Today we’re continuing our series called “The Aleph Tav.” Remember, Aleph Tav is where we see Jesus in the Old Testament.
The key passage for this entire series is this one:
“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” Revelation 22:12-13 (ESV)
The Apostle John ends his incredible Revelation of Jesus Christ with this word from Jesus Himself in Revelation 22.
Jesus reveals that He is also Alpha and Omega, first and last, beginning and end, which is a phrase that only the Lord Himself could say.
I mean, we even get this in the first chapter of Revelation:
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” Revelation 1:8 (ESV)
If Jesus calls Himself Alpha and Omega, He is declaring Himself to be the Lord God. This is no surprise to us, because we believe Jesus is God. God is made up of Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Every person of the Trinity is God Himself. God is not divided; He’s three-in-one.
Remember, alpha and omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. A and Z are the first and last letters of the English alphabet, so Jesus could have said, “I am the A and the Z,” in English.
Or if Jesus was speaking Hebrew, He would say, “I am the Aleph and the Tav.”
And we talked about how there are aleph-tav’s scattered throughout the Old Testament Scriptures that show the “strength of the covenant,” which is what the Hebrew letters aleph and tav put together would literally mean. And Who is the strength of our covenant? It’s Jesus Himself.
As a side note, this is not a popular belief. My feeling is that there are a lot of Hebrew scholars out there who are not Christians who are NOT interested in finding the so-called “Christian” Messiah in the Old Testament Scriptures. But Jesus is their Messiah too.
And you don’t have to believe that the presence of aleph-tav in the Old Testament is indicative of Jesus. But hopefully through this series, you’ll be able to see where Jesus shows up all throughout the Old Testament, and that’s He shows up in more places than we have previously realized.
Jesus is the Beginning and the End. He is all throughout Scripture.
The Birth of Cain
Now we’ll move on to the birth of Cain, the firstborn son of Adam and Eve.
“Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, ‘I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD.’” Genesis 4:1 (ESV)
Believe it or not, there are 3 aleph-tav’s in that verse. Let me show you where they are:
“Now Adam knew [aleph-tav] Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore [aleph-tav] Cain, saying, ‘I have gotten a man with the help of the [aleph-tav] LORD.’” Genesis 4:1 (ESV)
This verse is the first and only time the aleph-tav appears before Eve’s name, indicating the strength of the covenant that Adam and Eve shared through covenant marriage, and the fruit of this covenant marriage that God ordained was a firstborn son.
As a side note, the rib God used from Adam to create Eve was called the aleph-tav rib.
Let me tell you, God is in full support of Godly marriages, and He continues to strengthen the marriage covenant in His kids. That’s one of the reasons why marriages are under attack, especially in our country, because they represent God’s covenantal blessings meant to be passed down to our covenant children.
Now, going back to Genesis 4:1, I believe that Eve thought at that time that Cain was the Messiah prophesied in the previous chapter. This is the first birth captured in Scripture, and she attributes this miraculous event, at least in her mind, to the help of aleph-tav Yahweh. And Who is Aleph-Tav Yahweh? It’s Jesus! Was He there helping her give birth? It’s very possible.
Well, Cain gets a bad rap for the most part, because he was the first person in the Bible to commit murder.
But I believe the Lord’s will for Cain was not for him to commit murder. Cain was supposed to be the one who showed all of humanity how to conquer sin. He was supposed to be a type of Christ, even as His name was Aleph-Tav Cain in Genesis 4:1.
Let me explain.
Cain didn’t bring the best offering to the Lord, only giving the Lord “some” of the fruit of the ground. It’s my belief that He reserved the best part for Himself or for His own business, and then gave God the leftovers, instead of giving God the firstfruits of His crops.
Well, the Lord shows up to Cain and gives him some instructions on how to conquer sin. The Lord says this:
“The LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, and you must rule over it.”” Genesis 4:6-7 (ESV)
God shows Cain that he has the power to rule over sin in his life. And what is the source of that power? It’s through Jesus Christ, of course!
And are there any aleph-tav’s in these verses to indicate the strength of the covenant, of Jesus working in Cain’s life?
“The LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted [shin-aleph-tav]? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, and you must rule [vav-aleph-tav-heh] over it.”” Genesis 4:6-7 (ESV)
So the first one, will you not be accepted, which is the word shin-aleph-tav. Shin means eat, teeth, consume, give, destroy, fire. Think “sacrifice.” If Cain does well and sacrifices according to the instructions of the Lord, he’ll be fine.
But if he chooses not to sacrifice appropriately to the Lord, then it opens the door to sin in his life.
This is true of any of us. If we choose to disobey the Lord, we’re opening up the door for evil to have its way in us.
For example, have any of you heard of the “the gateway drug”? That’s marijuana, or smoking pot, and is actually legal in many states right now. It’s called the gateway drug because it leads to worse and worse kinds of drugs.
In the New Testament, the word “sorcery” is the Greek word “pharmakeia.” Drug use was very much employed in sorcery. Why? Because it’s a gateway to demonic things. It opens up a person for demonic influence in their lives, which makes way for the enemy to steal, kill and destroy from us.
God had a Reason
There’s a reason the Lord gives us instruction, and there’s a reason the Lord gave Cain his instructions. The proper sacrifice was leading Cain to closeness and relationship with the Lord. By rejecting the proper sacrifice, Cain was opening himself up to sin working in his life.
“The LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted [shin-aleph-tav]? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, and you [vav-aleph-tav-heh] must rule over it.”” Genesis 4:6-7 (ESV)
The second word that contains the aleph-tav is one that we already reviewed in Genesis 3:15, meaning, “through the nail of the strength of the covenant for God’s glory.”
How was Cain to rule over sin crouching at the door of his heart? Through the nail of the strength of the covenant for God’s glory. In other words, Cain was supposed to use the promise of the future Messiah to overcome sin by faith in that Messiah.
That’s the only way to overcome sin.
Well, we know the story. Cain killed his brother Abel, marking him as the first murderer recorded in the Bible.
When confronted by the Lord, Cain tries to deny what he’s done. But the Lord knows it. And because Cain rejected the strength of the covenant with The Aleph-Tav, he had to suffer the consequences.
But believe it or not, there is redemption for Cain.
Let’s read:
“Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” Then the LORD said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the LORD put a [aleph-vav-tav] mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him [aleph-tav-vav].” Genesis 4:13-15 (ESV)
So the Lord marked Cain with a sign of the “strength of the nail of the covenant.” I wonder if this was something like a cross on his forehead. And the significance of the next aleph-tav-vav could mean the strength of the covenant like a sword.
The Lord made a covenant with Cain to protect him from the people or entities that he was worried would kill him now. And although Cain had to deal with the consequences of his actions, ie – killing his brother, he did have a covenant of protection from the Lord even in that state.
There is Forgiveness
You know, some people think they have done too much to be redeemed by the Lord.
Or perhaps someone is kicking themselves for some horrible mistake they made, even after God Himself warned them about it.
Let me tell you, there’s forgiveness through Jesus Christ, through the strength of His covenant! His blood washes away all your sins, all your mistakes, all your wrongdoings. Allow His blood to wash it all away. Receive His forgiveness for it. And then forgive yourself for the sins you committed. Take responsibility to clean up the mess, and ask the Lord to help you with that. He will. Trust me, He most definitely will help you.
Recent Comments