Transformations: The Signature of God (part 10)

By Brenda Cathcart

Peter testified on the Feast of Weeks that the gift of the Holy Spirit was to all who believed.

Acts 2:38-39 NKJV 38 Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 "For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call."

What are some aspects of this gift? (Elicit responses.)

Paul tells us that one of the roles of the Holy Spirit is to seal us for the day of redemption.

Eph 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. (NKJV)

What is the seal? The seal has its origins in the priesthood described in Exodus.

Ex 28:36-38 "Make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it as on a seal: HOLY TO THE LORD. 37 Fasten a blue cord to it to attach it to the turban; it is to be on the front of the turban. 38 It will be on Aaron's forehead, and he will bear the guilt involved in the sacred gifts the Israelites consecrate, whatever their gifts may be. It will be on Aaron's forehead continually so that they will be acceptable to the LORD. (NIV))

The word we translate seal is from Strong’s #2368.  חותם chowtham,  kho-thawm' or chotham {kho-thawm'}; from 2856; a signature-ring:--seal, signet.

A signet was used to seal correspondence. The document would be rolled up or folded, wax would be dripped onto the opening, then the signet would be pressed into the hot wax to seal the document. The only way to open the document was to break the seal. Also, the signet was used to “notarize” a signature on a document. The wax would be dripped onto the document and the signet would be pressed onto it to attest to the signature. As an alternate, blood would be dripped onto the document and the signet pressed into the blood. This is where we get the phrase “sealed in blood”.

The high priest wore the plate with the name “Holy to the LORD.” Holy means to be separate or to be set aside. The high priest was set aside to the LORD. In a sense, he has God’s signature on his forehead.

The plate was worn on the forehead. Everyone who looked at the high priest saw that he was “Holy to the LORD.”

After his ascension, Jesus presented Himself before God as our high priest. Since the earthly tabernacle, the vessels used in the tabernacle, and the garments of the priests are patterned after the heavenly ones, we know that Jesus wears the plate with the words Holy to the LORD on His forehead. What name then does Jesus wear? Yeshua, Emmanuel, Holy to the LORD. He will save, God with us, Holy to Yahweh.

The High priest was to wear the words Holy to the LORD, but what about the common people? God brought them out of Egypt to be a nation of priests and holy to the LORD. 

Ex 19:6 'And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel." (NKJV)

As such, God told them to wear the word of God on their foreheads as well as their hands.

De 6:6, 8 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. (NIV)

A tiny scroll with the words from passages with the commandment to bind the commandments on their foreheads and hands is placed in a small leather box and bound on the foreheads and left hand. The left hand is chosen because it is closer to the heart. By doing so, they are reminded that God’s commands should be on their minds (forehead) and that they should apply them in their lives (hand). An alternate explanation given by the sages is to tie them on the weaker hand showing that true strength comes from God.

We also are priests before God.

1Pe 2:5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

 (NKJV)

1Pe 2:9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; (NKJV)

God’s name on our foreheads sets us aside for him. Paul tells us that we also are called to be holy, to be set aside for God. He paraphrases Isaiah and Ezekiel.

2Co 6:17 "Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you." {17 Isaiah 52:11; Ezek. 20:34,41} (NIV)

Like the high priest who wears the visible name of God on his forehead, everyone who looks at us should be able to see that we belong to God by our countenance and by our deeds.

John 13:35 NKJV 35 "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

At the time of the destruction of the first temple, God held off judgment until those who belonged to Him were marked on their foreheads.

Eze 9:3-6 Now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub, where it had been, to the threshold of the temple. And He called to the man clothed with linen, who had the writer's inkhorn at his side; 4 and the LORD said to him, "Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it." 5 To the others He said in my hearing, "Go after him through the city and kill; do not let your eye spare, nor have any pity. 6 "Utterly slay old and young men, maidens and little children and women; but do not come near anyone on whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary." So they began with the elders who were before the temple. (NKJV)

The mark placed on their foreheads was the letter tav, ת .  The Hebrew word for mark is literally tav spelled in Hebrew using the vav and the tav. Read right to left it is תו  meaning mark or the letter tav. In the Hebrew picture language we have the covenant secured. In Ezekiel’s day the shape of the tav was like a slanted cross, The covenant was secured by Jesus’ death on the cross.

The Holy Spirit, the finger of God, has placed God’s mark, God’s signature on our foreheads. We are marked Holy to the LORD, secured by the covenant.

Ephesians 1:13-14 NKJV 13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

I am so thankful that God has placed His name on me. We looked at the Aaronic blessing in an earlier section. There are two words of particular interest in this blessing. First, the word “you” is in the singular not the plural. God wants to bless each of you, each of us individually. Second, the word bless is barak meaning to kneel. The blessing is  a berakah meaning a gift. So, when the verse says, “May the LORD bless you,” God is coming on bended knee bringing you a gift, the gift of eternal life. What will you do with the gift God has offered to you?

God told Moses to tell Aaron, here is how I want you to bless my people and thus you shall place my name on them:

Numbers 6:24-26 "The LORD bless you and keep you; 25 The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; 26 The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace."'

שלום ברוך

Shalom and be blessed

Dan and Brenda Cathcart

Please visit our web site at www.moedministries.com

A Prophetic Voice from 1899!

I normally don’t post the writings of other authors on this blog, but in this case I made an exception since it was so profound.  What do you think this man would say about Islam today?

“How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.

A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.

Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyzes the social development of those who follow it.

No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome.”

– Sir Winston Spencer Churchill (The River War, first edition, Vol. II, pages 248-50 (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1899).


Shalom and Be Blessed
Dan and Brenda Cathcart

Visit our we site at www.moedministries.com

Transformations: The Feast of Weeks, Part 9

By Brenda Cathcart

At Mt. Sinai, God gave them the tablets of the Commandments written by the Holy Spirit. What form will this gift of the Holy Spirit take? The anticipation builds as the day approaches. Imagine the day before the feast; the disciples are once again, like they were every day, in the Temple praising God. As the services end, they join in the recitation of the counting of the Omer. “This is the 49^th day of the counting of the Omer.” I wonder if they got any sleep that night as they anticipated the Feast.

The next morning, the Feast of Weeks arrives.

Acts 2:1 NKJV 1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

Luke tells us that, like the Israelites at Mt. Sinai, the disciples were together in unity. Where are they together? Let’s see where they should be.

The Feast of Weeks is one of the Feasts that all males including the disciples were to appear before the LORD their God. Jerusalem would be filled with Jewish men from all over the Roman world bringing their offerings to God. On the Feast of Weeks, they were to bring a firstfruits offering and a wave offering before the LORD.

Leviticus 23:16 MKJV 16 To the next day after the seventh sabbath you shall number fifty days. And you shall offer a new food offering to the LORD.

The time of the morning sacrifices when all this begins is the third hour or 9:00 in the morning. All the people who came up for the Feast including the disciples should be at the temple at this time. Luke records Peter saying that the Holy Spirit falls on them at 9:00!

Acts 2:14-15 NKJV 14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, "Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. 15 "For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.

Luke also says that the Holy Spirit fills the house. The word house is oykos (#3624) meaning dwelling, house, temple. There are numerous places in the New Testament where God’s temple is referred to as oykos or house including Matthew 12:4, when Jesus refers to David entering the house of God and Matthew 21:13 where Jesus quotes Jeremiah saying that God’s house has become a den of thieves. Isaiah refers to the original holy mountain, Mt. Sinai, as well as to the temple mount, and the Temple as God’s house.

Isaiah 56:7 NKJV 7 Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, And make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices Will be accepted on My altar; For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations."

Is the rest of the account of the falling of the Holy Spirit consistent with the disciples being isolated in an upper room or with the disciples being in the temple? Let’s read the rest of the account.

Acts 2:2-15 NKJV 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.  5 And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. 7 Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, "Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? 8 "And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? 9 "Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 "Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 "Cretans and Arabs--we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God." 12 So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "Whatever could this mean?" 13 Others mocking said, "They are full of new wine." 14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, "Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. 15 "For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.

The men coming up to Jerusalem for the Feast of Weeks witness the tongues of fire and the voices as each disciple speaks praises to God. Those who heard were devout Jews; they would be at the temple at the hour of the morning sacrifices! Further there were thousands of them! There is only one place where there would be a gathering of thousands of devout Jews on the Feast of Weeks! This is like the opening ceremony of the Olympics! They didn’t come from all around the Roman world to miss the opening ceremonies!

As we focus on the events described in this passage, did you see some similarities between the events at Mt. Sinai and the events at the temple on this momentous Feast of Weeks? The word sound in verse two comes from a Greek word meaning “roar (#2279).” There is a roar from heaven! The roar fills the entire temple and the surrounding area since thousands of people heard the sound. The disciples spoke in a language that every one heard as being their own language. Even though they were all Jewish, they lived in other nations and spoke the native language as well as Hebrew.

Peter and all the disciples with him are ready to give witness again to the identity of Jesus, the Son of the Living God. Peter testifies to the coming of the New Covenant.

Acts 2:38-39 NKJV 38 Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 "For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call."

Jeremiah said the New Covenant will be when God would “put His law in their minds and write it on their hearts.” This word translated law is the Hebrew word Torah. It means much more than “law.” It comes from the Hebrew ya-rah (#3384) meaning to flow as water, to aim or shoot, to point out, teach or instruct. The Torah properly refers to the first five books of the Bible, the books of Moses. They do include laws and commandments but they also include stories that reveal the nature of God and His redemption plan. The Torah used in its broad sense refers to all of scripture. The Jewish sages say that as water flows from high point to low, the word of God flows from the heavens to the earth. The Holy Spirit that wrote the Commandments on the Tablets of Stone now writes them on our hearts and gives us power to live according to God’s instructions.

I started stating that all scripture tells the gospel story. The word Torah tells the gospel story in the Hebrew picture language.

Torah is  תורה

Tav: ת Cross, covenant or sign of the covenant

Vav: ו Nail, tent peg, to secure

Resh: ר Person especially the highest person, head

Hey: ה Reveal. At the end of a word hey can mean what comes from or out of,

belonging to

Torah: The covenant is secured by the revelation of the highest person. Backward it reads Behold the highest person nailed to the cross. In both directions, Torah, the written Word of God, reveals Christ, the Living Word. The written Torah was given to the Israelites on the very first Feast of Weeks at Mt. Sinai fifty days after they were redeemed from slavery in Egypt. The Living Word was written on the hearts of the disciples at the first Feast of Weeks fifty days after the Resurrection which redeemed them from the slavery of sin.

Ezekiel 11:19-20 NIV 19 I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. 20 Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God.

When you celebrate the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost in just a little over a month, remember that this gift from the Father is our gift, your gift, as well. The same Spirit that wrote the Commandments on Tablets of stone and the hearts of the disciples writes them on our hearts. Paul calls each of us a letter from Jesus written by the Holy Spirit.

2 Corinthians 3:3 NIV 3 You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

שלום ברוך

Shalom and Be Blessed

Dan & Brenda Cathcart

Visit our web site at www.moedministries.com

Transformations: The Feast of Weeks, Part 8

By Brenda Cathcart

Our name in this blog is a different kind of name. It is the name of an event. The disciples are anticipating the Feast of Weeks, but what is a Feast? We think of a feast as a huge meal! In our minds, one person can have a feast all by herself. Of course, feasts are usually more fun when shared with family and friends. On the American calendar, our biggest feast is Thanksgiving. Everyone eats way too much and then all the men fall asleep on the couch watching football. In Hebrew the word feast has an entirely different meaning.

Leviticus 23:1-2 NKJV 1 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'The feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts.

The word for feast is moed (#4150) meaning an appointment, a fixed time. God says that these events that Moses is to proclaim are His appointed times.  God’s words read like this, “The appointments of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are my appointments.” When you have a doctor’s appointment, you tend to make sure you keep that appointment. Sometimes doctors or dentists will charge you for the visit whether you show up or not making it important to keep your appointment. God has placed specific times on His calendar that He agrees to meet with His people. I think these appointments should be at least as important as your doctor’s appointment.

The disciples are eagerly awaiting this appointed time with God. On the fortieth day of the counting of the Omer, Jesus ascended into heaven in front of their eyes. And as they watched, they worshipped Him and God the Father.

Luke 24:52-53 NKJV 52 And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen.

Our conventional picture of the disciples is that they were still frightened and discouraged hiding in the upper room. Luke tells us they spent those last ten days of the count up to the Feast in the temple praising God! In fact, they are getting ready to testify to Jesus’ resurrection even going so far as to appoint a man to replace Judas Iscariot.

Acts 1:21-22 NKJV 21 "Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 "beginning from the baptism of John to that day when He was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection."

What are they anticipating on this day? Can we even imagine? If we look at the historical significance of this day, we can begin to see the coming of this Feast, this appointed time through their eyes. This day is for them like the Fourth of July is for us! This is the day they received the Covenant with God. God Himself came down and spoke all the words of the Covenant directly to them! On this day, they became more than a displaced bunch of people; they have a constitution, laws, and government. They became the nation of Israel. Like the United States, they still have much to accomplish before realizing the actual status of a nation but this is the day it began.

The Feasts of the LORD are all connected to events of the Exodus and the months immediately after. The Passover is when the Hebrews killed the lamb and put the blood on the doorposts and lintels of their houses as a sign of their allegiance to God. The firstborn of all the Egyptians died on this night. The Feast of Unleavened Bread remembers their flight from Egypt up through their ultimate deliverance through the Red Sea and the death of Pharaoh’s army in the sea. The Feast of Firstfruits is their exodus from Egypt itself taking with them the bones of Joseph leaving behind an empty tomb. The days are counted up to The Feast of Weeks which is the day the Israelites received the covenant at Mt. Sinai.

The Israelites arrive at Mt. Sinai on the first day of the third month, just days before the Feast of Weeks. Moses runs up and down the mountain relaying God’s words and the people’s replies back and forth. Poor Moses! He’s 80 years old running up and down a mountain!

Exodus 19:3-6 NKJV 3 And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, "Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: 4 'You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself. 5 'Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. 6 'And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel."

The people answered God in one voice. The Jewish sages write that they answered God in total unity like a single person with a single heart, “All that the LORD has spoken, we will do.”  In three days, God will come down and offer the covenant in person! Let’s look at a description of that day.

Exodus 19:16-19 NKJV 16 Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. 17 And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. 19 And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice.

The Midrash, which is a commentary on the Torah, gives further details of the events at Mt. Sinai. The Midrash says that tongues of fire circled and touched all the people gathered at Mt. Sinai. It says that there were thunderings and lightnings plural because God’s voice came in all 70 languages of the nations but only Israel answered and said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do.” After making sure that the people didn’t come too near the mountain, God spoke.

 Exodus 20:1-3 NKJV 1 And God spoke all these words, saying: 2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 "You shall have no other gods before Me.

What follows is the very voice of God speaking what we call the Ten Commandments. The Jewish people call them the ten words because the first sentence begins, “And God spoke all these WORDS…” These are the words of the Mosaic Covenant that would eventually by written by the finger of God on Tablets of Stone (Ex. 31:18). We discover that the finger of God is the Spirit of God by comparing two different accounts of the same incident in the New Testament.

Matthew 12:28 NKJV 28 "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Luke 11:20 NKJV 20 "But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.

We will see how this is significant as we connect the events at Mt. Sinai with the events at the Feast of Weeks when the disciples receive the Holy Spirit.

The prophet Jeremiah wrote of the restoration of Israel and a New Covenant that God would make with the people of Judah and Israel.

Jeremiah 31:31-33 NKJV 31 "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah- 32 "not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. 33 "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law (Torah) in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

We can imagine what the disciples are thinking. The eleven were with Jesus on the night before His death at His last Passover Seder. Luke records it this way.

Luke 22:19-20 NKJV 19 And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me." 20 Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.

Jesus told them the events that began at Passover were the beginning of the New Covenant written of by Jeremiah. The disciples are surely expecting some manifestation of God similar to that at Mt. Sinai. Perhaps they think that Jesus will return at this time and establish His kingdom. Thoughts of that were uppermost in their minds in the days before Jesus’ ascension when they ask Him about the restoration of Israel.

Acts 1:6-7 NKJV 6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" 7 And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.

Will Jesus now come as the King who sits on David’s throne? They know that they are waiting for a gift from God because Jesus told them to wait.

Acts 1:4-5 NKJV 4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me; 5 "for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."

At Mt. Sinai, God gave them the tablets of the Commandments written by the Holy Spirit. What form will this gift of the Holy Spirit take? The anticipation builds as the day approaches. Imagine the day before the feast; the disciples are once again, like they were every day, in the Temple praising God. As the services end, they join in the recitation of the counting of the Omer. “This is the 49^th day of the counting of the Omer.” I wonder if they got any sleep that night as they anticipated the Feast.

שלום ברוך

Shalom and Be Blessed

Dan & Brenda Cathcart

Visit our web site at www.moedministries.com