Deut. 26:8 And the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm (z’roah), and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders: The Lord is the same yesterday, today and forever.
Right now, around the world, many are celebrating the holiday of Pesach (Passover) reminding us of the time that the Lord led His people out of slavery in Egypt.
As it applies to us today, there is a spiritual Egypt from which we all need deliverance. The spiritual Egypt symbolizes worldliness, carnality and spiritual bondage and the Lord wants to redeem us from those with His outstretched arm. He wants to lead us out of the burdens of this world and bring us into a place of freedom in Him!
In Hebrew, the word for arm is “z’roah”. His z’roah is a picture of His might and His strength and His z’roah is mighty and able to bring us out of any bondage that hinders our spiritual walk. When the z’roah of the Lord led Israel out of Egypt He displayed great signs and wonders and He is more that able to do the same for us today.
Be encouraged! Whatever situation we may be in, whatever bondage has us enslaved, the z’roah of the Lord desires to display great signs and wonders in our lives and lead us out of our Egypt! Let’ give our all to Him again and be FREE at last!
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]Another interesting correlation we draw from Mashiach Ben Joseph is how Joseph was the object of his father’s (Jacob) love, just as Yeshua (Jesus) was loved of our Heavenly Father. This preference Jacob had for Joseph was unequivocal, and it was also pretty controversial among his brothers.
Continuing this study of Mashiach Ben Yosef (Messiah “Son of Joseph”), I want to focus on another aspect of the rabbis’ understanding; that Mashiach ben Yosef will come first, and prepare the world for the Kingdom of the Lord.
Another aspect of Mashiach ben Yosef, is that the world would resist his authority.
When Joseph told his family of his dreams, they were outraged at the suggestion that their younger brother would reign over them. They simply had no idea that God would make Joseph exactly the kind of ruler they needed.
When Joseph became ruler over Egypt, his name was changed, and his identity was altered so that he no longer appeared or lived as a shepherd son of Israel from the land of Canaan, but as an Egyptian Prime Minister. The transformation was so thorough that when his ten brothers arrived in Egypt he was totally unrecognizable to them. This true story beautifully illustrates Mashiach ben Yosef (Yeshua/Jesus at His first coming), and contains a prophetic picture pointing to Yeshua and His Jewish people living today as we approach the Second Coming.
Joseph, the son of Jacob grew up caring for flocks, a shepherd boy,(Genesis 37:2). While we might have a romantic view of an easy pastoral life among sheep and goats, the main responsibility of a shepherd was to protect the flock against hungry predators (wolves, lions, etc.) looking for an easy meal, actually quite a dangerous job. The shepherd loved his sheep; and Joseph was a good shepherd.
The creation of the world was completed by God in 6 days. He rested on the 7th day and sanctified it, the Sabbath, Shabbat. When Yeshua died for the sins of the world, his followers hurried to take Him down from the cross so they would not violate the commanded time to rest. [Luke 23:54-56] So the Messiah completed His work of redemption just before entering into Shabbat. As He died, He said, “It is finished!” [John 19:30] Finishing His work and entering the grave opened the way for humanity to enter His rest, the rest He entered after creating the world.
Does it ever happen to you – that something terribly simplistic just suddenly becomes clear? I realized something about us the other day. We, humans, are such addictive creatures.