Joy in the Messiah

בְּרֵאשִׁית
Beresheeth/In the Beginning
The Book of Genesis
Genesis 1:1-6:8
Isaiah 42:5 – 43:10
John 1:1-14

       The True Light~

      Beresheet begins with Hebrew words that translate – ‘In the beginning, Elohim created the heavens and the earth.’ The root of Beresheet is rosh which has more to do with the “head” or the “beginning” of something, rather than an association with “time” as Elohim is completely outside of time, there is no time with God; a year is a thousand days and a day is a thousand years. Psalms 90:4 ‘A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.’ 2 Peter 3:8 ‘But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.’ This shows the greatness and vastness of Adonai.  
     The prophet Isaiah tells us that the earth was not empty in Isaiah 45:18: ‘For thus says the Lord, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it empty- Who formed it to be inhabited. “I am the Lord, and there is no other.”
     The sages teach that the world was created for the Torah and that the Torah was created for the world.  Beresheeth continues ‘Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.  And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.  God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.  God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.’ Genesis 1:2-5. 
     There is a moment in time where God separates the darkness/hoshek/confusion from the light. In Hebrew, the word for light is OR  אוֹר and within the word Torah is the word OR / light.  
     Yeshua refers to Himself as the light of the world in John 8:12 ‘When Yeshua spoke to them again, He said, “I am the Light of the World. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Here we again see the root OR.   Prior to John chapter 8, Yeshua is referred to as the Word from the very beginning. 
     John 12:46 references that Yeshua has come as Light into the world.
     John 3:19 states ‘This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world and men loved the darkness rather than the Light for their deeds were evil.’
     John 1:4 states that ‘In Him was life and the life was the Light of men.’
     2 Corinthians 4:6  references creation and Yeshua – ‘for God who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Messiah.’
      John 1:5 – ‘The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.’
   Yeshua – Beginning – Word – Light – Torah.  Aleph - Tav.
    The denominations of man have tried to limit His Deity by making Him a man/child with the statues of the baby in the manger in all nativity scenes; the baby that people worship and sing songs to. Yet His greatness is the very Word of God. 
     Beresheet contains the first three blessings; the creatures of the air and sea, mankind, the Sabbath, and the first curses; the serpent, the ground and Cain. These curses show the first three times of deception.  
     Genesis chapter 3 not only contains the first act of deception, but shifting blame.  It begins with Eve as she blames the serpent for her sin when she answers God. ‘The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” Genesis 3:13. 
    HaSatan, knowing the fleshly weakness of Eve, deceived her.   Cain was deceived by his own self of narcissism and the people of Noah’s time were deceived by their lusts of the idols of their heart. ‘Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.’ Genesis 6:5.
    There are also several similarities within Genesis and Revelation, the Beginning and the End. In Revelation 1:8 Yeshua states: ‘I am Alef and Tav, the beginning and the ending, says the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.’ Genesis 1:15 – ‘Then God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night.’  Revelation 22:5 – ‘There shall be no night there; they need no lamp nor light of sun, for the LORD God gives them light.’ Genesis 2:9 – ‘The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden.’ Revelation 22:1 – ‘And He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street and on either side of the river, was the tree of life.’
    This parsha ends with the genealogy from Adam to Noah and then the stark declaration about Noah, ‘But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.’ It is not until the next parsha, Noach, that we learn why he found favor. ‘Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.’ Genesis 6:9. Noach walked in faith. 
    In Genesis 2:1-3 there is the creation of the Sabbath.  It is a day made holy by God.  ‘Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. ² And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. ³ Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.’ 
   If we deny the sanctity and holiness of Sabbath, do we then deny the sanctity and holiness of creation and the holiness and Divinity of Elohim?

Beresheet/In the Beginning
Genesis 1:1-6:8
Isaiah 42:5-43:10
John 1:1-5

     On Simchat Torah the Torah Scroll is rolled back to Genesis, where a new Torah cycle begins the following Shabbat; Beresheet/In the Beginning.
     Genesis begins with the history of creation where God’s Divine order is abundantly clear. It shows us how important order is as God begins with the universe and earth. No small feat and no chaos, just complete Divine order.
     Sadly, doubts, debates and deception over the Word of God often begin with the first chapter in Genesis. Yet everything that God created, ends with ‘…and it was good.’ Who then can debate?
    As He was creating heaven and earth there was a darkness, a void. We know that God is a spirit and His spirit hovers over the face of the earth and the waters. We know He created evening and morning, and divided the waters from the heavens. We know He created the land, grass and seeds. He created the lights in the firmaments; a lesser light to rule the night and a larger light to rule the day. He created creatures of the sea and creatures of the earth, and He created man in ‘Their’ image and likeness.  At the end of Genesis chapter one, at the end of the six days of creation, we read in Genesis 1:31- ‘Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.’
     Chapter two details the creation of man and the Garden. We know there was no such thing as rain as of yet, but rather a mist in the Garden. Scriptures tell us that man was created from the dust and will return to the dust. Genesis 2:10-14 specifically names the rivers that ran from the main river in the Garden of Eden.  We read in Genesis 2:15-17 the command directly from God to Adam regarding the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and Genesis 2:18 begins the creation and details of the woman, joined to Adam becoming one flesh.
    In Genesis 3 there is the temptation and the fall of man due to the cunningness of HaSatan and the complacency of Eve.  We learn of the first and second curse found in Genesis 3:14 and 3:17. Genesis 3 ends with the sanctity of the Garden of Eden; ‘So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.’ Genesis 3:24.
     Genesis 4 begins the history and lineage of Cain.  In Genesis 4:6-7 God has a conversation with Cain, very clearly laying out the remedy for his anger. ‘So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? ⁷ If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.’ Yet, Cain did not heed the advice and instructions of Adonai, but sought his own ego, thus killing his brother and then trying pitifully to deceive God. Chapter 4 ends with a profound statement after Adam’s other son, Seth had a son Enosh. ‘And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of the Lord.’ Genesis 4:26.
      Genesis chapter 5 contains the genealogy from Adam to the time of the flood. Beresheet ends with the grace upon Noah. ‘Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. ⁶ And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. ⁷ So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” ⁸ But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.’ Genesis 6:5-8.
     Beresheet is a mass of information and also contains three main acts of deception.
     Eve was deceived by HaSatan, and it didn’t take much. He somehow knew her weakness, her desire of the flesh. He deceived, Genesis 3:4, and he goaded her with knowledge, knowledge that God had and she didn’t. He fed her doubt, playing on her ego, and she took the bait, eventually blaming everyone but herself.
     Cain was deceived by his own self of narcissism. He took it for granted that his offering would suffice, assuming that he was righteous. When his offering did not please God, he blamed Able rather than himself, eventually killing Abel. He did not listen to the advice given by God in Genesis 4:6.
      The people of Noah’s time were deceived by their own lusts of the idols of their heart. ‘Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. ⁶ And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. ⁷ So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.’ Genesis 6:5-7.
     Lying is a covet affair.  There has to be a liar; one that is trying to deceive; and the other to accept the lie. If one doesn’t accept the lie, there is no deception in the receiver’s life even though the sender may be living in a complete lie. We listen to lies all the time; it has become the norm.  It is whether we accept them, incorporating them into our own thoughts as acts of persuasion, or rather we dismiss them and the person as what and who they are – vessels of deception. Deception comes in many forms, and lying is just one of them.  Data shows that strangers lie within minutes of meeting one another and the average person hears between ten to two hundred lies per day, although most lies go undetected.
     There are many reasons why people lie. They are defensive, manipulative, vindictive, a feeling of superiority, to protect oneself, to elevate themselves, to impress others, a form of hiding or denying. They lie to protect others, covetousness, impulsiveness, to evade conflict and it can also be a form of perception-as they even believe their own lies.
     Proverbs 6:16-19 ‘There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.’
Proverbs 12:22 ‘Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are His delight.’
Proverbs 19:9 ‘A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out lies will perish.’
Psalm 101:7 ‘No one who practices deceit shall dwell in My house; no one who utters lies shall continue before My eyes.’
Proverbs 12:19 ‘Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment.’
Colossians 3:9-10 ‘Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.’
Luke 8:17 ‘For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light.’
Exodus 20:16 ‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.’
Matthew 15:18-20 ‘But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.’
Psalm 58:3 ‘The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies.’
James 3:14 ‘But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. ‘
     In John 8:44 Yeshua reveals the father of lies, ‘You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.’
    Listening and adhering to the truth we learn to dismiss the lies, and to be aware of deception. We learn to be aware of deceptive people and to obey God and His word. As this parsha ends, it leaves us with a very simple but profound sentence.
     ‘But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.’ Genesis 6:8