Exodus 6:2-5 [2] God spoke to Moshe (Moses); he said to him, “I am Adonai. [3] I appeared to Avraham (Abraham), Yitz’chak (Isaac), and Ya’akov (Jacob) as El Shaddai, although I did not make myself known to them by my name, Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh [Adonai]. [4] Also with them I established my covenant to give them the land of Kena’an (Canaan), the land where they wandered about and lived as foreigners. [5] Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israe’el, whom the Egyptians are keeping in slavery; and I have remembered my covenant.
Everything Adonai told Abraham came to pass. The Children of Israel became foreigners in a land that was not theirs, they lived in oppression and as slaves under the yoke of Egypt and were there for around four hundred years, just as He said they would. Under the leadership of Moses, Adonai revealed Himself not only to Pharoah, but to His people and delivered them out of Egypt, but not empty handed, thus fulfilling the promise that they would leave with many possessions. (Gen 15:13-14)
The final plague of Egypt, the death of the firstborn, was not just about showing Pharoah that God was who He said He was. The Passover was the foreshadowing of what Yeshua, Jesus would go through on the cross. Jesus, the firstborn of Adonai would die for the sins of the world. Each element of the Passover ties directly to Jesus. The Lamb, the blood on the door, the removal of leaven from the home, the matzah or unleavened bread. It all symbolizes Jesus, the greater than Moses, leading us out of bondage, our personal Egypt. Matzah, or the bread of affliction, ties directly to the body of Jesus. It is pierced, it is striped, it is broken for us. Isaiah 53:4-5 reads, [4] In fact, it was our diseases he bore, our pains from which he suffered; yet we regarded him as punished, stricken, and afflicted by God. [5] But he was wounded because of our cries, crushed because of our sins; and the disciplining that makes us whole fell on him, and by his bruises (stripes) we are healed. At the Passover Seder with His disciples, Jesus took the matzah, broke it, and gave to his disciples, “And when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, Take, eat, this is My body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of Me.” 1 Corinthians 11:24
After leaving Egypt, Adonai handed down the Torah to Moses to give to His people, this included the different types of offerings that were to be made. When looking back at the first two Hebrew letters that make up the word covenant, be-reet, we see that it spells the word “son”. The letters Bet and Reysh spell more than just son. When looking at the Hebrew Gematria, we see that this spelling also means: purely, sincerely, approved, chosen, pure, clean, clear, empty, corn, GRAIN, feed, field, the country, cleanness, purity and salt of lye. The word that I want to look at that ties to son, is grain.
Leviticus chapter 2 breaks down the grain offering. It was to be made of fine flour, and to have olive oil poured on it, as well as frankincense put on it. The priest was to take a handful of the flour, along with the olive oil and frankincense and it was to go up in smoke on the alar as an offering made by fire, a fragrant aroma for Adonai, then the rest belonged to Aharon and his sons. (Leviticus 2:1-3) When the grain offering had been baked in the oven, it was to be unleavened cakes made with fine flour mixed with olive oil or matzah spread with olive oil. If it was cooked on a griddle, it was to be made of unleavened fine flour mixed with olive oil and to be broken and pieces and olive oil poured over it. If it was cooked in a pot, it was to consist of fine flour with olive oil. (Leviticus 2:4-7) No grain offering was to be made with leaven or honey but were to be seasoned with salt. (Leviticus 2:11,13) The chapter closes saying [14] If you bring a grain offering of firstfruits to Adonai, you are to bring as the grain offering from your firstfruits kernels of grain from fresh ears, dry-roasted with fire. [15] Put olive oil on it, and lay frankincense on it; it is a grain offering. [16] The cohen (priest) is to cause the remainder portion of it, its grits and olive oil, with all its frankincense, to go up in smoke; it is an offering made by fire for Adonai.
Why is this important and how does it tie to “son”? There is a much deeper meaning behind the firstfruits and grain offerings. They were a symbol of the covenant that was to come through Jesus. In John 12:23-24 Jesus tells his disciples [23] The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. [24] Yes, indeed! I tell you that unless a grain of wheat that falls to the ground dies, it stays just a grain; but if it dies, it produces a big harvest. The holy day Sfirat HaOmer, or Firstfruits, took place on the day after the Shabbat (Sabbath) following the Passover. This is significant as Jesus died on Passover, was in the tomb on Shabbat, and was resurrected on Sfirat HaOmer, the day of the Firstfruits. Paul said in his first letter to the Corinthians [20] But the fact is that the Messiah has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have died. [21] For since death came through a man, also the resurrection of the dead has come through a man. [22] For just as in connection with Adam all die so in connection with the Messiah all will be made alive. [23] But each in his own order: the Messiah is the firstfruits; then those who belong to the Messiah, at the time of his coming. 1 Corinthians 15:20-23
In the Complete Jewish Study Bible, it says of the Mosaic Covenant, “The promises of this covenant must be fulfilled. Yeshua says (Matt. 5:17-19) that until heaven and earth pass away (based on the covenant with Noach), the smallest letter or stroke of a letter will not pass from the Torah (Mosaic Covenant) until it is all fulfilled. God said through the prophets that as long as heaven and earth remains consistent with the Noachide Covenant, Isra’el would remain a people before him. The Mosaic Covenant is not a replacement of the covenants with Noach (Noah) and Avraham (Abraham). It is dependent upon them and, along with them, is presently in effect. As we will see, the Davidic Covenant also affirms and expresses the earlier covenants. Therefore, the new covenant fulfills rather than merely replaces the previous covenants, and the Christianity community errs severely whenever it claims that the new covenant has replaced the covenant made between Moshe (Moses), the children of Isra’el, and God at Sinai.”
A few days after I had written down information concerning the word covenant, God showed me something incredible. I just started the devotion Experiencing His Presence by Tommy Tenney. In the very first devotion, the scripture is Psalm 84. In verses 4-5 it reads [4] How happy are those who live in your house; they never cease to praise you! [5] How happy the man whose strength is in you, in whose heart are [pilgrims] highways. If I had read this verse in the KJV instead of the CJSB, I probably would have not seen this as the CJSB takes the transliteration closely back to the Hebrew meaning of scripture. When I saw the phrase “In whose heart are [pilgrim] highways” it made me sit up and scramble to find my notes about the word covenant, and its numeric. Covenant has a value of 612, and one of the phrases listed with that value is “The highways of their heart”. I do not think that there is any coincidence that everything takes us right back to Jesus. Each covenant we read about leads directly to Him.
Hebrews 9:15 It is because of this death that he is mediator of a new covenant [or will]. Because a death has occurred which sets people free from the transgressions committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promised eternal inheritance.
When speaking of the tabernacle and the offerings for sin, the writer of Hebrews went on to say [23] Now this is how the copies of the heavenly things had to be purified, but the heavenly things themselves require better sacrifices than these. [24] For the Messiah has entered a Holiest Place which is not man-made and merely a copy of the true one, but into heaven itself in order to appear now on our behalf in the very presence of God. [25] Further, he did not enter heaven to offer himself over and over again, like the choen hagadol who enters the Holiest Place year after year with blood that is not his own; [26] for them he would have had to suffer death many times – from the founding of the universe on. But as it is, he has appeared once at the end of the ages in order to do away with sin through the sacrifice of himself. [27] Just as human beings have to die once, but after this comes judgement, [28] so also the Messiah, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to deliver those who are eagerly waiting for him. (Hebrews 9:23-28)
To fully understand and grasp the covenant we have with Jesus, we have to understand the covenants that Adonai made with His people throughout the Bible. We must look at how they connect to each other, and how they are being fulfilled through Jesus. We no longer have to sacrifice animals, because He became the perfect, eternal sacrifice. He became the grain offering, the firstfruits. He became the matzah for the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It is easy to look at the Torah, which rather than “law” actually means “instruction or the way to go” and think that it is not relevant to us since we are under grace. We are cheating ourselves of the beauty of not just the Word of God, but the beauty of the way He laid out His covenant for mankind. When we take the time to understand how the Mosaic Covenant was set up and how each part of it has such a deep meaning and representation to our Savior, it opens the Torah up to no longer being a boring book of the law, but to the wonder and incredible plan that an Almighty God put in place for His children. The everlasting covenant was designed before the world. It was laid out by the architect of the universe before He spoke the words, “Let there be light.” It is without beginning and without end. It is everlasting to everlasting.
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