in Him and we know He abides in us because of His Spirit (1 John 3:24).  We do not have to strive to follow His example for His very life is in us and it is no longer we who live but Christ who lives in us.  We do not have to try to be like Him because His Spirit is the first fruits within us and we can know His promise is sure: when He is revealed, we shall be like Him. 

While studying the Lamed, I watched a video on the Shivimpanim channel.  The Rabbi mentioned the Hallel which are special prayers said on Holy Days and pointed out there are two Lameds within the word.  Hallel is also one of the root words that comprise Hallelujah, a phrase that means “Praise the Lord!”  The Lameds in the word Hallelujah are a beautiful lesson.  I know that I will be like my Teacher Jesus Christ because I see Him.  I see Him because His Spirit is within me opening my eyes.  With my eyes opened to behold Him, I cannot but shout, ”Hallelujah!” because I see Him, I know Him, and I have learned from Him.  This learning and knowing is at the very center of my peace.

Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!  Amen.

Unless noted otherwise, all Scriptures are quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1982

Spiritual Mentor and Christian Life Coach – Jessica Hottle

 References

Everyday Living: Bible Life and Times, MJF Books, Thomas Nelson Publishers, New York, New York, 2006

(3) Secret of the Hebrew letter Lamed – YouTube

(3) LAMED – Secrets of the Hebrew Letters – YouTube

My Feet Are on the Rock

08 Monday Aug 2022

Posted by in Isaiah 45:7, Personal Essays, Studies, Writing

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Happy Monday and welcome to another post on Renaissance Woman.

Does anyone remember the poem The Blind Men and the Elephant by John Godfrey Saxe?  It’s a poem about six blind men who seek out an elephant so that, by observation, they might understand the creature.  Each of the six men encounter a different part of the elephant and liken it to something familiar: a wall, a snake, a fan, etc.  The last stanza of the poem states, “So, oft in theologic wars/The disputants, I ween/Rail on in utter ignorance/Of what each other mean/And prate about an Elephant/Not one of them has seen!”

Last week I posted on the Hebrew letters that comprise Shin ש and how I’ve come across two schools of thought on that.  One is that the letter is comprised of Vavs and Yods and the other is that the letter is a Yod, a Vav, and a Zayin.  Which is correct?  I don’t care one way or the other because, as I followed both paths, I found myself in the same place: 3 Vavs and 4 Yods give me the number 7 which is Spiritual Perfection and the number of the Zayin is 7 which is Spiritual Perfection.  I found value in looking at both but the study did get me thinking.   

I cannot count how many times over the past weeks and months I’ve heard believers of various denominations stress the importance of “sound doctrine.”  I have found “that’s not sound doctrine” is used as the final hammer strike on the last nail in the coffin of another person’s argument but there are times when the speaker will explain just what they believe sound doctrine to be.  I listen and sometimes agree and other times disagree.  This made me wonder, just who decides what “sound doctrine” is?  I see one denomination convinced what they teach is the soundest doctrine of all unlike this denomination whose teachings are based on false interpretations of scripture and definitely not like this other denomination whose teachings are a delusion of Satan.  I must infer then, that by “sound doctrine” what they actually mean is, “what our denomination teaches.”

What is doctrine?  The definition of the word is, “something taught, teachings, something taught as the principles or creed of a religion, political party, etc.; tenet or tenets; belief; dogma, a rule, theory, or principle of law.”  There is nothing in this definition that suggests a personal knowing and relationship is necessary.  Such is also what I find in those insisting everyone have sound doctrine: there is only a rare mention of knowing God for yourself.  I am not concerned with sound doctrine.  I am concerned with knowing the Father because knowing Him and knowing Jesus Christ is the very definition of eternal life.  “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). 

I recently read a book called Evidence Not Seen by Darlene Deibler Rose.  When the author married her first husband, Rev. C. Russell Deibler, she and her husband both knew they were called to the Mission Field and, specifically, the Philippines.  Mrs. Deibler was several years younger than her husband and had just graduated from school.  She relates in her book that, before the Church would allow her to accompany her husband to the Philippines, they tested her in doctrine and theology.  She passed the tests and was allowed to go.  While in the Philippines, World War II broke out and Japan took over the islands.  Mrs. Deibler and her husband were interred in separate camps where her husband died.  Mrs. Deibler spent four years in various camps and I was struck by how it was not doctrine or theology that sustained her: it was the vitality of her relationship with Jesus Christ.  Mrs. Deibler-Rose writes, “Experientially, I was learning to understand the comfort of the Holy Spirit.  Sometime during the dark hours I slept.  The sword of sorrow had pierced deep within me, but He had bathed the sword in oil.”  

This book gave a graphic picture of the difference between having doctrine-which is by definition a lifeless thing-and having a vital relationship with the Living God.  To me, those quibbling over whether or not someone’s doctrine is sound are like the blind men quibbling over the elephant.  Not one of them was wrong per se but neither were any of them correct.  Not one of them had fully seen. 

There is a passage in Colossians I’ve been meditating on for some time: “Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God” (Colossians 2:18-19).  Our reward is Christ Jesus.  He is our very Life.  In Him, we are made one with the Father.  Everything the Father has belongs to Jesus.  Everything Jesus has is ours because His Spirit lives within us and declares it to us.  (See John 16:13-15)

I know this not only because the Bible tells me so but because I KNOW HIM!  He is real!  He is alive!  He is alive in me right now!  This is not something reserved for the future.  It is not something I earn if I follow Jesus’ example and live a moral life.  He freely gives Himself to me, teaches me who He is, and brings me into relationship with Himself.  There is no substitute for knowing Him and this knowing is my litmus test.  I don’t compare what I hear from others with any doctrine: the Spirit within me guides me into all truth.  Jesus Himself is that absolute living truth and, as He has joined me to Himself, I am one spirit with Him.

Let none of us allow ourselves to be cheated of our reward by anyone who has not seen.  Let us hold fast to the Head who is Christ Jesus.  Let us test everything and hold fast to what is true.  “Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection…” and, finally, let us “no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head-Christ…” (Hebrews 6:1, Ephesians 4:15)

Amen.

All Scriptures are quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1982

References

The poems of John Godfrey Saxe/The Blind Men and the Elephant – Wikisource, the free online library

Guralnik, David B., Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language, Second College Edition, Williams Collins + World Publishing Co., Inc., Cleveland • New York, 1970, 1974

Rose, Darlene Deibler, Evidence Not Seen: A Woman’s Miraculous Faith in the Jungles of World War II, A Ruth Graham Dienert Book, Harper San Francisco, Harper Collins Publishers, New York, New York, 1988