September 10, 2013

House of New Beginnings

Dalet 4

aleph 1

dalet 4

Hey 5

Mem

Noon

Ayin

House of New Beginnings

Dalet 4

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The dalet is the fourth letter of the Hebrew alphabet and is the sound of D. The word picture for dalet is door, (and sometimes the leaf of a gate or a page) it is something that opens. A familiar dalet word is the word dan, the Hebrew word for judge. The word picture for dan is a dalet, for door the sound of D and noon, the sound of N the word picture of a fish indicating life or action. The dalet followed by the noon is a word picture of a door to life; something that could have influence or power over life, as a judge might. In Hebrew customarily there are no nick names. The word Danny in Hebrew is a form of the word Dan with the possessive pronoun ending sound of ee indicating my or belonging to. Here the word picture is judge me, or my judge. When the el is added to the end of the word Dan, the picture changes again. The Hebrew letter alef a silent letter carrying the sound of a vowel, and is a word picture indicating strong, leader or first, followed by a lamed, the sound of L and a word picture of a staff or shepherd is the Hebrew el. The alef followed by the lamed is the word picture of a strong leader used to picture God. The Hebrew letter dalet and noon followed by el is the Hebrew name Daniel. When these Hebrew letters are together they form the word picture showing a strong influence of my life by Gods hand. In other words, God is my Judge. Another dalet word is the word dam, the Hebrew word for blood. The dalet is the sound of D with a word picture of a door, a leaf on a gate or a page. The second letter is mem with the sound M and a word picture of water and sometimes chaos. The word for blood in Hebrew has a very deep meaning, unlike the meaning in English. The two letters, dalet and mem are the root letters to some very interesting connections in Hebrew, and that is, the relationship between blood, earth, man and even the color red. In English there is no apparent connection but because Hebrew is a precise language, unlike English, everything has a specific meaning. The character of God shows in its design. House of New Beginnings
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First the word dam dalet- mem, is Hebrew for blood. Second, adama, alef-dalet-mem-hey, is Hebrew for earth or soil. Third, adam comes from within the word adama, (adam is one word for man.) This shows man came from within the soil. Fourth, what sustains life? Blood or dam, once again, all these Hebrew words are within the root of adama. And lastly, the color of blood is adon, (Hebrew for red). Altogether these individual words share a common root and tell the story that man came from the soil or earth, that mans life is in the soil and that the blood is red. Another dalet word is dama which means weep. Dama in Hebrew is spelled dalet, the sound of D pictured as a door, mem, the sound of M and a word picture of water, and the ayin, a silent letter carrying the sound of the vowel with the word picture of an eye. Here we have a complete word picture that shows the door of the eye and water; in other words weeping or tears.

Olive Tree or Apple Tree

To understand Pauls teaching in his letter to the Romans, especially the 11th chapter, one must not only have a good visual picture and understanding of the olive tree, but also a clear definition of who the olive tree is. The visual picture of the olive tree is one of a gnarled trunk with a soft, green leafy top. Native Israelis are called Sabras named after a fruit that is hard or tough on the outside and soft and tender inside. Here we have the same picture as the olive tree. The trunk is aged, gnarled and tough looking, yet it has soft, tender green, wispylooking leaves. For almost 8,000 years olives have been a staple food in the Mediterranean region, including the middle east. The oil of the olive has been used for cooking and lamps (EX. 27:20 & Lev. 24:2) and for medical purposes as well as spiritual purposes such as anointing (EX. 30:25). Olive trees live in hot, arid climates when other trees wither and die. Some olive tree root systems are thought to be 2,000 years House of New Beginnings
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Part 0ne

old. The olive tree was also used to show the flood waters had receded from the earth. It was an olive branch the dove brought to Noah (Gen. 8:11). The olive tree was also important throughout the Roman Empire. It shared similar importance as a staple and food source item. When writing to the Gentiles in Rome it is not surprising Paul would use the simple, yet well-known visual picture, of the olive tree. Reference to Israel in Scripture as the Olive Tree can be found in Jer. 11:16, Hos. 14:6 and Ps. 52:8. There are some differing opinions on what Paul means by the Olive Tree in Romans 11. Some believe the tree and root to be Israel; some believe the root to be Jesus; and some believe the root to be the Patriarchs. In my investigation and study, I agree with what seems to be the majority of scholars, that the root of the metaphorical olive tree is the Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, (later renamed Israel by God in Gen. 3:28.) No matter what position you take, it is still a Jewish root and tree! It is through this faithful lineage of forefathers that God promised salvation or all mankind. Romans Chapter 11 is a picture of Gods grace to the Gentiles. It is also a revelation of the mystery how do the Gentiles receive this salvation? The metaphor of grafted in is a most interesting way to picture how Gentiles could share and partake of the covenants that God established with his chosen people, the Jews, and the Gospel which they brought. The engrafting is truly a bridge used to bring all peoples together in salvation. In Romans 11:1 Paul makes it abundantly clear that Israel has not been forsaken by God and has not been cast away (Rm.11:1); that even though Israel may have stumbled not in whole as to fall, but in part, God still has a covenant with them. Pauls teaching on the grafted-in metaphor in Romans 11:11-30 clearly has two-prong message. The message to the Gentiles, which are the wild branches, is that salvation comes through the Jews. And to partake of that salvation one must by faith be grafted in or literally become one with the Jews. (Keep in mind the Jews also brought the concept of faith. Abrahams faith or belief was counted to him as righteousness in Hebrews Chapter 11.) And in partaking of this gift they should not boast against the Jews, the natural branches. If Christians forget their House of New Beginnings
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roots are in the olive tree, that their roots come from the Jews, they may as well be grafted into an apple tree because their true spiritual history will be lost forever. The flip side of Pauls message is to the Jews, i.e., the natural olive branches could be broken off because of lack of belief. But clearly God does not say that all of the natural branches will be broken off. The visual picture Paul presents is this: A natural olive tree, Israel, healthy and well-cared for, except for some branches here and there that have been broken off because of unbelief (vs. 20). And since some branches were broken off of this natural olive tree, then Gentiles, being the unnatural, or wild, branches could be grafted into the natural olive tree. Here Paul uses a Greek word enkentrizo, to insert, to cut into for the sake of inserting (vs.17). Paul is careful to warn the wild branches not to boast against the natural branches; and to keep in mind they, the wild branches are not the nourishment and root that supports the tree (vs. 19), but the natural root is what nourishes the tree. In verses 10&24 Paul concludes this visual picture by making it quite clear that Gentiles should recognize that without Israels unbelief in part there would be no salvation for them. Paul says, do not be boastful or haughty about your new position on the tree, because if God did not spare the natural branches the Gentile grafted-in-branches may not be spared either (vs 21) because salvation has come to the Gentiles. Does this mean Israel is forsaken by God? Certainly not! (vs. 1) Does this mean Israel has stumbled and fallen beyond hope? Certainly not! (vs. 1) It does mean without their stumble, i.e., some broken branches, salvation would have not come to the Gentiles, the wild branches, (vs. 11). Paul goes on to say that if these broken branches do not continue in unbelief, God will graft them in again (vs. 23). This is the mystery Paul talks about. The mystery is how salvation comes to the Gentiles. Now, why is all this important? Why is our spiritual heritage, our spiritual family tree important to Christians? In John 4:22 Jesus, in his conversation with the woman at the well clearly teaches that salvation is from the Jews. To partake of the salvation, as House of New Beginnings
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Paul teaches in Romans 11, we must become part of Israels family tree. Without that understanding how can Gentiles claim a heritage in God? Keeping in mind that heritage, there are thousands of Gods promises to His people recorded in Scripture and the vast majority are in the Old Testament; these promises are clearly made to Israel, Abrahams seed. Who then is Abrahams seed? In Gal. 3:29, Paul teaches, If you are Christs then you are Abrahams seed and heirs according to the promise. What is the promise to Abraham? Gen. 12:2-3: (2) I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. (3) I will bless those who bless you and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the Earth shall be blessed. As Christians we are always claiming these promises for ourselves. For instance the Psalms are filled with comforting promises that we cling to in difficult times. If we keep in mind God did not make these promises to the Gentiles but to Israel, unless we become part of Israel, how is it Christians can claim these promises from God? You could look at it this way: The family living next door lived a certain life style that seemed to invite blessings into their home on a regular basis. And the envious neighbor wanted to partake of those blessings, but couldnt because he was not part of the blessed family. No matter how hard the envious neighbor tried to claim the blessings for their self, it was impossible, because the promise of the blessing was not made to him but to someone else. One cannot claim and receive something that belongs to someone else, unles it is stolen. When Christians supersede Israel and claim the promises God made to Israel as their own, and then boast against Israel they have, in effect, stolen the promises. As Pau says in verse 18, do not boast against the branches for you do not support the root but the root support you and then in verse 21 for if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. What Paul is saying is simple: Gentiles can be grafted into the olive tree and partake of the root and fatness, but cannot replace Israel and become the olive tree or God may remove them from the olive for boasting against Israel. House of New Beginnings
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In Part Three, we will look at Gods attributes and how we can depend on Him for His promises.

God has many attributes, but this one is counted on all the time by Christians: Mal. 3:6 For I am the LORD, I do not change. This attribute is expressed by Christians regularly in associating His sovereignty over them and His faithfulness to them. If we truly believe God does not change then we cannot at the same time believe He will cast away His chosen people in favor of another people. Romans 11:29 tells us the gifts and callings of God are irrevocable. All of Psalm 89 extols Gods faithfulness to His chosen people. God clearly repeats His covenant in verse 28 that He made with David and his generations is forever. Then again in verse 34 God repeats that He will not break His covenant nor alter His covenant with David. (V28 My mercy I will keep for him forever, and my covenant shall stand firm with him. V34 My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out from My lips.) Keeping in mind Gods faithfulness there are two important questions before us: The first question: If God has not and will not forsake or discard His covenant people should we as Christians? Should we boast against the natural branches? If we take Paul at his written word, clearly NO we should do neither. The second question: Why should this matter to Christians? It should matter to Christians because without the Jews we have no Patriarchs, no Prophets, no Apostles, no Bible, no form of worship or prayer example, no idea of one God, no concept of faith and no Savior. Without all of these, how do we partake of Gods salvation? We cant. Without all we have from the olive tree we become an apple tree with no roots. These were all blessings to the Christians and gifts and blessings from the Jews, and we partake of these gifts and blessings by becoming part of Israel just as Paul clearly explained in his letter to the Romans. House of New Beginnings
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ROMANS 11:17-30

1. Who is the olive tree: Israel A. Jere.11:14-17 B. Hos. 14:1-6 C. Ps. 52 2. Who are the patriarchs of Israel: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob A. Acts 3:13 B. Acts7:32 C. Gen. 32:28 Jacob renamed Israel 3. Has God castaway His people? A. Rom. 11:1-2a 4. Paul uses a visual of how Gentiles partake of salvation. A. Rom. 11:17 5. Gentiles and Jews come together. A. Rom. 11:17, 19, 23, 24 6. God's mercy on both Jews and Gentiles A. Rom. 11:28-32 7. Abraham's seed Gal. 3:29. A. Blessings through Abraham's seed. A. Gen. 12:2-3 Blessings to the nations B. Acts 3: 19-26 Salvation C. Rom. 4:1-22 Justification, faith, salvation 8. God's immutability. A. Malachi 3:6 B. Rom. 11:29 C. Ps. 89 9. Why our Jewish spiritual heritage matters? Without the Jewish spiritual heritage we would have no patriarchs, no prophets, no apostles, no Bible, no form of worship or prayer example, no concept of one God, and no Savior. Without all of these we would have no salvation.

God Bless Freddi

Jesus is the KING of Kings and LORD of Lords!
God intends us to do everything TOGETHER!! Dalet 4

House of New Beginnings

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