Division (January 1)

Today’s Bible Reading:
Genesis 1-2
Psalm 1
Matthew 1
**Click to read Christine Miller’s Bible study for today.

Today as I opened up my Bible,I felt a lot of fear knowing that I was going to spend a year studying my Bible in front of other people. So I actually put it down and went to take my shower and procrastinate in other various ways. That’s when the Father started reminding me of things:

Did you really think I called you to study the Bible for a year so you could try to impress people, or think about what they were thinking about the entire time? No! The Word is a sword for you, and I have jobs I want to equip you to do.

And then He proceeded to remind me of some things He wanted me to study this year, so that I would be PREPARED for the jobs He has for me. When I came back to my recliner in the living room, I was feeling a little more brave, and this time I had a little journal to take notes in, as well as my phone and a pen.

(I read my Bible on my phone. I’ll post links to all the tools I use below.)

The Father has been telling me for several weeks that my job is to repair what has been built on the foundations of our hearts for the last 2,000 years.

“For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Yeshua the Messiah. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is” (1 Corinthians 3:11-13).

And according to the author of Hebrews, there are six things that make up our foundation in Yeshua:

“Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation…
– of repentance from dead works and
– of faith toward God,
– of the doctrine of baptisms,
– of laying on of hands,
– of resurrection of the dead,
– and of eternal judgment” (Hebrews 6:1-2).

These six things have always been a bit of a mystery to me, even though the author of Hebrews makes me feel like a child for admitting it. Maybe these six things were obvious in the first century, but they aren’t so obvious now! In fact, I can think of a few church splits that have happened over disagreements about these terms!

So my goal is to look for these six things as I read my Bible over this coming year. I have written them in a list in the front of my journal, and over the coming months, I intend to use the blank space to define them more clearly. (I already have a good idea of what they should mean from a Torah perspective because my husband Kraig taught from the book of Hebrews over the last two years.)

Then I have assigned two journal pages to each of these topics. Then as I started to read, I kept asking myself, Does this verse help me understand any of these topics?

(And I’m at 569 words for today. I haven’t even begun! How do bloggers keep their posts so short???)

The “doctrine of baptisms” is a complicated way of saying “teaching about how to get washed up” in our everyday speech. Baptismo is a Greek word meaning “to immerse,” and while we know that the Bible clearly teaches salvation is by faith through the grace of God demonstrated in the shedding of Yeshua’s blood on our behalf, we also need to stay clean in our daily lives, so that we can enter His presence. We’ll see that often as we go through the Bible this year, I’m sure.

God (Elohim in Hebrew) starts out immediately teaching us the principle of dividing from darkness.

“And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness” (Genesis 1:4).

The word divided (Strong’s #914) is a Hebrew word that means “to set or keep apart,” and it pictures the door of a tent.

Next we see that Elohim divided the seventh day from the other six days.

“Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made” (Genesis 2:3).

The word sanctified (Strong’s #6942) is a Hebrew word that means “to move or place something separate from the whole for a special purpose,” and it pictures a door in a wall.

Pretty cool, huh? We can’t be clean if we don’t separate from the sin and darkness of this world. However, we don’t just take baths because we love taking baths. (Some people do….. but I’m more of a get-my-shower-over-with-so-I-can-get-on-with-my-day kind of girl.)

We get cleaned up so that we can be used for a special purpose! We are going to see that throughout the Bible, but the first hint comes in the setting apart of the Sabbath day, and I think that one reason we ourselves should set apart the seventh day just for Him is so that we can begin to be trained to be divided from the darkness for a special purpose.

When I read Psalm 1, I saw the same thing over again. The blessed man does not walk with the ungodly, the sinners, and the scornful. He keeps himself set apart and his mind meditating on the Torah of YHVH, all day long!

I took quite a few notes on the “laying of hands” page also. In ancient times, people laid hands on someone who was set apart for a special purpose. It was a way to convey that authority has been given to that person and that they may now move in that authority. (Who knew? This is supposed to be an “elementary” teaching? Ay yi yi…)

I guess you could say that Elohim “laid hands on” Adam from the very beginning!

“And YHVH God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7).

And then we see what Adam was given authority to do:

“Then YHVH God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it” (Genesis 2:15).

He was to provide service to others (tend) by working in the garden and protecting (keeping) it.

And he was not alone in this task!

“And YHVH God said, ‘It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him‘” (Genesis 2:18).

The woman was comparable to Adam, or a helper, assistant, provider of relief, according to the Hebrew (Strong’s #5828). She was a strong woman who knew her weapon, which is the picture we see from the root of that Hebrew word. And she stood face to face with him (Strong’s #5048), as a noble and excellent captain and governor.

Whew! That’s some authority!

In Matthew 1, we see that a baby was born who was the foretold Mashiach.

The word Mashiach is translated as “Christ” in our English Bibles, and I encourage you to try substituting the word Messiah for Christ every time you read it. Why? Because Christ is not His last name! LOL! Rather, it’s His mission, His job, the role He was to play.

Being the anointed one (which is what Messiah means in Hebrew, according to Strong’s #4899) is what Yeshua was divided and set apart to do. He is different! And we already have the hint from the meaning of His name Yeshua that “He will save His people from their sins.” That was His special purpose.

And as Christine shared today, the tree of life plays into all this. That should give us all something to meditate on all day long, for it was the central thing Adam was to guard (and failed) and later became the very instrument of our salvation, the tool Meshiach used to save us from our sins. Cool stuff! We can see a grand, eternal plan shaping up!

So I’m over 1400 words. I’d love to hear what you saw in today’s reading, too! And don’t forget to head over to Christine’s blog and thank her for sharing what she saw also! She works hard for us!

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture in this blog post taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Tools I Use to Study:

• NKJV Bible app from Olive Tree (Apple, Android)
• Parallel Plus app (Apple, Android)
• How to use Parallel Plus
• Online Ancient Hebrew Lexicon by Jeff Benner
• Index of Hebrew Roots by Christine Miller

(I keep several tabs open on my phone’s browser always. These include Benner’s lexicon, Christine’s Hebrew Roots, and the home page of www.alittleperspective.com so that I can see each day’s Bible study.)