Messiah In The Old Testament Episode 33
The Sign of the Rainbow
Welcome to Messiah In The Old Testament. In our last episode we revealed to you one of the most important and most exciting prophecies that we have revealed to date. That prophecy involved the preciousness of our blood. The preciousness of your blood. The preciousness of my blood. The reason our blood is so precious, and you know that we learned that the life is in the blood so when we say our blood is precious we’re actually saying our lives are precious.
But the reason our blood is so precious is because we are all created in the image of Elohim. Or the tzalm. If you want to learn about the difference between tzalm and dumoot go back to one of our previous episodes where we were talking about the creation of man. We are created in the image of God and that gives us value. That gives us a nature of being so precious to Elohim that he is willing to go to great lengths to protect us and to take care of us. Now, because our blood is so precious, nobody is allowed to spill my blood. No one is allowed to spill your blood.
If any animal or any human being spills the blood of a man, then they must make an accounting to Elohim. And the word accounting comes from a Hebrew phrase dÅ¥yIm vëOrdRa (edrosh miyad) and remember that means inquiring from the hand. In other words, what has your hand done. So, everybody, animal, human has to make an accounting before God for their actions. If they're found guilty, then their blood then becomes forfeit. They have to give up their blood as payment for the blood of another man. So, this is the concept of “blood for blood.” And this is specifically talking about murder, blood for blood.
And this is where the whole concept of the Avenger of Blood came from. In other words, somebody was killed. A close family relative then was designated as the Avenger of Blood. And their job was to seek out who it was that killed their relative and then go and seek vengeance and avenge their blood by killing that other person. So, if you are accused of murder but you thought you were innocent of that murder, you would then have to flee to one of those refuge cities until your case was tried and it was determined whether the blight you were innocent or guilty of the blood. Whether you had blood on your hands or not. So that concept it is the core piece of this prophecy, blood for blood. Now, this prophecy
is another a step in the development of the sacrificial system. It's a critical piece.
The first piece of the sacrificial system came in the form of Elohim killing animals, taking their skins to cover up Adam and Eve. To cover their nakedness. To cover up the effects of their sin. And that then pointed us towards the sacrificial system. And we looked at Cain. And we looked at Noah. And we looked at Job. And we looked at Abraham on up till we got to the Levitical System. And then that pointed us to Messiah. This is the next step. In the Garden, the sin that Adam and Eve committed, eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil [was] a forbidden act, a sinful act. Their punishment was being kicked out of the garden, separated from the tree of life. So, then they would not be able to live forever. So, their lives became forfeit. The sin cost them their lives or their blood.
So then, the sin requires the payment of blood. This concept today, that we are revealing from our last prophecy, is that blood equals payment for blood. So, if the payment for sin is blood, then blood had to be applied to atone for that sin. So that was the whole animal system. If I took a ram and and I sacrificed the ram, spilled the blood, went through the ceremony then that animal’s blood would atone for my sin.
So that blood covered up my sin, blood for blood. Animal blood for my blood. And now the extension of that is, Messiah is going to come and Messiah is going to be that final, ultimate sacrifice, once for all. So, Messiah is going to spill his blood.
So, then his blood will then atone for my sins. His blood will actually remove my sins. His blood will justify me and make me a righteous creature and restore me in my fellowship to Elohim. That is the essence of the last prophecy that we revealed. And I'll sum it up here. Here's the entry in our table.
It is prophecy number 32. I’ll put it up. It's found in Genesis 9:4-6. The title of the prophecy is, “The Life Is In The Blood.” And the prophecy is that Messiah will satisfy the punishment for our sins, blood for blood.
Now, our episode today opens up outside the Ark, where we were standing before.
Noah it is there, sacrificing his clean animals. And remember the aroma went up before Elohim. Elohim smelled the aroma. And Elohim was pleased and he swiveled from Judgment Mode over to Blessing Mode. And in our last episode, we talked about the blessings that were given to Adam and Eve. And now the blessing that was given to Noah and his sons. And there’s just one more blessing that he pronounces. And this blessing is on Noah, on Noah's sons, on Noah's wife, his son's life and all the animals that were on the ark. Here it is.
It’s found in Genesis 9:7
As for you, be fruitful
We know that one. That is the Hebrew word …wõrVÚp (peroo) and it means abundance, fruitfulness.
So, it's the image of the tree so heavily laden with apples that the branches are touching the ground and then:
increase in number;
And that's …wbr (reboo) and that's the word that means increasing in number, volume, force, influence …wbr (reboo). And now there's a new one:
multiply on the earth and increase upon it.”
That last increase is …wbr (reboo) again. But the multiply is a new word.
That word is …wñxrIv (shirtzu). And …wñxrIv (shirtzu) is from the root XårDv (sharatz). And that's where we get the word X®rRv (sheretz). X®rRv (sheretz) means the teaming animals and the root means to teem or to swarm. So, X®rRv (sheretz) are the swarming animals, the teeming animals. So, it’s like the four-legged animals.
Like the mice and rats and weasels and those quadrupeds, the squirrels. Or, it could refer to insects that are swarming. Or, it could refer to the creatures in the sea like a whole bunch of squid or a bunch of shrimp or fish and so, swarming things. So, literally he is saying I want you to swarm the earth. So, we’re talking about a huge population explosion. An explosion in the animal population. An explosion in the human population. This blessing ensures that all of these animals, all of these people, they’re going to be fruitful, abundant. They are going to increase in number, volume, influence. And They are going to just swarm the earth. Now, Elohim, after delivering this final promise to Noah, his sons, all their wives and the animals, he now wants to seal the deal. So, he said I am going to cut a covenant with you.
I am going to make a promise. And my promise is that I am never going to use the flood to destroy the earth as a means to wipe out sin. So, the
remedy for sin in the future is not to be the destruction of the earth. The remedy for sin is going to be Messiah who will come and redeem all mankind through his sacrifice.
So, here is what he said to them.
Then God (this is found in Genesis 9:8-17) Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you every living creature on earth. I establish my covenant (my agreement, my promise) with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
So, Elohim is saying, “I am not going to use the flood. I'm not going to use destruction of all mankind. I'm not going to use destruction of the earth as a means to, as a remedy for sin, as a means to wipe out sin.”
And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow
appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” So, God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”
A rainbow set in the sky.
And I can imagine when the Elohim was revealing this sign of the covenant that he was cutting between man and animals that a rainbow probably appeared in the clouds. And there is a picture that I really like. I have used it in previous episodes. I’m putting up right now. It's a picture showing Noah sacrificing on an altar. All the sons and wives are there with him. You see animals and in the background you see the rainbow in the sky. That kind of summarizes this whole passage of Scripture. The rainbow has Messianic Significance.
The rainbow is a symbol that God is not going to use the destruction of mankind as a remedy for sin. God is going to use Messiah as a remedy for sin. This has Messianic Significance. The rainbow is a visual reminder to you and me of God's enduring love for his creation. So, when you see a rainbow in the sky, it is usually a pretty dramatic event.
Dramatic enough that you want to whip out your iPhone and take a picture of it. In fact, as a demonstration of how awe-inspiring and wonder-inspiring a rainbow is, just look at the social media feeds. And just look at how many rainbow pictures there are. Just flip through your Facebook Feed and see how many rainbow pictures pop up. It’s ubiquitous in the social media community. It’s because, you see a rainbow, it inspires awe and wonder and you’ve got to record it. And you’ve got to share it.
And you’ve got to share that rainbow, that double rainbow and you'll even see triple and quadruple rainbows. Photoshop is a wonderful thing to create multiple rainbows. But it just shows you what the rainbow, the symbol of the rainbow, means. Now, it has some specific meaning for me. When I… about 10 years ago, I felt quite ill. And I was diagnosed with an advanced stage of cancer. This required a major surgery and 42 radiation treatments to treat this cancer. And by the grace of the Almighty I stand today cancer free 10 years later. And I give God all the glory for that. But while I was recovering, I was confined to my house. It was in the middle of winter. And the sun was at just the right angle that at a certain time of day, the sunlight would come through the windows and shine into my house.
Now, I have a giant picture window in my foyer. There's a chandelier that hangs there with multiple Swarovski Crystals. And then there's another one in in my dining room. So, when the window [sunlight] hit the prisms on those chandeliers, there would be rainbows just all over the place. And I used to sit in one of those rooms when the sun was shining in. And all those rainbows were projected all over the room, but also all over my body. And that was a time of healing for me. It was a time of [relief] that inspired hope. And it told me that my future was still out there. And I put the past behind and moved forward. So, the rainbow for me, it is a symbol of hope and the future.
So, whenever you see a rainbow out there, and in Northern Indiana it is typically later in the day. A pop-up thunderstorm moves through and moves off to the East. The sun is shining from the West and we can see the rainbow off in the Western (oops), or the Eastern horizon. So, to me that just inspires awe and wonder and tells me that God is looking out for me. And he's cut a covenant with me that the remedy for sin is no longer death and destruction and flood. The remedy for sin is Messiah. So, I see rainbow, I see Messiah.
Now this is just an extension of one of the prophecies that we've done previously where Elohim said to Noah:
“As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”
So, the fact that the Elohim is putting off judgment and making sure that man will survive and thrive, meaning that Messiah’s line can go forward. Now, Noah had three sons that went with him on the Ark. Let's look at their names and what they mean. And we know from our previous episodes, that when you look at the meaning of somebody's name, more than likely it really applies to their life.
For example, Jared. You remember when we discussed Jared d®rDy (yared). It means to go down. Remember, the Jordan River's from that same root because the Jordan goes down from Hermon all the way to the Dead Sea. It was during Jared's lifetime that the sons of God came down
and took the daughters of men. So, let's look at Noah's three sons. His first son mentioned in Genesis is Shem.
Now, Shem and in the Hebrew his name is MEv (shaym). MEv (shaym) is the word that means name. It means fame or glory or reputation - your name. You develop your brand for your company. It’s your name. It has meaning. Your name has meaning as to whether you are trustworthy or not. Your family has a name or reputation. So that's what Shem's name means. The second was Ham. And in the Hebrew his name is MDj (cham). And his name means hot or sweltering. And then the third son Japheth, which in the Hebrew is tRp¶Ry (jefet). It means enlarge or the concept of spacious, wide-open spaces, this wide-open country. Like in the early days of the West where you would ride your horse and you would see this huge range full of a bison or wild horses. It's that expanse or spaciousness. Now we know the birth order from the Scriptures in Genesis.
In Genesis 9:24 we learned that Ham is the youngest. And then over in the genealogies in 10:21 we know that Japheth was the older brother of Shem. So, their birth order is Japheth, Shem and then Ham the youngest. Now, which one of these boys was to carry on the family name? Which
of these boys was going to carry on the Messianic Line? Which of these boys was going to be the righteous character that continued this righteous thread? That through which the Messianic line was going to travel? Now, the author of Genesis gives us a story that helps us sort this out. So, here's a story.
And this is in Genesis 9:20-27:
Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard.
Now, Noah was like Cain. He was a man of the soil. He enjoyed planting. He enjoyed harvesting. He enjoyed working the soil. He proceeded to plant a vineyard.
Now the word, the Hebrew word for vineyards is M®r`D;k (karem). And it's closely related to the word lRmrA;k (carmel). And we know carmel from the city Carmel or Mount Carmel. In English it’s Carmel. That's where Elijah challenged and had the duel with the Prophets of Baal. But that mountain probably got its name because of all the vineyards and fruit groves because lRmrA;k (carmel) means garden or vineyard or orchard.
When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent.
So, this obviously has to be some time later. It is not right after they were given the sign of the rainbow. This happened sometime later. So, the boys are more grown. They probably have families of their own. They have not yet separated and gone out into their own places in the earth. And they are still basically around Noah and the tents of Noah. So, Noah made some wine from his grapes. And when he drank that wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. Now, we use the word tent.
We translate tent because the word from which the tent come from is lRhOa (ohel). lRhOa (ohel) is often translated as tent, but it can also refer to your home, your homebase, your abode, your private quarters. So, the implication is that Noah was in his home, his private quarters when this happened. He lay uncovered. The word translated uncovered is lA…gVtˆ¥y (yitgal). It comes from the root hDlÎ…g (galah). And that word means uncover, reveal, exile, depart or exposure in the context of sexual relations. Now, this interpretation of the word has led some people to think that some sexual shenanigans happened in Noah's tent between him and Ham.
Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers outside.
Now, nakedness is the Hebrew word tAwrRo (ervat). And it comes from the root hrDo (arah) and it means to literally uncover your reproductive organs or uncover your genitals. So, there's a lot of shame associated with that word. So, Noah laying there uncovered was very shameful. Now Ham, why he was in Noah’s tent to begin with I have no idea. I suspect he had probably no right to be in there and he shouldn't have seen his father's nakedness. But then, after he saw the shame of his father, he told his brothers.
And the word translated told is the word d¶E…gÅ¥y (yagayd) which comes from the root dÅgÎn (nagad) and it means to be conspicuous or to broadcast, declare, to make something known like publishing it so that everybody [knows]. The intent is I want everybody to know this. So, when he said yo! My father is laying in his tent. He's butt naked. His private parts are exposed. And I want everybody to know about it. Now, if you were a good son and this happened to your father. He was in his tent. He passed out from drinking too much wine. He was disrobed, probably getting ready to go to bed or maybe to relieve himself. And he’s lying there uncovered. What would you do if you were a good son? Would you go out and broadcast it to your brothers and say, “Ahhh,
dad’s naked in his tent? No, no, no, no, you wouldn’t do that. You would respect your father and you would cover him up yourself. But he didn't. He didn't do that.
But his brothers had much more respect for their father than he did.
But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father’s nakedness.
So, they respected their father. They did not look at their father's nakedness. They covered up their father's nakedness. They paid respect. Their brother did not.
When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, he said, “Cursed be Canaan! (so, Ham’s offspring) The lowest of slave will he be to his brothers.”
So, Ham was in put down below his brothers. His brothers were above him.
He also said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem. May God extend the territory of Japheth; (So that whole expansion, wide open spaces. Noah said it himself) may Japheth live in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be his slave.”
So, he put Japheth in Shem’s tents, so Shem was over Japheth. So, now Shem has risen to the top. The middle born is now above his two brothers. And part of that was because he respected his father.
He carried on the name of Noah. He carried on the name of Lamech and Methuselah and all of his ancestors all the way back to Adam. He carried on that name and he was blessed because of it. Now this story has Messianic Significance. So, we know which offspring is now going to carry the Messianic Line. It's Shem, and it makes sense from his name: reputation, your family name. He's holding up the family name. So, Canaan was quick to announce the shame of his father, so he was inflaming is the situation. So, Ham means heat, swelter. He was inflaming the situation.
After the flood Noah lived 350 years. Altogether, Noah lived 950 years, and then he died.
So, Noah lived 600 years before the flood. It was on his 600th year, second month, 17th day, remember, that the flood happened. And then after the flood he lived another 350 years. So, he lived 950 years total. He was only 19 years short of his grandfather Methuselah. So, Noah lived a very long, happy, prosperous life.
So, there it is. In the last two episodes we revealed three more Messianic Prophecies. And those prophecies are just mounting up and mounting up. And we’re getting a bigger and bigger and broader picture of what Messiah’s coming is going to look like. Messiah is going to give his life as a sacrifice, willingly spill his blood and make that payment, blood for blood, blood for sin, blood for murder, blood for violence, blood for any sin that we commit. Messiah is going to do that once for all to redeem mankind. And then we have this magnificent rainbow in the sky. So, there's something you and I can look at, can visualize. Something tangible that our eyes can see. Every time a rainbow appears, think Messiah. Elohim is no longer going to use the flood to destroy the earth as a remedy for sin. He's going to use Messiah’s Blood as a remedy for sin. And then finally, the Messianic Line is going to continue through Shem. And in our next episode, we’re going to see all these three boys heading off into their own areas. And we’re going to look at their offspring and the people groups that come from them. And we’re going head into the Tower of Babel. So, join us next time as we continue this exciting journey, looking at Messianic Prophecies in the Old Testament.
Thank you for watching our show today. We hope that you enjoyed watching it as much as we enjoyed bringing it to you. Now, after
watching this episode you might be saying to yourself, “Who is this Messiah that Dr. Smith is talking about?
Is he talking about the Christian Messiah? Is he talking about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was born of the Virgin Mary. And then lived a blameless and holy life on the earth, And then was tortured and crucified. And after he died he then was resurrected from the dead after three days. Then after people witnessed this, he was then taken up bodily by Elohim into heaven from the Mount of Olives.
Or is Dr. Smith talking about the Muslim prophet Isa. Isa Ibn Maryam, the messenger, who was sent by Allah to bring a message to the people. The Quran says he that lived a holy and blameless life, was born of the virgin Mary. He fulfilled all the Jewish prophecies in exact accordance. But one difference, instead of being crucified, he then was taken up by Allah into heaven before the Romans laid hands on him. And he awaits
there now in the fourth heaven where at the end of days at the day of judgment he will be revealed to all.
Or is Dr. Smith talking about the Jewish Messiah? The Messiah who has not yet been revealed, that the entire Jewish world is waiting for his revelation. Now, the beautiful thing is that you can hold to any of these beliefs. And we can all still learn together about Messiah. We can learn about our Christian Messiah. We can learn about our Jewish Messiah. We can learn about our Muslim prophet Isa who will be revealed. It doesn’t matter what you believe. You can even be an atheist or agnostic and still learn from this program about Messiah. Now, I have to admit I am a Christian so I approach things, obviously, from a Christian point of view. And I promise you, as we reveal these prophecies, which I believe have all been fulfilled through Jesus Christ. Or will be fulfilled when he comes back, returning in the clouds in the same way he was taken up. I believe that all of this is true, but I promise you I will do my very best to present these prophecies from a neutral point of view. And try to keep my Christian bias to a minimum. Obviously, it will pop up from time to time but I will try to stay only in the Tanakh and try not to get into the New Testament very often. Now, if you want more information about Messiah, we have resources for you.
We have a website which is findingmessiah.org. Now, on that website you are going to find several resources. You will find links to all the videos, all the episodes that we have created so far. You will find links to download the transcripts of any of these episodes. And then you will find a section where you can get more information about Messiah through frequently asked questions. And then there is a section for donation. If you want to come alongside our ministry at Finding Messiah.
Now, there’s going to come a time in this series where you are going to be confronted with the question: What are you going to do with Messiah? Who do you believe Messiah is? Which of these Messiahs do you believe Dr. Smith is talking about? And Messiah will become real to you if you look at all the information presented and come to your conclusions. So, join us as we continue our journey through the Old Testament Scriptures looking for all the Messianic Prophecies. And join us next time as we reveal those to you.