Posted By Joe on March 1, 2010

I really enjoying finding those precious Biblical gems in scripture like the last post on "Of Cords and Ropes." I wish they would witness to unbelievers that they provide undeniable evidence to the God-breathed truths of the Bible. They clearly demonstrate such skillful design that is undeniable.

Another one of these wonderful gems is found in Genesis. There are some folks that wish they could skim through the seemingly endless genealogies found in the books of Genesis and Numbers. Don't make this mistake! Can it be tedious? Sure. But when you find yourself feeling like this, search deeper!

The Genealogy of Noah

Some of you may have seen this before. It's been covered by different Bible scholars. My goal here is to present it in the hopes that maybe someone hasn't seen this before and will find it a blessing.

Noah's family tree consists of the following gentlemen (and their ages):

1. Adam - 930 years
2. Seth - 912 years
3. Enosh - 905 years
4. Kenan - 910 years
5. Mahalalel - 895 years
6. Jared - 962 years
7. Enoch - 365 years (Did not die. More on this later.)
8. Methuselah - 969 years
9. Lamech - 777 years
10. Noah - 950 years

Let's look at what each of their names mean.

Adam

Adam, as probably everyone knows, was the first man, the first human being. So it will probably come as no surprise that "Adam" means "man."

Seth

Seth was the third child of Adam and Eve. You probably remember the story of Cain and Abel, their first two sons. Cain killed Abel. When Seth was born, Eve said:

"God has appointed me another offspring in place of Abel, for Cain killed him." --Genesis 4:25.

The root word of Seth's name means "to put, to lay upon." If we take that an apply it to what Eve said, it means "appointed."

Enosh

Seth had a son and named him Enosh. His name means "man" but also means "mortal man."

Kenan

Next is Kenan, the son of Enosh. The meaning of his name is somewhat obscure. There are commentaries that say it means "nest" and others that say it means "sorrow" or "dirge." You will see that this apparent ambiguity doesn't matter for our purposes here.

Mahalalel

Kenan had a son named Mahalalel. His name means "blessed" or "praise of God." You get this from the two parts of his name. The "El" is the name of God. You see this in such names as Dani-el which means "God is my Judge."

Jared

Jared is next. His name means "descent." It means "to go or come down."

Enoch

Enoch is an interesting character. His name means "dedicated." The root means "to train, to train up." In other words "teaching."

Enoch was the father of Methuselah, the oldest person in the Bible at 969 years old when he died. But Enoch didn't die. One of the interesting passages in Genesis is found in chapter five, describing Enoch:

Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. --Genesis 5:24.

The Hebrew word used for the passage "and he was not, for God took him" is "לָקַח" which is transliterated "laqach." It's a fascinating word that is full of meaning: "to take, get, fetch, lay hold of, seize, receive, acquire, buy, bring, marry, take a wife, snatch, take away."

There are commentators that believe and suggest that Enoch being "snatched up" to heaven is symbolic of the rapture of the church. It's a model of the rapture, in other words. I think it's no accident that the word "laqach" has meanings that include "marry" and to "take a wife." Who is the believer's bridegroom? Christ! Who is the church is relation to Christ? His bride!

Methuselah

Enoch's son was named Methuselah. His name means "man of the dart." It comes from two roots. One is "muth" which means "death" and "shalach" which means "to bring" or "to send forth." So, his name means "his death shall bring."

Like Enoch his father, Methuselah is an interesting guy. Enoch gave him a prophetic name.

And, indeed, in the year that Methuselah died, the flood came. Methuselah was 187 when he had Lamech, and lived 782 years more. Lamech had Noah when he was 182. The Flood came in Noah's 600th year. 187+182+600=969, the year Methuselah died. --Chuck Missler, Hidden Treasures.

Lamech

Lamech was the son of Methuselah and the father of Noah. His name means "powerful" but also means "lament" or "lamentation." His name is also somewhat obscure. Again, for the purposes of our study, we will go with "lamentation" or "despairing."

Noah

Finally we reach Noah. Noah's name means "rest." How picturesque. The man at the head of the only family that was spared the flood, was named "rest," or "to bring relief" or "comfort."

Putting all the names together

Do you see anything remarkable yet? Let's write out the meanings in a sentence:

"Man is appointed mortal sorrow. (But the) blessed God (shall) come down, teaching (that) His death shall bring (the) despairing rest."

I was stunned when I first encountered this. This is the gospel message that is found in the Old Testament! There is no way that a bunch of Jewish rabbis would have or could have conspired to hide the message of salvation in the Biblical text. There is no way the human mind could have conceived this. This was conceived in the mind of the Creator and King of the Universe.

He is worthy of our praise! Praise you, Father, for your wondrous works!

May He Increase!

Category: Genesis, Prophecy | No Comments »
Tags: adam, enoch, enosh, jared, kenan, lamech, mahalalel, methuselah, noah, Prophecy, salvation, seth

Posted By Joe on February 26, 2010

Welcome to Friday everyone!

Here's another open thread where you are welcome to share interesting finds on the Internet, share what God is doing in your life, share recent posts you have written, or prayer requests.

This weekend I'm participating in "The Game Plan: Men's Purity Seminar" at Knott Avenue Christian Church. It's being given by Joe Dallas of Genesis Counseling. Please keep us all in prayer.

May He Increase!

Category: Announcements | No Comments »
Tags: joe dallas, kacc, open thread

Posted By Joe on February 24, 2010

UPDATE 02/28/2010: Welcome from Caffeinated Thoughts!

It amazes me how often "experts" and the average person will casually dismiss the Bible for what it really is. Have they actually read the Bible?

Then again, the natural man won't be able to comprehend what he is reading. Certainly when I first became a Christian I had no idea of the treasures that God's Word would reveal to me over time.

One of these treasures that was recently revealed to me is found in the book of Joshua. The term for it is a "remez," which basically means a hint of something deeper.

I believe that everything in the Bible--every place name, person, event, etc.--is there for a reason. Some may not be as exciting as others, but if you dig a little deeper at things you read, generally God will have a little treasure for you in the text.

Rahab and the Spies

In Joshua, there is the story of the two spies who find shelter in Rahab's house. There is a passage where they are having a conversation with her about how they will hide themselves and what sign she will hang outside her house so that the Israelites wouldn't destroy her house when they invade.

Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the city wall. --Joshua 2:15.

Just a simple, informative verse, right? The word to pay attention to here is the word "rope." The King James Version uses the word "cord." Either way, the Hebrew word used is "חֵבֶל" which is transliterated "chebal."

The two meanings for this word are:

1. a cord, rope, territory, band, company
2. pain, sorrow, travail, pang (pains of travail)

Interesting dichotomy of meanings, aren't they?

Let's look at the next verse:

She said to them, "Go to the hill country, so that the pursuers will not happen upon you, and hide yourselves there for three days until the pursuers return. Then afterward you may go on your way." --Joshua 2:16.

What she's telling them is to hide out from the men of her city. She's protecting these two Israeli spies, basically. We'll come back to this verse. Let's look at the next two verses.

Then men said to her, "We shall be free from this oath to you which you have made us swear, unless, when we come into the land, you tie this cord of scarlet thread in the window through which you let us down, and gather to yourself into the house your father and your mother and your brothers and all your father's household." --Joshua 2:17-18.

The phrase to key into here is "cord of scarlet thread." The King James Version calls it "this line of scarlet thread." The Hebrew word used is "תִּקְוָה" which is transliterated "tiqvah."

The two meanings of this word are:

1. cord
2. hope, expectation (things hoped for)

Again, completely different meanings, right?

Have you picked up on this yet?

What separates the meaning of these two words for "cord?"

Three days.

Do you see something remarkable hidden in the text yet?

What happened at the Cross of Christ? Pain, sorrow and travail!

What happened next? He was three days in the grave!

What happened next? He rose to give us hope and expectation!

The Bible, friend, is not a collection of writings by men of old. The Bible is the Word of God, the creator and king of the universe. The Bible is God's plan of salvation.

Don't casually dismiss the Bible. Don't criticize the Bible unless you've  spent time in it. Read it! It is the only truly life-changing book in all history.

May He Increase!

Category: Joshua, Prophecy | 5 Comments »
Tags: cords, cross, Joshua, rahab, remez, salvation

Posted By Joe on February 22, 2010

In the introductory post, we talked about how Jesus teaching in parables was a fulfillment of prophecy in Isaiah. We also talked about how the seven parables found in Matthew 13 are directly related to the seven letters found in the book of Revelation.

Today we want to look at the parable of The Sower and its relation to the letter to the church at Ephesus.

The Parable of The Sower

That day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea. And large crowds gathered to Him, so He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach. --Matthew 13:1-2.

Before we get too far ahead, it should be noted that the parables we will be studying in Matthew 13 all deal with the kingdom after it had been offered to the people of Israel. This is based on:

• Whenever the kingdom is mentioned in the Bible, it comes in multiples of seven (seven parables, seven letters, etc.).
• The elders of Israel had effectively rejected Christ in the preceding chapters, most notably in Matthew 12:24, when they actually accused Jesus of doing miracles by Satan's power!
• The symbolism of Matthew 13:1-2.

When Matthew says "Jesus went out of the house," the symbolism is Jesus leaving the house of Israel for the gentiles. The sea that is mentioned is, of course, the Sea of Galilee, but symbolically it represents the nations of the gentiles. We see examples of this in the book of Daniel, for example, in Daniel 7:2-3. Therefore, this is Jesus giving parables of the kingdom from the time of His rejection to His Second Coming.

Jesus only interprets two of the seven parables: that of The Sower and that of The Wheat and the Tares. It's critical that we understand these two parables because the rest of them hinge upon the symbolism and interpretation of these.

And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, "Behold, the sower went out to sow; and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up." --Matthew 13:3-4.

The sower is Christ. The seed is the Word of God. What is crucial to understand is that the birds are representative of Satan.

"Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away." --Matthew 13:5-6.

How deep are your roots? Do you have a depth of relationship with Christ that your roots run deep into His Word and His promises? Or, when that sun comes up, blazing hot, do you wither away under it's heat?

"Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out." --Matthew 13:7.

Have the cares of this life and of this world choked out your relationship with God? Are you striving after things of this world that have no lasting value?

"And others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear." --Matthew 13:8-9.

If you are bearing fruit for the kingdom, keep on bearing fruit! Don't stop if you think "I've done enough." If you're still on this earth, don't stop bearing fruit for God!

The Sower and the Letter to Ephesus

Jesus commended the Ephesian church for:

1. Deeds and toil
2. Perseverance
3. Intolerance of evil men
4. Testing those who call themselves apostles who are not
5. Perseverance (a second time)
6. Endurance for Christ's sake
7. Not growing weary

Each of these require roots in the Word of God. As Jesus said in Matthew 13:8-9, the Ephesians were bearing fruit through their deeds, toil, perseverance and endurance. They could not test those who called themselves apostles apart from the Word of God. Without the Word of God, they would fall into the trap of tolerating evil as well.

Without roots in the Word of God, the evil one can easily snatch you away on every wind of false doctrine.

As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming. --Ephesians 4:14.

How do you avoid this? By getting rooted in the Word of God!

Next time

We will study the next parable, The Wheat and the Tares, and the letter to the church at Smyrna.

May He Increase!

Category: Daniel, Ephesians, Matthew, Revelation | No Comments »
Tags: birds, Daniel, doctrine, ephesus, gentiles, israel, kingdom, parables, Satan, sea, seed, sower

Posted By Joe on February 19, 2010

Last November, we studied the seven letters of Jesus in the book Revelation. We looked at the letters from three aspects:

• Contemporary
• Composite
• Chronological

As a recap, the churches Jesus wrote to were:

1. Ephesus
2. Smyrna
3. Pergamum
4. Thyatira
5. Sardis
6. Philadelphia
7. Laodicea

These churches represented the following periods in church history:

1. "The Light of Asia," the period just after Pentecost.
2. The Persecuted Church
3. The Pagan Church
4. The Church of Romanism
5. The Protestant Church
6. The Revived Church
7. The Apostate Church

The Seven Parables of Matthew 13: A Summary

When you carefully read the seven parables of Jesus found in Matthew 13, you are struck by the parallels between those parables and the seven letters.

The seven parables and their audiences are as follows:

1. The Sower - publicly given
2. The Wheat and the Tares - publicly given
3. The Mustard Seed - publicly given
4. The Leaven - publicly given
5. The Hidden Treasure - privately given to the disciples
6. The Pearl of Great Price - privately given to the disciples
7. The Dragnet - privately given to the disciples

Over and over again in the Bible we are presented with the number 7. Even the division between the publicly spoken parables and the private ones are a sum of 7. All of this is evidence of the skillful and deliberate design of the Creator.

Some commentaries have pointed out that the first parable--that of the sower--serves as an introduction to the remaining six. Of the remaining six, they can then each be paired up: the second and the seventh, the third and the fourth, and the fifth and the sixth. Each of these pairs speak the same truth but each in its own way. This, too, is evidence of deliberate and supernatural design of the scripture.

Why Parables?

Jesus' disciples asked Him privately why He used parables to teach the people. Jesus told them,

"To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand." --Matthew 13:11-13.

In other words, those who were rejecting Jesus as the Messiah, would be in capable of understanding the meaning of His words. This fulfilled exactly what Isaiah had prophesied in Isaiah 6:9-10!

Jesus continues:

"But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it." --Matthew 13:16-17.

This is why Jesus spoke in parables.

Next time

In the next post, we will study the first parable, that of The Sower and its relation to the first church in Revelation: Ephesus.

May He Increase!

Category: Isaiah, Matthew, Revelation | No Comments »
Tags: parables, Parallels, Prophecy, truth