We are not limited
to just being able to see YHWH’s Love well portrayed in this weeks Parashat
drawn from Genesis 18:1-22:4 entitled VAYERA
“HE APPEARED”, we are able to
see HIS ever present Prophetic Hand guiding as well.
The portion of the
Parashat I believe I have had impressed on my spirit this week in and through
various ways covers the extraction of Lot and his family from Sodom (Gen. 18:16-29).
In this we see the
planned, and seemingly long overdue, destruction of Sodom and environs has been
Divinely decided upon:
We are shown the
respect that YHWH Elohim shows Abraham through sharing with him, Abraham, HIS
intentions to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah – BECAUSE ABRAHAM NOT ONLY KEPT THE
LAW AND STATUTES OF YHWH, BUT WOULD TEACH HIS HOUSE AFTER HIM TO DO THE SAME:
We see the freedom
that Father Abraham has in his relationship with YHWH Elohim in that he, Abraham,
reverently enters into a sort of plea bargain for the souls of the righteous in
these area’s which are to be destroyed and that YHWH Elohim listens & agrees
with the requests voiced by Abraham.
We see that as with
Noah, only one righteous man can be found and that is Lot himself:
We see that Lot
served The Angels of YHWH unleavened bread indicating as with Noah that this event
was very possibly taking place at the time of the Feast of Unleavened Bread – (Ex. 12:17-20 & Lev. 23:6).
NB: We should just take a moment here
to note the fact that Noah’s flood began in the
second Passover period, presumably the period of Unleavened bread – Gen. 7:11 & that in the case of Lot we read that
this account in Gen. 19:3 also, as noted above,
took place in the same Festival Period: Please remember
this, as we will hopefully come back to it a little later.
Back to our brief
overview of Lot’s escape from Sodom:
Lot, through his
protection of the Angels under the roof of his home, has placed his life on the
line and proven his righteousness, this now also entitles him to benefit from YHWH’s Divine
protection and deliverance (please see 119 Video link: http://www.119ministries.com/teachings/video-teachings/detail/answering-atheists-lots-daughters/
for a more detailed explanation); thus having now having proven his
righteousness, we now see the protection of Lot by the Angels and the defeat of his enemies
by the CLOSING THE DOOR OF LOT’S HOUSE AND PROTECTING HIS IMMEDIATE FAMILY IN THE
HOUSE. See the similarity between this action preformed by YHWH for Lot and the
similar one in the case of Noah. Gen. 7:16 - Both groups were "blinded" to the events around them, as most are today.
We again see YHWH’s
Grace being extended to Lot and his family – BECAUSE OF LOT’S RIGHTEOUS ACT NOT
HIS FAMILIES (1 Cor. 7:12-16); we are also shown that this graciousness is extended to those
covenanted to come into the family of Lot, but who are not yet married to his
daughters, through YHWH allowing Lot to go and try and warn the future husbands of
his daughters of the impending destruction, - but
as with most of our families today, Lot’s family did not want to listen TO HIM
AND THOUGHT HIM MAD!
We are told, that
as with Noah, there was time given to Lot to just generally sort things out,
albeit not much (12 hours or so) AND THEN – THE NEXT MORNING - LOT AND HIS
FAMILY ARE LITERALLY DRAGGED OUT OF SODOM FOR THEIR OWN PROTECTION! Is. 52:11-12 confirms these sorts of Divine leading in
times of trouble.
Brethren, this
whole destruction of Sodom and all that Lot had worked for most of his life WAS
NOT SPRUNG ON HIM, HE KNEW OF THE WICKEDNESS OF SODOM AND THE TIMES HE WAS LIVING IN; AND WHEN THE TIME TO DESTROY THGIS WICKEDNESS CAME YHWH GAVE A VERY DEFINITE WARNING TO HIM AND HIS FAMILY – AS WAS THE CASE
WITH NOAH, and as I believe the case will be with us as well should we be
walking in Covenantal Obedience to YHWH and His Son!
There is much more
that we can glean from this Parashat, and if Abba so wishes, I shall do so; but
here we shall stop for now with this weeks Parashat and turn briefly to this
weeks Haftarah, which is found in 2 Kings 4:1-37:
In this portion of
Scripture we see, amongst other matters, the revisiting of the event involving
Elisha and the Widow’s oil. The widows’ husband, a righteous man, was now dead
and she, the widow, had debts that could not be paid back, this then
necessitated her 2 son’s becoming slaves to her creditor – HOWEVER YHWH, through Elisha, PROVIDES A WAY OUT FOR HER, A
WAY TOTALLY INDEPENDENT OF HER, ALL THAT WAS REQUIRED OF THE WIDOW WAS HER
OBEDIENCE & HER FAITH – YHWH THEN PROCEEDED TO NOT ONLY PAY THE DEBT OFF, HE
ALSO PROVIDED ENOUGH FOR HER AND HER SON’S TO LIVE OFF.
Regarding the
Shunammite Woman, she too was gracious, righteous and served the Prophet of
YHWH Elohim and was granted a son – BUT LATER WE ARE TOLD THAT HE DIED, BUT
YHWH RAISES HIM UP TO LIFE ONCE AGAIN; SO AGAIN WE SEE MAN HAS NO MORE PLANS BUT
YHWH DOES!
I see so many
people prepping in these times and again I need to ask this question: HAS YHWH
ELOHIM TOLD YOU PREP FOR THESE COMING TIMES, OR IS IT YOUR IDEAS ONLY?
It would seem that most are concentrating more on their physical needs right now than their Spiritual…..This course of action may come back to haunt us!
Brethren we see in
these instances noted for this week that the chief characters in this Parashat
were living their lives in as righteous way as they could where they were AND
YHWH INTERCEDED FOR EACH OF THEM. Again I am not saying that YHWH cannot, or
will not, tell a person to prep, but what I do say is that according to Ex. 21,
if we accept His Son and His Covenant we BECOME HIS CHARGE, THE FAMILY OF HIS
HOUSE WITH HIM AS THE PROVIDER AND PROTECTOR - Is. 52:10-13.
We all know that we
are in the days of Noah, but an often-overlooked passage of Scripture is found
in Luke 17:20-37 which supports Mat. 24 with the addition in Luke of verses 28-29 that make mention to the parallel of the days of both Noah & Lot being an indication of
the end times!
Here is our warning we may wish to heed:
ARE WE ABLE TO SAY WE ARE SINGLE-MINDEDLY GIVING OUR ALL TO THE VERY BEST OF OUR ABILITIES AND UNDERSTANDING FOR THE KINGDOM OF OUR MESSIAH?
OR:
DO WE STILL TRUST TOO MUCH IN OUR OWN WORKS, ACTIONS AND FEELINGS?
In other words: DO WE STILL HAVE AND EXHIBIT OUR FIRST LOVE, CRYING OUT IN ONE ACCORD - RETURN MESSIAH RETURN? Rev. 2:4-5 & 22:16
None of us are perfect, that we all hopefully know; BUT because of HIS Grace, I am sure that we also all have our "WOW" moments with YHWH, and it is precisely because HIS Ruach is working in us that these "WOW" moments are something we so want to share with all a-sundry, and herein lies a problem……… THE MOMENT WE HAVE OUR
“REVELATION” WE BEGIN TO ANALYSE IT!
This reaction is
correct, but unfortunately the greater part of our analytical evaluation is
done through a darkened and distorted lens and that is often how we carry our
“revelation” over into our faith walk of life and unto others (1 Cor. 13:8-12).
So does that mean
we give up on speaking out what we believe has been revealed to us? Heaven
forbid no – WE CARRY ON DOING WHAT WE BELIEVE WE HAVE BEEN INSTRUCTED TO DO
WITH LOVE (LOVE = John 14:15 & 23-24), however
because we are fallible and see only in part, those either giving or receiving
the Teaching, revealed Word or other instruction are required to be as the
Bereans were as well AND CHECK IT OUT AGAINST THE WORD TO THE BEST OF OUR
ABILITIES! Acts 17:11.
That now having
been said, I shall return to a few points noted above:
As stated in the
opening paragraphs of this message, for various reasons beyond my scope of
control or experience I am of the opinion that YHWH is indicating to us, and
reinforced through this weeks’ Parashat, that a Lot type of event is in the
opting. We may need to pray about being prepared to leave where we are at this
time.
Secondly, the
emphasis placed in the narratives of both Noah and Lot to the Pesach festival
period may have some significance for His Elect, in fact just the timing of
this very Parashat when seen against this time period and the developments in
the USA, and being spoken of by our Messiah appears to be of incredible
significance; many in the Body tend to forget that our Elohim’s works in The
Spirit world affects the here and now.
Then we have the
very title of this Parashat - VAYERA “HE APPEARED” – I do not advocate any form of rapture, because I do
not adhere to the “rapture” doctrine, and as for the return of the Messiah –
well too much I believe still has to be fulfilled for that to happen right now,
plus I believe our Master is to return at Yom Teruah; however that all being said, a
major Biblical event of global proportions on a future Feast of Unleavened
bread (1st or 2nd Pesach/Unleavened bread) would not be
out of the question.
Although the
removal from Sodom may not be so radical and final right now, by HIS Grace
through HIS Ruach’s Shepherding we need to prepare and separate ourselves in
the here and now from the world and all it represents – WITH AN UNDIVIDED HEART
FOR YHWH AND HIS WAYS – Gen. 19:27 arw with Messiah’s warning recorded in Luke 17:31-37.
The message stays the same no matter where in time, place or station of life we may be REPENT BECAUSE THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND.
Shabbat shalom.
Bo’az
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