August 12, 2016
Genesis 5 and Isaiah 53
(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)
A couple of years ago, our church featured a fascinating series of 24 hour-long DVD teachings by Dr. Chuck Missler – “…author, evangelical Christian, Bible teacher, engineer, and former businessman [and] the founder of the Koinonia House ministry based in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.” (Wikipedia). The series is called Learn The Bible in 24 hours, and I still have the accompanying text and study guide. While the whole study was fascinating, let me stir up some excitement from just two of the hour-long sessions.
First, let me say that the Bible is an amazing book! Actually it is a collection of 66 books by at least 39 authors over 1,500 years! Yet it is a cohesive unit that has the answer to anything life can throw at you! Oh, you can find critics who will tear apart that unity and try to make it less (or non) divine than what it really is. But its cohesiveness comes from the fact that the One who inspired all the authors is God Himself! (See II Peter 1:21).
The greatness of the mind of God is unfathomable! And I will feature two examples in this blog that show just how great the mind of God is! These two examples involve Hidden Messages in the plain text of Scripture:
• The first is in Genesis chapter 5 – a genealogical listing of Adam and his descendants. The first 10 people named are Adam, Seth, Enosh, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, and Noah. What isn’t apparent are the Hebrew meanings of those names – and the message they give as they are read together in a sentence!
✞ Adam means man.
✞ Seth means appointed.
✞ Enosh (from root anash, “to be incurable” ) means mortal, frail, miserable.
✞ Cainan (or Kenan – I Chronicles 1:2) can mean sorrow, dirge, or lamentation.
✞ Mahalal’el means praise of God, or blessed God.
✞ Jared (from the verb yaradh) means descent, or shall come down.
✞ Enoch means initiated or begin, commencement, teaching.
✞ Methuselah means his death shall bring forth [the flood]. (muth, a root meaning death, shalach means bring or send forth.
✞ Lamech means to make low, or bring down, despairing.
✞ Noah means comfort, or rest.
The sentence can read thus (and remember, this is thousands of years before Jesus Christ came to walk upon this earth!): “Man [is] appointed mortal sorrow, [but] the blessed God shall come down teaching [that His] death shall bring the despairing rest.” This is just another example of how the whole Bible – both the Old Testament and the New – points to the sacrifice of God’s Son Jesus Christ on Calvary’s cross for our sins!
• The second is in Isaiah 53. While I am not going to reproduce the twelve verses of this chapter here, Isaiah 53 is an amazing prophecy of the Savior’s sacrifice on the cross for us! Read it for yourself! But here is a brief overview of some of the events of Isaiah 53: Messiah suffered at the hands of men; He was rejected of men; His was a substitutionary sacrifice; though totally innocent, He was put to death; He died with criminals but was buried with the rich; God laid our sins on Him!
But hidden beneath the surface text (equidistant Hebrew letter sequencing, spelling out words) are these amazing phrase discoveries:
✞ “Yeshua’s my name.”
✞ “Messiah”
✞ “Nazarene”
✞ “Galilee”
✞ “Pharisee”
✞ “Levites”
✞ “Caiaphas”
✞ “Annas”
✞ “Passover”
✞ “Moriah”
✞ “the Cross”
✞ “Pierce”
✞ “the Atonement Lamb”
…and more, including…
…the names of everyone at the cross:
✞ “Peter”
✞ “Matthew”
✞ “John”
✞ “Andrew”
✞ “Philip”
✞ “Thomas”
✞ “James, John’s brother”
✞ “James, Alphaeus’ son”
✞ “Simon”
✞ “Thaddeus”
✞ “Matthias”
…all except Judas!
✞ The three Marys
✞ “Salome”
While my faith does not rest on the encrypted code underneath the plain text of the Bible – the plain text is enough for me – it does show that the Word of God is the result of a mind far greater than we can even imagine! The Bible is the work of God!