Note: To catch up with the Torah cycle this is two portions combined

We begin another Torah cycle! I express this with anticipation. Many “new to Torah” folks may question why we read through and study the same five books year after year. Allow me to answer the question by asking the seasoned Torah pursuers, “Was anything new revealed to you as you read through the Torah last year that you had not seen in previous years?” I imagine there is not a single “no” out there, so a shout of exuberance, “Here we go again”!

It is in this section of our readings that makes me wish I was on the three year Torah cycle. Actually, that is not completely true. Skip the three year cycle and let’s jump to the thousand year millennial cycle with Messiah teaching it from Jerusalem. This portion carries so much meaning that I desire to camp out at each sentence.

Honestly, I am having a very difficult time getting through the first verse this year. This is not uncommon, although this year seems to have more meaning. I have been meditating on this verse in light of Isaiah 46:10, “At the beginning I announce the end, proclaim in advance things not yet done; and I say that my plan will hold, I will do everything I please to do.” A more literal translation of the verse would be “HaShem declared the end out of the beginning.” I recognize we understand that He knows all things, but have we considered He declared that all things would happen even before they happened. This means HaShem knew Eve would listen to the serpent instead of Him. Cain killing Abel was no surprise. He knew man would become so corrupt He would have to kill all but eight people and start over. HaShem knew that for six-thousand years man would repeatedly turn his back on his Creator. In fact, the Hebrew word “nagad”, which is translated “declared” is a picture of a man walking away from the teachings and instructions of Yah.

On a personal level we recognize HaShem knew my sins and yours. All of our days are numbered and no surprise to Him. He even knew that after you and I turned back to His ways that we would fail. Yet, His grace is sufficient. His love is endless. We have the gift of repentance and Yeshua’s Blood to atone for us. Father’s Love is great. His desire for a relationship with us in spite of our shortcomings is humbling.

Now here is a challenging question for you. Had you been HaShem knowing all man would do against you for six-thousand years. If you knew in advance the pain for man’s rebellion and had a choice to go forth with Genesis 1:1, what would you have done? Consider that for a moment. Truth is He made a choice I am not sure I would have made. Why did He?

The answer lies in a single word of the verse in Isaiah which is “end.” Yah did not focus on the process, but rather the end result. What is the end result? Take a moment and read Revelation 21:1-4. Therein lays the answer to why Father made the choice to go forth with Genesis 1:1. It’s all about relationship to have a people that would be His and He would be theirs.

Where is our vision as we read these first words of Genesis 1:1? What do we plan to focus on during this next Torah cycle? I would challenge you to focus, not on what has been or what is, but rather on what will be. When you read again the words, “In the beginning Elohim created the heavens and the earth”, allow your mind to consider the love, mercy, grace and desire our Heavenly Father has to look past the process of redemption and see the destination called redemption. This truth in itself will continue to help us put one foot in front of the other in our journey.

One more challenge as we begin this Torah cycle. Many of us have read through the Torah several times. With that comes the hazard of just glancing through the verses. Consider this a good time to think about reading in a different translation. This may help notice messages in Scripture we have never seen before. Remember that even the people’s names and genealogies have great meaning. Take time to pull out your concordance to do some research. An example that many of us know is located in Beresheet Chapter 5. Genealogy can make you glassy eyed, right? In this particular case the meanings of the names form a sentence and witness to Messiah, which is “Man is appointed to mortal sorrow, but the blessed Elohim shall come down teaching that His death shall bring the despairing comfort.” How is that for declaring the end out of the beginning?

May our year be filled with Yah’s Spirit of revelation. Not revelation for our intellect, but rather to prepare us to be a people He is proud to call His. (Click to Site)