EXODUS 14.13-15
Shalom. In our teachng of The Book of Exodus, we are at that point in time of the Exodus out of Egypt after 400 years of Jewish slavery and suffering at the hands of the Egyptiain slavemasters. The children of Israel have arrived at the Red Sea, possibly where the Suez Canal is today in the Gulf of Suez. And the width of the crossing would have varied from 12 to 20 miles wide. Thus the children of Israel, some three million, with a mixed multitude of non-Jewish people were facing the Red Sea before them, and a charging Egyptian army in chariots and on horseback behind them determined to kill the Jews and steal everything they owned. So what is next?
Let’s read EXODUS 14.13-15
EXODUS 14.13-14 Stand still and see the Salvation of The LORD. Those are the words Moses commanded the children of Israel as the Egyptian army charged after the Jewish nation intent on killing them all. We know what happened. GOD saved the Jewish people by miraculously opening the Red Sea and they crossed on dry land. And then He killed the entire Egyptian army. Stand still and see the Salvation of The LORD, Moses commanded the people. The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.
Salvation is also the name of our GOD and Messiah Yeshua. Yeshua in Hebrew means Salvation. And as GOD saved the Jewish people, He saves all who love Him and keep His commandments. His special people.
Let’s read three verses of Scripture in English and Hebrew that show us Messiah’s wonderful Name Yeshua that was given to Him by GOD Almighty.
MATTHEW 1.1, 16, 21, LUKE 1.26-32 YESHUA IS HIS NAME.
Listen to the powerful meaning of Messiah’s Name Yeshua, or Salvation and how our lives are effected every day for our good by His Salvation.
Yeshua in Hebrew means Salvation, deliverance, being saved. Being saved by our GOD and Messiah means He will always rescue us from danger, or possible harm or loss. He will keep us safe, sound, and whole, and unhurt. And He will deliver you from the power and consequences of sin which consist of misfortunes, and curses, and eternal death. Messiah saves us from all that because He is our Salvation.
Salvation, or Yeshua also means having the victory, prosperity and help. GOD’s prosperity is having a successful, thriving and flourishing relationship with The LORD your GOD, and a successful life. And perhaps wealth as well, and so much more. GOD will always help you. And Salvation means, the LORD YOUR GOD will give you Eternal Life in Heaven with him forever.
So how is Salvation accomlished? How do we receive Yeshua? How do we receive His Salvation and all GOD’s great benefits, and eternal life with Him forever?
First of all, we must believe in Yeshua The Messiah.
ACTS 4.12
To receive Salvation, we must be born-again.
JOHN 3.1-3
And how are we born-again?
EZEKIEL 36.26-28
Being born-again is GOD giving you a new heart and a new spirit. A new heart that will obey GOD and will obey His Law of Moses. And a new spirit that is The Holy Spirit, The Spirit of Truth Who will live in you forever, Who will teach you all things and remind you of everything Messiah has taught you.
And also we must repent. MATTHEW 4.17
And how do we repent? EZEKIEL 18.20-22.
Repentance is turning from all your sins. Sin is breaking GOD’s Law of Moses. 1 John 3.4.
Then you must turn to GOD, keeping all His Laws and doing that which is lawful and right. And GOD says you will surely live and not die. All your transgressions, The LORD says, that you have committed will not be mentioned to you. In your righteousness, GOD says, that you have done, you will live. That is how to repent. Turning from all our sins that we have committed, and then obeying GOD, keeping all His Laws.
And how do we receive The Holy Spirit?
ACTS 5.32
We receive The Holy Spirit by obeying GOD. That is keeping His Law of Moses, and Yeshua is GOD Almighty, Jehovah, GOD The Father.
Yeshua is our Salvation. And Messiah is The One Who saved GOD’s people from destruction. He is Jehovah, The LORD our GOD, The Creator of Israel, and The King of Israel. Yeshua, our Salvation, is The GOD of Creation, The Everlasting Father Whom the multitude of Jewish people cried out to as He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, Hosanna, please save now. Hosanna, blessed is The King of Israel Who comes in The Name of The LORD. That was Jehovah in the flesh, The LORD our GOD, Yeshua the Messiah Who is our atonement for all our sins, GOD Almighty.
Let’s look at some Scriptures that belong to and describe Yeshua The Messiah, our GOD and Salvation.
ZECHARIAH 9.9 Here is prophecy that Yeshua The Messiah is The King of Israel, having Salvation.
ISAIAH 43.15 Yeshua The Messiah is The LORD Jehovah, our Holy One, The Creator of Israel, our King.
LORD in Hebrew is Yehovah. Yeshua is LORD. Yeshua is Jehovah.
ISAIAH 53.10 Jehovah, Yeshua The Messiah, is our offering for sin. Our atonement. He will see His seed. That is Yeshua will see His descendants. His descendants are all the true Believers in Messiah, born of GOD. 1 JOHN 3.9
Whosoever is born of GOD, does not commit sin. That is, whosoever is born of GOD does not break the Law of Moses, GOD’s Laws, because Messiah’s descendants remain in Him, and we cannot sin because we are born of GOD. We have a new heart that obeys GOD, and a new Spirit, The Holy Spirit of Truth living in us.
JOHN 19.17-19 The One crucified was The Son of GOD, Who is also GOD The Father, Jehovah in the person of Yeshua The Messiah our Salvation.
JOHN 20.11-17 The Resurrection.
With regard to Verse 17, Yeshua said, I have not yet ascended to My Father. But go to My brethren and say to them, I ascend to My Father, and your Father, and to My GOD, and your GOD.
The Bible teaches there is only one GOD. And that one GOD is Jehovah Who is Yeshua The Messiah.
Let’s look at DEUTERONOMY 4.35.
The LORD, He is GOD. That is Jehovah, He is GOD. There is none else beside Him.
Now let’s look at Deuteronomy 6.4 in both English and Hebrew. Keep in mind, GOD is not a human being like we are. He is GOD. He is Jehovah, The Father, The Messiah, and The Spirit, and more if He so desires.
DEUTERONOMY 6.4
SHEMA YESRAEL, YEHOVAH ELOHAYNU, YEHOVAH EKHAD.
HEAR O ISRAEL, YEHOVAH OUR GOD, YEHOVAH IS ONE.
The LORD GOD is Yehovah, and there is only one GOD. Jehovah is The Father, The Son, and The Spirit. They are all one an the same with no difference, no separation and no variance. It is that easy and simple. Why? Because GOD said so.
Thus, The Son, Messiah Yeshua ascended to The Father, both being the one GOD Jehovah. And the reason this might be difficult to understand is because GOD is not a human being like us, He is GOD. And Yeshua is Jehovah. He is Almighty GOD.
Let’s co
ntinue on to Exodus 14.15
EXODUS 14.15 Go forward, GOD said. In other words, don’t turn back and return to Egypt. Go forward to the Promised Land that I have given you for an everlasting possession, the Land of Israel.
And the same applies to you, and me, and all Believers in Messiah Yeshua. Don’t turn back and return to sin. But rather continue on the way of righteousness, doing the will of GOD, obeying His Law of Moses.
2 PETER 2.20-22
Don’t return to sin because you will be overcome by it. And the latter end is worse than the beginning. The meaning? Don’t return to sin.
The way of righteousness is being right with GOD by believing in Messiah Yeshua, loving Him with all your heart, and obeying His Law of Moses which is easy.
Don’t be like the dog, Peter writes, that returns to its own vomit. Or the hog that was washed, and then rolls in the mud. Do not return to sin.
MATTHEW 11.28-30 Messiah’s yoke is His Law of Moses, and it’s easy. And He says, Learn of Me.
MATTHEW 24.13 Though Messiah’s yoke is easy, that being His Law of Moses, Yeshua counsels us to endure to the end. Keep on keeping on in the way of righteousness.
The return of The LORD that we all anticipate with joy, is The LORD Yeshua Who is Jehovah.
ZECHARIAH 14.1-14 Yeshua is LORD. He is Jehovah.
ZECHARIAH 2.10-22 Again, The LORD is Jehovah, Yeshua The Messiah.
And ZEPHANIAH 3.17.
REVELATION 21.1-4 GOD is Jehovah, Yeshua The Messiah, and The LORD GOD MESSIAH will dwell physically with us in the Millennium, and in Heaven. And we will be His people, and GOD Himself will be with us, and be our GOD. And He will wipe away all tears, and death, and sorrow, and crying. And there will be no more pain, for the former things, grief, hardship, and pain will have passed away.
REVELATION 22.1-5 And we will see JEHOVAH, GOD ALMIGHTY, MESSIAH YESHUA, Face to face. And we will reign with Him as kings forever.
Shalom. Ira Weinstein
Month: November 2012
LORD, INCREASE OUR FAITH. EXODUS 14.1-8
Shalom. Our teaching this morning will be from Exodus 14.1-8.
After 400 years under Egyptian slavery, GOD, as He promised Abraham some 700 years earlier, said to him, know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs. They will be enslaved and oppressed 400 years. And also I will execute judgment on that nation they will serve. And afterward they will be set free and come out with great wealth. Genesis 15.13-14.
The land not theirs, of course, was Egypt. And the time of this morning’s study takes place when The LORD GOD, Who is Yeshua The Messiah, has judged Egypt with ten horrific plagues, leading the children of Israel out of Egypt under the leadership of Moses. And the Jewish people, along with a mixed multitude of people, are headed to the Promised Land, the land of Canaan which GOD renamed Erets Y’Israel, The Land of Israel. But dangers confront the people. The Egyptian army will suddenly pursue after them, and the Red Sea is before them.
Let’s read EXODUS 14.1-8.
EXODUS 14.1-2 VERSE 2 PI-HAHIROTH in Hebrew is Pee ha he rote meaning the mouth of the gorges. A gorge is a small canyon.
Pi-Hahiroth was a place or town near the beginning of the Red Sea at today’s Suez Canal.
The Red Sea begins at the modern-day Suez Canal in the area of Cairo and the Sinai Peninsula, and flows down between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, by Ethiopia and Yemen, and flows into the Arabian Sea.
MIGDAL in Hebrew is MEEG DOLE meaning watchtower.
BAAL-ZEPHON in Hebrew is BAH AL-TSEE FONE meaning a place of Typhon which is or was a place of Typhon the evil demon of the Egyptians, or a Canaanite diety of that name that was worshipped in Egypt.
So this is the place where the children of Israel were about to cross the Red Sea on dry ground. And the Egyptian people in those towns were about to see a sensational event that will be talked about forever. That GOD is The LORD, Yehovah, the self-existent eternal GOD, and His Name and Title is Yeshua The Messiah, the Creator of the universe, the Judge and Ruler of history, the supreme Law-giver.
EXODUS 14.1-3 VERSE 3 Entangled in Hebrew is BOOKH meaning confused and disturbed.
So GOD told Moses, Pharaoh WILL SAY to the children of Israel, they are entangled in the land, the wilderness has shut them in.
EXODUS 14.4 Here is evidence and proof of the mysterious, inexplicable, supernatural power of GOD Almighty, because it is GOD Who moved Pharaoh to say of the children of Israel, they are entangled in the land. The wilderness has shut them in And it was The LORD GOD Who hardened Pharaoh’s heart, taking control of him that he and his armies would chase after the children of Israel with the idea of killing them.
With that said, it is The LORD GOD Who creates history, and history’s end-results, and everything in between. Because GOD has power and rule over every human being, because GOD lives in every human being. His Spirit is Life in every person when He breathed the Breath of Life into every human being at birth. Thus, it is GOD, Who is Yeshua The Messiah, Who guides and directs everyone’s life, and sets in motion all history. He knows beforehand its outcome because history is The Plan of GOD, and He will do all that He purposes, because He is GOD.
LET’S READ EXODUS 14.1-9 Which is all of GOD.
This was all GOD’s doing, because The Spirit of GOD lives in all humanity. He is life, and He is our life. And He directs all lives as it pleases Him. As The Bible says, how can anyone understand his or her own way? Our course of life is of The LORD.
PROVERBS 16.9, PROVERBS 21.1, PROVERBS 20.24, GENESIS 2.7, ISAIAH 9.6(5)
The Spirit of GOD, Who is GOD Almighty, Yeshua The Messiah, also lives in the animals, and in everything else, giving them life, and/or keeping everything together. By Him all things consist. COLOSSIANS 1.17.
PSALM 24.1 Fulness means all and everything. Everything on earth belongs to The LORD because He created the earth and everything in it, or on it. His Spirit lives in everyone and everything.
DEUTERONOMY 10.14 The same applies to everything in Heaven.
Let’s look at Deuteronomy 10.14-22 because I believe these words are an invitation to everyone.
DEUTERONOMY 10.14-22 Again, I believe these words are an invitation by GOD Almighty to all non-Jewish people to join in with Israel, the Jewish people. Not converting to Judaism but doing that which GOD has commanded the Jewish people, to be their GOD, and they His people. To obey The LORD your GOD by keeping His Law of Moses that originate from GOD, Who is Yeshua your Messiah. To keep His Statutes and Commandments. And to know and understand that there is only One GOD Who is The Father, The Messiah, and The Spirit, Who are all one and the same.
Let’s return to the subject of GOD living in all humanity. You might ask me, if GOD lives in everybody, why is there so much evil in the world? Why? Because GOD has cursed the ground we walk on because of disobedience to Him. Rejecting His Law of Moses which is GOD’s Law that all HIS Creation should live by. All GOD’S teachings and laws are written in The Bible. Sin is breaking The Law of Moses. 1John 3.4. Sin, and evil, and disobeying GOD’s Laws began by satan early in The Creation. And satan’s teaching continues on into today. his doctrine is, you don’t have to obey GOD’s Commandments and Laws. You hear it often today.
GENESIS 2.17, GENESIS 3.1-4, GENESIS 3.14-17
(Genesis 3.17) According to Webster’s Disctionary, a curse is evil, doom, misfortune, trouble, etc.
THE CURSE OF EVIL IS BECAUSE OF SIN, TRANSGRESSING THE LAW OF MOSES. 1 JOHN 3.4.
ISAIAH 13.11 Evil in Hebrew is RAH meaning wrong. Transgressing GOD’s Law is wrong.
WICKED in Hebrew is RAH SHAH – meaning ungodly, not obeying GOD.
INIQUITY in Hebrew is AH VONE meaning sin. Sin is breaking GOD’s Law; not doing it.
So why the evil? It’s all because of disobedience to GOD, violating His Laws, and not doing what GOD commands. And that will be the cause for the end and destruction of the world. Because the peoples of the world have transgressed GOD’s Laws, changed His Laws, and broken the everlasting Covenant. His Word and His Law. ISAIAH 24.5-6, PSALM 105.7-10
Let’s continue on with GOD, Pharaoh, and the children of Israel.
EXODUS 14.10-12 O ye of little faith. GOD promises good, but the people fear. Sound familiar? This reminds me of an event and teaching of Messiah that took place with Him and His disciples.
MATTHEW 17.14-20 Thus, I would have to say, most of us have little faith, or no faith. Because if we had faith, we would be moving mountains. That is the power of faith, and nothing would be impossible for us.
UNBELIEF in Verse 20 means faithlessness, lack of faith in GOD.
Thus Yeshua said, if we have the faith of a mustard seed, or if we have faith as tiny as a mustard seed, nothing would be impossible for us.
So with the Red Sea staring them in the face, the children of Israel were terrified of the Egyptian army charging after them. So they did what most of us would do. They were scared to death, and they complained because they had no faith, but not all. Sounds like life.
They h
ad no faith in GOD’s words of assurance when The LORD GOD told Moses at the burning bush to tell the elders of Israel, The LORD GOD of your fathers, The GOD of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob appeared to me saying, “I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt, and I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.” EXODUS 3.16-17. GOD will do it all. He is our Protector, always.
And many of us are no different. We know GOD’s words of assurance, even His promises and guarantees. But when trouble comes, many of us fear and complain. O we of little faith. So the Apostles asked The LORD, Increase our faith. Here’s His answer. LUKE 17.5-10
So, how do we increase our faith? Actually GOD increases our faith when we obey our Master Who is GOD Almighty, Yeshua The Messiah, by doing our duty as servants of GOD, obeying HIM.
Here are some added words that may help your faith.
PROVERBS 3.1-6
VERSE 5 Don’t trust in yourself, but trust in The LORD GOD, The Creator of Heaven and earth. And obey GOD’s Law of Moses, the same words Yeshua spoke to His Apostles.
EXODUS 14.13 And finally for our study this morning, in all troubles, and this world is filled with them, Fear Not. Stand firm in The LORD, and see the Salvation of The LORD your GOD. Salvation in Hebrew is Yeshua, Deliverance.
Moses was a man of faith. He believed GOD, and he obeyed GOD. A good example for all of us.
So in conclusion, here are some wonderful words from The Bible that celebrate, and extol and honor GOD’s Law of Moses.
PSALM 119.72, 89, 92, 97-104, 126-127, 129-131, 142-144, 151-152, 155, 159-160, 162, 165, 172-176
So I think on the words of Deuteronomy 10.14. Behold, the Heaven, and the Heaven of heavens is The LORD’s your GOD. The earth also, with all that is in it. All The LORD your GOD asks of you is the same He asked of the children of Israel. Obey Him. And GOD will increase your faith. Messiah will give you eternal life, and so much more will be given to you when you obey God and keep His Law of Moses, His Commandments, and His Statutes.
Shalom, Ira Weinstein
GOD LIVES IN YOU, AND EVERYONE ELSE. EXODUS 14.1
Shalom. Our teaching this morning will be from Exodus 14.1. So let’s read Exodus 14.1-2.
EXODUS 14.1 The LORD spoke to Moses. I believe that GOD spoke to Moses by speaking into his mind rather than with an open voice as when people speak to each other. Yes, later on GOD often spoke to Moses Face to face, but here I believe GOD spoke to Moses inside his mind. Only he heard His Voice. And GOD is Yeshua The Messiah, The Father, The GOD of Creation, Ha Shem.
OUR TEACHING THIS MORNING will be about the Spirit of GOD, Who is GOD, living in us, giving us life. Because He is Life. He is our life, and the Life and breath of every living being. GOD is Spirit and He fills Heaven and earth. He is everywhere in everyone, and every living thing. He is Life. GOD is even in the stones and rocks, Matthew 3.9, Luke 19.40. His power and authority are over everyone and everything because His Spirit Who lives in us guides and directs everyone’s life, Proverbs 16.9. It is GOD Who determines all outcomes in our life and every end result in history. Jeremiah wrote, O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man that walks to direct his steps, Jeremiah 10.23. Proverbs 20.24 reads, man’s goings are of The LORD. How can a man then understand his own way?
The LORD GOD Almighty rules, guides, and directs history. He is the center of operations, the command post, the nerve center of world history. GOD has predetermined, preordained and predestined everything in our lives, and everything in history. Even hurricanes and earthquakes and the like. GOD planned everything before the Creation, and we are carrying out His plan exactly as He designed it, and will continue to carry out His plan even throughout eternity.
We cannot see GOD. We cannot feel GOD. But The LORD GOD Almighty is not only in us giving us life and breath, The LORD GOD Almighty works within us, and we don’t even know it. But yes, we have a mind of our own to do or not do. But GOD directs our steps to do whatever He pleases. He gives us words to speak and paths to lead. History is in His Hand. He will do all His pleasure.
And this study from the Bible will prove just that, and perhaps give us a better understanding of life.
Let’s look at Genesis 2.7, the creation of man.
GENESIS 2.7 Life is from GOD. And the breath of life is the Spirit of GOD. And the Spirit of GOD Who is GOD Himself lives in every living human being. He is our life and breath.
In Hebrew the breath of life is neeshmaht khayeem. Khayeem is life plural, which I believe means life here on earth and depending upon where a person goes after death on earth, that person continues to live, either in Heaven, or the place that burns with everlasting fire. ISAIAH 66.24, ISAIAH 26.19
I am not talking about The Holy Spirit at this point. The Holy Spirit is another function of GOD and we will speak of that a little later in the study.
JOB 27.3 The life in us that causes us to live and breathe is GOD Almighty.
JOB 32.8 The spirit of man is GOD Almighty. And the Spirit of the Almighty GOD gives mankind understanding. And that understanding is intelligence and skills to understand, to learn and do.
JOB 33.4 Not only has the Spirit of GOD made us, He has given us life. By Him we live and breathe.
Let’s look at ACTS 17.28
ACTS 17.28 In Him we have our being. That is, we are who we are. And that is also from GOD.
GOD is the life-giver. It is His spirit that gives us life, and is our life in us. Thus the Spirit of GOD lives in all humanity whether that person is good or bad. And Yeshua is Life because He is GOD. He is the One GOD of Creation, GOD The Father, GOD Almighty, Ha Shem. Yeshua is GOD, the giver of life, and He is the life in us.
Let’s look at JOHN 1.4. In Messiah was and is life. And His light, when received correctly by obeying His Law of Moses, His commandments and statutes, is Truth and everlasting Life. And so much more. Thus Yeshua is Life because He is GOD Almighty. And when receiving Him accurately according to His Biblical teaching, you have light as opposed to darkness. You have life as opposed to spiritual death.
JOHN 5.21 Quicken means to make alive, give life. And only GOD Almighty can quicken and make alive again. And Yeshua The Son of GOD is GOD Almighty. JOHN 10.30
JOHN 11.25-26 Only GOD Almighty can speak these words of John 11.25 & 26, that He, Yeshua The Messiah is GOD Almighty and He is the Resurrection and Life. And whosoever lives and believes in Messiah according to the teachings of Scripture will never die. Only GOD Almighty has everlasting Life in Him. And GOD Almighty is Messiah Yeshua, and the Spirit of GOD.
1 JOHN 5.11 The Son of GOD is The Mighty GOD, The Everlasting Father, The GOD of Creation, The GOD of Life. And eternal life comes only from GOD Who is Yeshua The Messiah, Who is Almighty GOD, Who is The Son of GOD. And there is only One GOD. Deuteronomy 6.4.
Many Jewish people fail to believe that The Messiah Yeshua is GOD Almighty, Ha Shem. And many Christians fail to understand that Yeshua, even when He was in the flesh as a human being is GOD Almighty, The Father, The Son, and The Spirit. His Law and Commandments are The Law of Moses to be obeyed. And Yeshua is the giver of life Who gives eternal life. There is only one GOD, NOT three different and distinct gods. GOD can appear any way He wants. He is GOD, even The Son of GOD.
JEREMIAH 23.24 The word fill in Hebrew is MAHLAY meaning to fill, become full. Picture a bottle filled to the top with water. That is how The Spirit of GOD Who is GOD, fills Heaven and earth, and everyone and everything everywhere.
COLOSSIANS 1.17 By Him, Messiah, all things consist, they are kept together.
Let’s read verses 15 and 16.
VERSE 15 Messiah is the image of the invisible GOD. Meaning Messiah is the VERY BEING of the invisible GOD.
VERSE 16 Messiah, The Son of GOD is GOD Almighty. He created all things, and all things that have life were given life by Yeshua, GOD Almighty.
It is the Spirit of GOD that gives life, and is Life. And it is the Spirit of GOD in this planet earth that makes it vibrant and alive with life. Mother nature is a man-made fairy tale. Father GOD creates nature including storms like Sandy. All cataclysmic disasters are of GOD, and brought on by GOD because people just about everywhere disobey GOD. Read about the flood in Noah’s time, and Sodom and Gomorrah in Lot’s time.
For example. A certain Pastor I heard recently in his TV message to his congregation, taught them that sin is obeying The Law of Moses. SIN, the Bible teaches, is BREAKING THE LAW OF MOSES, 1 JOHN 3.4. You are in the bondage of sin, the Pastor said, when you obey The Law of Moses. How misleading and deceived so many are today. Thus the storms will continue, wars will rage on, and earthquakes will tear this planet apart because of teaching like that, and people living unGODly lives, according to the widespread teaching of disobedience to GOD Almighty.
DEUTERONOMY 30.15-20 This is the teaching of the entire Bible from Genesis through Revelation. See Matthew 7.23
I have to say, the choices we make are of GOD Whose Spirit lives in us, and He is our Life. It is GOD Who directs our steps. PROVERBS 16.9
JEREMIAH 27.5 GOD has made us. He is our Life and breath. And He gives whatever He chooses to whomever He chooses.
And it is because o
f GOD we come to GOD Who is Yeshua The Messiah. HEBREWS 7.25
Because the Spirit of GOD in us, directs our steps. He even makes intercession for us to The Father when we mess up.
1 JOHN 3.20 If we feel guilty about something, GOD’s love for us is greater than our guilt. GOD knows everything about us because He lives in us, and is our life.
PSALM 50.11 GOD knows the birds and the wild animals, and all living creatures, because He created them, and lives in them. He is their life also.
Let’s look at some words of comfort because GOD loves you. ISAIAH 43.2, 3, 5, 7
And for the elections that took place this past Tuesday, GOD sets up leaders, and removes them, for His purpose. DANIEL 2.19-21, DANIEL 4.35
And by the way, just to confirm that GOD’s plan for humanity and all history was completed before the Creation, let’s look at HEBREWS 4.3.
Let’s talk about THE HOLY SPIRIT for a moment. The Holy Spirit is also GOD Almighty, Yeshua The Messiah. Also, THE SPIRIT OF GOD, Who is Life, living in all living creatures, is also GOD Almighty, Yeshua The Messiah.
However, The Holy Spirit of GOD has an added function. First of all, GOD gives The Holy Spirit to those who love Him, and keep His Commandments which are The Law of Moses. The Holy Spirit is our Comforter Who Comforts us when we rely on The LORD GOD Almighty, and trust in Him, rather than trusting in ourselves. And The Holy Spirit lives in us forever. He gives us eternal life to be with Him forever here on earth, in the 1,000 year Millennium, and in Heaven. And The Holy Spirit teaches us the truth about GOD that is taught in The Bible.
JOHN 14.15-23, 26, ACTS 5.32, ACTS 15.19-21
(Acts 15.21) Moses here is The Law of Moses. The teaching is this. Go to a synagogue, hear the teaching of The Law of Moses, learn it, do it, and obey it.
And finally, some examples that The Spirit of GOD lives in us, and directs the lives of all mankind.
Peter denied The LORD three times before the rooster crowed. Peter was a mighty man of GOD, but GOD humbled him, even tested him, and moved him to deny Messiah three times before the rooster crowed.
Yeshua was killed when He said He would be killed. During the Passover. It was GOD’s plan of Salvation, and GOD led all those involved to carry out His plan by killing Messiah, shedding His blood, and making Him our atonement for the forgiveness of sins for all the world.
And the events of The Exodus, all preordained by GOD. From Joseph being taken into Egypt as a slave, to Jacob leading 66 Jews into Egypt because GOD brought about a famine in the land. And GOD making Israel a great nation in Egypt of some 3 million. And after 400 years of slavery, and GOD foreordained that as well, GOD led them out to the Promised Land, The Land of Israel, by the hand of Moses.
Everything is appointed by GOD, and carried out by all humanity, because GOD has breathed His Spirit of Life into every living being. GOD lives in us, and He is our Life and breath. And it is He Who directs the lives of every human being to do all that GOD Almighty pleases. How then can a man understand his own way? It is GOD Who leads us.
GOD ENTERED HISTORY THROUGH THE JEWISH PEOPLE.
EXODUS 13.17-22
Shalom. Our teaching this morning will be from Exodus 13.17-22. The LORD GOD Almighty, Who is Yeshua The Messiah, did something never done in the history of mankind, nor has been done since. The LORD took to Himself a nation from inside another nation and brought the children of Israel out of Egypt by miracles and wonders and by terrors, and led that nation of some three million people to their own land Canaan which GOD renamed Israel. That is where we are at this point in our studies from the Book of Exodus, GOD leading His people to the promised Land along with a mixed multitude that joined them.
READ EXODUS 13.17-22
EXODUS 13.17-18 Question? Where is the way of the land of the Philistines, the way that GOD DID NOT lead the children of Israel to the promised Land?
According to maps of the Biblical route of the Exodus, the way of the land of the Philistines was east from Goshen where the Children of Israel lived, through the northern Sinai along the Mediterranean Sea. A route that would have led the people directly into Canaan close to Gaza and the other cities where the Philistines were established.
Thus The LORD GOD led them south. He was concerned they might have a change of heart and return to Egypt because of potential wars. So The LORD led them south down to southern Sinai in the Sinai Peninsula where it is believed Mount Sinai is. Then north where they would cross the Red Sea into today’s Jordan or Saudi Arabia. From there, GOD continued to lead them north where the children of Israel conquered much of today’s Jordan which was allocated to the tribes of Reuben and Gad. And then up to what is today called the Golan Heights, which was allocated to the half tribe of Manasseh. Then the people crossed the Jordan River to conquer and occupy the land of Canaan from the very southern part of today’s Israel, and north to Lebanon and Damascus in Syria, not without fighting and wars which were won with the mighty Hand of GOD.
Those boundaries are recorded by GOD in Genesis 15.18-21 and Numbers 34.1-12. Israel’s borders in The Millennium, The Messianic Era for 1,000 years, will be completely fulfilled when GOD expands them to the Euphrates River which will include much of today’s Syria and Iraq. Those are the future days when The LORD will be our GOD dwelling with us, and David will be a Prince. And GOD will make a covenant of peace with us where there will be showers of blessings. EZEKIEL 34.22-26
Let’s talk a little bit about the Philistines while we’re on the subject of the way of the land of the Philistines.
The Philistines are first mentioned in The Bible in the days of Abraham some 4,000 years ago. Their land was established in Canaan in Gaza along with other connecting cities. Gaza today is controlled by Hamas, and like Hamas, the Philistines were fierce enemies of Israel.
The Philistines originate from Noah’s son Ham. Along the way they migrated to the Aegean which today is believed to be the Island of Crete, a Greek Island south of Athens in the Aegean Sea which is part of the Mediterranean Sea. Genesis 10.8,14.
Genesis 10.14 Philistim in Hebrew is Peh leesh teem meaning Philistines.
GENESIS 21.32-34, JOSHUA 13.1-3, AMOS 9.7
(Amos 9.7) Caphtor is thought to be the Greek Island of Crete. Kir was a city in Moab, today’s Jordan. Isaiah 15.1
When David became king of Israel, he succeeded in ridding Israel of the Philistine menace. The Philistines as a people are not heard of today.
2 SAMUEL 5.17-25 Shortly thereafter, the Philistines never became a major threat to Israel. Today, the Philistines are extinct. In 135 C.E., A.D., Rome renamed GOD’s land of Israel Palestine after the name Philistine.
EXODUS 13.19 Joseph made the children of Israel swear that when GOD visits them, they are to carry up my bones from here to the land GOD promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Joseph loved his people and The LORD His GOD. And Moses kept that oath some 450 years later. The Jewish people kept good records.
GENESIS 50.24-26, JOSHUA 24.32
Today, Shechem is occupied by the Palestinians in the Land of Israel, in the West Bank, in the modern day city of Nablus. And today, much of the world protest that Israel is the occupier when one third of the world’s population has a Bible in their living rooms, or in their studies, while another billion or so people know the truth but reject it. The West Bank is in the land of Israel where the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh were settled and established in the land that GOD gave to the Jewish people for an everlasting possession. Those that despise Israel should visit the Biblical Scriptures of Genesis 12.3 and Matthew 25.31-46. Those who bless the Jewish people will inherit the Kingdom of GOD. That is Heaven. Those who curse the Jewish people will be sent to everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Those are the words of The Messiah Yeshua Who is Almighty GOD, The Creator of Heaven and earth and all humanity.
EXODUS 13.20 Succoth in Egypt was southeast of Goshen not far from where the Jewish people lived. The Sinai desert may have been known as the wilderness of Etham. NUMBERS 33.1-8
EXODUS 13.21-22 When the cloud of The LORD GOD was taken up, and rose from over the tabernacle, the tent and portable Temple at the time, the children of Israel set out on their travels to the promised Land. But when the cloud remained, the people set up their tents until the cloud was taken up. And in the night time, fire appeared in the cloud in the sight of all Israel. That was the Presence of The LORD their GOD. NUMBERS 9.15-23
With the appearance of the cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night, The Bible says in Verse 21, And The LORD went before them by day IN a pillar of cloud, and by night IN a pillar of fire. The children of Israel saw the Presence of GOD, His Shikynah dwelling with them all the time they were in the wilderness. The Shikynah glory is The Presence and the Appearance of GOD Almighty Who is Yeshua The Messiah Himself Almighty GOD.
LUKE 2.8-11 VERSE 9 The glory of The LORD, the Shikynah, is GOD Himself, and The LORD GOD is Messiah Yeshua.
AND VERSE 11, The Saviour is Messiah Yeshua, The LORD GOD, The Holy One of Israel, our King. ISAIAH 43.3, 11, 15
Getting back to the Exodus, GOD has fulfilled His promises to Abraham and the Jewish people by taking the people out of Egypt and giving them the Land of Israel. And GOD fulfilled His Covenant with Abraham of His permanent relationship with Israel and the Jewish people. He is our GOD, and we are His people forever.
And that Covenant applies to all people who join in with Israel through faith in Messiah Yeshua and observe GOD’s One Law, The Law of Moses.
And GOD fulf
illed His promise to Abraham to make of him a great nation with the phenomenal growth of the children of Israel from 70 people to 3 million.
GENESIS 12.2
In Judaism, it is said that the Book of Exodus is arguably the most important Book in The Bible since it presents the major groundbreaking events in Israel’s history and important parts of the Jewish religion. Themes that have reverberated throughout Jewish and western history. The enslavement of the children of Israel, the great leadership of Moses, the ten plagues, the Passover Festival, the splitting and crossing of the Red Sea, the manna from Heaven, GOD’s giving of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, which is the beginning of GOD’s Law of Moses. And The Covenant GOD fulfilled appointing Israel and the Jewish people as GOD’s Chosen People to be His Witnesses and His Servant. Isaiah 43.10
But Exodus is also an important Book for Believers in the Jewish Messiah Yeshua. The Messiah Yeshua is GOD Almighty, the Father Who appeared to Moses in the flame of a burning bush. The Messiah Yeshua is also The Angel of The LORD Who appeared to Moses in a flame of fire out of the bush. And it is The Messiah Yeshua Who told Moses that His Name is I AM that I AM, and Yehovah.
What is important to understand is that Yeshua is GOD, The GOD of Creation Who led the Jewish people into Egypt by Joseph to make of them a great nation. And He took them out of Egypt under the Hand of Moses. It is important to know that Yeshua is The LORD, and that He is GOD, and there are no others. It is important to know that it is The Messiah Yeshua, The Mighty GOD of Israel Who gave Israel and the world Statutes, and Laws, and Commandments to keep, that it may go well with you and your children after you for obeying them. And it is The Messiah Yeshua Who is GOD ALMIGHTY, Who fills Heaven and earth, Who gave Israel and all the world the Jewish Messiah Yeshua as a human being. Yes, GOD made Himself a human being. Is anything too hard for the LORD GOD? Of course not. Yeshua The Messiah is GOD and He is our Saviour. He is our atonement Who died as a human being, and shed His blood for you and me to forgive us our sins, and remember them no more. It is Yeshua The Messiah, our King, The Holy One of Israel Who is our way to the Kingdom of Heaven, eternal life in Paradise.
EXODUS 3.1-4, 13-15, EXODUS 6.1-3
And the New Testament is proof.
JOHN 1.3 Messiah is GOD The Creator, Yehovah, Ha Shem.
JOHN 8.58-59 Messiah is I AM, I AM That I AM.
JOHN 4.25-26 Messiah Yeshua is The Messiah
JOHN 14.9 Messiah Yeshua is also The Father, GOD, Who fills Heaven and earth. JOHN 12.45
JOHN 14.15-18, 22-23 Messiah Yeshua is The Spirit, and The Holy Spirit.
Back to the Book of Exodus. A central theme in the first fourteen chapters is the stubborness of Pharaoh. His rejecting GOD’s command to let the people go that they may serve The LORD. Pharaoh, like all others who do not know GOD, do not obey Him.
EXODUS 5.1-2
However on the contrary, obeying GOD is knowing GOD, and that person will be blessed.
1 JOHN 2.3, JAMES 1.25
The Laws in The Ten Commandments that GOD gave to Israel and all the world are laws between human beings and GOD, and Laws between one human being and another. Three of those Laws in the ten became established characteristics of Judaism which Jews have defended often with their lives. The requirement to worship The One and only GOD, The LORD Yehovah. The requirement to have no idols. And the requirement to observe the Saturday Sabbath on the seventh day of the week.
EXODUS 20.1-17
VERSE 6 The same words Yeshua spoke in John 14.15, If you love Me, keep My Commandments. Messiah’s Commandments are The Law of Moses.
The Bible tells us that keeping GOD’s Law and obeying it is our wisdom and understanding. It is GOD’s Law that prepares your heart to wisdom and leads you in the paths of righteousness. Every Word GOD speaks is His Law. And every Word of GOD is His Will.
DEUTERONOMY 4.5-8, PSALM 40.8
PSALM 90.12 We apply our hearts to wisdom by obeying GOD’s Law.
MATTHEW 7.21 Looking into the perfect Law of liberty, that is GOD’s Law of Moses, and doing the works in it, James wrote, That person will be blessed for doing The Law. Messiah says here, That person will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven for doing the Will of The Father in Heaven. The Will of The Father in Heaven is for us to obey His Law, The Law of Moses. (Psalm 40.8)
Think on this for a moment. GOD entered history through the Jewish people, His Witnesses who wrote the entire Bible. The Jewish People are commanded by GOD to know and understand the LORD GOD, to know and believe Him. That He is The One and only GOD, and beside Him there is no other. By being His witnesses, the Jewish People are commanded by the LORD GOD to give all the world The Laws of GOD, His Statutes and Commandments to be obeyed. God appointed the Jewish People to be His witnesses to declare to Israel and the world that The LORD GOD is our Saviour Who saves and delivers. He is our Redeemer, The Holy One of Israel, The LORD our GOD, our Holy One, The Creator of Israel, our King. He is Messiah Yeshua. And that is the teaching of The Bible, and Jewish people wrote it.
Yes, God appeared to others well before the Lord took Abraham out of the Gentiles and created the Jewish People. But it was Moses, a Jew from the tribe of Levi, and the Jewish prophets and writers who brought the LORD GOD into history for the whole world to know starting when God told Moses what to write in Genesis 1.1, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. From Genesis through Malachi or in the Hebrew Bible, from Genesis through 2 Chronicles, and in the New Testament from Matthew through Revelation, the Bible is written entirely by Jewish People. GOD entered history throught the Jewish People.
In conclusion, The LORD GOD, Yeshua The Messiah is a Gift to you and me and everyone. All we have to do is receive Him, and cherish Him, and do what He says. And as Psalm 1.3 reads, You shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he or she does shall prosper.
Shalom, Ira Weinstein