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Manna From Messiah
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Pastor
Ellen Mumper, Canada
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G-D's
Word is Wisdom
When my husband and I were
working as missionaries in the Caribbean, he many times would take an
announcing shift at the Christian radio station there. Between programs the announcer
would speak a thought for meditation. One of these was "You can acquire
knowledge but you have to get wisdom directly from God." A quick
concordance search shows that there are over 220 references to 'wisdom' in
Scripture. Some of these speak of the wisdom of man, and relate it to
vanity and folly, but the references to the wisdom of God reveal something very
wonderful about the Word of God and the Word made flesh.
The books of Job, Psalms, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes are often
called the books of Wisdom. Many verses tell us to seek for wisdom and
understanding in the Scriptures, the Word of God. A notable verse is
Proverbs 4:7: "Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and
with all your getting, get understanding." Yeshua Himself said
"Search the Scriptures, for in them you have eternal life, and they are
those that testify of Me " (John 5:39). A simple search of verses
containing 'wisdom' or 'scriptures' show how valuable the Word of God is to
transform our minds, help us through the perplexities of life, and even to show
us the way to salvation itself. One of the verses I love most in the Psalms is
Psalm 138:2. It says "I will worship toward Your holy temple, and praise
Your lovingkindness and for Your truth, for You have magnified Your word above
all Your name." From this we can see that the Word of God is associated
with the throne of God in His temple, with His praise, His lovingkindess and
Truth. Those are also things we associate with our wonderful Saviour.
There is an ancient Hebraic teaching from the Zohar about how the
worlds were created. Zohar is actually a book of Jewish mysticism and I do not
recommend it to anyone. It's not Scripture. But there are some nuggets of
insight in it for those who are mature in the faith and can weed out what is
not Scriptural. One of these teachings regards the creation of the world. The
apostle Yochanan (John) evidently knew the teaching I am thinking of as he
quotes it almost verbatim in John chapter 1.
John 1:1-4 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.
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." Modern
Judaism cannot see that Yeshua, Jesus Christ is the Messiah, but the ancient
teachings of rabbis of old surely knew Messiah would be the Word of God! The
Zohar teaching says that there were three in Heaven at the Creation. God
the Father is of course the Master Creator, the Architect. With the Word of His
mouth, He created the whole universe with His breath. It's interesting that the
rabbis say He created the universe with the letters of Torah, and that the
breath, in Hebrew, is Ruach or Spirit. The term for the Word is 'memra.' By the
Word of His mouth, everything that is, was made. This is what Yochanan so
eloquently explains in the opening verses of John.
More Scripture says that Yeshua/ Jesus is the Creator: Colossians
1:16 says: "Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image
of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had
by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on
high." From the passages in John, Colossians, and Hebrews, we can
see that our Saviour is both God, Creator, and the Word of God. He is the
Word that came from the Father and was there in Colossians chapter 1. Sound
waves, according to science, travel forever. Every sound that has ever been is
a wave movement that is still moving through the universe. How powerful is the
Word of God that holds the planets and stars and constellations in the form and
order they were ordained to take!
Further proof that Yeshua is the Word made flesh is found in John
1:14: "And 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.") We see those attributes of God Himself: grace, and Truth. True
Wisdom! In the New Testament the word 'law' is often misunderstood. Most
equate the word 'law' with bondage and an archaic system of rules and
regulations that have nothing to do with us today. Nothing could be
further from the truth. We have seen in this study that the Wisdom of
God, His Word, was made flesh. He is our Lord and Redeemer, Yeshua, Jesus
Christ. When we see the word 'law' we have to be very careful as the Greeks
only had one word to use for law when there are in fact many laws spoken of in
Paul's writings. The law of sin and death is the law that has been done away with,
the law that says "if you sin, you die." That's over. But the word
for 'law' in the Old Testament, is Torah, which actually means instruction. All
of Scripture is instruction in righteousness, as we see in 1 Timothy 3:16. Do
we need further proof that He is the Word of God (wisdom)? See Revelation
19:13: "And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and His name is
called the Word of God." His Word, His wisdom, is magnified above
His Name! And Yeshua IS the Word! His garments are stained with blood and
He IS the Word of God!
When we are told to get wisdom, we are told to seek out the
eternal life found in the Scriptures which were personified in the coming,
sacrificial death, and wonderful resurrection of our Lord, Yeshua
HaMashiach. We have proven that the Scriptures are wisdom, and that Yeshua is
the Word of God made flesh. Need further proof? We've seen that the Word was in
the beginning, in John 1. Compare this to Proverbs 8:22 and 23, relating
to Wisdom: starting with verse 1 of Proverbs 8 we see that the subject is
'wisdom.' Proverbs 8:22 "The LORD possessed me in the beginning of His
way, before His works of old." Proverbs 8:23 "I was set up from the
everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was." In John 1:5 we
saw that the Word was light (referring to Yeshua) and in Psalm 119 we see that
the Word of God is the source of Wisdom. Note Psalms 119:130- "The
entrance of Your words give light; it gives understanding (wisdom) unto the
simple." There are many such comparisons in Scripture. There is no doubt
that Yeshua is Torah- or the Word of God made flesh, the source of all Wisdom.
One more beautiful thought needs to be added to this little study.
Most people know what a Torah scroll is but have never been in a synagogue. In
the front of the synagogue there is an Ark, which is a cabinet holding the
Torah scrolls. After the Torah service the scrolls are returned to the Ark,
from which they were removed, with a beautiful song of liturgy, taken from
Proverbs 3:18. This is what is sung: "It is a Tree of Life to those who
take hold of it, and those who support it are happy. Its ways are ways of
pleasantness and all its paths are peace. Bring us back to You, O LORD, and we
will return. Renew our days as of old!"
The Torah scrolls are written on lambskin. The Word of God on a
lamb! It is covered with a simple linen cloth which is removed to give the Word
to the congregation. Over the linen cloth is a robe of splendour, a brocade
covering in rich colours for a king. There is a breastplate over that, of gold,
like the breastplate worn by the High Priest. The Torah scrolls themselves are
impaled on two sticks, rollers of wood. And at the top of it are two finials,
or crowns. What picture do you see here? How can they miss it! It has been so
for thousands of years! Inside is Wisdom. The Wisdom of God! His Holy
Scriptures give life and wisdom! And His Name is called.... the Word of
God. Yeshua!
Pastor Ellen
