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1 Corinthians 13:12
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. Measure for measure is so real. So much of what happens to us is the returning of our own actions. The dish life serves us often proceeds from the kitchen of our own cooking. The harvest we reap is surely the result our own sowing. By this standard a man’s life is easily assessed and his character revealed. If someone has many friends, he must have been friendly. If others are generous with him, he must have been sharing. By the same token, if someone finds the heart of others like desert sand or a sky of brass, closed to his needs and pleas, maybe he lived his life as selfishly as a closed book. We are all too often to blame for the hell we create with our own two hands. Jacob deceived his father Isaac by concealing his identity, several years later Jacob becomes victim of the same as Laban conceals Leah’s identity in the nuptial chamber. This would result in a family’s sibling rivalry that would cause Leah’s children to later try to kill Joseph. Joseph would later trick them by concealing his identity, appearing to them as an Egyptian viceroy (Genesis 40-45). When Leah’s children headed by Judah returned from pasture with the news about Joseph, Judah showed Jacob the ‘hard evidence’ of Joseph’s bloody coat to prove their case. Judah used the Hebrew words, ‘haker-nah’, meaning ‘Please, recognize these’. Many years later, Judah would be tricked and exposed by his own daughter-in-law using the very same words, ‘Haker-nah’. These must have pieced his heart as he remembered the treachery of lying to his own father (Genesis 37:32; 38:25)! The concealing identity theme is a common one throughout the Hebrew Scriptures. Kings, queens and prophets used it, sometimes even under God’s own purpose. It could even be said that today Messiah hides His Jewish identity from both Israel/Jacob, and the Gentiles. To the Western world He conceals His Jewish identity appears and appears to them as a Westerner, thinking and dressing, eating and living as they do. This in turn makes Him unrecognizable to His people. But as with Joseph with His brethren, the day will come when Yeshua will throw off His ‘Egyptian garb’ and say to them, “I am Yeshua, your brother” (Genesis 45:3). At that time Yeshua will show the whole world who He really is: the King of the Jews. He will also reap the harvest of His own labor and doing. At that time He will reunite Rachel and Leah’s family (the whole twelve tribes) under one banner (Ezekiel 37), and rule over the whole world from His throne in Jerusalem (Revelations 19 and 20). In this day and in the World to Come we will each reap the harvest of the actions of our lives. What will it be for you?
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Revelations 12:12
Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!" Jacob is in exile (he is not called Israel yet). His exile could seem as the result of simple feuding rivalries at home, but it is also part of a greater Divine plan to create the foundational family that is to become the gates of the Kingdom of God for the rest of the world (Revelations 21:12). The heavenly purposes of Hashem do not settle on earth without struggle. The deceit and rivalries that brought him to this 'Babylonian' exile would follow Jacob to Laban's house. There he would be deceived by a man who swapped his younger sister for the older one (like Jacob did with his father) creating a feud between Rachel and Leah as they tried to 'out-birth' each other to win Jacob's favor. But Jacob's heart was set on Rachel. Laban for his part saw the favor of God on Jacob during his exile. Whatever he did turned to gold, which made his Babylonian task-master jealous and want to keep Jacob no matter what the price. Whatever Laban did to out maneuver Jacob, God blessed his chosen-one. This infuriated Laban (Genesis 30). As Jacob went in exile for twenty years fleeing from Esau who was also called 'Edom', present-day Israel has been in exile for twenty-centuries. The Sages of the Talmud actually surnamed this exile the 'Edomite' exile. As Hashem prospered Jacob while in exile, God also always prospers the Jewish people while in exile. We see it in Jacob and Laban, the Children of Israel in Egypt, and now in the world. In every age, this has caused the 'Labans' and the 'Pharaohs' to despise the Children of Israel. As it was Jacob, the world often envies Jewish success. Esau's problem was that of a sibling rivalry, but Laban's attitude embodies the heart of Anti-Semitism throughout the ages. Till this day, the 'Jacob' shrewd and heartless Jewish businessman stereotypes as found in Shakespeare's work 'The Merchant of Venice' and even in the famed 'Christmas Carol' Ebenezer Scrooge and Jacob Marley lingers on. Today, as the divine Plan of universal restoration comes to its completion, the devil screams and shrieks in fear. Anti-Semitism rises its ugly timeless head again as both 'Esau' (the Arab world), and Laban (the world at large) seem to mount an endless propaganda war against Israel and Jews worldwide. Don't they know the story? Haven't they read it in the Book? No matter what anyone may do or say in of the great governmental institutions of man, time may demand its due, but as it was before, Jacob returns to its dear Promised Land under the name of Israel. There he lays the foundations of a kingdom that will eventually rule the entire world through one of his descendant: Yeshua. May it be soon Abba, even in our days! 1 Corinthians 13:12
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. Measure for measure is so real. So much of what happens to us is the returning of our own actions. The dish life serves us often proceeds from the kitchen of our own cooking. The harvest we reap is surely the result our own sowing. By this standard a man’s life is easily assessed and his character revealed. If someone has many friends, he must have been friendly. If others are generous with him, he must have been sharing. By the same token, if someone finds the heart of others like desert sand or a sky of brass, closed to his needs and pleas, maybe he lived his life as selfishly as a closed book. We are all too often to blame for the hell we create with our own two hands. Jacob deceived his father Isaac by concealing his identity, several years later Jacob becomes victim of the same as Laban conceals Leah’s identity in the nuptial chamber. This would result in a family’s sibling rivalry that would cause Leah’s children to later try to kill Joseph. Joseph would later trick them by concealing his identity, appearing to them as an Egyptian viceroy (Genesis 40-45). When Leah’s children headed by Judah returned from pasture with the news about Joseph, Judah showed Jacob the ‘hard evidence’ of Joseph’s bloody coat to prove their case. Judah used the Hebrew words, ‘haker-nah’, meaning ‘Please, recognize these’. Many years later, Judah would be tricked and exposed by his own daughter-in-law using the very same words, ‘Haker-nah’. These must have pieced his heart as he remembered the treachery and lying to his own father (Genesis 37:32; 38:25)! The concealing identity theme is a common one throughout the Hebrew Scriptures. Kings, queens and prophets used it, sometimes even under God’s own purpose. It could even be said that today Messiah hides His Jewish identity from both Israel/Jacob, and the gentiles. To the Western world He conceals His Jewish identity appears and appears to them as a Westerner, thinking, dressing, eating and living as they do. This in turn makes Him unrecognizable to His people. But as with Joseph with His brethren, the day will come when Yeshua will throw off His ‘Egyptian garb’ and say to them, “I am Yeshua, your brother” (Genesis 45:3). At that time Yeshua will show the whole world who He really is: the King of the Jews. He will also reap the harvest of His own labor and doing. At that time He will also reunite Rachel and Leah’s family (the whole twelve tribes) under one banner (Ezekiel 37), and rule over the whole world from His throne in Jerusalem (Revelations 19 and 20). In this day and in the Word to Come we each reap the harvest of the actions of our lives. What will it be for you? |
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