El Shaddai Ministries

Pastor Mark Biltz: This is going to be quite a series that we're going to be doing this year. How many of you know that 2000 years ago they did not have chapters and verses in the Bible? They didn't. So a writer would quote a verse or two knowing the listeners would then have the entire context.

So when someone would read a verse, like if I said, "God so loved the world," everything else clicks. But it shouldn't be just the verse that clicks. It should be the whole context of that chapter. Back then, they literally memorized very much of the Bible.

Let me give you a practical example by a joke that I heard. There was a guy that was in prison and he's got his cellmate in there and there's all the other prisoners around there. All of a sudden, they heard someone yell out, "42!" and everybody started cracking up laughing. They just thought that was the funniest thing in the world.

And later on, he heard someone yell out, "86!" Everybody just cracked up laughing again. And this new guy in the prison was trying to figure out what's going on. So he asked his roommate, "What in the world is this? They just yell out numbers and everyone laughs."

He goes, "Well, everybody knows all the jokes. And so we've assigned numbers to all the jokes and we just yell out the number and then everyone remembers the joke and they all start laughing." "Oh, yeah. I know what that one is."

So this one prisoner says, "Well, let me try it. I want to try it." And he yells out, "20!" and nobody laughed. He goes, "Hmm, that must have been a dumb joke. Let me try another one." He goes, "36!" and nobody laughed. So he asked the guy next to him, "What's going on?" and he said, "Well, some people just don't know how to tell a good joke."

But anyway, it's that whole thing. You know what's fascinating? When you read the Gospels, sometimes they will quote from Isaiah and they'll give a little quote or from here, different quotes. But in the book of Revelation, there are no direct quotes.

He's only quoting little verses and he's assuming that everyone who's listening knows the rest of the context. So if you're a Christian who's cut out the Old Testament and you're hearing the book of Revelation and you don't realize he's referring to over 600 verses back there, how do you ever expect to understand what the book of Revelation is about when you're not connecting the dots?

How many know most churches don't want to teach the book of Revelation? They don't want to touch it. They don't know what to do with it. But do you know this is the only book in the whole Bible where there's a promise to those who read it and hear it that they'll be blessed?

I'd want to be teaching this all the time so everyone would be blessed. But it's not just those who read it. It's those who hear it. So it's even good if someone sits down and reads it to you as well.

So as we start with chapter one, verse one, it begins with the revelation of who? Yeshua the Messiah. And then it says, "which God gave to who? To him." Who's him? To show to his servants things which must shortly come to pass and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant Yochanan. So we're getting this fifth-hand. God gave it to Yeshua, Yeshua gave it to the angel, the angel gave it to Yochanan, and now it comes to us.

You know what's fascinating is look at Daniel chapter two, verses 28 and 29. "There is a God in heaven and what does he do? Revealeth secrets." Wow, top secret stuff we're learning. He makes known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the latter days. Your dream and the visions, *higgalut*, the visions, or *hazon*, the visions, all of this together.

It says, "the visions of your head upon your bed are these: As for you, oh king, your thoughts came into your mind upon your bed what should come to pass hereafter and he that does what? Reveals the secrets makes known to you what shall come to pass." So God is the revealer of secrets.

Look at Deuteronomy 29:29. "The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to who? To us and to our children forever." Now, God says there is a purpose for every single thing under heaven, right? What is the purpose for him revealing to us his secrets? It says, "that we may do all the words of the Torah."

Wow. Matter of fact, Amos 3:7 says, "surely the Lord God will do nothing but he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets." You know what's amazing? So we take a look at this PowerPoint here slide. God only gives the top-secret stuff to who? To those who are Torah pursuers and who have the testimony of Yeshua. That's what Revelation says.

It's those who keep the commandments and have the testimony of Yeshua. A lot of people don't understand Revelation, I believe, because they don't pursue the Torah. They don't keep the commandments and have the testimony of Yeshua. There are a lot of people who keep the commandments that don't know Yeshua. There are a lot of people that know Yeshua and don't keep the commandments. But God wants to reveal his secrets to those who have the testimony of Yeshua and keep the commandments.

So we look at Revelation chapter one, verses two and three. John was the one who bore record of the Word of God. Remember John 1:1? In the beginning was what? The Word. John is the one who bore record of the Word of God and of the testimony of Yeshua the Messiah.

Right there again, he's the one who's keeping the word and has the testimony of all things that he saw. So blessed are those who read it and those that hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written therein, for the time is at hand.

Okay, Revelation 1:4. Yochanan is writing to the seven assemblies which are in Asia. Grace be to you and peace from him which is, which was, and which is to come, and from who else? The seven spirits which are before his throne. Matter of fact, when it talks about the seven spirits before his throne, what do we find but in Isaiah?

This is why you've got to connect Revelation. Isaiah 11, verses one and two. "There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of his roots and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him." And here we have these seven spirits: the Spirit of wisdom, the Spirit of understanding, the Spirit of counsel, the Spirit of might, the Spirit of the knowledge of the Lord, and the Spirit of the fear of the Lord.

Then in Revelation 1:5, it says, "also from Yeshua the Messiah, who is the faithful witness. He's the first begotten of the dead. He is the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood." So we have all the kings of the earth. And who's over all the kings of the earth? Messiah. He's the prince over all the kings of the earth.

And look at this in Daniel 9:25. What Daniel says, "Know therefore and understand from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto who? The Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks and 62 weeks and the street will be built again and the wall even in troublous times." So here we see Messiah is the prince. He's the Prince of Peace.

Matter of fact, look at Psalm 89, 27 through 29. God says, "I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth. My mercy I will keep with him forever. My covenant shall stand fast with him. His seed also will I make to endure forever and his throne as the days of heaven." Referring to David, we know Yeshua is the son of David.

Matter of fact, look at Revelation 1:6. "He has made us kings and priests to God and his Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen." So here John sees a vision of God's kids being kings and priests. Where do you think he got that from? Exodus chapter 19, verses three through six.

The Lord called to Moses out of the mountain saying, "Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob, tell the people of Israel, you yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed what? Obey my voice and keep my covenant, you will be my treasured possession among all nations, for all the earth is mine. And look at this, you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. This is what you're to tell the people of Israel."

Well, look in Zechariah 6:12 and 13. If you remember, the kingship and the priesthood were separated. They ended up having a division. The kings came from Judah, the priests come from Levi, the sons of Aaron. But look what happens. A time is coming, and Zechariah 6:12 and 13, it says, "Thus says the Lord of hosts, behold, the man whose name is the branch," we just got done reading about that in Isaiah 11.

"He shall branch out from his place. He will build the temple of the Lord." The book of Revelation is all about the temple of the Lord descending from heaven. And look at this, "He's going to build the temple of the Lord. It is he who shall build the temple of the Lord. He shall bear the royal honor and he shall sit and rule on his throne and there shall be a priest on his throne and the counsel of peace shall be between them both."

So what do we find? Yeshua is both king and priest. It's coming back together. It's the restoration of all things, just like Melchizedek was both king and priest. So it's all about restoration, and that's what Revelation is about.

And then what do we find in Revelation 1:7? It says, "Behold, he's coming with what? The clouds. And every eye shall see him and they also which pierced him. And all kindreds of the earth will wail because of him. Even so, Amen." So here John sees him coming with the clouds. Where do you think he got that from? Let's go to the book of Daniel chapter seven, verses 13 and 14.

Here Daniel also has a *hazon*, visions. And he says, "I saw in the night visions and behold, one like who? The Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. And he comes to the Ancient of Days and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people, nations, languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed."

And it says, "all will look upon him whom they have pierced." Well, look at Zechariah 12:10. "I will pour out upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace, the spirit and supplications. And it says they shall look upon me whom they have pierced. And they'll mourn for him as one mourns for what? His only son and will be in bitterness as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn."

So we see John, how do you know the God that spoke to Joseph, the God that spoke to Daniel, the God that spoke to all the prophets is the same God that's speaking to John? So he's not going to have things that are different. John, like I said before, did not have a Gideon Bible. He didn't have the New Testament. The only thing he could eat on is what the prophet spoke, so that's what he's bringing out, the vision of what he's learned.

Look at Revelation 1:8. Here it is. God says, "I am the Aleph and the Tav, the beginning and the end, says the Lord, which is, which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." There we see that phrase. And then remember, look at this one. Isaiah 41:4. "Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the very beginning? I, the Lord, the first and with the last what? I am he." This I, the I am he is the first. He is the last.

Matter of fact, look at Isaiah 44:6. "Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the first. I am the last. And beside me, there's how many gods? None." You know, I can't help but think of Isaiah 48:12 and 13 also. He says, "Hearken unto me, oh Jacob and Israel, my called. What? I am he. I am the first. I also am the last."

How many firsts can there be? How many lasts can there be? He says, "My hand has laid the foundation of the earth. You see that? Whose hand laid the foundation of the earth? And my right hand is the one who span the heavens. Can you imagine how big God's hand is if it spans the whole heavens? It's a pretty big hand." And he says, "When I call to them, what do they do? They stand up, say, 'Yes, sir.'"

Well, look at verse nine. Yochanan, that's John's name in Hebrew, God is gracious. Yochanan, your brother and partner in the tribulation. Interesting. "And the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Yeshua, I was on an island called Patmos on account of who? Yeshua, the Word of God and the testimony of Yeshua."

Now, let's look at verses 10 and 11. "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day." Big misunderstanding I'll touch on here. "And I heard behind me a loud voice like a shofar saying, 'Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven assemblies: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.'"

Okay, so here is modern-day Turkey. And you will notice, let me bring it in a little bit closer here, the seven churches are at that tail end. And he mentioned them in order. Do you see Patmos? Then you see Ephesus. How they are geographically is exactly how he mentions them. He mentions them in the order of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea. So those are the seven assemblies. I don't like to say seven churches because they more than likely were synagogues to begin with, but they actually were the seven assemblies that were there at that time.

Now, when it talks about the Lord's Day, people go, "Well, see that means Sunday." Well, it doesn't say anything about Sunday. But guess what? It doesn't mean Saturday either. The Lord's Day is referring to the Day of the Lord. This is Revelation. He's talking about the Lord's Day in regard to, look at Isaiah 13:9.

"Behold, the Day of the Lord comes, cruel, both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate. He'll destroy the sinners out of it." Look at Jeremiah chapter 40, verses six and 10. It says, "For this is the Day of the Lord God of hosts. It's a day of vengeance that he may avenge himself of his adversaries."

Look at Zephaniah 1, 14 through 16. "The great Day of Jehovah is near. It's near and hastes greatly, even the voice of the Day of Jehovah. The mighty man is crying bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress and wasteness and desolation and darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the shofar and alarm against the fortified cities and against the high battlements."

So we have to understand when it talks about, "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day," he's referring to he's seeing in the Spirit the Day of the Lord. This particular verse has nothing to do with Saturday or Sunday. That doesn't mean it didn't happen maybe on a Shabbat, but it has nothing to do with Sunday here.

Okay, but now here's the key. This is what's going to get mind-blowing. Exodus 25:9, you have to remember. You know the temple in Revelation comes down from heaven, Jerusalem? Everything is in the heaven. What is on earth is a pattern based on what's happening in heaven.

And we hear God telling Moses in Exodus chapter 25, verse nine, he says, "According to everything I've shown you, after the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all the instruments, even so you shall make it." So God showed him the tabernacle in heaven and then Moses had to make the pattern based on what he saw. Well, look at one of the things he saw. Moses in Exodus 37:17, he saw a menorah in heaven. And so it was told that they were to make a candlestick of pure gold, a beaten work, the candlestick.

And I think this is interesting too. Again, it goes back to there's really no Hebrew word 'it', but it's his shaft, his branch, his bowls, his knobs, his flowers were of the same. The menorah speaking of a person in the heavenlies. And in Exodus 37:23, we see it had how many lamps? Seven lamps. So here comes the menorah. Okay? There's seven lamps.

But now let's go back to Revelation to see what John sees. In Revelation 1, 12 through 15, remember here the voice of a shofar speaking. You go back to Exodus 19, you find at Sinai when God was speaking, it was like the sound of a shofar. Okay? That's your other parallel here. And he turns and he sees a voice. Isn't that interesting? How do you see a voice?

You hear a voice, but he sees a voice. It's almost like the sound waves that he could see. But what does he see? He saw seven golden candlesticks were speaking to him. And in the midst of the seven candlesticks was one like unto who? Wow, the same one that Daniel saw coming on the clouds. In the midst of this seven-branch menorah right in the middle is one like unto the Son of Man.

He's clothed with a garment down to the foot, has a golden girdle, his head and hairs were white like wool, as white as snow. But then it says his eyes were like flames of fire. Here he is in the middle of this lamp and his eyes are like a flame of fire. His feet were like fine brass as if they were burnt in a furnace. And then it says his voice was as the sound of many waters. I wonder who else got that vision.

Let's go back and look at Ezekiel chapter 43, verses one and two. Afterward, he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looks toward the east. And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming by the way of the east and his voice was like the noise of many waters and the earth was shining with his glory. Wow, I wonder who that was.

Well, look at John 1:1. Let me see where I'm at here. Yeah, John 1:1. In the beginning was what? The Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All how many things? All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life and the life was the light of men and the light is shining in the darkness and the darkness couldn't comprehend it.

Now look at verse 1:14. Here we see Ezekiel saw the glory of the God of Israel coming by the way of the east. Look at John 1:14, the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So the John that wrote the Revelation is the same John that wrote the book of John and he's seeing the same thing.

Now look at Zechariah 4:2. He asks Zechariah, "What do you see?" and I said, "Well, I looked and behold, there was a candlestick all of gold with a bowl on the top and his seven lamps were there with seven pipes to the seven lamps which are upon the top." And then in verse six, he answers and spoke unto me saying, "This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel. Not by might, not by power, but by what? My Spirit," says the Lord of hosts.

And in 4:10, it goes on to say, "Who has despised the day of small things? For they shall rejoice and they will see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven. They are the eyes of the Lord which are running to and fro throughout the whole earth." Well, what does Revelation 4:5, we'll get to maybe next week, it says, "out of the throne is proceeding lightning and thunder and voices and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne which are what?"

Okay, so when you see the menorah in the temple, it's speaking of those seven spirits. So we're going to go scuba diving now. We're not just going to be on the beach. We're not going to be in a boat. We're going to get in the water and we're going to go snorkeling, then we're going to go scuba diving. And we're seeing what John saw. He saw the menorah. In the midst was one like unto the Son of Man. And the menorah is compared to the seven spirits of God. I think everyone sees that, right? Again, in Isaiah 11, verses one and two, again, here are the seven spirits of God.

Now, we go to Revelation 5, six and seven. He says, "I beheld and lo, in the midst of the throne of the four beasts and in the midst of the elders stood a Lamb as if it had been slain, having seven horns and what else? Seven eyes." And they're standing in the middle of it, a Lamb as if it had been slain, having seven or seven eyes which are what? The seven spirits.

So here the menorah represents seven horns, seven eyes, seven spirits. Can you see layer after layer after layer of all of these things? But notice Proverbs 6:23, "The commandment is what? A lamp and the Torah or the law is what?" So we need to understand he also sees the menorah is the commandment and the Torah is the light and Yeshua is the living Torah. So we have the Torah as the light and the commandments.

We're going to look at this more in a little bit. I'll just go ahead and jump to next week, I think. Do you know when he speaks to the seven assemblies, what is one of the first things he says to every single one of them? Okay, what's the Hebrew word for commandments? *Mitzvot* is the commandments. Now, the Jewish people don't see them as commandments. They see them as their to-do list. The commandments is their to-do list. It's their works.

Okay? To each of the seven assemblies, the Lord says, "Oh, I know your works. And I know your works. And I know your works." Okay, so we see that the commandment is a menorah and the light of the menorah is the Torah. That's what gives light. But they're also seven eyes. They also represent seven eyes that the Lord looks at through all the heaven and the earth.

And what do we see happen in Revelation 1:16 and 17? He has in his right hand what else? Seven stars. Okay, so now we also have seven stars. Okay, and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword. And we know the Word of God is likened unto a two-edged sword.

His countenance was as the sun shining in its strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as a dead man. And he laid his right hand upon me and he said to me, "Don't fear. I am what? I'm the first and I am the last, the Aleph and the Tav." So here's Yeshua right in the middle.

Revelation 19:20 and 21, I'm jumping way ahead here. "The beast was taken and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast and those that worshipped the image. These both were cast alive where? Okay, with burning with brimstone. The remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeds where? That's my point.

The Word of God is likened to a sword. Yeshua's the Word of God. The sword that's coming out of his mouth is the Word of God. And when John sees this, he falls on his face as a dead man. Well, look at Daniel 8, 16 and 19. Here Daniel hears a man's voice between the banks of Ulai which called and said, "Gabriel, make this man do understand the vision." It's one thing to have a vision. It's another thing to understand what you're seeing.

So he came near where I stood. And when he came, I was afraid. And what did I do? I fell on my face. And he said, "Understand, son of man, for the time of the end shall be this vision." It's going to happen at the time of the end. And he says, "While he was speaking, I was in a deep sleep on my face toward the ground. But he touched me and he set me upright and he said, 'Behold, I'm going to make you know what is going to be in the last end of the indignation, for the time appointed the end shall be.'"

He's talking also about Revelation. Matter of fact, look at Daniel 10:5. "I lifted up my eyes and I looked and behold, there was a man clothed in linen whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz. His body was like the beryl, his face as the appearance of lightning, his eyes were like flames of fire, his arms and feet like color to burnished brass and the voice of his words like the voice of many waters."

Wow, sounds like Daniel and Ezekiel and John are all seeing the same thing. And then look at Daniel 10, 10 and 11. "And behold, a hand touched me which set me tottering upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands. You can just see him kneeling down. And he said, 'Oh Daniel, man greatly beloved, give heed to the words that I'm going to tell you and stand upright, for now I'm sent unto you.' And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling."

Do you know what's fascinating about these visions that Daniel had? You know when one of the visions was? It was during Passover, which is quite fascinating. But look at Revelation 1:18 and 20. "I am he that what? Lives and was dead." Okay, this is a good thing to show how Yeshua, if he's the first and the last, here the first lived, died, rose again.

Okay? And he says, "I have the keys of hell and death. Write the things that you've seen and the things which are, the things that'll be hereafter." And then he says, "the mystery of these seven stars which you saw in my right hand and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven assemblies and the seven candlesticks which you saw are the seven assemblies."

So this menorah, where'd it go? Oh, there it is. The menorah represents the seven assemblies. Okay? So you've got the seven eyes, the seven spirits, the seven stars, the seven assemblies. Everything is back to this same vision. And again, that we quoted earlier, Hosea 13:14. He says, "I will ransom them from the power of the grave." In other words, the Lord has the keys of hell and death.

Okay, now do you remember in the midst of the menorah there was standing a lamb that was slain, right? Okay. In Revelation 13:8, it says, "all those that dwell on the earth will worship him whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the Lamb who was slain from when? From the foundation of the world."

I thought Jesus died 2000 years ago. This is talking about 6000 years ago. So when the Bible talks about the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, that means the Father had this plan from the beginning. How many of you know God was not taken by surprise when Judas betrayed him? And says, "Oh no, now I've got to come up with plan B and resurrect him."

As a matter of fact, remember he said the Aleph Tav, I am the first and the last. One of the interesting things about the Aleph Tav is in the ancient Hebrew, it looked like this. It was an ox, okay, because it means in Hebrew that first letter can also mean ox and the ancient Tav looked like a cross. So the Aleph Tav literally looks like God on a cross, okay, because the Aleph represents God.

So Yeshua is right in the middle of all this and Yeshua is the Aleph Tav. And I want you to see something here. In Genesis 1:1, here is Genesis 1:1 in Hebrew. Does everyone see that? You have in the beginning, created God, the heavens and the earth. What? There's a word missing in the middle and it is the Aleph Tav. You've been robbed in your English Bibles.

Now, Aleph Tav really is not a word so much as it points to the direct object, okay. But did you know Aleph Tav appears over 7000 times? Okay. But yet I believe in certain circumstances when you look at the different layers, the Aleph Tav can refer to the first and the last.

But what's fascinating to me is in Genesis 1:1, there's also seven words. And I believe in John 1:1, "In the beginning was what? The Word." And the reason John is saying that because he's looking at the menorah and each branch can represent one of the seven words. And what is the middle word? Is the Aleph Tav.

And Yeshua is the Aleph Tav. You know how we talk about everything from A to Z in the dictionary? Every word in the dictionary is found from A to Z. Yeshua is the Word of God and he is every word from the Aleph to Tav, the Hebrew dictionary.

All right, now do you know this phrase also can talk about the first time Messiah came and the second time he's coming back? Because look at this. 4000 years ago, if a day with the Lord it says a thousand years, we see the Aleph Tav arrives the fourth day, which is when he arrived.

And then we see on the sixth day or end of the 6000th year, the Aleph Tav arrives again. But this time there's a Vav attached. They look upon him whom they have pierced. The Vav is a nail. The Aleph Tav has a nail. And so his first coming is 4000 years ago, or 2000 years ago for us. His next coming they will look upon him whom they have pierced and you have the Vav Aleph Tav. The Aleph Tav is coming back on the sixth day.

Okay, but now look at this. we see in Revelation 13:8, the Lamb was slain from when? Foundation of the world. Isaiah 46:10, what does God do? He declares the end from where? The beginning. So if you want to know Revelation, what do you have to study? Genesis. Okay, from ancient times the things that aren't yet done, saying, "My counsel will stand and I will do all my pleasure."

Okay, here comes a verse. I can't remember if it's on your notes. Do you have Isaiah 28:16? That's the verse. That's the verse of all verses in this whole lesson today. You've got to write down Isaiah 28:16. Okay, "Therefore thus says the Lord God, behold, I will lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation."

We talked about the stone being the Messiah, okay? The first half. This stone that is the Messiah is the what? The foundation stone. He is the cornerstone. Now, the interesting thing about the word, these first seven words of the menorah, *Beit*, the first letter *Beit* means house. Or more than house, it really represents a home or a family.

And so the Bible, since the first letter is *Beit*, they say why? I mean there's a question. How come God, Hebrew is a heavenly language in case you didn't know, and the sages wonder why God made the foundation, the very first letter of the very first word of the Bible be the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

Why isn't it Aleph? Why doesn't the word begin with Aleph? Why does it begin with *Beit*? Okay. Well, one thing, *Beit* because it refers to a house or a home, they tell us from the very beginning God is trying to communicate to us he wants to build a family.

And what do we find in Revelation? The entire city is coming down from heaven made up of a family full of the children of God. So from the very first letter which is a word, it tells us God wants a family and a home, and in Revelation we see that happen. Okay, but I want you to see this. You notice I have underlined the second word because I want you to notice those first three letters, the three letters of the first word is first of the second word is the same as the first three letters of the first word.

Do you see that? Let me make case I didn't make sense. These three letters or these three letters. Do you see that? Okay, so within the phrase "in the beginning" is the word "created." Does everyone see that now? Okay, now as I said, *Beit*, *Bayit* means house. You can see it's even shaped like the shape of a house where you're like you're going out the front door.

But it means more than that. It means a home. So what that is telling us, *Bereshit*, which means "in the beginning," it's always been God's plan to build a home by taking a bride and bringing forth his children. So here's the word *Bereshit*. And there is the cornerstone.

And how many of us know Yeshua's the cornerstone? Okay, whenever you lay a foundation, you have to have a cornerstone and what happens if the cornerstone gets knocked out? Whoops, I didn't let it fall. Okay, but here we go. Here we have the word *Bereshit*. Yeshua's that cornerstone and God wants to build everything.

So if we understand the end, the finished project, we have to understand the beginning. We know Yeshua is the cornerstone. All right? And we know he declared the end from the beginning, right? And we know in Revelation that Yeshua's the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world.

So we're going to look at Yeshua being prophesied in the very first word of the Bible, *Bereshit*. Now, here we have *Bereshit*. We know *Beit* means house. We're going to go in the house and we're going to see what we can find. Now, many of you have heard me teach on this. How many of have not heard me teach on this?

Okay, a lot of you know I have, this will be your first time. For those of you that have heard it, I've got a new mind-blowing word that is off the charts. So get ready. All right, here's the word *Bereshit*. *Bar*, the first two letters, how many have heard of Bar Mitzvah?

Okay, *Bar* means son. And in Daniel 3:25, the word *Beit-Resh* is son. But in Genesis 41:49, it also means grain, like Joseph received all the grain. And remember the Lord said, "unless a grain of wheat fall in the ground and die, it remains alone." So this whole first word is telling us that all of prophecy is tied into the first word. So here we have the Son.

But this is the key word. Danny Ben-Gigi and I and Lani and Noa were all over at house the other day and I was showing them this. And he says, "There's another word you've got to see this!" And I go, "What is it?" It is the Aleph-Shin-Yud-Tav. Do you know what that means? "I will lay a foundation."

It means foundation with a purpose of "I will institute this." So the very first word of *Bereshit* is the Son is the foundation that he will institute. But wait, there's more. Aleph is the first letter of God's name, Elohim or Adonai. So here we have the Son of God. Combined all three mean "created."

So we see the Son of God is the one who created all things. That's what it says in Colossians and what we just read in John. All things were made by him and for him. So here we see in the first three letters, *Bara*, the Son of God is the one who created all things. Now, do you see the three letters in white?

Do you know what that means in Hebrew? Thorns. *Rosh* is head. Those three red letters, *Rosh*, Rosh Hashanah is head. When you put the *Yud* next to it, it becomes "my head." And so now we have a crown of thorns upon my head.

Within *Bereshit*, we have the Son of God who created all things is God will lay as a foundation stone and upon his head is a crown of thorns and he's going to be hung upon a tree. That's *Rosh*. 2 Kings 19:23, it's a certain type of a tree. But here it's "my tree."

And the Aleph represents God. So here we have the Son of God is the Aleph of the Aleph-Tav being hung upon a tree. In Psalm 68:29, we see *shai* is gift in Hebrew. And we know God freely gave his Son and Yeshua freely gave his life as his gift.

So here we have it's the Son's gift to mankind that he's giving is his life. Now, *Brit*, the red letters there, is covenant, the *Brit Hadashah*, the new covenant. So here in Genesis 17, it talks about the covenant. But you know what's amazing? You have *Bar*, which is son.

The *Yud* is also a hand and the *Tav* is the ancient Tav is the cross. So we even see this covenant is his hand being nailed to the cross with the *Yud* attached to *Bar*, it's "my son's cross" that he has to bear within this first word. *Bayit* is house. We know the temple was God's house. 2 Samuel 7:25.

The middle letters are *esh*. Jeremiah 23:29, "is not my word like a fire and a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?" Right? Well, what's interesting is in Deuteronomy 33:2 it talks about "from his right hand came a fiery law." And here we see the fire, the *Tav* represents the law, the *Yud* represents a hand.

From the Son's hand comes the fiery law. But we also know it has to be God's fire. When you add the *Yud*, it becomes "my fire." What happened when Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire? Okay. *Reshit* in Leviticus 23:10 means first fruits. And we know from 1 Corinthians 15:23, Yeshua was the first fruits of the resurrection.

We have *eshet* which is wife. And you can put the *Yud* together as "my son's wife" in the word *Bereshit*. So from the very beginning, we see in the word *Bereshit*, the Son of God who created all things becomes the very foundation stone of what God is going to do.

Upon his head is a crown of thorns, hung upon a tree. He became the grain of the first fruits offering in the house of the temple from the fire that fell from heaven, okay, which was his covenantal gift for his wife. The guy that wrote the book of Revelation wrote the book of Genesis.

He said, "I've declared the end from the beginning," so you go to the beginning, which means in the beginning, and we can see the end. This is why you have to connect the Tanakh to the book of Revelation so you see what he talks about, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

You go to the foundation of the world and you see in the very word that God is going to lay the foundation of the world will be his Son. Can you give the Lord a clap offering for that one? This is why you want to study the book of Revelation because we're going to go places where they've never gone before, like Star Trek. Let's stand.

Hold on, like I said, more is coming. Let's worship him who created the heavens and the earth. He's a pretty awesome God, isn't he? I tell you what, he is something else and he has so many surprises for us. He's the one who likes to play hide and seek, but he only reveals himself to those who are looking for him and are going to do what he says.

Amen? If you want to understand the book of Revelation, then you've got to know how to get it. You've got to know Genesis and you've got to keep and do his commandments. Father, we just thank you so much. We just want to come before you to say we just stand in awe of you and we just want to worship and praise you in Yeshua's name. Amen.

Lord, just touch your people now. Father, even as we prepare for the coming days of Hanukkah, the Feast of Dedication, and the battles that lie ahead with that, I just pray, Lord, that you would stir up in each of our hearts to be mighty men and women of valor. Father, that we would battle according to the Spirit, not according to the flesh, we would submit ourselves to you.

Father, I just lift your people up to you right now. We are truly the sheep of your pasture, we're also your children. And Lord, we're so grateful that you not only want to bless us, you want to put your name on us. May we carry your name honorably. Even as you told Moses to tell Aaron to say this prayer: *Yivorechecha Adonai v'yishmerecha, ya'er Adonai panav eilecha viyichuneka, yisa Adonai panav eilecha v'yasem l'cha shalom.*

The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you his peace in that most wonderful name, *Eheyeh Asher Eheyeh*. Amen. You're free to go. Bless someone on your way out though. And if you're visiting here for the first time and you want to visit with me in the side room, I'll be over there. Thank you very much.