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Sermons Series 3:87, 24 March 2007
Love and Favour
Yahweh vs. Hollywood
Main Themes:
Minor Themes:
A couple of weeks ago my family and I sat down one the Sabbath afternoon to look at a movie made six years ago that I had never seen before called, In the Beginning and starring Martin Landau, Jaqueline Bisset and Christopher Lee. Some of you may know it. From the very beginning I sensed something 'not quute right' about - an alien spirit in it. The more we got into the movie the worse it got, chopping out important scriptural material, adding and interpreting and in subtle ways indirectly accusing Yahweh of being a partial Elohim. By the time it come to Joseph in Egypt, the film took such liberties with the facts that it became an outrage and I turned the TV off. As you have probably guessed this is not one of the movies I can in all good conscience recommend. In addition to all this, there is no doubt that it was a 'politically correct' film and shifted around blame for sin leaving one with an unpleasant taste in one's mouth. It misrepresented Yahweh's servants and left me feeling quite sick.
More than anything else, this kind of film underscores the terrible risks that one takes in trusting in movies to tell the Gospel story. They may be true and faithful to some extent but one thing than can never be is substitutes for the Scriptures themselves and certainly never for the Ruach haQodesh. When you watch a movie you are walking in the heart of the Director - it is his spirit that presses the buttons and gets you to emotionally react the way, and when, he wants. When you allow yourself to move in the emotional stream of a film you are walking in someone else's spirit, seeing through the window of his soul and with his eyes. What fightens me even more is the power of the media to condition the mind, something all dictators have understood and exploited to the full. Sometimes when having Bible discussions, both adults and children occasionally 'remember' not what is in Scripture but what they have seen in movies, and get the two confused. If we are going to watch movies about the Bible then it is worth seeing many different versions of the same events so that our children can understand that the Bible is 'seen' differently according to our natural dispositions, unresolved sin issues, and so on, and have intelligent comparitive discussions as they get older. And it is important to discuss these differences and continually return to the plain text of written revelation. I therefore make a point of sitting through new movies with them and commenting where a film diverges from Scripture. This they usually remember. They have become quite sharp and discerning.
We have many Bible films, some made by Christians, some made by Jews, and most by Hollywood. I think we have about seven different 'Lives of Christ', about four versions of Moses, and so on. Every single one tells the story a little differently differently, some radically differently. One of the worst, called The Bible/Jesus starring Jeremy Sisto and made in 1999, depicts a weak and confused Messiah who's not really sure what he's doing. He'd make a good politician. I call it the 'neo-Catholic hippie version' of the life of Christ.
Most take liberties with the Word of Elohim and all represent Yahweh and His great ones in different lights. As the head of the household entrusted to teach the truth and nothing but the truth, I - like other fathers and husbands - face a monumental task. I must listen carefully to the reactions and comments of family members so that I know how they are 'seeing' and 'hearing' what the movies are conveying to them so that I can sit with them and compare what they have seen and heard with what Scripture actually says. Just how many versions of the truth are there? How far should we or anyone else be allowed to interpret? Is it even possible to know the whole truth of events that occurred thousands of years ago in cultures that bear scant resemblance to ours?
When we read the Scriptures we do, of course, desire to be 'there', interacting with the main characters and seeing more than the words on the pages in our hands. There is a temptation to 'read between the lines' and try to figure the motives of the hearts of the men and women we read about. 'What does he really feel? Who's the real victim here?' Of course, there is no way that we cannot interpret and fantasise to some degree, and it is hard to always keep our imaginations in check. It is even harder not to 'read in' to the biblical accounts our own cultures and experiences. It therefore comes as a great surprise when we 'meet' the real characters for the first time through the revelation of the Ruach haQodesh. Certainly my perceptions of some of the personalities of the Bible have radically changed over the years.
To 'survive' the images and sounds portrayed to us as truth in movies we must be serious Bible students. Not only must we be good scriptorians and know our Bibles inside out - something that can only be done by careful and systematic study over many, many years - but we must also have a knowledge of history, culture, customs and human psychology.
Immediately, those who have only known one culture or spoken one language are at a major disadvantage because they are at once limited by a single sense of interpretive lenses. It was so obvious that the actors and actresses in the movie, In the Beginning, were 21st century people - their mannerisms, countenances, reactions and behaviours in general - in spite of being channelled into a script and into characters different from themselves - they betrayed a bias that inevitably would lead us away from the true Ruach. Most of them were doubtless unbelievers. They radiated their own spirits. And no matter how brilliant an actor or actress you are - no matter how skilled you are at creating or recreating psychic atmospheres - you cannot duplicate the true spirit of depicted events unless you have the true Ruach haQodesh! It is quite simply impossible.
An honest man can only ever adequately portray an honest character. It takes someone with a villainous heart to do credit to a villainous character. Because when you are acting out something that you are not, you are deceiving. How many times have you heard actors and actresses testify that they could really feel their parts? Some of them starting believing - if only now and then - that they were the parts. Complex and sometimes bewildering things happen to actors - and as we know, very, very few of them are actually happy, fulfilled people. And they themselves often testify that what it is that drives them is far removed from biblical standards of morality and ethics. Satan uses the media in order to deceive, both overtly and subtley, concerning the truth about Yahweh and His elohim from the past, and persuades us to see His friends and servants in ways that are stereotyped by the world and its philosophy. And who's agenda do you think such caricatures will serve? What is the goal of the emerging antichrist system? To merge all religions and philosophies into one.
We must not forget that acting was never a part of Hebrew culture. Acting, theatre and the like were introduced into Judea principally by the Hellenists. Ruach-life is not an act - it is a reality lived out by real people in relationship to the Ultimate Reality, Yahweh-Elohim. Now I realise, and accept, that through acting it is possible to recreate life situations that can educate the heart and mind. I have already in recent sermons spoken favourably of three such movies. However, I recognise that historically they are largely guesswork. What is important is the moral and spiritual lessons that can be conveyed by them. But when it comes to depicting the Word of Yahweh then the potential for spiritual mischief is tremendously great, not because I don't think we shouldn't be allowed to interpret, but because by nature we are suggestive and lazy - it is a lot easier to passively watch a movie than it is to sit and carefully read our Bibles. It requires a lot of work to know your Scriptures and a big time investment. It is much easier to sit in front of a TV and allow someone else to spoonfeed us with images and sounds that purport to tell us the story of scripture. But it is also dangerous - very dangerous.
Satan is the great 'actor'. His demonic hosts stage the greatest theatre productions anyone has ever seen, particularly when we're dreaming after having opened up demonic doors. They are masters at editing, cutting and pasting our life experiences into imaginary scenes. They can tap into our complex minds and weave convicing dramas which we believe are real and actively participating in - dramas that set up good cop/bad cop scenarious and cause our heart to make a series of crtical choices all designed to move us away from truth and Yahweh.
The majority of the movies and TV productions we are fed are designed to do that though usually the writers and producers have little ideas that they are being used, though some definitely do. We are presented with 'alternative realities' whitewashed to make them appear attractive and desirable. Having imprinted our minds with these alternative realities, we subconsciously - and occasionally consciously - try to live them out and make them 'happen' for us in our life-situations. The same thing happens in computer games. We are being conditioned to react according to the rules of the game creator. We are, without usually realising it, being trained to think, react and behave in the way that the script-writers want us to and then get frustrated when those in the world around us don't follow suit and 'fit' into this artificial world of ours.
I have been studying Scripture now pretty intensely for thirty years and it's only in recent years that I am beginning to feel that I have got a reasonably good grasp of them. Yet I know there is still so much to learn both about Yahweh's ways and about the Elohim and Yahweh's friends. I have looked at them through the eyes of numerous traditions and schools of thought. I have sat at the feet of scholars and seen them through their eyes and always I have been driven back to the pole star of scriptural interpretation which is to be found in this passage:
"And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of Elohim spoke as they were moved by the Ruach haQodesh" (2 Peter 1:19-21, NKJV).
But even believers who subscribe to Yahweh's view - because they love and believe Scripture - fall into other traps. And surely the greatest of these is when we confuse our own redeemed passions for the Ruach haQodesh Herself. We often mix feelings with ruach, and they are absolutely not the same thing because we view 'love' - that most important of words - through the meanings given us to it by our culture, and shaped more and more by the movies. Your chances of seeing, meeting ruach-love - firstborn love - are next to nil in the movies. And I'll attempt now to explain why. To show you how culture twists, distorts and ultimately destroys the essence of love, I have decided today to pick a single word which I can guarantee will trigger all sorts of emotions in people. And that word is favour from which we get the words'favourite' and 'favouritism'.
Many Bible students believe three things about Elohim. Firstly, that he is not partial or biased. Secondly, that He loves everyone alike equally. And thirdly, that He has no favourites. How many here agree with that proposition? Most of you I would imagine. Most people have this idea that Yahweh has such a big heart that He simply embraces everyone unconditionally. If you believe that then I have to congratulate you - you will welcome the Antichrist with open arms when he reveals himself because this is the message he will be teaching to persuade people to accept his One World Religion, his One World Government and his New World Order. It's a variation of the message of Antiochus Epiphanes IV that led to the Hasmonean revolt and to a terrible persecution to the death of the Judhaite nation. It's about as New Agey, spiritually borderless and anti-Torah as you can get and it has little to do with Yahweh's heart.
Let's plunge into the deep-end and shake the Hollywood-based spiritual foundations to the core. And when we have done that, let's see actually what Yahweh's love consists of. So to begin with, let's ask ourselves the qustion: does Yahweh love everyone equally? We'll start with Malachi:
"'Was not Esau Jacob's brother?' Yahweh says. 'Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his mountains into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals" (Mal.1:2-3, NIV).
And in case you are tempted to fall into the 'culturalist' trap of the liberals, and blame this on man's inferior view of Elohim compared to the 'true' New Testament 'version', let me remind you how the apostles of our Master Yah'shua the Messiah viewed this passage:
"Not only that, but Rebekah's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad - in order that Elohim's purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls - she was told, 'The older will serve the younger.' Just as it is written: 'Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.' What then shall we say? Is Elohim unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, 'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.' It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on Elohim's mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: 'I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display My power in you and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth.' Therefore Elohim has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden. One of you will say to me: 'Then why does Elohim still blame us? For who resists His will?' But who are you, O man, to talk back to Elohim? 'Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?'' Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?" (Rom.9:10-21, NIV).
I can only guess what some of you are feeling though I have a pretty good idea. Some are probably starting to think that I am about to preach some 'cultic' doctrine. Some are doubtless thinking that I am giving licence to indiscriminate partiality and favouritism. Many people jump to all sorts of conclusions when a scripture like Malachi 1:2-3 shakes their comfortable image of Elohim. Then they start wondering if maybe the Bible contradicts itself, and maybe it's not inspired after all, and maybe man's own corruption did in some way corrupt the revelation we call the Word of Elohim. And it is not uncommon for people to shipwreck their faith as they try to apply finite human reason and understanding to the Infinite.
Now if you think I am going to preach to you a sermon of unreasonableness you would be mistaken. About twelve years ago I preached what has come to be known as the 'New Covenant Salt Sermon'. I know at least one you here remembers that though it was a very long time ago. It shook the then Church up like no other sermon I gave. Some were outraged as I exposed the spirit of idolatry in the human heart. My task today is similar. I am here to shake some foundations and, Yahweh-willing, point to an aspect of the heart of Yahweh which may yet remain unknown and unreached by some of you.
What is going on in the Jacob-Esau controversy? Did Yahweh really 'hate' Esau the man? Or are the words 'love' and 'hate' just used as contrasts in the way Yah'shua said that our love for our families would seem like 'hate' compared to our love for Him? (Lk.14:26) The Hebrew word for 'hate' here - sane' - literally means 'odious' or to treat like an enemy. Yahweh permitted two brothers to emerge from the same womb who were the diametric opposite in spiritual nature. Esau was "godless", the New Testament tells us (Heb.12:16). What's worse, in some respects, is that his father was blind to this son's godlessness because of a weakness for fine food. We read in Genesis:
"Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob" (Gen.25:28, NIV).
So what do we have here? We have Rebekah favouring the godly Jacob - whom Yahweh loved - and Isaac favouring the godless Esau whom Yahweh hated. Whether this was always the disposition of the two parents towards their sons or not, we are not told. The movies, of course, love to expand on this story - I'm sure you have seen them. But the Bible is frustratingly silent. In just three verses it moves from the birth of the two boys to the selling of the birthright in which we are shown the value Esau puts on spiritual things. We learn he holds them with contempt and sees them as having the worth of no more than a bowl of soup. Scripture says: "Esau despised his birthright" (Gen.25:34, NIV). He despised his rank as his father's right-hand man. He despised his calling to teach the family Yahweh's ways - indeed, he chased after pagan Hittite women. A firstborn son was holy, set-apart and consecrated to Yahweh, and chosen by Him to lead and accept responsibility for the material and spiritual welfare of the extended family after his father's death. Esau had no intention of doing either which is why he had no compunction in selling his obligations to his younger brother who did. Such an attitude is odious to Yahweh - He hates it.
From the way the Genesis account is structured, it seems as though the Jacob and Esau were young men when this transaction too place. The years pass, we are told of the incident with Abimelech, revealing a weakness in Isaac similar to that of Abraham, and the next we know Isaac is old. Easu hasn't apparently changed. He is still godless and the story takes us from the birthright issue to the firstborn blessing. This is the formal transference of authority. Esau has apparently decided he wants this - he wants to be the ruler and successor of his father's family and estate. He is not at all unhappy about having power. But Rebekah knows he is incapable of wielding it righteously and will lead the family away from Yahweh. So she devises a plan of trickery which Jacob at length accepts - an act of deception which is to cost both dearly. You all know the story and I am not going to repeat it here.
What is Yahweh up to? Why has He permitted the godless Esau to be the firstborn? Why has he pushed Rebekah and Jacob into a really tough choice? What is the purpose in all of this? How is it that He 'loved' Jacob when Jacob was a deceiver and trickster? Is this an endorsement of deception? What does this tell us about the nature of Yahweh?
Well, as you have probably guessed, I am not going to answer all those questions. I am not going to shipwreck my soul and start thinking human thoughts about Yahweh or judging Him. Paul warned us in Romans not to. Paul asks us: "Is Elohim unjust? Not at all!" At this point we have to make a choice - to trust in Yahweh's justice or to question it. This is a life-determining choice. It's a vital choice and every serious Bible student has to make it in his spiritual journey. Some decide to judge Yahweh and go down the path of unbelief, separation and spiritual death. The rest, who have been touched by the love of Yahweh and know He is love (1 Jn.4:8,16) - though can't always explain it - hang on in faith and trust Him to reveal more to their finite hearts. The nature of Elohim takes us to a fork in the journey in life - we can carry on down the strait and narrow road or we can turn left and head into the waters of deism, atheism and death.
Who then is Yahweh? What do we do when we come across something that makes Him seem like an ogre - something that upsets the carefully constructed image of Him that we have? How do we reconcile that He is love and yet He hated Esau? Does Scripture say He hates anyone else? It would appear that knowing what Yahweh hates is critically important to our relationship with Him so lets take a look:
"To fear Yahweh is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behaviour and perverse speech" (Prov.8:13, NIV).
"For I, Yahweh, love justice; I hate robbery and iniquity" (Isa.61:8, NIV).
"This is what Yahweh-Elohim says: 'Just as I had determined to bring disaster upon you and showed no pity when your fathers angered me,' says Yahweh-Elohim, 'so now I have determined to do good again to Jerusalem and Judah. Do not be afraid. These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts; do not plot evil against your neighbour, and do not love to swear falsely. I hate all this,' declares Yahweh" (Zech.8:14-17, NIV).
"'I hate divorce,' says Yahweh-Elohim of Israel, 'and I hate a man's covering himself with violence as well as with his garment,' says Yahweh-Elohim" (Mal.2:16, NIV).
And yet Yahweh is forced, by His own Law of Justice, to do what He hates sometimes. He divorced Israel and Judah. He hates that any soul should be lost but He thrusts them down to hell when they defy and refuse Him. That is the price of free will. He has no choice because Satan accuses and demands his rights according to law.
What is Yahweh's heart like? Who is He? How can we know Him? How can we approach Him with a heart like His own? And how should husbands and fathers be toward their wives and children? Yahweh told Moses face to face:
"For I, Yahweh your Elohim, am a jealous Elohim, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments" (Deut.5:9-10, NKJV).
Question: do you believe and accept that? Are you willing to embrace such an Elohim? Do you think it is right to question that Yahweh curses? Is that loving of Him? What are the boundaries of love? How can a curse be redemptive?
Do you remember a couple of weeks ago I told the children the story of Mirab-baal? (2 Sam.4:4; 9; 16:1-4; 19:24-30; 21:7) This was the son of Jonathan and grandson of King Saul for whom everything seemed to go wrong. He was cursed, like his father, because of his gransfather's rebellion against Yahweh, Samuel and David. Everything went wrong for him and he ended up being a cripple after his nurse had an accident. He is eventually redeemed by the loving compassion of King David, the friend of Yahweh, and his cursing is turned into great blessings. All his wealth is restored to him and he has an honoured place at David's table.
It is very easy and very tempting to curse Yahweh. We can often feel abandoned and even despised. But all that is permitted has a loving purpose. All that happens is to give us the opportunity to make the choices that will give us every gift that heaven is capable of giving to us. It is to make us receptive to blessings when before we were hostile. It is not for us to know all the why's and wherefore's. It is enough to trust Yahweh on the basis of adequate revelation, because it is by faith:
"For in the gospel a righteousness from Elohim is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: 'The righteous will live by faith'" (Rom.1:17, NIV).
When a soul departs from Yahweh based on what they believe to be superior 'intelligence', 'wisdom', 'logic' or even 'common sense' they reveal one thing: a lack of faith. They have chosen to trust themselves rather than their Creator. They think they know better. And since that is always born of pride, Yahweh resists them. They have declared an unwinnable war against Elohim.
"We live by faith, not by sight" (2 Cor.5:7, NIV).
In other words, we live by actively trusting and not by what we think constitutes 'adequate evidence' but by what He decides is 'adequate evidence'. And what is the nature of that 'faith' or 'trusting'?
"You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone" (James 2:24, NIV).
True faith leads to right behaviours and pure actions. They then become the indices or identifying marks of our faith - whether it is real or not, and not mere words.
Having decided to trust in Yahweh-Elohim, we must then seek to understand more of His nature and ask the Ruach to change us within so that we, as men and women, and as boys and girls, can become like our Heavenly Father and Mother, respectively. Until the New Testament revelation, much about our Heavenly Mother was concealed, and indeed has remained concealed until the coming of the Sukkot annointing. As a fellowship we have been enormously blessed in understanding the Divine Female of the Elohim. We rejoice in the daily and annual anointings of the seven Ruachs. We love to learn about this aspect of the Sacred Heart of the Elohim but what we must be careful to remember is that the Ruach is a complimentary aspect of the Whole Elohim, and not some sort of 'replacement' for the Divine Male. There is a perfect dovetailing of the revelation of the Ruach haQodesh and the Torah revelation of Yahweh the Father. They are not contradictory. The Ruach reveals Yahweh-Elohim as a Father His spiritual children. She reveals sides of Him they may not initially see. Eve reveals Adam to her children. And unfortunately there is a tendency for the woman to be deceived by the dark male in the form of Satan - and the dark female in the form of Lilith - and to start being the wrong sort of companion to her husband. Paul said:
"I hope you will put up with a little of my foolishness; but you are already doing that. I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Messiah, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to Him. But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion (Gk. haplotes, singleness) to Messiah" (2 Cor.11:1-4, NIV).
One of Eve's failures was her abandonment of pure 'devotion' or 'single-mindedness' to Yahweh. She listened to an impure competing head. Here you will see Paul in the patriarchal or fatherly rôle jealously protecting and preparing his allegorical daughters - the Corinthian believers - for Yah'shua as a "pure virgin". He warns of Satan's goal - to destroy pure, set-apart or holy 'single-mindedness' or 'devotion'. As an allegorical Bride, the Messianic Community is supposed to be focussed solely on Yah'shua, just as a wife is to be focussed solely on her husband, as I taught you recently in my sermons on Holy Echad Marriage. This Greek word for 'singleness' and 'devotedness', from which we get the genetic term 'haploid', also carries with it the meaning of 'bountifulness' and 'simplicity'. It is this simple, overflowing single-mindedness of the bride toward the bridgroom that brings forth these spiritual fruits and destroys the demonic attempt to divide and conquer. We must be a single-minded people. It is a particular weakness of women not to be thus single-minded. Paul wrote:
"Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner" (1 Tim.2:14, NIV).
The catastrophic event in Eden has led to a carnal disposition that needs to be forcefully resisted by her until she has overcome it - the disposition to rebel both against this headship of her husband as well as the injunction to be single-mindeded and devoted to him in purity. It is at this point that believers and wives often go so terribly wrong because there is the need to understand how we can be bi-relational - relating in a singular and totally devoted way to Yah'shua as the allegorical Cosmic Bridegroom as well as to each other as brethren and sisters in the faith. I believe this is one of the greatest challenges. And men, no less than women, have this problem. Yahweh's solution is radical:
"To the woman He said, 'I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children.Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.' To Adam he said, 'Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' 'Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return'" (Gen.3:16-19, NIV).
Do you remember in the marriage sermons I recently delivered to you how it was that when it comes to instructions to the spouses in a marriage relationship, the Ruach always first directs the instructions to the woman, and then to the man? You will recall, that she was told to obey her husband and her husband was to love his wife. Do you notice that in the cursing here the same pattern is followed? Also, notice the respective burdens that each are to bear in mortality unconditionally as a feature of mortality? There are no promises anywhere in the Bible that say life will be easy on earth. Instead, we're told that this is a war zone and a testing ground. This is not a holiday camp or a retirement home.
The woman has two burdens to bear in this world: the pain of bringing children into the world and the battle to be obedient to her husband when the devil is doing everything to get her to rebel against him and divide her loyalties. The husband has been given a life full of thorns and thistles to uproot. His task is not particularly pleasant whether speaking of the literal production of bread or the spiritual. He has not only the literal ground of the earth to cultivate but the heart ground of his wife and children too - and his assembly if he is a pastor. Each has different spheres of responsibility. Indeed Paul amplified this when he said:
"Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. But women will be saved through childbearing - if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety" (1 Tim.2:14-15, NIV).
We recently had a discussion on this controversial scripture in our online group, some of you will remember. You will also recall the Aramaic version remders this passage a bit better:
"But she has life by the hand of her children, if they remain in faith and in love and in sanctification and in sobriety" ( 1 Tim.2:15, HRV).
Her primary stewardship under her husband is their children - whether biological or spiritual - which Satan will attack with all his power:
"And I (Yahweh) will put enmity (hostility) between you (Satan) and the woman, and between your offspring (Eve's) and hers (those that follow Eve's Elohim); he (Adam) will crush your (Satan's) head, and you (Satan) will strike his (Adam's) heel" (Gen.3:15, NIV).
Earlier I asked how it is that Yahweh favoured Jacob over Esau when both were sinners. Jacob was a deceiver. Why hate one and love the other? The answer lies in the difference between two kinds of sinner - one kind is repentant and the other isn't. One seeks Elohim and the other doesn't. One is an overcomer and the other simply couldn't care less. David was another one Yahweh loved - He even called him his 'friend'. Yet David was an adulterer and a murderer. Yet his son - the wisest man who ever lived - was not called Yahweh's friend. He started well but ended like Esau - a pagan and rebel. Yahweh favoured Solomon so long as he was true and faithful but His favour and blessings ceased when he turned away from his Elohim and embraced demons.
We need to understand how Yahweh's favour works and when it doesn't. We read:
"Yahweh looked with favour on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favour. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast" (Gen.4:4-5, NIV).
Abel was Yahweh's favourite. Why? Because he was obedient. Cain knew he had been rebellious, seeking to worship Yahweh the way he wanted to. So he lost favour with the Almighty. But he could have had that favour restored. All he had to do was repent and obey Him.
When we say we want to please Elohim, we are seeking His favour. We are seeking His approval and blessings. Because he was trusting and obedient we read that "Noah found favour in the eyes of Yahweh" (Gen.6:8, NIV). Abraham sought favour of his three heavenly visitors (Gen.18:3). Lot also sought favour from the angels (Gen.19:19). In fact, you will discover that right the way through the Bible the servants of Yahweh are seeking favour from Yahweh and from those set over them.
Now unfortunately we have an impediment in the English language which makes the idea of 'favour' in Christianity to be something negative. We all instinctively know that there is something wrong with 'favouritism', of course. Yahweh instructed in Torah:
"Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd, and do not show favouritism to a poor man in his lawsuit" (Ex.23:2-3, NIV).
In other words, there are two kinds of favour: one based in righteousness and justice, and the other based in pride and injustice. Our attitude both towards Yahweh and to those set over us should be the same as Moses who said to Yahweh:
"You have said, 'I know you by name and you have found favour with me.' If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favour with you" (Ex.33:12-13, NIV).
I don't intend to go through every passage in the Bible which speaks of seeking favour - there are over a hundred of them - but you will find the idea of seeking favour to be a highly desirable thing provided it is not rooted in pride, seeking selfish advantage or someone else's harm. It is right that we seek the favour of our heads, and most especially our Divine Head. It is right that we should labour to please them. But first we must better understand what this favour actually consists of.
There are two Hebrew words which we translate to the English word 'favour'. The first is chesed (or hesed) which is translated as 'mercy', 'kindness', 'lovingkindness' and 'goodness'. Unfortunately, when Luther translated this into German he used the word Gnade which is their word for 'grace'. However, it is wrong to translate chesed as 'grace' because it is a two-way word - it can be used both of Elohim and of man. When we use this of man, it carries with it the sense of 'steadfast love' to another human being or indeed to Yahweh Himself and it is often found in association with the word b'rit or covenant. It therefore denotes the attitude of faithfulness which both parties of a covenant should observe. Here are a couple of examples, the first illustrating Yahweh's chesed and the second man's:
"ThroughYahweh's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not" (Lam.3:22, NKJV).
"For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of Elohim rather than burnt offerings" (Hos.6:6, NIV).
This is two-way covenant-love. It is the first kind of 'favour' - if you are true and faithful to a head, then you are rewarded by a process of justice. But there is a higher favour and one we must not miss that in Hebrew is called hén. It is not covenantal and it's not two-way. It is used of the action of a superior - human or divine - to an inferior. It speaks of undeserved favour and is the word properly translated as either 'grace' or 'favour'. There are, of course, plenty of examples of this in the Bible:
"Yahweh was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that Yahweh was with him and that Yahweh gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favour in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned" (Gen 39:2-4, NIV).
Here's another:
"And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, 'Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favour ... At this, she (Ruth) bowed down with her face to the ground (to Boaz). She exclaimed, 'Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me-a foreigner?'" (Ruth 2:2,10, NIV).
Unlike chesed, no-one can show hén to Yahweh-Elohim. He can show undeserved loving-kindness to us, and we can show it to subordinates, but never to the Elohim, because no-one can ever do Yahweh or Yah'shua a favour.
The New Testament puts a great deal of emphasis on hén or that special kind of favour called 'grace'. There are over 120 references to it in the New Covenant writings. The RSTNE translates it as "unmerited favour". I like to call it "undeserved loving-kindness". That is how, as slaves of Yah'shua who has shown this to us by saving us from our sins, we are to show love to one another. We are to give to each other what we or they don't deserve - it's called in the Greek agapé of selfless love, the love that does not count the cost or measure out. We are to simply give. This is especially important of heads toward their charges .
Marriage is a covenantal relationship - the covenant is that the husband should love his wife, whether she deserves it or not - and the wife should obey her husband, whether he deserves it or not. That's chesed love. But as believers in the Master Yah'shua we are to go one step further - husbands are to love their wives with hén, and parents are to love their children with hén, because Yahweh our Head has done that to us through Yah'shua. But that can only come about when a soul has been born-again - only the Ruach haQodesh - and specifically the Ruach haRishon - can enable us to give this undeserved loving-kindness. As John said: "We love because [Yah'shua] first loved us" (1 John 4:19, NIV). We were first given undeserved favour - He picked us out of the dirt and gave us what we absolutely did not deserve - He loved us by his own initiative. And in doing so - when we opened our hearts and received this love - this enabled us to become a channel for His unmerited love to others. All we have to do is choose to love and not count the cost.
What does it mean when scripture says that Yahweh is 'no respector of persons?' (Jas.3:2,9; 1 Pet.1:17) It means that Yahweh is not partial. He doesn't have favourites based on rank, beauty or wealth. He does not judge a soul be external things and tells us not to either:
"Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment" (John 7:24, NKJV).
What, then, are we to make of Jacob's favouritism over Joseph over his other brothers? Here we have a problem because Jacob was bothg right and wrong: he was wrong to favour Joseph over his brothers because he loved Joseph's mother, Rachel, more than Leah and his two concubines. That was partial love. But he was not wrong to favour Joseph above his other sons because Joseph had a heart that was like Yahweh's and was spiritual and not carnal like his other brothers. Even though he was mistreated by his brothers and the Egyptians, he never thought any evil. He was certainly tempted as much as his other brothers, some of whom wanted to murder him, and others wanted to - and did - sell him into slavery. Joseph was favoured above his brothers because he was a man of Elohim. It was the reason Abraham favoured Isaac over Ishmael, and why Rebekah favoured Jacob over Esau, and why Yahweh loved Jacob and hated Esau. There is no doubt that David did not favour his wife Michal latterly though he had favoured her in the beginning of their marriage, because Michal scorned and dishonoured her husband for dancing before Yahweh. In that he was righteous David righteously favoured Abigail because she was an Elohim-woman. But he favoured Bathsheba unrighteusly - indeed, his bias and partiality was his undoing and led him into the gross sin of adultery. He also favoured his wicked sons and placed them above the law when they broke it because he was partial.
Yahweh shows favouritism without sin - He favours those who love and serve Him. Man shows favouritism both sinfully and righteously as we have seen in the examples above. We must show favour as Yahweh does, imitating His righteousness. We must reward as Yahweh rewards, and bless and Yahweh blesses. And notice that He blesses in two ways. Yah'shua taught:
"Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous" (Matt.5:44-46, NIV).
But if I have two sons, and give them tasks to do, and one obeys me and the other does not, should I reward both equally? Of course not. And Yah'shua illustrates this kind of favour in the parable of the talents. So why two kinds of favour?
Yahweh gives everyone an equal chance. He loves all His sons and daughters. Everyone has the same opportunity to be saved and the same opportunity to receive the highest rewards. He blesses both the good and the evil to provide that opportunity but:
"the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with His angels, and then He will reward each person according to what he has done" (Matt.16:27-28, NIV).
I will bless all my children and give them the same opportunity to be successful in their lives whether they are true or not. But obviously I am going to favour the ones who seek Yahweh first and devote more time to training them. I will not waste my time trying to train a son who refuses to be taught. Is that favouritism? If it is, then I most certainly advocate it. But I will not favour one child above another because he is more handsome, charismatic or intelligent - that is partiality, and it is a sin. I will not give one son more pocket-money than than another. I will treat them the same. I will love them the same and stand willing to give them all I have to give. But if one spurns the gifts of Yahweh, what should I do? Should I 'equalise' my favours by diminishing my favours to the righteous children (that the socialist model)? Or should I seek to lift the disbelieving ones up to where the believing ones are? I will do as Yah'shua says: "Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents" (Matt.25:28, NIV) but I will not do that lightly or presumptuously or before time.
Joseph was right to deny Reuben the firstborn blessings even though he was the eldest. Reuben could be brutal and adulterous. He did not deserve the leadership of the family. He was a carnal man disposed to evil. He deserved no favour. Joseph was, however, the undisputed man of Elohim and Jacob rightly favoured him and made him the heir. David was right to favour wives like Abigail but wrong to favour Bathsheba. Rebekah was right to favour Jacob and Isaac wrong to favour Esau. You and I must also learn to favour in the right way and become true Elohim-men and -women. May be we true. Amen.
Author: Lev-Tsiyon
Glossary of MLT Hebraic, Greek and English Terms For other terms and full details please see the Micropedia
A
Adon(ai) = Master, a pagan fertility god, Adonis; used by many Messianics but not MLT
(a)eon(ian) = 7 dispensation- or age-long time periods, not forever (see le-olam-va-ed)
Alef-Tav = Alpha-Omega, A-Z, first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet = Yah'shua
Amen = truly, let it be so, written Amein by some Messianics
Apocrypha = Hebraic Scriptures not a part of the Protestant canon (e.g. Baruch)
Anti-Messiah = Hebraic term for the end-time Antichrist or anyone opposed to the Messiah
antinomian = lawless Christian who disregards all or part of Torah/commandments
Ashkenazi Jew = East European Jew descended from the Turkic-Japhethite Khazars
Assembly = church, congregation, ekklesia, community, fellowship, koinonia, gathering
Azazel = the Yom Kippur scapegoat
B
Baal, Ba'al = any other master than Yahweh, usually demonic in MLT terminology
Bachor(im) = firstborn son(s)
Bar/Bat Mitzvah = Son/Daughter of Commandment, covenant to obey Torah at age 12
being = soul, the whole person (spirit and body), e.g. "my whole being"
Beit, bet, beth = house, e.g. Beit Yisrael (House of Israel), Beth Lechem (House of Bread)
Beit haMikdash = Yahweh's Temple in Yerushalayim
B'rit Chadashah = the New Covenant; B'rit Chadashah Scriptures = New Testament
B'rit Milah = circumcision - abolished in the B'rit Chadashah, replaced by Mikvah
C
canon = authoritative Scripture (Heb. qaneh, Gk. kanôn = measuring instrument)
Catechumen = a serious, covenanted investigator seeking Mikvah or Baptism in MLT
Chag haMatzah = Feast of Unleavened Bread, second of the annual feasts of Yahweh
Chavurat Bekorot = MLT's Priesthood Order, Holy Order and Assembly of the Firstborn
Cohen = priest; Cohen Gadol = High Priest (also spelled Kohen)
Council of Yah's elohim = the heavenly Assembly of the Firstborn or Chavurat Bekorot
D
demon = fallen malek or angel in rebellion against Yahweh (Heb. shad; see Êl-Shaddai)
derech = the Way, Path or Road - Yah'shua and the Gospel are the Way
Drash = moral or homiletic interpretation of Scripture - see PaRDeS
E
Echad = One, Union of two or more in one (as opposed to Yachid) - see Elohim
Echad Godhead Doctrine = Father Yahweh, Son Yah'shua and Sevenfold Ruach (Mother)
Êl, Eloah, Elah = God the Father, Yahweh
Êl-Elyon = Most High God, Yahweh
Êl-Shaddai = Master/Lord over all shads or demons
Elohim = God, the Godhead (Father, Son & Holy Spirit), lit. 'Mighty One(s)', 'Ruler(s)'
elohim = Israelite judges, rulers, angels or gods (false deities, idols, demons)
emunah = faith, actively trusting, clinging or adhering to (especially Yahweh or Yah'shua)
emet = truth, Yah'shua is the Emet
Ephraimite = descendant of the patriarch Ephraim and head of Messsianic Israel
F
Feasts of Yahweh = the 7 annual Moedim (Pesach, Chag haMatzah, Yom haBikkurim, Shavu'ot, Yom Teruah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot)
G
Gan-Eden = Garden of Eden, Paradise and state of the purified heart in Messiah
goy(im) = nation(s), Israelites or gentiles not born in or converted to the Covenant
H
hallelu-Yah = praise Yah(weh)!
Heylel = proper name of Satan or haSatan = the Adversary, the devil
Sabbath = Yom Shabbat (Friday to Saturday sunset, add 1 day in IDL Zone)
Hochmah = Wisdom, title of the 7-fold Ruach haQodesh
I
IDL = International Date Line, false man-made time division in Pacific Ocean
IDL Zone = Area between the true Divine Date Line (Lake Van/Eden) and the false one
Israeli = citizen of the modern Edomite-Khazar Republic of Israel (not Biblical Israel)
Israelite = citizen of biblical state of Israel or a modern follower of the Messiah
J
Jew = post-biblical term describing descendants of Edomite and Khazar converts to Judaism
Johannine = pertaining to the Apostle Yochanan (e.g. Gospel of John)
Josephite = descendant of the patriarch Joseph, the head of Messianic Israel
Judahite = a person in direct descent from the patriarch Judah, forefather of the Messiah
Judaism = a Talmudic-based religion rejecting Yah'shua the Messiah
Judean = a citizen of the Kingdom or Province of Judah until the 2nd Century diaspora
K
Kadosh la Yahweh = set-apart or dedicated to Yahweh, 'Holiness to the Lord', MLT motto
Karaites = Jews (from 700 AD) who reject the Talmud and accept only the Tanakh
kashrut = keeping kosher, food laws of Yahweh and correspinding lifestyle
Ketuvim = Writings or Hagiographa of the Tanakh
Khazar = a Turkic convert to Judaism ~700 AD forming the Ashkenazi Jewish community
kosher = clean foods authorised by Yahweh for human consumption
L
Lashon Hara = evil-speaking, gossip or slander
legalism = false route to salvation through works (self-salvation)
le-olam-va-ed = dispensation- or age-long, aeonian, not eternal, forever or for eternity
Lev = heart, as in Lev-Tsiyon = heart of Zion
Lev-Tsiyon = Heart of the Fortress [of Yahweh], Hebrew name of MLT's founder
M
Master = Lord, Sir, Adon(ai) - (one in authority, a ruler - a king, husband, prophet, judge)
Malak(im) = Angel(s), heavenly supernatural messenger(s)
manna = wafers of honey, bread from heaven (lit. 'what is this?')
matzah = unleavened bread, see Chag haMatzah
Menorah = 7-armed candlearbra = the 7 annual Moedim and 7-fold Ruach haQodesh
Messiah = Christ; Anti-Messiah = Antichrist
Messianic Community = Body of Christ, sum total of all true believers; all true fellowships
Messianic Israel = all who worship Yahweh, trust in Yah'shua, obey Torah and overcome
Messianic Jew = Messianic convert from Judaism still clinging to Talmudic traditions
Midrash = aggadic interpretation of scripture viâ Drash, a scriptural discussion
Mikvah = baptism by immersion of convert into Yah'shua or of wife into husband
Mishpachah = family: nuclear, congregational, tribal or the whole of Messianic Israel
MLT = Mishpachah Lev-Tsiyon = family of the heart of the fortress [of Yahweh]
Mishpat = right-ruling or judgement
mitzvah/mitzvot = commandment(s)
moed(im) = appointment(s) of Yahweh, 7 Annual Feasts, Sabbath and Rosh Chodesh
N
Nefilim, Nephilim = giant offspring of materialised demons and human women
Nevi'im = prophetic writings of the Old Testament or Tanakh
New Birth = spiritual conversion in the Ruach haRishon, being 'born again' with new heart
Nidah = a woman's menstruation period during which no intercourse is permitted
O
Olive Branch = collection of revelations, prophecies and visions published by MLT
P
Paraclete = Comforter, Advocate (NEB), Counsellor, Ruach haQodesh (Gk. paraklêtos)
PaRDeS = method of textual interpretation (homiletics) - see P'shat, Remez, Drash, Sod
Patriarch = a father who is head of his family, clan or tribe (lit. 'father-ruler')
Pentateuch = first five books of the Tanakh (Genesis-Deuteronomy), also called Torah
peribolaion = headcovering worn by daughters/wives in submission to fathers/husbands
Pesach = Passover, first of the annual feasts of Yahweh
Peshitta = an Aramaic version of the Bible
Prototrinitarianism = early, simplified MLT formulation of the Echad Godhead Doctrine
Prush(im) = Pharisee(s)
Pseudepigrapha = Non-canonical Hebrew writings additional to the Apocrypha
P'shat = literal, contextual, philological, exoteric, outer meaning of Scripture - see PaRDeS
Q
Qadosh Qadoshim = Holy of Holies, most sacred set-apart room of the Beit haMikdash
Qodesh, Kodesh = set-apart, holy (see Ruach haQodesh)
R
Rabbi = Teacher, term used by Messianic Jews and some Messianic Israelites = Pastor
Refuge, the 12 Cities of = divinely protected MLT fortresses during the 7-year Tribulation
Remez = hint or allegorical level of Hebraic understanding of Scripture - see PaRDeS
Rosh Chodesh = monthly New Moon appointment of Yahweh
ruach = spirit of a person (lit.'breath')
Ruach Elohim = Spirit of God (the Spirit of the collective Godhead or Elohim)
Ruach haChamashee = 5th Ruach presides over Yom Teruah and Yom Chamashee
Ruach haQodesh = the Sevenfold Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost (lit. 'Set-Apart Breath')
Ruach haRevee = 4th Ruach presides over Shavu'ot, Yom Revee and Bar Mitzvah
Ruach haRishon = 1st Ruach presides over Pesach, Yom Rishon and the New Birth
Ruach haShanee = 2nd Ruach presides over Chag haMatzah and Yom Shanee
Ruach haSheshi = 6th Ruach presides over Yom Kippur and Yom Sheshi
Ruach haShleshi = 3rd Ruach presides over Yom haBikkurim, Yom Shleshi and Mikvah
S
Sabbath = Yom Shabbat (Friday to Saturday sunset, add 1 day in IDL Zone)
Satan = rebel archangel Heylel, father of lies, devil, chief demon (lit.'Adversary')
Sephardic Jew = West European Jew of mixed blood containing many Judahites
Septuagint = Greek translation of the Tanakh, LXX
Shegal haShabbat = 7th Ruach (Sabbath Queen) presides over Sukkot and Yom Shabbat
Shekinah = Divine Presence and Glory of Yahweh-Elohim
Set-apart = holy, sanctified, consecrated, dedicated, separated (to and by Yahweh)
Shabbat-Shabbaton = High Sabbath (e.g. Yom Kippur)
Shalom = heavenly peace, standard Hebraic greeting invoking Yahweh's peace
Shamash(im) = servant(s), deacon(s), attendant(s)
Shavu'ot = Pentecost or Weeks, fourth of the annual feasts of Yahweh
Sheol = grave or pit, euphamism for Hades or hell - also see Tartarus
shofar = ram's horn, blown during Yahweh's Moedim
simcha = joy, keynote of Sukkot
Sod = mystical, anagogic, inner or esoteric understanding of Scripture - see PaRDeS
Sukkot = Tabernacles or Booths, seventh of the annual feasts of Yahweh
Synagogue = Greek word used by Jews and Messianics (but not MLT) for a meeting house
T
talmid(a) = male/female disciple or student
Talmud = scriptures, teachings and commentaries belonging to non-Messianic Judaism
Tanakh = acronym for Old Testament Scriptures - Torah, Nevi'im & Ketuvim
Tartarus = place of imprisonment under the earth for rebellious angels and Nephilim
teshuvah = repentance, remorse and contrition leading back to Torah obedience
Torah = Yahweh's teachings or Law; New Covenant Torah includes Yah'shua's teachings
Tribulation, the Great = the final 7 years of the present aeon when Anti-Messiah rules
Trinity = Catholic Godhead formula - see Echad Godhead Doctrine and Prototrinitarianism
Tsiyon = Zion, a fortress, a name of Jerusalem and a prominent hill
Tzitzit/Tizitziyot = tassel(s) worn by men in remembrance of Torah
U
Universalism = salvation of all at the cosmic Yovel, with different rewards and punishments
Y
Yachid = one, single person or item, as opposed to Echad (many in one, unity)
Yah'shua the Messiah = Jesus Christ (the Son)
Yahudah = Judah - see Judahite
Yahweh, Yah, YHWH = the true Name of our Heavenly Father, also carried by Yah'shua
Yahweh-Elohim = LORD God (the Father, Yahweh as Head of the Godhead or Elohim)
Yahweh haQatan = the sent Yahweh = Yah(weh)'shua, Malak of Yahweh's Presence
Yam Suf = Sea of Reeds, the true Israelite Exodus water crossing, not the Red Sea
Yarden = Jordan River (lit. 'meanderer')
Yerushalayim = Jerusalem
Yisrael = Israel (lit. 'ruling with Êl') = true believers under the New Covenant
Yom Chamashee = 5th day of the week (Thursday, Friday in IDL Zone)
Yom Din, Yom haDin = (the) Day of Judgement
Yom haBikkurim = Feast of Firstfruits, third of the annual feasts of Yahweh
Yom Revee = 4th day of the week (Wednesday, Thursday in IDL Zone)
Yom Rishon = 1st day of the week (Sunday, Monday in IDL Zone)
Yom Kippur = Day of Atonement, sixth of the annual feasts of Yahweh
Yom Shabbat = 7th day of the week and Sabbath Rest (Saturday, Sunday in IDL Zone)
Yom Shanee = 2nd day of the week (Monday, Tuesday in IDL Zone)
Yom Sheshi = 6th day of the week (Friday, Saturday in IDL Zone)
Yom Shleshi = 3rd day of the week (Tuesday, Wednesday in IDL Zone)
Yom Teruah = Day of Trumpets, fifth of the annual feasts of Yahweh
Yosef = Joseph - see Josephite
Yovel = Jubilee or Year of Jubilee
Z
Zaqen(im) = elder(s) of an assembly or congregation, or senior members of a community
Zoë Life = Greek term for spiritual life in the Messiah
Commonly Used MLT Abbreviations
For additional abbreviations and explanations, please see the Micropedia
A
Amp.V(er). = Amplified Version of the Bible
Aram. = Aramaic
AV = Authorised Version of the Bible - see KJV
B
BCAY = B'rit Chadashah Assembly of Yahweh - see NCCG
BoA = Books of Abraham (e.g. 1Abr., 2Abr., etc.)
C
cp, cf = compare with
CB(Q) = Chavurat Bekorot
CEV = Contemporary English Version of the Bible
ch. = chapter
CJB = Complete Jewish Bible
CLNT = Concordant Literal New Testament
CYe = Council of Yah's elohim
E
Eng. = English
F
ff. = and onwards/forwards
fn = footnote
G
Gk. = Greek
GNB = Good News Bible - see TEV
H
Heb. = Hebrew, Hebraic
HEM = Holy Echad Marriage, eternal marriage
HO = Holy Order - see Chavurat Bekorot
HOC = Holy Order Collection of revelations - see OB
HRV = Hebraic-Roots Version of the Bible
I
ibid. = ibidem (lit. 'in the same place'), referring to a book previously cited
ICJC = Independent Church of Jesus Christ, earlier name of NCCF
ISRV = Institute for Scripture Research Version of the Bible
J
JB = Jerusalem Bible
JBP/Phillips = J.B.Phillips translation of the New Testament
JNT = Jewish New Testament
K
KJV = King James Version of the Bible - see AV
L
LB = Living Bible
lit. = literally or literature
LXX = Septuagint, Greek translation of the OT
M
MLT = Mishpachah Lev-Tsiyon
Moff. = Moffatt translation of the Bible
MRC = Messianic Renewed Covenant Version of the NT
MS(S) = Manuscript(s)
N
NASB, NASV = New American Standard Bible/Version
NC&C = New Covenants & Commandments - see OB
NCCF = New Covenant Christian Fellowship, earlier name of NCCG
NCCG = New Covenant Church of God, earlier name of MLT - see BCAY
NCP = New Covenant Press, publishing arm of MLT
NCW = New Covenant Witness, MLT magazine
NEB = New English Bible
NIV = New International Version of the Bible
NKJV = New King James Version of the Bible
Nor. = Norwegian
NT = New Testament, B'rit Chadashah
NWT = New World Translation of the Bible, unreliable Jehovah's Witness version
O
OB = Olive Branch - see NC&C
op.cit. = opere citato (lit. in the work cited)
OT = Old Testament, Tanakh
P
p(p). = page(s)
pl. = plural - see s.
PWNC = Prophetic Words of the New Covenant, revelation cataloging system - see OB
Q
QED = quod erat demonstrandum (lit. which was shown to be proved)
R
RCF = Restoration Christian Fellowship, earlier name of ICJC
RhQ = Ruach haQodesh, Holy Spirit
RSTNE = Restoration Scriptures True Name Edition of the Bible
RSV = Revised Standard Version of the Bible
RV = Revised Version of the Bible
S
s. = singular - see pl.
S&G = Smith & Goodspeed Version of the Bible
T
TEV = Today's English Version of the Bible - see GNB
V
Vulg. = Biblia Vulgata, Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible
W
WEB = World English Bible
Glossary Copyright ©2007 Mishpachah Lev-Tsiyon (MLT) - All Rights Reserved
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This page was first created on 20 March 2007
Last updated on 20 March 2007
Copyright ©2007 Mishpachah Lev-Tsiyon (MLT) - All Rights Reserved
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