Author: songofmary

As Numerous as the Sand on the Seashore…

After Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice on Mount Moriah, God blessed him and said because Abraham had offered his only son as a sacrifice to God, Abraham’s offspring would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore.

 

I traveled home to Texas this past summer and we went to Galveston to swim in the surf and walk along the beach.  However, we were never able to even get down on the beach at any place because seaweed had washed on shore along the entire coast, and the rotting piles of it created a stench that made the eyes water, and also created an unhealthy sulfuric haze in the air.

 

I found in the news that not only the Gulf Coast was affected, but the Atlantic coast, and English coastline as well:  all were covered in rotting seaweed, with little sign of sand anywhere.

 

It occurred to me that this might be a sign from God that He is not going to multiply His people anymore, or a bold attempt by the enemy to blot out God’s promise to our Patriarchs that His Chosen Ones will be as numerous as the sand on the seashore.  Since this event is unprecendented in our recorded history, there is no doubt in my mind it is a spiritual omen of the possibility that man might be on the way out…

 

To correlate with this, as a midwife I have noticed a distinct and fairly recent increase in the  number of women having problems in labor and delivery.  The cesarean section rate is climbing rapidly, and this cannot always be attributed to aggressive management and unnecessary surgery.  Indeed, many more women and babies would be dying without surgical intervention and the reason is not easily discernible.  Infertility is not uncommon as well.

 

Add to this signs similar to the plagues of Egypt, like water turning to ‘blood’ in China, and diseased livestock with mad cow; along with the wars in the middle east where Muslims are killing Christians and Jews, and it does not bode well for humanity.

 

Perhaps obliterating the sand is just the first sign.  Maybe He will blot out the stars, and cover the dust of the earth as well, rendering life hopeless.

~~~~~~~

To Abram:  ~Genesis 15:5~ And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.

To Abraham:  ~Genesis 22:17~ That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

To Isaac:  ~Genesis 26:4~ And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;

To Jacob:  ~Genesis 28:14~ And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

Paul’s Thorn…

May have been his guilt over condoning the stoning of Stephen.  This memory would have necessarily kept him humble, and was perhaps a main factor in his mission to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles.

I Will be a Wall of Fire all around Her…

Then I raised my eyes and looked, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand.  So I said, “Where are you going?”  And he said to me, “To measure Zion, to see what is its width and what is its length.”  And there was the angel who talked with me, going out; and another angel was coming out to meet him, who said to him, “Run, speak to this young man, saying:  ‘Zion shall be inhabited as towns without walls, because of the multitude of men and livestock in it.

“For I,” says the LORD, “will be a wall of fire all around her, and I will be the glory in her midst.”

“Up, up!  Flee from the land of the north,” says the LORD; “for I have spread you abroad like the four winds of heaven,” says the LORD.  “Up, Zion!   Escape, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon.”  For thus says the LORD of hosts:  “He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye.  For surely I will shake My hand against them, and they shall become booty for their servants.  Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me.

“Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion!  For behold, I am coming and I will dwell in your midst,” says the LORD.  “Many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and they shall become My people.  And I will dwell in you midst.  then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me to you.  “And the LORD will take possession of Judah as His inheritance in the Holy Land, and will again choose Zion.”

“Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD, for He is aroused from His holy habitation!”  ~Zechariah 2:1-13

The Holy Trinity

It takes obedience to the Law and the Prophets,

Along with grace through faith in Jesus Christ,

To bring us unto God; to know His Divine Will and Living Word.

~~~~~~~

Paul argues that being obedient to the Law is not the means to salvation, but that is is faith through Jesus Christ that brings justification unto God.  He points out that otherwise, works would be enough for salvation, and that since all men are sinners, no matter how obedient to the Law we are, we will always fall short of attaining God’s Realm.  He quotes scripture in Genesis relating how,

“He [Abram] believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.”  ~Genesis 15:6

This is true, indeed.  It takes faith and belief in God, and His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, as our Lord Messiah to attain true everlasting salvation.

But scripture also says eleven chapters later that the LORD appeared to Isaac and blessed him by restating the covenant that He had made with his father, Abraham:

“…I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”  ~Genesis 26:4-5

This shows that it is not just due to faith and belief that we, and our descendants, are blessed by God, but that it is very much due to obedience that we, and our descendants, are blessed by God on earth.

This raises the question as to whether faith in Jesus Christ provides us with eternal life, and obedience to God provides with abundant blessings while we live out our earthly lives.  Indeed, the Old Testament did not speak to heaven, though it did speak about having plenty for our generation, and the generations to follow, if we loved God, obeyed Him, and had faith in Him.

Some Christians seem more concerned with attaining salvation in Heaven, while flouting God’s Law here on earth.  What does this mean?

I think it is obvious that both a grounding and foundation in God’s Law and commandments, along with  faith and belief that Jesus Christ is our Lord Messiah, which enables us to have flourishing lives here, and in the afterlife, are important.  Why, as God’s Chosen Ones, have we argued the importance of one over the other for millenia?

I personally want to please God, love Him, and know Him more than anything.  In practicing this, I want to know His ancient Law, as well as live by the example His Son gave.  I am saved forevermore by faith in Jesus’ sacrifice to me on the cross, but I am also living a righteous life under God’s Law, and will be blessed by Adonai Elohim for doing so.

I do not desire to forego either one of these.  Do you?

Called by God~

“Your birth and your nativity are from the land of Canaan;

Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.

As for your nativity, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut,

Nor were you washed in water to cleanse you;

You were not rubbed with salt nor swathed in swaddling clothes.

No eye pitied you, to do any of these things for you,

To have compassion on you;

But you were thrown out into the open field,

When you yourself were abhorred on the day you were born.

And when I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own blood,

I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’  Yes, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’

I made you thrive like a plant in the field;

And you grew, matured, and became very beautiful.

Your breasts were formed, your hair grew, but you were naked and bare.

When I passed by you again and looked upon you,

Indeed your time was the time of love;

So I spread My wing over you and covered your nakedness.

Yes, I swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you,

And you became Mine,” says the Lord God.

“Then I washed you in water;

Yes, I thoroughly washed off your blood, and I anointed you with oil.

I clothed you in embroidered cloth and gave you sandals of badger skin;

I clothed you with fine linen and covered you with silk.

I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your wrists,

And a chain on you neck.

And I put a ring in your nose, earrings in your ears,

And a beautiful crown on your head.

Thus you were adorned with gold and silver,

And your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth.

You ate pastry of fine flour, honey, and oil.

You were exceedingly beautiful, and succeeded to royalty.

Your fame went out among the nations because of your beauty,

For it was perfect through My splendor

Which I had bestowed on you,” says the Lord God.

~Ezekiel 16:3-14

“Then came Peter…

“Then came Peter to Him, and said, ‘Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?’ Jesus saith unto him, ‘I say not unto thee, until seven times: but, until seventy times seven.'” ~Matthew 18:21-22

This beautiful exhortation regarding forgiveness is made even more divine when we realize that Jesus Christ was speaking out against the ancient practice of the Tribe of the Lamechites to diabolically take revenge seventy-sevenfold, including upon the families of those who would so much as wound them; making modern day gang fighting appear almost like a daily tea.

“Then Lamech [great great great grandson of Cain] said to his wives:  ‘…I have killed a man for wounding me, even a young man for hurting me.  If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-seven fold.'”  ~Genesis 4:23-24

Jesus used his short time here as rabbi teaching especially contentious subjects which had either been long standing ancient practice, as seen here, or reasserting God’s Will where it digressed from Mosaic Law, as regarding divorce.  Sometimes he clarified word meanings, as when he told a story describing what a ‘neighbor’ was.  Almost all of what he chose to discuss with his followers, that we can see in the pages of scripture at least, made some important new point, in direct opposition to what had been the interpreted belief or status quo of that time.

He rocked the ancient world and conservative Jews so much in these ways.  Even though He was speaking mostly of love and compassion and forgiveness, and healed incessantly, it was impossible for the Pharisees to equate this message with God’s direct Word and Will.  They were so used to assuming God’s Will by reliance on their increasingly tortuous interpretation of the Law.

Not that the Law isn’t important!  It is.  We are commanded by God, by Jesus, and by the Apostles to keep the Law.  But not at the cost of the two greatest commandments.

Genealogy of Jesus

GOD

Adam

Seth

Enosh

Cainan

Mahalaleel

Jared

Enoch

Methuselah

Lamech

Noah

Shem

Arphaxad

Salah

Eber

Peleg

Reu

Serug

Nahor

Terah

Abraham

Isaac

Jacob

Judah

Perez

Hezron

Ram

Amminadab

Nahshon

Salma

Boaz

Obed

Jesse

David

Solomon

Rehoboam

Abijah

Asa

Jehoshaphat

Joram

Uzziah

Jotham

Ahaz

Hezekiah

Manasseh

Amon

Josiah

Jeconiah

Shealtiel

Zerubbabel

Abiud

Eliakim

Azor

Zadok

Achim

Eliud

Eleazar

Matthan

Jacob

Joseph

Jesus

Please notice how there are 10 generations from God to Noah.  10 generations from Noah to Abraham.  10 generations from Judah to David.  And 27 generations from David to Jesus.

10 is a divine number in numerology, and when it manifests in scripture it means the ‘1’ GOD, and the circle ‘0’, which is the complete realm of God, as also represented throughout the Pentateuch as 22/7, or pi, 3.  Notice how there are 3 groups of 10.  This is not a coincidence.  10 was not used as often as some other numbers perhaps, like 40 or 12, or 22/7, but this is probably because it had even more profound sacredness attached to it, as in the 10 commandments.  It is God’s number of completion representing the divine.  His other number of completion regarding stuff of man or the earth is 7.  Everything the Hebrews said and did was laden with meaning, many layers of meaning.

27 is a short-hand for 22/7, which is pi.  It also makes the number ‘9’ in numerology, which means completion.  Jesus Christ is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end of all things.  He was 33 when he died, which is usually considered the last master number in numerology, the highest level of perfection one can achieve.  Numerology is important because the Priestly Circle used it to conscript esoteric meaning into things that they wanted only those worthy to see, or those who had ears to hear…

Just wow.

Life [from God] Begins in the Womb, with Conception: Abortion is Another Manifestation of the Abomination of Desolation and the Great Tribulation

God changed Abram and Sarai’s names just at the time that He prepared them to conceive the heir to His everlasting covenant.  He changed their names to Abraham, and Sarah.  H is the letter ‘Hey’ in the Hebrew alphabet.  It means the ‘outbreathing of the Holy Spirit’, and its sound is made by breathing out.  We know that God breathed [Genesis 1: 2-3] all creation into being, so it is just a reaffirmation here to us in scripture that His breath going into Abram and Sarai is what made them parents.

“…God talked with him, saying:  ‘As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations.  No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham…Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan….'” [referring with certainty here to the future Isaac, not Ishmael, his son by Hagar]

“Then God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.  And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her [again!], and she shall be a mother of nations….'”  ~Genesis 17:3-5, 8, 15-16

Sarah got double blessings!  God blessed her with a son, then he blessed her again by blessing her son.

As God’s breath made a baby within Sarah, it changed her to be a completed woman, represented by the letter hey at the end of the sentence, and because the letter hey at the end of a name makes it feminine.  Sarai had been somewhat lacking before, lacking the completeness of womanhood due to being barren.

It is God who gives the breath of life into us to create us.  And it is when that breath comes into us, that a woman and a man become parents to a living child, created from the living breath of God.  It isn’t when Isaac was born that God changed Abram’s and Sarai’s name, it was at or just before conception–He knew He was going to make them conceive Isaac, therefore the conception was as good as done.

Let no man or woman say that the fetus is not living, or that life does not count until birth.  This is blasphemy to God.  It is His power alone to give–and take–life.  Anything else is murder.

In the case of a pregnancy causing the mother to perish, there is scripture which speaks to this, though it is different that rabbinic literature available.  In this case, God allows the young to be taken, that the mother should live.  It is Deuteronomy 22, verses 6 and 7:  “If a bird’s nest happens to be before you along the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, with the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young; you shall surely let the mother go, and take the young for yourself, that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days.” 

Ancient men and women considered animals and eggs as food for themselves.  They did not have the luxury we have today of going to the grocery store to restock their larder, nor the luxury to have a multivariate diet.  When they happened upon a bird in a nest full of eggs it was like finding a small treasure!  It would be normal for an unGodly person to greedily take as much as he could, the mother and the eggs.  However, God understands that the mother’s life is more valuable, when young are still in the nest as eggs, or in the womb as a fetus.  Therefore, He says to take only the young and leave the mother alone.  In this way, the mother can make more young and life can continue.  Otherwise, both would perish and life might not continue.

This is the way it is with abortion too.  Only if the mother is in danger of perishing, shall the young be taken, so that she may live and produce more young.  In every other case, it is murderous to take the young.

Interestingly, this is what will happen in the Great Tribulation; mothers and fathers will eat their own young, and all except God’s chosen ones will perish.

Abortion is therefore a manifestation of the abomination of desolation coming in the Great Tribulation, which is what many so-called ‘first world’ countries are already practicing.

Psalm 19, a Psalm of David~

The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul;
The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;
The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes;
The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.

More to be desired are they than gold,
Yea, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
Moreover by them Your servant is warned, and in keeping them there is great reward.

Who can understand his errors?
Cleanse me from secret faults.
Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins;
Let them not have dominion over me.
Then I shall be blameless, and I shall be innocent of great transgression. ~Psalm 19:7-13