Simchat Torah
By Ron Warren
The end is where we start from. Endings take precedence over beginnings. We begin a journey by first deciding on a destination."
We just began a new year and are now starting a new cycle of Torah reading, it is good to remember the destination of the year, of our lives, and of the Torah itself.
The destination is at the beginning of this Parsha. There we learn that creation is not an end in itself, but moves toward a goal-the completion of God's order and peace, which were inaugurated in the creation week.
The destination is a fulfilled creation in which the glorious presence of God the Creator is evident throughout. This theme of Creation Fulfilled, introduced at the beginning, will underlie the entire Torah
Comparing Genesis and Revelation
The beginning of Genesis is completed in the destination of Revelation
- Everything started in Genesis is wrapped up in Revelation
- Everything in Revelation has its Roots in Genesis.
Genesis 3:15 - Victory of the Serpent over man
“I will put animosity between you and the woman, and between your descendant and her descendant; he will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel."
[Revelation 20:2] – Victory of the Messiah over the Serpent
And he laid hold on the dragon, that oldserpent,whichis theDevil,andSatan,andboundhim a thousandyears,
Genesis 3:24 - Loss of Access to the Tree of Life
“So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of EdenCherubims,and a flamingsword which turned every way , to keep the way of the tree of life.
[Revelation 22:2] – Free access to the Tree of Life for the Redeemed
“In the midst of the street of it,and on eithersideof the river, was there the tree oflife, which baretwelve manner of fruits, and yieldedherfruiteverymonth:and the leavesof the tree were for the healing of the nations.”
CONSIDER THIS:
- In Genesis 1:1 the Earth was created; in Revelation 21:1 the Earth passes away
- In Genesis 1:16 the Sun governs the day; in Revelation 21:23 there is no need of the Sun
- In Genesis 1:5 Darkness / night was created; in Revelation 22:5 there is no more night
- In Genesis 1:10 “The Waters He called Seas” was created; in Revelation 21:1 there are no more Seas
- In Genesis 3 came the entrance of Sin; in Revelation 21-22 there is no more Sin
- In Genesis 3:14-17 a curse is pronounced; in Revelation 22:3 there is no more curse
- In Genesis 3:19 Death enters; in Revelation 21:4 there is no more death
- In Genesis 3:24 Man is driven out of the Garden of Eden (Paradise); in Revelation 22 Man is restored to Paradise
- In Genesis 3:24 the Tree of Life is guarded; in Revelation 22:14 access to the Tree of Life is granted
- In Genesis 2:17 Sorrow and Suffering enters; in Revelation 22:4 there is no more sorrow or suffering
- In Genesis 24 it shows a bride for Abraham’s son; in Revelation 19 it shows a bride for Abraham’s Seed
- In Genesis 2:18-24 it shows the marriage of the First Adam; in Revelation 19 it shows the marriage of the Second Adam
If you can believe these words written in Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God[Elohim] created the heavens and the earth,” you will have NO PROBLEM with the rest of the Bible
- Jonah and the Whale
- An Ax Head that Floats
- Yeshua walking on Water
- The Reed Sea Parting
- Raising from the Dead
- Miracles
If you cannot, you will question the Rest!
To believe otherwise, is to believe that “nothing created something out of nothing.” That requires more faith than I have.
The Torah
As we roll back the Torah to its beginning, we stand in awe as the words go by. The word “Torah” is really only four letters in Hebrew, all of them consonants. Vowel sounds of the “o” and “ah” are not written as letters of the alphabet. They are understood to be present when certain consonants appear.
- The letter “T” comes from the last word of the Hebrew alphabet, the letter tav. In ancient Hebrew with each letter being a pictogram of an object from which meaning was derived, the letter Tavwas two lines intersecting just like a cross.
- The “o” sound is produced by a consonant that is the sixth letter of the alphabet, the letter vav. It is written in ancient Hebrew as a nail, or peg.
- The “r” sound in Torah is the letter resh. It is a pictogram of a man’s head with a trailing body and looks similar to our number nine. It is a man, emphasizing his head at the top.
- The last letter is the consonant hey. It produces the vowel sound of “ah.” It is comparable to our letter “h.” The accent is on this “ah” sound—Torah. In ancient Hebrew the letter hey was a stick figure of a man with his arms outstretched wide. Standing alone, the letter could be read as, “Behold!” or “See!”In the Southern United States, a call often heard is “Hey!”Its meaning is quite similar in Hebrew.
The Old Hebrew way of writing the word “Torah”would be with four distinct pictures in a row, each representing one of the four letters, and each picture in combination with the others revealing the thought behind the word.
In Hebrew you generally start at the back and work to the front when reading letters in a word to get its Paleo-Hebrew meaning. So we start with the last letter.
- It is the letterhey and means, “Behold!”
- The next to last letter is the resh, or “r” sound. It means a head man, a chief man. So far we have the phrase, “Behold the chief Man!”
Now take in the meanings of the last two pictures, reading backwards.
- The next letter is vav, and it means “a nail.”
- The first letter of Torah is the sound of “T” or the letter tav written in the shape of a cross.
So putting all the letters together as one thought, one word, we read: “Behold the chief Man nailed on a cross.”
This is the literal meaning of the pictographic way of understanding the word “Torah”.It is a picture of the Messiah Yeshua dying on the cross for our sins. He is Torah in his life, death, resurrection and glorification. Apart from Him there is no Torah. That makes Him the “Living Torah”
This is why they call this day “Rejoicing in the Torah”
Pascal’s Wager
Blasé Pascal was born on June 19, 1623 and died August 19, 1662. He was 39 years old when he died of cancer. Pascal, during his short life, was a great Mathematician. In 1645, he invented and sold calculating machine. It was “digital” because it operated by counting integers.
In 1654, he created what is known as “Pascal’s Triangle”, which calculated the probabilities of winning in gambling, and used today in the study of statistics and modern day Physics. He also invented the syringe and hydraulic press, which is today exemplified by the hydraulic brakes on the auto.
This process is based on Pascal’s Law: “Pressure applied to a confined liquid is transmitted undiminished through the liquid in all directions regardless of the area to which the pressure is applied”
Four years before the end of his life, he gave it all up because he found a question that occupied his entire thinking process. “Does God Exist?” He believed that every person lives his life in this world based on his or her belief in the afterlife. God exists or He does not exist, and we must, from necessity, lay odds for or against Him. His conclusion became known in history as “Pascal’s Wager”
The wager goes like this: If you believe that God exists, live your life on the basis of your belief, and die, your choice is made. If you were wrong, and God did not exist, you have not lost anything. If you were right, and God does exist you have gained everything.
If you believe that God does not exist, live your life on the basis of that belief, and die, your choice is made. If you are right, and God does not exist, you have gained nothing. If you are wrong, and God does exist, you have lost everything.
History records Pascal’s choice. What is yours?
Are you going to make the same choice as Pascal?
Shalom