Va’era/ "𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥"

𝗘𝘅𝗼𝗱𝘂𝘀 𝟲:𝟮–𝟵:𝟯𝟱

"Now you see Me, now you don't"

𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘔𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘮, “𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘖𝘙𝘋; 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄 𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝘵𝘰 𝘈𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘩𝘢𝘮, 𝘐𝘴𝘢𝘢𝘤, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘑𝘢𝘤𝘰𝘣, 𝘢𝘴 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘈𝘭𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘺 (El Shaddai), 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘣𝘺 𝘔𝘺 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦, 𝘓𝘖𝘙𝘋 (YHVH), 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘔𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮. -Exodus 6:2-3

What a way to start our reading this week. The LORD who had given His name YHVH (transliterated as LORD in our Eng. Bibles), to the Patriarchs is now saying he did not make Himself 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙣 to them by this very Name. I mean He surely showed them wondrous things - and gave them promises for their futures, so what is going to be different here, with Moses and Aaron?

This week's portion is all about the signs and wonders the LORD is about to do through His chosen before Pharoah, in order to do what He had promised long ago.

𝘚𝘢𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦, 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘐𝘴𝘳𝘢𝘦𝘭, ‘𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘖𝘙𝘋, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘌𝘨𝘺𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘣𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘨𝘦. 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘮 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘥𝘨𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘔𝘺 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘎𝘰𝘥; 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘖𝘙𝘋 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘎𝘰𝘥, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘌𝘨𝘺𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘴. 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘐 𝘴𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘈𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘩𝘢𝘮, 𝘐𝘴𝘢𝘢𝘤, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘑𝘢𝘤𝘰𝘣, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯; 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘖𝘙𝘋.’” Ex 6:6-8

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘖𝘙𝘋 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘔𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘴, ““𝙎𝙚𝙚, 𝙄 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙨 𝙂𝙤𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙋𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙤𝙝, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙗𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝘼𝙖𝙧𝙤𝙣 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙝𝙚𝙩.. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘈𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘗𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘰𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘐𝘴𝘳𝘢𝘦𝘭 𝘨𝘰 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥. 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙄 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙣 𝙋𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙤𝙝’𝙨 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝙢𝙖𝙮 𝙢𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙞𝙥𝙡𝙮 𝙈𝙮 𝙨𝙞𝙜𝙣𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙈𝙮 𝙬𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙀𝙜𝙮𝙥𝙩. . 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘗𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘰𝘩 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘔𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘌𝘨𝘺𝘱𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘔𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘴, 𝘔𝘺 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘐𝘴𝘳𝘢𝘦𝘭, 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘌𝘨𝘺𝘱𝘵 𝘣𝘺 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘥𝘨𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙀𝙜𝙮𝙥𝙩𝙞𝙖𝙣𝙨 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝙖𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙇𝙊𝙍𝘿, 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙄 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙘𝙝 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙈𝙮 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙣 𝙀𝙜𝙮𝙥𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙗𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙄𝙨𝙧𝙖𝙚𝙡 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙢𝙞𝙙𝙨𝙩.” Ex 7:1-5

Shew. The LORD is not only going to reveal Himself to Moses, Aaron and His chosen people, but also to Egypt. He will show that He alone is GOD, and besides Him there is no other!! (Isaiah 45:5-6) Hallelu-YAH!! What they didn't 𝙨𝙚𝙚 before, it going to surely be 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙣 shortly. I want to kind of 'sum up' the next few things - Moses and Aaron continually go before Pharoah, telling him to let Israel go, that they may go and worship YHVH, yet he refuses. We see throughout their interactions Pharoah is actually 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩. He refused to take, not only the signs, but the 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗗𝗦 of Yah to heart. But that is not all that stood out.

In the beginning of the signs performed by Moses and Aaron we see something very interesting. Something which I felt impressed to share here, today, as it relates to the modern 'church'.

As Moses and Aaron begin the 'miracles' / signs before Pharoah with a staff turned into a snake, we see him in vs 11 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘌𝘨𝘺𝘱𝘵, 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴. Wait, what? But that wasn't the only time. Water turned into 𝗯𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗱 by Moses/Aaron - the secret arts did the same! Then frogs called up from the Nile to invade every space - here again, the secret arts did the same! So in the first 𝟯 signs, we see the secret arts performing just like the LORD did through Moses and Aaron. The letter for the number 3 is called, gimel. It's interesting to note that in the Talmud, gimel symbolizes a rich man running after a poor man to give him charity. Overall, on the positive side it can be 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙪𝙥 and on the negative 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙛𝙪𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙙𝙚.

As I pondered over these things my mind began to wonder about many things we see shared on social media, etc about the 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘴, 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘴 taking place at this place or that one. To be honest, its something I have struggled with over the last year. How can these things take place, when there are so many 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙙𝙚 filling the stage/altars? Being transparent here, I feel like the LORD answered me in this portion. You see, the enemy can perform signs, wonders and miracles, too. And yes, maybe even good ones (he does come as an angel of light, remember?) - and maybe because of the 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 of a loving Father who is hoping that you will take notice, and not harden your heart like Pharoah. Much like the burning bush was a call for Moses to turn and look closer, so too should the miracles around us. Because if we aren't looking closely enough, we might be 𝙙𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙙 into believing the sorcery of the enemy is the real thing. Ugh. It can be so hard! But there is hope, because even though the sorcerers could create their own signs, matching what was done by Moses/Aaron - they could only do so up to a certain point. For the remaining 4 miracles/signs, the LORD began to separate Himself from them - defining that He and only He could do what would occur next. Even to the point of separating out His chosen people, living in Goshen, from the effects of what would come over the rest of Egypt. Shew. That right there will preach! We will see these same things again in the last days, as spoken of in Revelation!

But that isn't all. The next morning before I began my study, I just sat quietly with the LORD, thinking about what I was learning and how it relates to me here and now. One of the questions that popped into my heart was, "why didn't I see Torah before this last year as it was intended? How did I get stuck in darkness thinking I was in the light?" and within just a moment I felt the LORD draw a picture. He showed me a picture of my mom, who is currently struggling with signs of dementia. The 𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘴 being played out in her mind are 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 to her. You cannot convince her otherwise. And it was the same with me. Of course my path was one that was full of other people, just like me - walking along happily believing we had it all figured out, further convincing me of my 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 (is that even a word?) before GOD. Until He did something the enemy was unable to mimic. He brought me into 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁.

Psalm 36:9
𝙁𝙤𝙧 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚;
𝙄𝙣 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙬𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩.

Oh friends. He never ceases to amaze me. I have said it more than once, that the greatest miracle He ever did, was truly when He saved me! We cannot understand true light apart from Him and His Word. His WHOLE Word. Yeshua is the WORD made flesh. By his fulfillment (meaning He filled it to full - showing by example) of Torah, He showed us how we ought to walk! And His WORD in us, becomes a fountain of life, producing the fruit of repentance. A humble heart - one of flesh and not of stone where the Spirit writes the Torah. The enemy can't mimic that -nor would he want to! A topic that has come up so much over the last couple of years, "can "christians" have demons?". Yes. 100% yes. Do you know how? Because of disobedience - it opens a door to the enemy just like our stories of Israel where when they broke covenant (by breaking GODs commandments) the enemy was able to infiltrate their land. The enemy wants us blind, deaf and dumb by whatever means necessary (even if he has to show up with a miracle here or there)!!

Side note of encouragement! The LORD showed me we are in a season of Nehemiah's. Those who are rebuilding the broken down 𝙛𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙨 the LORD gave (as His Torah) to protect His people from the enemy. Even while being mocked and ridiculed they stand with a sword (THE WORD OF GOD) in one hand and a tool for building in the other! The LORD is enabling a people to restore what was lost to the ekklesia for so many years thereby creating a 𝙨𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙩𝙪𝙖𝙧𝙮 for these last days. 𝗟𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗮𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴!!

Isaiah 55:6-7 tells us, "𝘚𝘦𝘦𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘏𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘣𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥; 𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘏𝘪𝘮 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘏𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘳. 𝘓𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘺 a𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴; 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥, 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘮, 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘎𝘰𝘥, 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘣𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘰𝘯." Even as John 16:16 reminds us, “𝘈 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘔𝘦; 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘔𝘦.” "

The enemy is deceptive. He can do things which make it seem like the LORD is doing them. All to keep us believing a lie. The LORD confronts our sin - our hardness of heart - all to draws us to repentance, not to a show. He tells us, in summary, that a true prophet and false prophet are separated not by what they know or say that proves true, but what they lead others to. True worship or False worship. It's time the ekklesia knows the difference.