Category: Applied Theology

Of Jacob and Nathaniel 

On By Bp. Justin ElwellIn Applied Theology, InspirationLeave a comment

In the Torah reading for this week called Vayetze, meaning, “and he left,” Jacob flees the house of Isaac in fear of his brother. Leaving with little but the clothes on his back, he is making his way to Haran. After the sun sets, Jacob settles for the evening, taking of the stones in that place for a pillow. There in the wild, having left the opulence of his father’s house for fear of his brother Esau, Jacob has a dream. 

“And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it!” (Gen. 28:12). Not only that, but the Lord Himself stood above it (Gen. 28:13)! What is happening in this dream? The Lord is speaking covenant to Jacob. It will be years before Jacob assumes the mantle of covenant from his father Isaac, but the Lord renews the promises of the covenant here with Jacob. 

In Genesis 28:13-15 the Lord speaks five promises: 1) The land of Canaan will belong to Jacob’s descendants, a promise of family, and at this moment survival. 2) Jacob’s family will be expansive in keeping with the promises given to Abraham (Gen. 12:3). 3) The Lord will go with Jacob on this journey to Haran. 4) The Lord will bring Jacob back to the land of Canaan. 5) The Lord will not leave Jacob until He has completed what He has promised. 

There, in that place renamed Bethel, the Lord appeared to Jacob; or as Jacob understood it, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it” (Gen. 28:16). Jacob had been pampered in the house of his father, as he lacked nothing. He was even, we might say, a bit spoiled. Therefore, under the guidance of his mother, he executed a plan to steal the blessing belonging to his brother Esau. 

In the midst of all the comfort and wealth, Jacob had not recognized the presence of God in his father’s house. As a son of the house, but the second born, he failed to understand that he was chosen before his birth (Ro. 9:10-13). Everything needed to be stripped away before Jacob could be in a position for heaven to be revealed in this dream. There, with a stone beneath his head, with a ladder reaching to heaven, the exhausted and fearful Jacob received the assurance of heaven’s promise wrapped up in being chosen by God. 

Of course Messiah Yeshua/Jesus references this vision in John 1:51 with the calling of Nathaniel. As Messiah said, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you” (Jn. 1:48). Before his calling in the natural, Yeshua saw Nathaniel. Just as the Lord saw Jacob before Jacob saw the Lord, Yeshua saw Nathaniel, knew him, calls him into Kingdom promise. This Nathaniel is the disciple/apostle referred to as Bartholomew. The name Nathaniel means “gift of God.” Bartholomew means “son of furrows” suggesting a wealthy farming family. It is likely that his name was actually נתנאל בר תלמי, or Nathaniel bar Talmey. Here is another son of a prosperous house. This one is sitting beneath a fig tree, a place to escape the heat of the day, a place to pray, think or meditate. It was there, beneath the fig tree that Yeshua saw Nathaniel. This time He would not wait until sleep had overtaken this wealthy son, He would speak as this son approached Him, speaking to his faithful heart, but then connecting him to the promises of heaven by identifying Himself as the ladder/סֻלָּם, or the One in Whom not only the angels ascend and descend, but also the only way to heaven for humanity. 

The very promises covenanted to Jacob are wrapped up in Messiah: the land, the family, the leading, the rapture, and the promise of enduring presence even in the midst of crisis. Jacob had to leave the opulence of his father’s house to behold the One who stood upon the ladder. Nathaniel bar Talmey had to leave the wealth of his father’s fields to be still enough to behold the One who is the ladder. Both had to leave it all behind. They may not have done so for the same reason, but there is a sense of departing who they were in order to be drawn into who they will be as the Lord changes and conforms them, just as it is for us today. 

Dear friends, it may seem far fetched, but when we are in our place of greatest fear, loss, or even thought, He is there. No matter the circumstance in this life, every promise of God is wrapped up in Messiah Yeshua/Jesus. And He may just confirm that to you when the rush of life seems to be pressing in the most. What then shall we do? “Be still and know that I am God” (Ps. 46:10).

Maranatha. Shalom. 

The Inheritance

On By Bp. Justin ElwellIn Applied Theology, InspirationLeave a comment

In Genesis 25:19-20 we read:

וְאֵלֶּה תּוֹלְדֹת יִצְחָק, בֶּן-אַבְרָהָם:  אַבְרָהָם, הוֹלִיד אֶת-יִצְחָק 

            וַיְהִי יִצְחָק, בֶּן-אַרְבָּעִים שָׁנָה, בְּקַחְתּוֹ אֶת-רִבְקָה בַּת-בְּתוּאֵל הָאֲרַמִּי

מִפַּדַּן אֲרָם–אֲחוֹת לָבָן הָאֲרַמִּי, לוֹ לְאִשָּׁה

 “And these are the generations of Isaac son of Abraham. Abraham fathered Isaac. And Isaac lived forty years before he took Rebecca the daughter of Bathuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean to be his wife.”  

The rabbis find the repetition of Isaac’s genealogy to be redundant, as the Torah is clear as to the paternity of Isaac. There is a midrashic tradition that says the neighbors of Abraham and Sarah did not accept the testimony of Isaac’s paternity, believing that he was the son of Abimelech, as they believed that Abraham was incapable of having children; yet, he had already produced Ishmael. 

This portion opens with Isaac and Rebecca barren. The promise of God given to Abraham, that his descendants would be as many as the stars (Gen. 15:5), depended on Isaac and Rebecca having children. Isaac prays, the Torah portrays this as an act of worship, on Rebecca’s behalf, and the Lord answers. Isaac had to raise his prayer before the Lord with the same faith as Abraham, who believed the Lord’s promise for physical multiplicity through Isaac (Gen. 15:6), to fulfill the promise of Genesis 12:1-3, and Genesis 15:5. Isaac prayed in the faith and hope of his father Abraham, and the covenant promises were renewed in him (Gen. 26:4-5).  

 The Philistines filled the wells of Abraham, and Isaac had to reopen them in order to live in the Promised Land (Gen. 26:15-22). He names the wells: עֵשֶׂק: “contention,” שִׂטְנָה: “harassment,” and רְחֹבוֹת: “expansion.” The rabbis understand that the Philistines tolerated Abraham’s presence, and his preaching; but after he died, they filled the wells of living water that represented his monotheistic faith. They would not tolerate a second generation and hoped that Isaac would leave the land forever. 

The rabbis also find a connection between the three wells of Abraham and the three Holy Temples in Jerusalem. The first two wells foreshadowed the destruction of the First and Second Temples, while the third well foreshadows the third and final Temple, which they say will encompass the entire city of Jerusalem. The apostle John also sees this, “I also saw the holy city – the New Jerusalem – coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Rev. 21:2). 

Isaac had to live in the faith of his father, while also living with the rumors about him. We find parallels in the life of Paul, applicable to us as well. After Paul’s salvation, other messianic Jewish brethren fear and doubt his salvation (Acts 9:21, 26-27). He had to quash rumors spread about him (Acts 21:21). He put Kingdom work above his birthright, reputation, and even acceptance; until the fruit of his ministry became apparent to all (Gal. 2:1-2). 

As we persevere in faith, we open those wells of living water, filled in by the enemy, and wait on the return of Yeshua/Jesus, with Whom we are joint heirs.

Maranatha. Shalom.

A Grave Beginning

On By Bp. Justin ElwellIn Applied Theology, InspirationLeave a comment

When Abraham buries Sarah his wife in the newly purchased cave of Machpelah, meaning double or fold, he had been repeatedly promised ownership of the land of Canaan, “Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him” (Gen. 12:7). A promise given to children he did not have. Yet, years later, as he stands and mourns for Sarah, he owns only a cave. Sarah had followed Abraham out of his father’s house (Gen. 12:1-3), and she was caught up in this calling, in this hope, and in this promise. Later, they received the promise of a son, Isaac, but neither received in full what they had departed their homeland for (Heb. 11:13-16). Still, the grave was not an end for either Sarah or Abraham. Every promise spoken to Abraham was followed obstacles that appeared to overcome the promise. The grave, while not the full, was in part, a step toward fulfillment.

While Abraham would not live to see his descendants settling in the Promised Land, as Messiah told us, “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad” (Jn. 8:56). Abraham, the prophet (Gen. 20:7), saw the day of Messiah Yeshua/Jesus. But what day? Perhaps it was the day of His birth, or the day of his revelation. Personally, I believe Abraham’s joy was the prophetic sight of an empty tomb.

Abraham purchased a tomb for Sarah; and in that tomb, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would be buried. Generations later, a wealthy man named Joseph purchased a tomb for himself, where the Lamb promised to Abraham would be laid (Gen. 22:8). What Abraham saw in Isaac as a type, the resurrection, the promised Lamb would be in full: life from the grave. Abraham purchased a small piece of land in the Promised Land for his beloved Sarah. Yeshua, laid in a tomb owned by another, purchased all who would believe in Him, the promised Lamb, the resurrected Son of God (Ro. 10:9-10). As Paul writes in Romans 6:4, “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” Further, John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

The grave at Machpelah was not an end, but a beginning. Abraham could see this in part, but not in whole. How blessed we are to have received the revelation of Messiah and an empty tomb. We could mourn at the tomb like it is an ending, or we can trust in the Lamb and see it is only the beginning. Every promise of God is “yes” and “amen” in Yeshua (1 Cor. 1:20), but do not expect the way to be free of obstacles. Like Abraham before us, the promises have been given, therefore the obstacles are sure to come. Do not become frustrated, disappointed, or despondent. Why? Death has been defeated; the grave overthrown (1 Cor. 15:55-56). How? “Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I Am” (Jn. 8:58), and “I am the resurrection and the life” (Jn. 11:25). This is good news worth celebrating, and sharing, regardless of the circumstance.

Maranatha. Shalom.