03/07/10

Understanding events connected to the Day of the Lord

Obadiah 1: 19 - And they of the south [Negev] shall possess the mount of Esau; and they of the plain the Philistines: and they shall possess the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of Samaria: and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.


Understanding the Bible especially the Old Testament is very difficult, even translating it in any other languages (from their original script) is impossible especially if a person does not have spiritual understanding of what those scriptures mean (this we will receive as the Word keeps getting unfolded unto us).

Let me give you today's scripture as an example. In some translations like NASB (the translation which I normally bank on for I found it as the best) does not translate the word 'Negev' to 'south' but keeps it as it is even in English. If you look at the names of all the places in the Bible have meanings, so who is to decide if it is to be put as a proper noun or translated with meaning. The same scripture if fully translated would look like this.

Obadiah 1: 19 - And they of the south shall possess the mount of the hairy; and plains of the immigrants: and they shall possess the fields of doubly fruitful; and the fields of watch mountains: and the son of the right hand shall possess the rocky region.

Now when a person reads this it changes the whole prospective and they need to understand what each word symbolizes to understand the scriptures because the whole Bible is like a metaphor. This concept is not just with the Old Testament but also in the New Testament. It is only because we have many books of the New Testament which are written simplified for the children of Israel (lambs / spiritually very young) that people have a different concept of the New Testament as against the Old Testament.

The irony is that the most complex book in the whole Bible is in the New Testament and amazingly is considered as the most simple - The Gospel of John. Understanding this book alone will give you 70 - 80 percent understanding of the whole Bible for it summarizes the whole Bible in it.

It is because of the deficiency and difficulties in translations that man has been lost and has concepts been created. Two of the most harmful concepts which have affected man are the concepts 'God' and 'church', both of them are man created. Both these words 'God' and 'Church' are not biblical words and are coined to make simple man understand the Bible. As much good these words have done, even more harmed it has cause man by creating great misunderstanding.

The Hebrew (most of the OT), Aramaic (few chapters of OT) or Chaldean (few scriptures of OT) text the words translated as 'God' or 'Lord', are words like 'Divine One', 'Eternal One', 'Almighty One', 'The Creator' etc. When kept as it is The Lord cannot be confused with manmade gods. Even the Greek word 'Theo / Theos' (NT) translated as God is also a very unclear translation.

Similarly the word 'Church', many people still think a Church as either the structures or the people in charge of leading. The word 'Church' comes from the Greek word 'ekklesia' which means 'group or assembly of people called out'. These people who form the Church are people who are different from ordinary or worldly people; they stand out like Israel stood out from among all those during their time. Therefore if a Christian is trying to be like a worldly person, he or she is not part of the Church of Christ. This difference is not just by way of life but also the glory of God seen on them which makes them stand apart from others. In the Bible even when tribulations came on the early Church the glory of God was seen on the Church and it grew.

Coming back to today's scripture, one needs to understand what each name means in spiritual sense to have the true understanding of the scripture.

For example the word 'south' does not mean direction in sense of physical direction but is to do with spiritual direction. West is towards righteousness and east away from it. Heaven is associated with west and earth and hell towards the east. If one goes through the various scriptures south is on the better side associate with a repentance (the word south in Hebrew mean 'dry') more like west and north with mystic (the word in Hebrew means 'hidden') more like east.


[ Prayer Starter ]
Lord, You gave us the instructions to life in your Word but You kept it far from man's heart in the beginning because man's heart was not right. You gave us your Spirit through Jesus Christ so that the Spirit of God works in us and set our inner man in order and then we may receive the understanding of your Word. Lord, we pray that all your believers who have received the promise of the Holy Spirit be baptized in the Holy Spirit so that the Word may be unfolded unto them...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.


[ Reference Scriptures ]
Matthew 12:39-42
39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given it but the sign of Jonah the prophet:
40 for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
41 The men of Nineveh shall stand up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, a greater than Jonah is here.
42 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, a greater than Solomon is here.

Genesis 3:22-24
22 And Jehovah God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever-
23 therefore Jehovah God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden the Cherubim, and the flame of a sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

The Word of God was given free to us, therefore we should also share it freely with others. (All rights are with God)