You have probably been wondering what has happened to Chazak. Well, we just took a little hiatus. While away for the last few weeks, we conducted a wedding. Yes, it was a surprise to us too! It happened during Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles). This made the festival very full indeed! Though it was on short notice it was an honor and a blessing to participate as we have seen Abba working in the lives of this wonderful couple. It was designed close to the ancient Biblical/Hebraic wedding. It was planned in lightning fashion as we found out we were doing it on Tuesday, the first day of Sukkot, and the wedding was on Shabbat of that week (3 days to plan)!! I think people were blessed because we were not concerned about how perfect it was. We can put our plans in order. But, sometimes we have to be ready and willing to allow our plans to be altered. Isn't that how life is? We plan as much as we can for what we may face, but really it is Abba who is there to assist us to guide the way.
Next week we will be return to our series on the Restoration of Yisrael: Mystery of the Ages, Part 5 - Yoseph: A Dreamer for Our Times. For this week, I am going focus on the pilgrims and the day that is celebrated as Thanksgiving. I know some of you are not Americans, but I believe this message is still relevant because it focuses on the first pilgrim, Avraham.
The First Pilgrim was a Hebrew
Hear my prayer, YHWH, and give ear to my cry; hold not peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with You, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were. (Psalm 39:12)
What are Pilgrims?
Current Understanding
Pilgrim fathers, a name popularly given to the one hundred and two English colonists who landed from the Mayflower and made the first settlement in New England at Plymouth in 1620. They were separatists from the Church of England, and most of them had sojourned in Holland.
Definition of A Pilgrim
Webster's definition of a pilgrim, “1. A wayfarer; a wanderer; a traveler; a stranger. ex. Strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 2 One who travels far, or in strange lands. 3. To journey; to wander; to ramble. What they believed made them aliens or pilgrims to the people around them.
Abraham was the First Pilgrim
Bereshit (Genesis) 12:1 And YHWH said to Abram, “Go yourself out of your land, from your relatives and from your father’s house, to a land which I show you. 2 “And I shall make you a great nation, and bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing! 3 “And I shall bless those who bless you, and curse him who curses you. And in you all the clans of the earth shall be blessed.” 4 So Abram left, as YHWH had commanded him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran.
First reference to the word “Hebrew”
Bereshit 14:13 And one who had escaped came and informed Abram the Hebrew, for he dwelt by the terebinth trees of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshkol and brother of Aner, and they had a covenant with Abram.
In the Strong's Dictionary of the Bible it is numbered H5677. Hebrew = "one from beyond".
Some Americans can relate to the Pilgrims that came to America, but few Americans who believe in the Bible even see a connection in their lives to the first pilgrim in the history of the world, our father Abraham. The Apostle Paul explained to all believers of the Saviour of their connection to the first Pilgrim Abraham in Galatians. Galatians 3:29 And if you are of Messiah, then you are seed of Abraham, and heirs according to the promise.
The Promise to the First Pilgrim
Bereshit 15:18 On the same day YHWH made a covenant with Abram, saying, “I have given this land to your seed, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates.....”
Bereshit 17:6 “And I shall make you bear fruit exceedingly, and make nations of you, and sovereigns shall come from you. 7 “And I shall establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be Elohim to you and your seed after you. 8 “And I shall give to you and your seed after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Kenaan, as an everlasting possession. And I shall be their Elohim.”
Since we are ancestors and heirs of the first Pilgrim let us strive to grab a hold of the same inheritance and the same blessing given to our father Abraham the first pilgrim. May this give us a renewed understanding each year as we celebrate Thanksgiving. And may all believers understand who are dispersed in the four corners of the world, that you were once soujourners and strangers for Y'shua has brought you back to the covenant. The previous Scriptures have shown that the convenant involves both a Land and a People. So welcome home pilgrims for it is time to return home both in your heart and in your mind. YHWH asks of all us to prepare for the Second Exodus which will be greater than the first (see Yeshayahu/Isaiah 11:10-14)!
Shavua Tov,
--
Tzefanyah Pappas
Chazak Chazak v’nitchazek
Let us be strong, let us be strong and let us
strengthen (encourage) one another!
Blogged with the Flock Browser
