(continued) Hebrew letter TAV - 1st seal of the ETERNAL COVENANT

[yinonyavo]

The Eternal Covenant, summed up in the letter TAV, God made by the giving of an OATH (I Chron 16:15-17, Gen 26:3, Hebrew 6:13-29). The Hebrew word for OATH is “sheva”. It has the meaning of fullness or complete, but LITERALLY it means to “SEVEN”, as if to repeat something seven times for emphasis, or to “seven oneself’, i.e. to “swear”. It then makes sense that this Covenant would be revealed in SEVEN parts and sealed with SEVEN seals. ...and indeed, we do see in Revelation, that the book or scroll of the covenant IS sealed with seven seals.

As the Covenant is gradually revealed, it is confirmed with various “tokens” and seals (all ending with the letter TAV) which are as follows:

1. To Adam, the Tree of KNOWLEDGE (Gen 2:17)

2. To Noah, the RAINBOW (Gen 9:13)

3. To Abraham (Isaac & Jacob), CIRCUMCISION (the foreskin) (Gen 17:11)

4. To Moses, the SABBATH (Ex 31:16)

5. To David, by Salt to NOT DESTROY (preserve) the Kingdom (II Chron 21:7)

6. Christ, he was CUT OFF (death/blood) (Daniel 9:26)

7. To the Church, we become his HOUSE (temple, or house [beit in Hebrew]) by the Spirit (I Corinth 3:16).

For all of us who have studied the feasts, it is obvious that they also are a type of the work of Christ......The sum of the gematria for the 7 words for each of the feasts is 3680 (Lev 23), Yeshua (Jesus) is 368, Hepta (seven in Greek) is 368.

The theme of each of these seals is carried through ALL other sevens in scripture. Each of these seals or parts of the covenant has certain symbols and key words that appear over and over and intertwine. By looking at them one at a time and studying all the relationships between other "sevens", a clearer and clearer picture emerges of each aspect of the Covenant. So I will divide this study into seven separate threads. Here is the first:

1. THE FIRST SEAL of the COVENANT:

As revealed to Adam
TOKEN: the Tree of KNOWLEDGE (Gen 2:17)

The very first gift of the eternal Covenant is ELECTION to LIFE. We can progress no further until we have the LIGHT of God shown on our hearts, and our spirit made ALIVE. This symbolism is shown in the very 1st of the sevens, the seven days of the creation story. The first day God creates LIGHT. Light and LIFE are synonymous in the scripture. The scriptures comfirm this is a type of the beginning of our salvation, the first gift of the Covenant:
2Cr 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to [give] the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Psa 27:1 [[[A Psalm] of David.]] The LORD [is] my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
Isa 50:10 Who [is] among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh [in] darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God.

Notice the connection between this 1st gift of LIGHT and the fear of the LORD....three times the scripture tells us that the "fear of the Lord" is the beginning....both the beginning of wisdom and knowledge:
Psa 111:10 The fear of the LORD [is] the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do [his commandments]: his praise endureth for ever.
Pro 1:7 The fear of the LORD [is] the beginning of knowledge: [but] fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Pro 9:10 The fear of the LORD [is] the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy [is] understanding.

What was the immediate result of Adam's eating of the tree of knowledge?....they were AFRAID, for they knew that God had said that if they ate of the tree they would DIE. To insure this, God drove them from the garden and banned them from the tree of LIFE.

In the New Testament we are given the exact same relationship between these things (fear of the Lord, LIFE and DEATH):
Mat 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

The other symbolism which occurs in the covenant as revealed to Adam is that of EATING...Adam was NOT to eat of the tree of Knowledge, but was PERMITTED to eat from the tree of LIFE. Why was EATING and a TREE chosen by God to be the test of the 1st revelation of the covenant? Christ calls himself the "bread of LIFE". We are instructed to "eat" his body and "drink his BLOOD. Surely the Tree of LIFE was meant to be a type of Christ. For Christ gave his LIFE(BLOOD) on a TREE.

Now, what about the FIRST feast. Does it contain these same symbols (Election or CHOSEN for LIFE, DEATH, FEAR of the Lord, EATING, BLOOD)? Well the first feast is PASSOVER. At the feast of Passover, we are to REMEMBER that the children of Israel were PASSOVER by DEATH and given LIFE. This was done by the BLOOD on the doorpost(tree) and by EATING the Passover lamb....and in Deut. we are told what the MEANING or PURPOSE of Passover is:
Deu 6:20 [And] when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What [mean] the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD our God hath commanded you? Then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt; and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand: And the LORD shewed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyesAnd he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers. And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as [it is] at this day.


The first piece of furniture also follows all the same symbolism. It is the brazen ALTAR. The obvious likenesses are the symbols of DEATH and BLOOD or Sacrifice (tree, cross). The altar was placed at the DOOR of the tabernacle. It was there that many of the sacrifices were to be eaten. The place where they were to EAT (whether here at the altar or other specified places) was called the "place which the Lord God has CHOSEN".

Deu 12:18 But thou must eat them before the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that [is] within thy gates: and thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God in all that thou puttest thine hands unto.
Exd 40:6 And thou shalt set the altar of the burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation.
Lev 10:12 And Moses spake unto Aaron, and unto Eleazar and unto Ithamar, his sons that were left, Take the meat offering that remaineth of the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and eat it without leaven beside the altar: for it [is] most holy:
Deu 12:27 And thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, upon the altar of the LORD thy God: and the blood of thy sacrifices shall be poured out upon the altar of the LORD thy God, and thou shalt eat the flesh.
Exd 29:32 And Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram, and the bread that [is] in the basket, [by] the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
Lev 8:31 And Moses said unto Aaron and to his sons, Boil the flesh [at] the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and there eat it with the bread that [is] in the basket of consecrations, as I commanded, saying, Aaron and his sons shall eat it.

And WHY were they to EAT the sacrifices before the Lord?.....that they would learn to FEAR THE LORD!!!:

Deu 14:23 And thou shalt eat before the LORD thy God, in the place which he shall choose to place his name there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to fear the LORD thy God always.

I'll continue with the first seal Wed. Enough for now.

 

[yinonyavo]

(continued) The Hebrew letter TAV and 1st seal of the Covenant

in Hebrew thinking, the alphabet does not really end with the letter TAV, rather it just marks the place where it connects again to the letter Aleph. Even in the numbering used of the letters, the Aleph continues the number sequence by placing a mark over the Aleph to change its value to 1000 (also one of the literal meanings of "aleph") So, the alphabet is seen as a continuing CIRCLE, increasing in depth and value each time around to infinity. The most common abbreviation for the value of Pi is 22/7. Pi, of course is the circumfence of a CIRCLE! There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alephbet, and we have seen that they can be grouped in 3 groups of seven with the TAV being left over as the SUM......22/7!! Every SEVENTH letter repeats one of the seven themes of the covenant.

So far we have as symbols and concepts contained in the first seal ELECTION to LIFE, saved from DEATH, TREE(cross,altar)/SACRIFICE/BLOOD, DOOR/gate, EATING, REMEMBRANCE, LIGHT, PASSOVER, ALTAR, and the FEAR OF THE LORD

For the 1st seal of the covenant, the corresponding "1st" letters (1st of each group of seven) are ALEPH, CHET, and SAMECH. To reveiw the meaning of these three letters:
Aleph - Oxen, unity, STENGTH, oneness with GOD, election to LIFE, Godhead
Chet - New Beginnings, new LIFE, Wall
Samech - support, prop, REMEMBRANCE

Look how well the meaning of these three letters match the concepts of the first seal of the Covenant:
ALEPH:
The very FIRST use of the phrase "fear of the Lord" is in the following verse:
1Sa 11:7 And he took a yoke of OXEN(aleph), and hewed them in pieces, and sent [them] throughout all the coasts of Israel by the hands of messengers, saying, Whosoever cometh not forth after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done unto his OXEN(aleph). And the fear of the LORD fell on the people, and they came out with one consent(unity, oneness).
..and also:
Pro 14:26 In the fear of the LORD [is] STRONG confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge.

CHET:
Pro 14:27 The fear of the LORD [is] a fountain of LIFE, to depart from the snares of DEATH
Pro 9:10 The fear of the LORD [is] the BEGINNING of wisdom....
Pro 10:27 The fear of the LORD prolongeth days (LIFE)
Isa 60:18 Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation(life), and thy gates Praise.
Isa 26:1 In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation (life) will [God] appoint [for] walls and bulwarks.

SAMECH:
Mal 3:16 Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard [it], and a book of REMEMBRANCE was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.

The connection between the 1st of the seven churches in Revelation and the 1st seal of the covenant is really fascinating. The first church is Ephesus. The specific instruction to this church is to "REMEMBER therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent, and do the FIRST works."
We have many references in other books of the New Testament (including the letter to the Ephesians)which also reveal what these "first works" were that they were to return to and remember. From Acts 19:17 we learn of their first reaction to the Gospel:
Act 19:17 And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and FEAR fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.
Christ also praises them because "they cannot bear them which are evil"....in Proverbs 8:13 we are told that the FEAR of the LORD is to hate evil.
Continuing in the passage from Act, it then states the following of the Ephesians:
Acts 19:19 ..Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all [men]: and they counted the price of them, and found [it] fifty thousand [pieces] of silver.

It seems that SILVER is often associated with the price paid by Christ on the cross(altar). He was betrayed by Judas for 30 pieces of silver. In the Alpeh study revealed a connection between the 1000 pieces of silver for the purchase of a veil was symbolic of our covering or "veiling" for unity with Christ. The veil is also said to represent the FLESH of Christ (Heb 10:20), and we are to EAT His flesh (John 6:51-53)
Gen 20:16 And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand [pieces] of silver: behold, he [is] to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that [are] with thee, and with all [other]: thus she was reproved.
The very place of the altar where Isaac was offered for sacrificed byAbraham and later purchased by David for the altar of sacrifice and the site of the Temple was purchased with pieces of silver.
2Sa 24:24 And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy [it] of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen(aleph) for fifty shekels of silver.

The reward promised to the Church of Ephesus for overcoming was to be permitted to EAT from the TREE of LIFE!! The meaning of the name Ephesus is "permitted".

As Christians, all this symbolism comes together in COMMUNION. ....the blood, the SACRIFICE and death of Christ on the Cross, REMEMBERING, EATING, new LIFE, Passover, and the Fear of the LORD:

1Cr 11:20 When ye come together therefore into one place, [this] is not to eat the Lord's supper.
1Cr 11:23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the [same] night in which he was betrayed took bread:
1Cr 11:24 And when he had given thanks, he brake [it], and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.1Cr 11:25 After the same manner also [he took] the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink [it], in remembrance of me.
1Cr 11:26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.
1Cr 11:27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink [this] cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
(FEAR OF THE LORD
1Cr 11:28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of [that] bread, and drink of [that] cup.
1Cr 11:29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
1Cr 11:30 For this cause many [are] weak and sickly among you, and many have died.

Summary of the 1st seal:

When the LIGHT of the Gospel shines upon our hearts for the first time, we are given the gift of LIFE, saved from DEATH, and FEAR the LORD. ....we realize it is GOD who holds the keys to LIFE and DEATH. Christ purchased this LIFE for us by his BLOOD/DEATH(sacrifice) on the CROSS(tree). This BLOOD SACRIFICE of CHRIST is the DOOR(gate) we must enter through to the Father. Both the PASSOVER (a FEAST of REMEMBRANCE of being passed over from DEATH by the BLOOD on the DOOR/tree/cross) and COMMUNION (a feast of REMEBRANCE of the DEATH of CHRIST) contain all the symbols of teh 1st seal of the Covenant.

Lev 17:5 To the end that the children of Israel may bring their sacrifices, which they offer in the open field, even that they may bring them unto the LORD, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation..And the priest shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar of the LORD [at] the door of the tabernacle of the congregation... ..
Lev 17:11 For the life of the flesh [is] in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it [is] the blood [that] maketh an atonement for the soul.

END of 1st seal