Shemot (Exodus) 6:2 – 9:35
Yechezkel (Ezekiel) 28:25 – 29:21
Romans 9:14-33
Like a wild horse, something inside of me does not want to submit to the hands of a master. Most people don’t like being told what to do, especially if it’s by tyrants.
Everyone I know wants to be free of the hands of corrupt politicians and unauthorized agencies that oppress us in so many ways. Masters of the deep state control many of our rulers, but they’re not going to control me! Yet not many, including myself, want to face what’s even closer to home – tyranny within our souls. We all have to face the decisions in life – who will I allow to be my master?
Groanings for Deliverance
Has it been way too long that someone you care about has been addicted, or is stuck in some kind of a rut? How about a habit or substance that we know is not good for us, but we just keep doing it anyway? YHWH has good news! He has a new master for you!
Exodus story foreshadows a believer set free from the tyranny of sin, the devil, and the cruel world of exile. In exile, we can see that the world is not our friend and only wants what it can take from us. But it is in exile under an overbearing rule that we see the power of YHWH delivering souls from the powerful grip of tyranny.
In exile in Egypt, we see links in the chains of slavery being broken by the power of Elohim, one plague at a time! The purpose of the plagues wasn’t just for YHWH to take His wrath out on the Egyptians. It was to break the chains of bondage from His people to set them free! Keep that in mind when really bad things happen in today’s world.
One way that we know the exodus story pictures the born-again experience is that both start with groaning and a longing to be set free. Abba hears the prayer of the soul that words cannot utter, but can only groan. The heart’s cry of a lost and hurting soul in bondage is what causes Him to mercifully remember His covenant with His people to send a deliverer.
YHWH said, “Furthermore, I have heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Mitzriy (the miserable Egyptians) are keeping in bondage. So I have remembered My Et-Briyt (Alef Tav-Covenant).” Exodus 6:5
In Hebrew, the word for groaning is that of a newborn infant crying – na’aqat – the crying out of a child, or of one who is totally helpless. When a slave to a world of sin realizes how helpless he is and cries out to the Savior for deliverance, that’s when YHWH remembers His Alef Tav-Covenant, the renewed covenant in the blood of the Lamb through the Messiah’s work on the cross. At the cries of His people, He answers the heart’s cry for deliverance and sets them free to serve a Master Who is not tyrannical.
Testifying of Deliverance
For me, my deliverance came during my college daze – when pot, porn, and rock & roll enslaved my miserable soul in Mitsrayim. Deep inside I was a crying, groaning child wanting out of dark, chaotic waters. The only way out of suicidal depression was by the way of the cross where the Lamb of God was slain for me. What set me free was hearing the Gospel that He died the death I knew I deserved. I knew I deserved to die for the sins that I had willfully committed against Him.
But my Messiah loved me so much that He would die not only to take my place of punishment and to forgive me for my sins but to break the power that sin had binding my soul. That power came from His cleansing, life-giving blood. He broke the chains of bondage that I did not have the power to break in my own strength. My Heavenly Father circumcised my heart, something no one can do for themselves. Praise my Deliverer!
Sure, I have been tempted with temptations after I believed on Him and was born again. Yes, I stumble and fall at times, but no longer am I a habitual sinner, no longer am I an addict. I am no longer a slave to sin! When I do stumble, I have learned to repent, go to the Word and draw near to my merciful Father Abba has the power to deliver me out of all of my afflictions. Abba picks me back up and directs me back on the straight and narrow again under His grace. My new Master Messiah is faithful and able to keep me from falling, yet without forcing me to do His will. (Psalm 56:13, Jude 1:24)
I now have a new identity as a new creature in Messiah. I’m a changed man and not the “waste” my ‘friends’ used to call me. No longer am I mastered by sin, the world, and the devil, but I choose to be mastered by my Messiah. I’m a willing servant of my Master.
Our testimonies are the Word made alive in our day through our lives shining out as living epistles read of men (2 Cor 3:2-3). We overcome sin and the devil by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony.
Preparing for Passover
So be praying about testifying of your exodus, your born-again experience. How about preparing your Passover experience by writing it down and then sharing it with us?
We’ve heard how YHWH delivered David, Mary Magdalene, Paul, and many others. Yeshua delivered many souls bound by devils and sin and is still saving souls today!
I often wonder – are we too proud to say what we’ve been delivered from? Are we worried about what people may think about us if we were to expose our ugly past?
If that is a legitimate excuse, why then did Paul call himself ‘chief of sinners?’
It is a trustworthy saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Messiah Yeshua came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. 1 Timothy 1:15
May He deliver us from a culture of guilt and shame, lest we look down on somebody for what our Savior has set them free from! May we foster a culture of grace, where the redeemed can feel free to testify of the great things that Yah has done in their lives.
Please pray about how the Ruach Ha’Qodesh would lead us this next Passover.
So then, He has mercy on whom He pleases. And He hardens whom He pleases. (Rom 9:18) Thank Yah that He has chosen us to be vessels of mercy! If He hadn’t granted me mercy and set me free from sin’s slavery, the world of sin I was in would’ve utterly destroyed me. I could not have survived without my Savior. I owe my life to Him!
What about the vessels of dishonor? What’s Yah’s purpose for the tyrants in our lives?
The Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very thing I raised you up, so that I might display My power in you, and so that My Name might be publicized in all the earth.” Exodus 9:16, Romans 9:17
Never fear, the stage is being set in today’s world for the greatest demonstration of the power of Elohim, the Mighty One, that the world has ever seen! He has spoken through His prophets that He will use His power to break the power of cruel taskmasters over us. (Jeremiah 30:8-9; Isaiah 45:16-17; Amos 9:8-11)
Guarding our Liberty
Even after we’ve been delivered from the tyranny of sin through the Gospel message, we still have choices to make to stay free. Paul gives us wise counsel on how to guard the liberty we have in the Messiah:
All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. 1 Corinthians 6:12
Yes, we have the freedom to partake of anything, but of course within the boundaries that the Torah sets as a guide, as our Rabbi Yeshua teaches. But with our liberty, we must ask ourselves if what we allow is ‘profitable.’ Is whatever it is good for spirit, soul, and body? Is it also good for others as well? Will it advance the causes of the Kingdom in my sphere of influence, or will it take away from His purposes for my life’s work?
Where do we start looking for what we may be ‘mastered’ by? Paul alerts us on two fronts:
- Foods for the belly, and the belly for foods, but God will destroy both this and these.
- But the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 1 Corinthians 6:13
At the core of what can master a believer isn’t from the deep state, tyrannical politicians, or religious rulers. What we all face is much closer to home – the appetite. Once we are of age to make decisions for ourselves, we must choose what or who we are mastered by starting in the areas of food and sex. Those are two major war fronts in the world.
And God both raised up the Lord, and He will raise us up through His power.
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Messiah? 1 Corinthians 6:14-15a
That’s the bottom line on how we can remain victorious – to choose to be mastered by the Messiah, not by the flesh. If we realize that what we choose to satisfy the appetite for the flesh affects the body of Messiah we are connected with, then we’d make decisions more profitable for the whole body to which we are connected.
Have you noticed how the enemy tempts us primarily in the area of what goes in and out of our mouths and our flesh? If we allow food or any other substance, or immoral sex to master us, then tyrannical rulers do have inroads by which they can enslave the soul. For example, if a person continually buys a substance he’s addicted to, what will he do when the mark of the Beast is mandated? It depends on what master he truly serves.
If satisfying an appetite for the flesh is detrimental or unprofitable for our mishpocha, then I should choose differently. I may need to fast. If I’m under the Messiah’s control and mastered by Him, then my choices will always benefit my brothers and sisters in the Body. Who I am mastered by will either help build up or bring down my family.
Calling on His Name
How can we know our Father in Heaven by Name? By saying “Yahweh” instead of ‘The LORD?’ Or maybe ‘Yahweh’ is not right, so do we pursue the ‘correct’ pronunciation of His Name? Or is there something deeper and more meaningful to His great Name that we praise than just what we read with our eyes and pronounce with our mouths?
“And I appeared unto Avraham, unto Yitzchaq, and unto Ya’aqov, as El Shaddai, but by My Shem YHWH, I did not make Myself known to them.” Exodus 6:3
Although some translations frame this statement on His Name as a question, translations as a statement of fact fit the context of the exodus story.
We Torah scholars have been reading all along what our forefathers called our Elohim (God, the Mighty Authority, the Strong Controller):
- Abram: …to the place of the altar which he had made there at the first. And Abram called there on the Name of YHWH. Genesis 13:4
- And when Abram was ninety-nine years old, YHWH appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am El Shaddai! Walk before me and be perfect…” Genesis 17:1
- Abraham: And he said, “YHWH if now I have found favor in Your sight, I beg You, do not leave from near Your servant.” Genesis 18:3
- Isaac: And he built an altar there and called on the Name of YHWH. And he pitched his tent there. Genesis 26:25
- Jacob: And Jacob said, “Oh Elohim of my father Abraham and Elohim of my father Isaac, YHWH, Who said to me, ‘Go back to your land and to your kindred and I will deal well with you.’ ”
So our forefathers knew our Elohim by El Shaddai, and they called on the Name of YHWH before Moses’ day. Ever wonder why so few, who claim faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, call Him by His real Name today? More importantly, how does He make Himself known by His Name YHWH in our world today?
Most of the world has yet to really know Him. The Hebrew word ‘to know’ is `yadah,’ which has the meaning of knowing Him intimately, knowing His inner character, and knowing His heart by experience, not just with head or book knowledge. In other words, the Hebraic way of understanding His Name is through experiencing YHWH and personally knowing Him from the heart, not just knowing Him intellectually.
Knowing Our Master by Name
Today’s masters are aloof and hidden, rarely seen by their subjects except by the deceptive media. When it comes to the Deep State, nobody seems to know the names of every puppet master, who pull the strings of politicians and religious rulers of our day.
How can we know the Name of our Master? How will the world know His great Name?
The word for ‘name’ in the dynamic language of Hebrew is ‘shem,’ spelled ‘sheen, mem.’ Sheen mem in the paleo-Hebrew is a picture of wind, or breath, of someone or something being its character (Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible). The letter sheen is a picture of fire. Mem is a picture of a frequency, like waves on water, or a womb as that inside of a soul.
In other words, shem, a name, is the character of a person that emanates from the fire within the womb of the soul and reproduces in others
A way to know the character that emanates from YHWH is by what He says and does. We can begin to know His character through the restoration of the ancient language that His Name was written in – Yod, Hey, Vav, Hey:
- The letters Yod, and Hey of YHWH are a picture in the paleo-Hebrew of the mighty, working hand revealed. The children of Israel had never seen His right hand like they were about to see Him at work delivering His people, using the rod of Yah in the outstretched hand of Moses. Yah’s hand pulled off the chariot wheels!
- The letters Vav, and Hey was about to be revealed to households as the nail that pierced the sacrifice, as the Lamb slain. His blood would then be applied to thresholds and doorposts. YHWH would remember His covenant again and connect His people back together with Him as a nail connects things together. The Vav was possibly pronounced ‘Wow‘ in ancient times. Wow! What a Savior!
- The letter Hey doubled, one-half of the letters of His great Name, is to doubly reveal or to do a double take. His very nature is that He wants to reveal Himself in amazing ways that compel us to seek Him to know Him more and more.
Up until the exodus, YHWH had not revealed his mighty right Yod (hand), His arm of deliverance to all His people. He had not revealed the nail joining us to Him. Through a demonstration of His power, He would Wow the world with His Yeshua, His Salvation!
The Testimony of Yeshua
Hey, and we haven’t seen anything yet! I believe we are entering into the days of the appearing of our Messiah Yeshua. His mighty Name is about to be publicized on all the earth again to be known by the nations! Praise YHWH we are not appointed to wrath, but for obtaining of salvation through our Master Yeshua Messiah. 1 Thessalonians 5:9
May we all submit more of our lives to our new Lord and Master, Yeshua our Messiah, starting with our appetites. May many receive the deliverance from addictions that they so desperately need by the mighty Hand of the One Who was nailed to the tree.
What my Savior did for me, He can do for all who call on His Name. He still delivers me daily, puts a new song in my heart and a dance in my step; free to live and free to love!
Would love to hear the `testimony of Yeshua’ by those who have overcome addictions and bondages by His great Name! How do you guard the liberty you have in our Master and stay free? Can I get a witness? This Shabbat and Passover are good times for that!
May we all come to know the Name of our Master by experience – Yod Hey Wow Hey!
In the Name of our Master Yeshua the Messiah,
David Klug