What is in a name?

 

Luke 1:5

In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron.

Have you ever thought about the spiritual meaning of your name? Many people do not realise that their name has a deep intrinsic value, because they think that it was randomly chosen for them by their parents. Traditionally, giving a family name to a newborn baby is what most parents would opt for. If not, parents of a soon-to-be-birthed little baby would typically work through a book of names, sifting and sorting until a shortlist is compiled that satisfies both, and gradually names would be eliminated until only one or two remain. Sometimes parents would just think of the name of somebody they liked and admired and choose to name their baby after that person.

There are parents who prayerfully ask the Lord what He would like them to name their child, and this is of course the best course of action. But the most wonderful thing about your name is that no matter how ‘randomly’ it was chosen by your parents, it is still in God’s will that you received that name!

How God uses names for His purposes is illustrated so well by the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth quoted above. He was a priest performing priestly services in the temple in Jerusalem, married to Elizabeth, but the couple remained childless until an angel appeared to him and told him that Elizabeth would give birth to a child in her old age. Zechariah’s Hebrew name was Zicharyah, meaning God has remembered, and Elizabeth was called Elisheva, meaning the oath of God. Their union in marriage spelled out a prophetic message to all who had eyes to see: God has remembered the oath of God.

This was a clear sign to Israel that God had not forgotten His oath to Abraham, because the baby Elizabeth gave birth to was named Yochanan, who was later to become known as John the Baptist – and his name means the grace of God - the grace of salvation through Jesus Christ, about Whom John had to testify all throughout his life.

Three names, no matter how they were decided upon, spelling out God’s intention to keep His eternal promises, at the exact time that those promises were being fulfilled – all orchestrated by God. Never doubt that your name is meant to be uniquely yours!

Pearls to ponder:

When people had to change their identity and direction in life, God often changed their names to reflect this. Abram became Abraham, Jacob became Israel. Our names often reflect the spiritual journey we are on. Find out what the Christian meaning of your name is and pray the godly promises contained therein over your life! Let God’s promises override the names we tend to give ourselves – names like lonely, forgotten, wounded. Replace them with: I am God’s child, He holds me in the palm of His hand, He is my Healer!

Hello My name is

The circle dance

 

Ex 23:14

“Each year you must celebrate three festivals in my honour.

When God gave Moses this instruction for the Israelites, He then also clarified what He meant by describing the names and details of the feasts He wanted them to keep. The name He used for ‘Feast’ was the Hebrew word Khag, which Strong’s defines as:

 châgag, khaw-gag'; a primitive root (compare H2283, H2328); properly, to move in a circle, i.e. (specifically) to march in a sacred procession, to observe a festival; by implication, to be giddy:—celebrate, dance, (keep, hold) a (solemn) feast (holiday), reel to and fro.

It therefore implies the gathering together for a festival, usually in the form of a circle for dancing and feasting.

God loves to see His people filled with joy and happiness and expressing this in jubilant dancing before Him, which is why He named His Feasts with a word that means just that. In fact, Abba has anointed His Son Jesus with abundant joy, giving Him a measure above all others as we read in Heb 1:9 You love justice and hate evil. Therefore, O God, your God has anointed you, pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else.” We know that Jesus attended wedding feasts, and I can easily picture Him joining a dancing circle on these occasions and celebrating with exuberant joy and laughter!

If we think about it, we can even come to realize that the khag is not limited to humans only, the earth also takes part in it as it performs its circle dance around the sun, joyfully proclaiming God’s greatness and power.

Certainly, dancing is not restricted to the Old Testament – there are quite a few words in the New Testament which equates joy with dancing or movement. In Matthew 5:12 the word ealats means ‘to jump for joy’ and pazaz means ‘to leap or bound’; in Acts 6:5 Prochorus was a Christian deacon, and his name means “one who leads in the circle dance”.

Pearls to ponder:

Are we prepared to bring a new dimension to the praise and worship of our God by dancing before Him? Knowing that it pleases Him, knowing that He instructed His children to do this? Or are we going to let tradition and legalism stand in our way?

Some churches have a formal dance group who will on occasion dance in front of the church to songs they have practised movements to, and this is to be commended - it gives talented dancers a platform to express their worship in a beautiful and godly way, so different from the way people dance in the world.

To those who would not dare to do so publicly, I encourage you to start moving before the Lord as you praise Him in the privacy of your own home. You do not need dance lessons, the Lord just wants your heart to be close to His, and your dance with Him will take you on a personal journey way above what you could ever have imagined!

Shavuot 2025

Weaving a tapestry

 

Esther 5:14

His wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Have a pole set up, reaching to a height of fifty cubits, and ask the king in the morning to have Mordecai impaled on it. Then go with the king to the banquet and enjoy yourself.” This suggestion delighted Haman, and he had the pole set up.

Esther 7:10 So they impaled Haman on the pole he had set up for Mordecai. Then the king’s fury subsided.

As we read through the book of Esther, we see that there are many incidences in her life that surely did not add up for her. She had no mother of father - losing one parent would have been difficult enough for a young girl growing up, but losing both must have been devastating! She grew up in a foreign land, in Persia, where her people were exiles and where her culture and religion were subordinated to the whims of the ruling pagan despot, Ahasuerus (or Xerxes in Greek), someone who was easily persuaded by his advisors to act immorally – we see him divorcing his wife Vashti after she refused to entertain his intoxicated guests by showing off her beauty. We read that he fell for the suggestion to sleep with any amount of innocent young girls to select a fitting successor for the previous queen. He listened to and believed Haman’s lies about the Jewish people not keeping the king’s laws, then accepted his bribe of 10 000 talents of silver to decree that all Jews be destroyed.

Esther was captured to join the harem of this very same king, knowing full well what was required of her, and that, should she not be selected to become the next queen, she would disappear into the second harem forever. None of these happenings in her life so far could have made any sense to her – her upbringing by her devout cousin Mordecai must have instilled in her the knowledge of a loving God Who cared for her, Who would protect her from harm. She could so easily have rebelled and gone her own way. But she chose to let the inner light and beauty that her belief in her God had ignited in her, to shine through to such an extent that the wayward king could not resist her, in fact no one could as we read in Esther 2: 15 And Esther won favour in the sight of all who saw her. 

We know the rest of the story, how Esther intervened in Haman’s evil plot and saved her whole race from annihilation, how his evil plans to kill Mordecai backfired and he was in fact impaled on the very pole he had set up for Mordecai. All because Esther chose to stay true to her God, even though she surely could not have understood the events that unfolded before her. But there is even more: Esther must have had a hand in influencing king Artaxerxes I (successor to Xerxes) who appointed Ezra to lead a group of Jews from Babylon to Jerusalem to teach the laws of God, and 13 years later sent Nehemia to Jerusalem to rebuild the city walls.  I am sure that she would have been delighted to see the long-term effects of her dedication to her God!

Pearls to ponder:

When God weaves the tapestry of our lives, we simply cannot see what the whole picture is going to look like. We only see the colour that He is weaving into it at this moment in time, it does not necessarily make sense to us as we have such limited understanding of how all our life experiences are going to fit together in the end. Trust that He has a perfect picture in mind for the tapestry of your life, and stay true to Him no matter what! Your decisions to follow God today will impact not only your life, but the lives of your future generations to come!

Tapestry

The night of Adam

 

1 Cor 15:44

Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven

1 Cor 15:21-22

For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

Jonathan Cahn, that wonderful connector of dots, painted a beautiful picture showing the connection between the second man (Jesus) to the first Adam on the night before His crucifixion.

Man was created on the sixth day of creation. We can then rightfully name the sixth day the “day of Adam”.  Jesus died on the sixth day after He entered Jerusalem, on the day of Adam.

According to Jewish ways of calculating days, the sixth day always starts the evening before, and here we find more facts linking Jesus to the first Adam. When Adam fell, God said in Gen 3:19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” In this curse, bread is linked to death. On the evening of the Last Supper, Jesus ate bread, as it was the Feast of Unleavened Bread. When He lifted up the bread to His disciples, He joined the bread to His death, as was the case in the fall of Adam. (Luke 22:19 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”)

After the meal, Messiah Jesus toiled in prayer and sweated what appeared to be drops of blood falling to the ground. When we consider the fall of Adam, we also see toil, sweat, and ground, and all happened in a garden, the Garden of Eden. Adam was then removed from the garden to the place of the curse, which was outside, where he would eventually die. So too on that night Jesus was removed from a garden, called Gethsemane, and taken to a place outside where He would be judged, cursed, and led to His death. And it all took place on the night of Adam.

We as the children of Adam are now redeemed from the curse, and we are released from our toil to come back to the blessing in the presence of God. Hallelujah!

Pearls to ponder:

Jesus paved the way for us to return to that blessed position Adam had in the Garden of Eden – living in the presence of God, communing with Him without any barriers that sin erected in our lives. We do not have to work hard to obtain our salvation and the forgiveness of our sin. We must strive only to be in His rest!

Come to Me

Your Eliezer

 

Gen 24:2-4

And Abraham said to the eldest servant of his house [Eliezer of Damascus], who ruled over all that he had, …… But you shall go to my country and to my relatives and take a wife for my son Isaac.

This longest chapter in Genesis is devoted to the searching for a bride. It is the beginning of God showing us that this is the most important theme threading all through the Bible and holding everything together: the love that God has for His bride! Let us first examine the Old Testament: we see Eliezer searching for a bride for Isaac; and Hosea having to marry a prostitute and take her back repeatedly to show God’s faithfulness toward His wife, Israel. We read about the Bride of Christ’s journey to accept her Bridegroom’s love for her in Song of Songs; and Esther winning the love of the pagan king Ahasuerus. Boaz married Ruth and became her kinsman redeemer. All of these are examples of how God wishes to establish the closest relationship with us possible, as embodied in the marriage covenant.

The New Testament abounds with references to us as the Bride of Christ. Jesus begins His earthly ministry at a wedding banquet, turning water into wine. He then often refers to weddings in His teachings, for example in the Parables of the Wedding Feast (Matthew 22:1-14); the Great Banquet (Luke 14:15-24); the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25). Paul directly compares the relationship between husbands and wives to the relationship between Christ and His church in Eph 5:22-23 and continues the theme in 2 Corinthians 11:2. Of course, in Revelation 19:7 we read that at the end of the age, we will be the bride at the wedding feast of the Lamb!

Our quoted verse above comes from the remarkable chapter 24 in Genesis that shows us the role that Holy Spirit plays in bringing the Bride into this close relationship with the Bridegroom. The story begins with the outstanding servant of Abraham, called Eliezer, being tasked by his master to find a bride for Isaac. This mirrors the love our Heavenly Father has for us, that He is always sending Holy Spirit out to search for us. Eliezer then gently hovers around Rebekah, waiting for her to respond to his promptings, already giving gifts to assure her that he is genuine. This shows Holy Spirit’s selfless heart – his one aim is to win the future bride’s heart for his master’s son! As soon as she agrees to go with Him, He showers her with more gifts of the Spirit, then accompanies her on the long journey to meet her Bridegroom - Who had been waiting for her all this time, preparing a place for her to stay with Him.

Pearls to ponder:

Have you become aware of your Eliezer yet? This name means “my God is the helper” – and we know that Holy Spirit is also known as our Helper (John 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.) Let us live today knowing that He is in and around us, that we are not alone on this journey through life. Be aware that He is constantly by your side, guiding you towards your Bridegroom, just follow His lead!

In His Presence

The Gift

 

John 1:32

Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him.

In Old Testament times, Holy Spirit did not abide in people permanently, He would only come on an individual to strengthen and equip him or her to do a certain task for the Lord.

Here are a few examples of this: Judges 3:9-10 But when they cried out to the LORD, he raised up for them a deliverer, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, who saved them. The Spirit of the LORD came on him, so that he became Israel’s judge and went to war…

Ex 31:2-4 “See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills—to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze,

Deut 34:9 Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. So the Israelites listened to him and did what the LORD had commanded Moses.

These persons then would stand out among others as especially gifted from the Lord to excel in the duties that they had been selected for. It would be apparent to all that they had something special, a desirable attribute that others were lacking.

The New Testament started with the death and resurrection of Jesus, not His birth (the meaning of the word testament is a legal will, a covenant between God and His people). Therefore, Jesus received Holy Spirit from His Father at His baptism (as was the case in the Old Testament up until then), to empower Him for His public ministry.

But then something wonderful happened:  Holy Spirit remained on Him! Not only was this the sign that God gave John the Baptist that Jesus was the Messiah (John 1:33 And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’), but it also was a foreshadow of the wonderful Gift all believers in Jesus would later receive – the Gift of the Holy Spirit!

 He would now not only come upon us occasionally but remain and dwell in all of us who believe, to equip and empower us for our tasks here on earth. (Eph 1:13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit).

Pearls to ponder:

Is it apparent to all around you that you have Someone special, some extraordinary Gift that sets you apart for your assignment? Are you allowing Holy Spirit to work in you, to transform you so that His power can flow through you to accomplish His work here on earth?

Holy Spirit Breath of God

The hidden King

 

Matthew 25:40

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

We are all acquainted with the story of the Prince and the Pauper, wherein a certain prince and a poor beggar boy switched places and lived each other’s lives for a while.

Now in Jewish history there is a similar story, a legend of Solomon’s exile. In this story, King Solomon decides to dabble in the occult. Through this foolish behaviour he encounters a demon who flings him out of Jerusalem, takes on his form and reigns in his place. The real King Solomon starts wandering from city to city, begging for food. Some have pity on him and feed him, others drive him away. The king of Ammon employs him as a kitchen help, but then later throws him out into the desert to starve. The Sanhedrin in Jerusalem get suspicious about the king’s apparent behaviour changes, and when they realize what has happened, they search for the real King Solomon, reinstate him on the throne, and banish the imposter. This gives Solomon the opportunity to reward those who had been kind to him and punish those who had mistreated him.

According to D. Thomas Lancaster, this legend is referred to often and shows up in a variety of sources, so it must have been well-known by the time Jesus spoke of rewarding the just and upright and punishing the evil doers in Matthew 25:34-46. Upon reading these verses, we could rightly ask ourselves: When was the King hidden from his subjects so that they did not recognise him? How this came about is not written down for us. It could well be that this legend was the background which Jesus used when He spoke about rewarding the just and upright with their inheritance of the Kingdom, because they had shown the King acts of kindness when He was hidden or disguised from them. Just so, the evil doers were punished by being thrown in the eternal fire for not doing this.

 Feeding the hungry, sating the thirsty, showing hospitality to strangers, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and the imprisoned are acts of kindness that Jesus singled out here. To whom was He referring? He spoke to ‘all nations gathered before Him’ (verse 32), so I believe that when He said, “whatever you did for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine”, He was not only speaking of His spiritual family (those who are believers in Him), but also of His real earthly family, the Jews. Nations will one day be judged on how they treated Israel.

Pearls to ponder:

The King is among us today, disguised in the form of the aged, the sick, the infirm, the hungry. He is to be seen in the famine-faced children we see in the posts of charitable organisations. He is hidden as the persecuted church; He is among us as the Jewish people. Can you recognize His disguises? Remember, whatever we do for the least of His brothers, we are doing for Him! Let us put aside our own selfish desires and start looking for ways to meet the needs of those less fortunate than us.

Good deeds every day

Evaluate truth

 

John 9:7

“Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

This well-known account of the healing of the man who was blind from birth, contains many interesting points of contemplation for us.

It is certainly one of the strangest ways of healing that Jesus used, even though using spit as medicine on the eyes was common in ancient times (classical writers like Pliny the Elder and Celsus noted saliva's healing properties). Jesus actually used His saliva to do two other healings as well, as recorded in Mark 7:33 Jesus led him away from the crowd so they could be alone. He put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then, spitting on his own fingers, he touched the man’s tongue. And in Mark 8:23 Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. Then, spitting on the man’s eyes, he laid his hands on him and asked, “Can you see anything now?”

What made this healing different from others is that it is the only recorded instance where someone who had been born blind, was healed. It sent a very clear message to the learned men of the time that Jesus was indeed God Himself, as they knew Ps 146:8 the LORD gives sight to the blind… Further proof lay in the fact that opening the eyes of the blind was a sign of the coming Messiah, according to prophecies like Isaiah 35:5 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. No wonder they were running around in confusion – the evidence that Jesus was the promised Messiah was mounting up before their very eyes! It is the same situation today. Even when confronted with the undeniable truth that Jesus is God, people choose not to believe what is clearly shown in the Bible.

I have often thought that this man showed determination and courage to obey Jesus. Firstly, Jesus did not explicitly promise him his healing – He only commanded him to go and wash in the Pool of Siloam. Then, while still not being able to see, he had to grope his way to the Pool, find the steps and go down them to reach the water, all the while probably wondering what people thought about the mud layers on his eyes. His faith was rewarded, and he could see!

Pearls to ponder:

What would your reaction be if you had to receive the treatment that Jesus applied to bring about the healing of this man? Would you be offended by His ‘method’; would you rather not obey because you thought, “What would people say if they saw me now?” Would you have walked all the way to the Pool, or stopped halfway thinking, “What am I doing here, this is ridiculous!” Also, when confronted with truth that conflicts with your education/culture/religious upbringing – would you search for your own answers based on the Word of God, or would you stubbornly cling to old beliefs?

Healing the blind

A ruined partnership

 

Gen 27:28-29

“From the dew of heaven and the richness of the earth, may God always give you abundant harvests of grain and bountiful new wine. May many nations become your servants, and may they bow down to you. May you be the master over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you. All who curse you will be cursed, and all who bless you will be blessed.”

These are the blessings which Isaac spoke over Jacob, whom he believed to be Esau. He had called in his oldest son, Esau, and asked him to hunt game and prepare it for him, so that he could give him his blessing before he (Isaac) died. Rebekah overheard this conversation and took action. Jacob, obeying his mother Rebekah’s instructions, slaughtered two kids from their flock for her to prepare an appetizing meal for his father. He then put on his brother Esau’s best clothes (so that his aging father, who could not see properly, would smell Esau when he approached him) and covered his smooth hands and neck with the skins of those kids, so that he would feel as hairy as Esau to his father’s touch.

The plan worked perfectly, and Jacob received the blessings intended for Esau. This is where it gets interesting to take note of what the blessings entailed. We see from the quoted verse that Isaac had perceived that Esau would be a ruler of note, a world-class leader – he would have riches in abuncance (abundant harvests and boutiful new wine); be seen as a leader among many nations (many nations become your servants and bow down to you) as well as a national king (may your mother’s sons bow down to you); and who would also be seen as divinely protected (all who curse you will be cursed, and who bless you will be blessed).

The characters of the two brothers seem to indicate that a divine partnership had been intended for them, a ruler (Esau) making the way for a shepherd of the flock of God (Jacob) to operate, protecting him from their enemies and allowing the instructions of the Lord to be taught and followed in the land. We see other such partnerships in Israel – David and Samuel, for example.

Where did it all go wrong? Esau unfortunately chose to give in to his baser physical instincts more than honouring the moral implications of his position in the family – trading his birthright as firstborn (with all the benefits and responsibilities thereof) for a meal of bread and lentil stew in a moment of self-gratification. Given the important implications of this trade, we can assume that this was not the first of such decisions in his life thus far, it must already have been a character trait by that time.

Esau’s decisions had devastating effects on the future of his family, but also on his descendants. His generational line became known as the Amalekites and the Edomites, and it was Herod of Esau’s race that tried to destroy Jesus as an infant by having the male children of Bethelehem slain.

Pearls to ponder:

Let us be constantly aware of the inner fight between our physical and spiritual natures and refrain from making impusive decisions to gratify our flesh. In those moments, pause and ask direction and discernment from Holy Spirit before taking action. It will take dedication and lots of practice to consistently do so, for before submitting to Jesus as Lord of our life, we had been so used to selfishly only give heed to our own inner needs!

What we sow

God's Throne Room

 

Rev 4:2

At once I was in [special communication with] the Spirit; and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with One seated on the throne.

Not long ago I watched a video showing the interior of Buckingham Palace, which included the throne room of the king. On first glance, the opulence and grandeur of all these rooms are too much to take in - I can imagine that if you actually stood there, you would not know where to start looking! Hundreds of rare and costly ornaments are displayed on every available surface; so many objects are gilded or made of marble; cut glass and crystal reflect the light throughout the rooms. Not to mention the authentic art portraits, antique and more modern, adorning the walls. Remarkable indeed!

And yet….there is no perception of life and emotion here, it feels like a spectacular display of wealth meant to impress, not to draw one into a community of warmth and shared human experiences. The throne room is used only on rare occasions, and then with scripted pomp and ceremony that has been left unchanged for centuries, meant only to impress and convey superiority. So different from our Father’s Throne Room in heaven!

This Throne Room, (we know from eyewitnesses who wrote about it in the Bible), is more spectacular than anything found on earth. We read about God being present here, sitting on His Throne, and His appearance is bright like jasper and sardius. We read about the bow of emerald encircling that Throne, and flashes of lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder emanating from it. Arranged around the Throne are more thrones, upon which elders sit wearing white clothing and golden crowns upon their heads, and in front of it are the seven Spirits of God blazing like torches. There is a sea of glass in front of the Throne, and around it four living creatures as guardians. And these creatures never stop saying, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, Who was and Who is and Who is to come’, upon which the elders prostrate themselves before Him, throwing down their crowns before Him in worship.

The description above speaks of life, and majesty, and supreme authority! But also of warmth and love and compassion without end - we know this from the fact that we are invited to enter that very same Throne Room whenever we want, or need, to (Heb 4:16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.)

Pearls to ponder:

Let us meditate on the wonder of this, that we have unlimited access to the Throne Room of the All-Powerful Creator of the Universe! Unlike here on earth, where people may only enter earthly throne rooms by invitation, an event most will never experience in their lifetime. We can be sure that this Throne Room exists, as several people, whose lives were separated by hundreds of years, wrote about their visitations there (Ez 1:26-28; Dan 7:9-10; Is 6:1-4; Micaiah in 1Kings 22:19; Jesus in Matthew 19:28 and 25:31, Stephen in Acts 7:55 to name a few). Come then, and enter the Throne Room of our Abba in absolute faith that we will be warmly received and welcomed there!

God's Throne Room