(Ver 1.0) This lesson is “Part 6” in the Bible study series about the Lord Jesus Christ, being hidden by the Spirit of God in His design of the Ancient Hebrew Alphabet. If you have never read any of this series before, it is recommended that you go to the “Part 1” Introduction to begin your study of this amazing subject. I have not written in this series in what seems like a long time. But recently I was encouraged by a new friend in Portugal to begin to refocus occasionally on adding to the study of the Ancient Hebrew Alphabet as being a Prophetical representation pointing us to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. If you have studied from this subject previously you should recall that Jesus claimed to be the Alpha and Omega more than once in the book of Revelation.

Alpha and Omega were the first and last letters of the Greek Alphabet. Yet, John the author was a Hebrew man and obviously spoke Hebrew based upon scripture evidence in Revelation when John gives the name of a destroying angel in both Hebrew and Greek in Revelation 9:11. In this verse the angel of the bottomless pit is named “Abaddon” in Hebrew and “Apollyon” in Greek. However, we must know that God is primarily targeting the World’s Gentile population with the New Testament. The World at the time of the first coming of Jesus predominantly spoke the Greek language for World Commerce and Commercial Trade transactions. This was because of Alexandar the Great’s world conquests before the Roman Empire.

However, Jesus being a Jew also would have been speaking with John most likely in Hebrew when identifying himself to be the Alphabet letters Alpha and Omega in Revelation, forcing John to translate into Greek. And in the Hebrew language this would have been the letters “Alef” and “Tav”. And these two letters joined together in the Old Testament as a single untranslated word, occur together over 7000 times scattered throughout the text.

That, my friend is not a coincidence whatsoever. This was Jesus in the book of Revelation identifying Himself to be everywhere in the Alphabet and the words that created the Hebrew Scriptures. I call this God’s “Intelligent Design” and His “Revelation Knowledge” to teach us of the Hidden Messiah that the natural nation of Israel totally missed at the first coming of God in the flesh. And now before the 2^nd Coming of God in the Flesh, we are going to see how God is revealing Jesus before this soon catching away of the Church Bride.

Today we will be focused upon the Hidden Jesus in the 5^th letter of the Hebrew Alphabet named “Hey”. Of course, we are narrowly focused upon the Ancient Hebrew script which contains only 22 letters each using its own unique informative pictographic image. Each one of God’s alphabet Letters, tells a very specific story through these pictures. It is like the old saying that teaches us, “a picture speaks a thousand words”.

And from this reality created by God’s choice, he can create picture stories through the combining of specific picture letters. Each formed word can teach us a far greater story than just the single picture letter. And as God builds and forms every word in the Hebrew text, each combination of letters creating new words builds contextual sentences of information and these can grow into volumes of books of meanings very quickly. And I believe that us choosing to speak these designed Words can bring us to either life or death depending upon the arrangement of the sounds spoken (Proverbs 18:21). Hopefully, this will increase your interest in studying this series. You will not regret it.

I believe very firmly that this is a truly amazing subject of immense importance revealing the True God and His Messiah. The Jewish people of the natural nation of Israel, have been the faithful keepers of God’s written Hebrew Words for nearly 3500 years. Their dedication to keep this text intact and preserve it accurately, as it was originally spoken to Moses and the other Prophets, is Truly amazing.

But what is most amazing to many, is how every letter of their original alphabet was a picture, that pointed them to their coming Messiah. And it seems that the majority of them totally missed His first personal appearance as their suffering servant Ben Joseph. There has been a great debate in the Hebrew worlds of scholarly reasoning down through this time. Many see the conquering King Messiah Ben David, but wonder how He fits with the suffering Servant written about in Isaiah 53?

It was these types of conflicted rulers that even crucified their Suffering Messiah on the cross (Tav) that was prophesied in their own 22^nd letter of their alphabet. All Gentiles were of course no better than them, because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). If it were not for the Grace of God, every one of us would still be spiritually dead and headed to hell, in our complete spiritual blindness. Thank the Lord Jesus Christ (Yeshua) for what our Loving God has freely done for us all, and given to us in Him. Here is a brief overview of the Lesson today:

Contents – Chapters

Today’s lesson’s will be divided into the following heading subjects.

1. Quick Overview of the Ancient Hebrew Letter Hey
2. The Letter Hey Shape Image Picture
3. Letter Hey – Sound
4. Hey 5^th Letter – The Significance of Number 5
5. Letter Hey Word
6. First Occurrence of Letter Hey
7. Double Hey Behold in the Name of the LORD
8. A Very Significant Word that Begins  with the Letter Hey
9. God Placed His “Hey” (Breathe) into Abram and Sarai
10. The GREAT I AM
11. The Risen New Covenant God – Putting the Spirit Breathe (HEY) Inside of the Church
12. Hey Behold Jesus is Born
13. Hey Behold Jesus the PASSOVER LAMB
14. Hey Behold Jesus the Precious Corner Stone and Stumbling Block
15. Conclusion

If you are ready to dive into one of my favorite Ancient Hebrew Alphabet letters, let’s get started with a quick overview for those with limited time.

1 – Quick Overview of the Ancient Hebrew Letter Hey

Today’s lesson will focus upon another essential letter of the Hebrew Alphabet (Alef Bet) relating to Jesus, called the “Hey”. Some also spell this letter as the “He”, “Heh” and even “Hei”. We will use the name “Hey” for this lesson. As you should recall every Hebrew alphabet letter has at least 7 representative meanings:

1. A Recognizable Natural Shaped Picture Image
2. A Sound
3. A Number
4. A Numerical Alphabet Ordered Sequence 1 to 22
5. A Number, 1-9, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 200, 300, 400
6. A Meaning Definition
7. A Word

We will soon discover the Letter Hey has the sound Ha as in Hello. We also find the picture of the letter Hey is the image of a man with his hands raised as if beholding an amazing sight. All of the numbers of the Letter Hey are the number 5 often meaning “Grace”. The definition of the Letter Hey picture is generally to “Behold”, “See” and “Look”. And the Hebrew word for Hey.is spelled “Hey” + “Alef” (Ha) and it is translated as “Lo” in Genesis 47:23.

Later we will look at specific key words containing the Hebrew Letter Hey. One of the most important words is “YHWH” (Jehovah or Yaweh” that is translated a “LORD” over 6500 times in the Bible. It is the Key Covenant name of God. Another key word is “Hayah” and this is a dominant word occurring over 3500 times. And it is often translated as “Was”, “Be”, “Came”, “Come” and “Became”. But this word is also translated “I AM” in Moses’ Exodus encounter with God. That makes this word very significant when learning how the letter Hey applies to Jesus, since Jesus said “I AM…” many times in the Gospel claiming to be God. But these two words alone contain way over 20,000 letters Hey in the Old Testament. Wow!

The letter Hey appears in many very important words. One of the most important is the name of YHWH (Yahweh) which is spelled with 2 letters “Hey” combined with a beginning “Yod”, followed by a letter “Hey” and then a letter “Vav” and ending with the letter “Hey”. This name using the Hebrew pictograph images says, “Hand, Behold, Nail, Behold”. This is certainly a prophecy of Jesus being crucified and being resurrected with Nail prints in His Hands”.

Another essential word containing 2 letters of Hey is the Hayah. This is a similar name of God missing the “Vav” nail. It appears to represent God’s hand of Power in creation where as “YHWH” represents God’s Works in Salvation from the problem of sin. This word “Hayah” used extensively during creation as “BE” and “WAS”. For example, Gnesis 1:3 says, “Light BE! and Light WAS” and both BE and WAS are the same word, Hayah. It is also interesting that “Hayah” is translated as “I AM” in God’s encounter with Moses in the burning Bush. It is also interesting to see how many times Jesus the Messiah used the term “I AM” when speaking indicating He is the God that appeared to Moses. And this was the manifested God without nails in His hands.

Then in the lesson we will review other “Hey” Behold prophecies of Jesus that were fulfilled. For example, Jesus was announced by angels saying “Behold”. Jesus was also announced by John the Baptist as the “Passover Lamb”. Another very significant “Behold” occurs from the prophecy declaring Jesus to be the “Stone” of offence that causes the natural nation of Israel to stumble. But in Prophecy Jesus was also declared the precious Cornerstone of a new God Creation Building Project. There is so much more to say but this is the overview, or we could call it the “Preview” of coming details.

That was the significantly shortened overview for those in a rush.

2 – Ancient Hebrew Letter Hey Shape Image Picture

The shape of the letter Hey in the Ancient Hebrew alphabet looks like a stick figure picture of a man standing in awe and amazement with his hands raised as if looking or beholding something wonderful and glorious. Thus, this letter is a prophecy for readers to begin to expect to see the amazing Works of God that are yet to come in Jesus Christ. The 5^th Letter “Hey” has at least the following potential meanings of application:

1. Behold
2. See
3. Look
4. Glory
5. Reveal
6. Sign

In many languages if you want to get someone’s attention you might literally cry out loud, “Hey”. This causes many people to stop what they are doing to look at the caller. This is the fundamental meaning of the letter “Hey”. It is placed in the alphabet as God’s attentive Call to See and Behold Jesus Christ.

Also, the Letter Hey can be used as a Hebrew word “Prefix” meaning “The”. For example, in Genesis 1:1 “IN Beginning Created God THE Heaven and THE Earth”. For illustration, I placed Hebrew Letter Prefixes creating Words in “All CAPS” in this verse. Notice the word “IN”, is another prefix using the letter “Bet” that we learned earlier. But both of the words “THE”, written before “heaven” and “earth” were written in the text using the letter “HEY” prefix. Therefore, a “Hey”, meaning Behold, is a letter that causes the word that is prefixed, to become an individual focused and unique noun, unlike if God wrote “a heaven and an earth”. This would change the word to be as if, there are many or several other heavens and earths.

Finally, the letter Hey can be added to the end of a Hebrew word to cause it to become feminine. God is not confused with genders and He differentiates a male from a female correctly. For example, a man can be called “Iysh” (H376) and a Woman has the added “Hey” as “Ishshah”” (H802).

3 – Letter Hey – Sound

This letter “Hey” generally has the sound of “Ha”. Like the English letter “H” in “Hello”. But the sound can certainly vary depending upon the word. The Letter Hey is sounded by firs inhaling oxygen and then exhaling the sound “Ha”. No, I can’t sound it exactly like I’m speaking Hebrew in English text. But you get the idea of an expression of exhaling your “Breath”. Thus, the letter Hey is like a spiritual expression or an expression from a spirit. Do you remember what Jesus said in John 6:63? Here Jesus said, “My Words are Spirit…”. And since He only spoke what the Father said to speak, His Words produced Spirit Life. This is one reason why there are Jewish Hebrew experts that see the letter Hey as an expressed representation of God and His breath being breathed out upon us.

This concept of The Spirit of God Breathing Out to produce Life can be seen in Genesis 2:7 where God describes “Himself forming the body of the first man out of the dust of the ground and then saying he Breathed into His nostrils the “Breath of Life”, and man became a living soul”.  Another example of this we may address later in more detail, is found in John 20:22. Here in this verse Jesus after being raised from the dead “Breathes upon His disciples and tells them to “Receive the Holy Ghost”. Both of these breaths began a new creation that never existed before. And that is something very amazingly important to “Behold”.

4 – Hey 5^th Letter – The Significance of Number 5

The “Hey” is the 5^th letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The Hey letter’s ordinal number 5 is also its Gematria value and both are 5. This number 5 is very significant in its meaning and application for representing God’s Grace. Here is our first introductory connection to Jesus in this lesson:

John 1:17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

Moses wrote the first 5 books of the Old Covenant and many call these 5 books by the name “Torah” or the “Law”. Let’s stop here an explain the Hebrew word H8451 transliterated as “Torah”. This word translated as Law in Exodus 12:49 is spelled “Tav” + “Vav” + “Resh” + “Hey”. If you have already studied the other lessons in this subject you may recall the “Tav” is a picture of a “Cross” in the ancient Hebrew alphabet. This picture is of two sticks crossed together as a sign or place to hang something or someone.

The letter “Vav” as you may recall is the picture of a “Nail”. The letter “Resh” is a picture of a man’s head and represents a “Prince”. Of course, the last letter is our study subject the letter “Hey’ meaning “Behold”. Thus, placing these meanings all together to form a sentence we have the following:

“Cross Nailed Prince, Behold”

You can’t tell me that is not a prophetical picture of the Lord Jesus Christ being nailed to a Cross. I can’t describe how amazing that Word is. It starts with a “Cross” the torturer’s executionary device that Jesus was nailed to as a “Prince” that was being judged for all our sins. And God was screaming “Hey” Behold this man, because it is ME!

But these 5 books are also called the “ Pentateuch” by theologians. The prefix “Pente” means “5” and the word “teuchos” means “scroll or book”. Thus, Pentateuch means 5 books. John was inspired by God to connect the letter Hey with both the 5 books of the Law of Moses and the Grace (Number 5) of God found in Jesus (Yeshua).

God very clearly writes in John 1:17 that when Jesus (Yeshua) came into our world, He was God’s offering of Grace sent to all men. But remember according to Galatians 4:4 He was also born fully of a woman under the LAW! This is a powerful revelation that would take volumes to explore fully.

Exodus 13:9 – And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the LORD’S law may be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand hath the LORD brought thee out of Egypt.

Look at this verse and specifically the reference to the “LORD’S Law”. The Hebrew word translated as “LORD” in this verse is the primary Covenant name of God. Some try to say it is pronounced “Jehovah” and some claim “Yahweh”. Other very devote Jewish Hebrew Experts would never attempt to say this name out loud having such reverential fear of violating God’s commandment in Deuteronomy 5:11:

Deuteronomy 5:11 – Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

As we can see this verse does have the appearance of severity for disobedience. Therefore, since no one spoke the name aloud out of fear we have no foundation of tradition for how to speak it. Yet I believe God is extremely merciful to human ignorance. So if we write the name “YHWH” and say it “Yahweh”, I believe He will know we are speaking of Him in reverence.

I believe saying the covenant name of God as “Yahweh”, with a pure motive of love and respect without reserve as a child of God is not disrespectful to a loving God. It is very much like when we have our own natural child. This child cannot speak when born and only cries. But eventually he or she begins to say many sounds before then learning to form words and then does not pronounce the words perfectly. Yet, when my very young son said “dada” for the first time, I was so happy that I literally did not care that it was not perfect. Let’s speak briefly a little more about the concepts of “Grace”.

Hebrew 4:16 – Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Grace represents the Blessings of God’s divine “Favor” being focused upon a human who normally and naturally through our own works of righteousness could never deserve it or earn it. Yet in Hebrews 4:16 we are instructed by God to Come boldly and confidently to God’s “Throne of Grace”. This God type of Grace is His “Loving Kindness”, “Good Will” and “Favor” extended towards us. Grace in the Greek language is the word “Charis” (G5485). And according to this verse in Hebrews we can simply come to Him and ask for Grace and we will find it in our times of need. This type of Grace is what the Letter Hey represents to His children who “Behold” Him, “Love” Him and Seek for Him.

5 – The Letter Hey – Word

The corresponding word for the Letter Hey is H1887. Words are always combined alphabet letters of at least 2 or 3 combined letters. For this letter the word is spelled “Hey” + “Alef” having the “Ha” sound in the transliterated form. Of course you should know the Letter “Hey” now represents the definition of “Behold”, “Look” and “See” first and foremost. And the letter “Alef” is a picture of an “ox” head representing a very strong servant like Christ aka God. Therefore, when we see the combined definition of this word we encounter:

“Behold God’s Strong Servant”
(which of course is Jesus Christ)

This word occurs in Genesis 47:23 and it was translated as “Lo” a short form of “Behold”. But it also occurred in Ezekiel 16:43 and here it was translated more correctly as “Behold”. It is interesting that this word only occurs directly in these two verses in the Hebrew Old Testament. But it (H1888) does occur in the book of Daniel once. However, this word is in the Chaldee language. And this is Daniel 3:25 where it was translated as “Lo”. It is interesting that in this verse the king Nebuchadnezzar is looking at the three men that he had thrown into the fire and while gazing he is seeing a 4th man walking about with them. This is no doubt Jesus Christ appearing in a “Christophany” appearance. This will be good to keep in mind as we continue.

6 – First Occurrence of Hey

The very first time the letter Hey occurs in the book of Genesis is found in verse 1 and the third word. The first time the letter Hey occurs in the Old Testament is Genesis 1:1. If we count letters in the Hebrew text to find the first Hey, we will see it located in the 12th letter of the first verse found in the third Word. Therefore, we are seeing the legal number 12 and the divine number 3 in the position of the first letter Hey.

This first “Hey” word just so happens to be the name of the Creator God “Elohim”. This word is spelled “Alef” + “Lamed” + “Hey” + “Yod” + “Mem”. The First two letters are the Shortened name of God’ “El” (Alef + Lamed). This name is many times joined to another Hebrew word like “El Shaddai” to bring a descriptive titled name of God. In this case El Shaddai signifies a God who is our ample supplier of all of our needs. For example, this name of God occurs in Genesis 17:1 and is translated as “God Almighty”.

The Genesis 1:1 name of God “Elohim” contains the letter “Hey” as the center letter within this 5 letter name. The first two letters are the Hebrew name of God H410 “EL”. And then we see the next letter is “Hey” and as we are learning this means “Behold”. And the last two letters are the “Yod” representing the “hand of God” picture and the “Mem” representing the “blood of God” picture. Therefore, the combined letters of the name of God Elohim can mean “God, Behold the Hand, the Blood”. But do not forget in the Hebrew language a word ending in “Yod” + “Mem” many times causes the word to become plural. Therefore, this word Elohim carries the automatic plurality of the “Father”, the “Son”, and the “Holy Spirit” a concept we have labeled as the “Trinity” or “Triune” nature of God.

7 – Double Letter Behold in the Name of the LORD
 – YHWH –
The Prophetic Two Letter Hey Name of God

Let’s explore one of the primary names of God called “YHWH” which is translated many times as “LORD”. This name of God occurs over 6500 times in the Old Testament. That is a very significant number of times for any word to occur, and this gives it great importance and significance.

Many devote Jewish leaders in history never tried to pronounce the name out of extreme reverence and would rather just refer to it as “THE NAME”. The name YHWH is spelled as:

YOD + HEY + VAV + HEY = Yahweh

And we should have learned in previous Ancient Hebrew letter lessons  the “Yod” is a picture of a “hand”. And the letter “Vav” is a picture of a “Nail”. Therefore, we can learn from the spelling of the Covenant name of God YHWH that these 4 letter are a prophetic declaration pointing us to the manifested LORD God coming in the flesh as Messiah saying:

“Hand, Behold, Nail, Behold” = YOD HEY VAV HEY

And we can all “Behold” in this NAME is found a very key Prophecy; that is written so very clearly using letter picture images a representation of Jesus Christ being nailed to a cross (Tav). But this prophecy of Jesus is not concerning just any Jesus that existed in heaven or on earth. No, this prophecy is specifically concerning the Jesus after He has been raised from the dead. This concept strongly depicts a prophecy of a transfer of Kingdom Authority from the Father to the Son after His resurrection. And this did occur according to scriptures like Matthew 28:18. That reality of Truth would take too long to try to explain in this lesson on the Hey, But it is an Amazing Truth, nonetheless.

As we can see these letters specifically signify the meaning “The Hand, Behold; The Nail, Behold!”. Jesus never had nail holes in his hands until after they nailed Him to the cross. Those that saw him hanging on the cross could see it obviously to “behold” him. But it is really for our benefit now and for all those that were with him after God raised Him from the dead that provides us everlasting proof and evidence after His resurrection from the dead. This is now the image of the risen Jesus sitting in His eternal deity position within the Godhead.

We can confirm this by recalling the Word of God in John 20:25:

John 20:25 – The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.

As you can see one of Jesus’ disciples named Thomas heard from others that they had already seen Jesus alive from the dead. But notice Thomas refuses to believe unless he “SEES” (HEY) for himself and sticks his finger in the print holes of the nails (VAV) in his hands (YOD). That sounds like the name of God to me that is revealed to us in the pictures of YHWH. In fact here is what Jesus says to Thomas when he appears to him in person.

John 20:27 – Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.

Jesus commands Thomas to reach out his finger and He says “Behold my Hands” (Showing him His hands = YOD). Wow! Remember Jesus had two Hands to Behold and this is the exact number of letters “HEY” that occurred in the name of the “LORD”. Jesus is even confirming the New Covenant Name prophecy has been fulfilled by reaching forth His “nail (VAV) printed” hands (Yod) and telling Thomas to “Behold” (HEY) meaning look and see what I am revealing to you. Thomas immediately responds by saying “My LORD and My God” and no doubt was calling Jesus God in the Flesh declaring Him to be his LORD and Savior.

Then Jesus said to Thomas, “You believe because you have seen naturally, but blessed are those that see spiritually and not naturally and still believe spiritually”. Today, we don’t have to see (Hey) the physical prints of nails (Vav) in His Hands (Yod) in order to believe and be blessed right now. Why? It has to do with His Spirit living within us.

8 – Hayah – Very Significant Prophetical Word
 that Begins with the Letter Hey

There are too many words in the Bible that contain the letter “Hey” for us to teach them all. But we will cover this one because of its very significance in scripture, causing it to stand out as essential to knowing Jesus.

H1961 – Hayah – Be, Was, Became

This Hebrew words is called “Hayah” and it begins with Hey and ends with Hey and there is a “Yod” (Hand of God) in the middle. It resembles the pattern of a sandwich with two sliced of Bread and the “meat” on the inside. The Bread represents the Beholding and the Meat center represents symbolically the (meat or flesh) “Hand of Messiah”. Do you remember what Jesus said in John

John 6:51 – I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

This is an interesting verse that offended a lot of people when Jesus spoke it. But God in the flesh was speaking figuratively and not literally. Notice how this pattern matches the word Hayah with the Yod in this center. Bread is a symbolic representation for the Word of God! And it was the Word of God that became flesh and dwelt among us according to John 1:14. God is beginning to introduce us to a concept that God’s Words have Power to Create and Give to us all that we needed even before we needed it (Grace).

If we create a sentence from the letters of this word it would say “Behold, The Hand, Behold”. This word has the appearance of being something amazing to see. And the Symbol of a Hand of God represents His Works. But notice the omission of the letter “Vav” the nail? This literally implies that this represents “Jesus” before His Flesh manifestation. And to be more specific, it means, “that which came from the Work of God’s Hands (Power)”. Let’s look at this word in its first occurrence in the Bible.

Genesis 1:2 – And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

As we can read the word “Hayah” was translated as “Was”. But I believe this could have been better translated based upon the context. For example, verse 1 says “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth”. And we already saw this verse has 3 letters “Hey” in it. We should know from the nature and character of God that when He creates anything, He does not create it in chaos and disorder as is described in Verse 2. Therefore, there is an implied major event transition that has taken place between verse 1 and verse 2. I don’t have time to teach this in full in this lesson. There are several other lessons on this website that can be reviewed to learn more details.

However, if we look at the word definition of H1961 we will begin to get some insight into what this word “Hayah” means:

H1961

הָיָה

hâyâh

haw-yaw’

A primitive root (compare H1933); to exist, that is, be or become, come to pass (always emphatic, and not a mere copula or auxiliary): – beacon, X altogether, be (-come, accomplished, committed, like), break, cause, come (to pass), continue, do, faint, fall, + follow, happen, X have, last, pertain, quit (one-) self, require, X use.

Total KJV occurrences: 3502

Notice this word “Hayah” occurs over 3500 times in the Old Testament. That makes this a very significant and frequently used word by God’s sovereign choice. This word H1961 speaks of a reality that “has existed” or “is existing” or “will be existing in the future”. Does that sound familiar? Notice the word “Earth” beginning verse 2. This word is prefixed with both a “Vav” and a “Hey” and this adds the words “And The” before “Earth”. Now we have a direct word connecter through the conjunction “And” to verse 1 when “the earth” (dry ground) was first created. .

Therefore, we must translate the second verse using the context of the first verse in God’s original creation of “Dry Ground”. This means using the context of verse 1, the word “H1961” Hayah is pointing us back to verse 1 where the earth was originally created by God (Elohim). The word translated as “Earth” in verses 1 and 2 are both the same word H776.but here in verse 2 it is said to have changed states being covered by water and darkness. This means the original “Dry Ground” earth is “no more”. Therefore, we are beginning to see the “Earth” was dry Ground in verse 1 but will not be change back to dry ground until later in “Day 3 of Creation”. This strongly suggests something major and catastrophic occurred to cause these shifts in states.

Therefore, in Genesis 1:2 the term “Was” (H1961) formless and void is meaning something entirely different then what most imagine it to mean. Remember the word definition of “H1961” Hayah, literally means “Be”, “Become” or even “Come to Pass”. And this is a primitive root word used almost constantly indicating shifting changes normally in the positive when used by God. But here in verse 2 of Genesis 1, it appears to mean something very negative as if Judgment has taken place and what was originally “Good” has just been rendered “formless and void” by a sovereign choice of God.

Therefore, I believe verse 2 of Genesis 1 should have or at least could have been more accurately translated as “And the earth became formless and void”. I believe this translation would have conveyed a clearer transition stating what had to have taken place between the two beginning verses giving us a far greater understanding of an underlying cause and effect event. Let’s look at verse 3 just to gain a better understanding of God’s Creative works through the word “H1961” Hayah:

Genesis 1:3 – And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Here is God’s positive “creative word” (H1961) at work. This verse shows God declaring “Let there BE Light”. What you must see first is that the words translated as “BE” and “WAS” are the exact same Words H1961 Hayah. The first time it is being spoken by God to effect change to bring forth light into the darkness and the second occurrence is demonstrating the effect of “Light” coming forth through the Causing Command to “BE”.

Therefore, we should now know that this was an example of God speaking “Be Light” to the chaos of “Darkness” that became and was found existing in verse 2. And God is now bringing it all back full circle into His original divine order created in Verse 1. Please notice that the Hebrew word “BE” in this verse in the phrase “Let there BE Light” is our word key H1961 Hayah.

God commands “Light to Be”, and guess what? The verse then says “and there Was Light”. This is the clear God created Law of “cause and effect” in demonstration. And the word “Was” in this verse is also the exact same word as used in “BE Light”. However, this time translators described it as “Light WAS”. In other words, we can clearly see there was no light until God spoke and then the “Light came to pass”. Are you seeing Jesus yet? Do you remember what Jesus said in Revelation

Revelation 1:18 – I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

I believe you are seeing how the pattern that we have been learning from in the first 3 verses of Genesis 1 is in direct relationship with the Words of Jesus in the Book of Revelation chapter 1 and verse 18. Here Jesus said, I am He that lives as in the pattern of Genesis 1:1. And then “Was Dead” as in the pattern of Genesis 1:2. And now He said “I am Alive forever” a clear transition pattern back to life beginning again in  Genesis 1:3.

There are over 3500 times this word H1961 (Hayah) occurs in the O.T. It is predominantly translated as “Be” and “Became”. And we learn how this operates in the first chapter of Genesis very well. But wait? Did Jesus ever operate like this in the New Testament? Sure, He did! After all Jesus has read the same Hebrew verses as we can today. Here are just a few key verses where Jesus is speaking and uses the Word “Be”.

Matthew 5:6 – Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

Matthew 5:9 – Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

Matthes 5:18 – For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

For time’s sake I will only cover these 3 examples briefly out of the many possible verses that could be listed. The first two are amazing because of Jesus’ declaration like found in Genesis 1. But here God in the flesh said, “Blessed are those that hunger and thirst for they shall Be filled”, and “Blessed are the Peacemakers for they shall Be called the children of God”. It appears when God is speaking something positive occurs that akes it possible for it to come to pass if we qualify to receive it. And here God seems to be releasing His soon coming future creative blessings.

But now notice Matthew 5:18. Here is a direct connection to Genesis 1. In this verse Jesus says, “Till heaven and earth pass away, not one jot (Yod) or tittle shall not pass from the Law, till ALL BE fulfilled”. Notice we are looking at the Hebrew word H1961 translated as “Be”. And Jesus is declaring that everything God said would “Be” in the Law (including Genesis) will “Be” fulfilled.

9 – God Placed His “Hey” (Breathe, Grace) into Abram and Sarai

You might recall that in Genesis 2 God describes the creation of Adam’s body being formed from the “Dust” of the already created ground of Genesis 1:1. But there was no life found in the body of Adam until God breathed into his nostrils. That breath made the body come alive. And this pattern is repeated again when Abram and Sarai were very old and had no son to be their heir. Their bodies were both figuratively dead to produce a new life for a son. But God was able to breathe new life into both of them to cause this to happen through inserting a letter “Hey” into each of their names.

Gen 17:5 – Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.

Gen 17:6 – And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.

Gen 17:7 – And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.

God changes Abram’s named spelled “Alef” + “Bet” + “Resh” + “Mem” to Abraham adding the letter “Hey” now spelling the name “Alef” + “Bet” + “Resh” + “Hey” + “Mem”. This inserts the letter “Hey” between the 3rd and 4th letter making the ending letter “Mem” become the 5th letter. Notice from this point forward God calls Abram by His new name Abraham the name with the single added “Hey” from YHWH. Now notice the name change of Sarai that occurs only a few verses later:

Genesis 17:15 – And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.

Genesis 17:16 – And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.

Genesis 17:19 – And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.

Genesis 17:21 – But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.

It appears in Sarai’s name God replaces the last letter “Yod” with the other letter “Hey” from YHWH making her name mean a “princess noble lady”. Therefore, Her name spellings goes from Shin + Resh + Yod to Shin + Resh + Hey. God never calls her by any other name in this discussion. He also says she will have a child before 1 year has passed. This is a distinct covenant act of God. God is breathing His Spirit upon them both by placing His name letters “Hey” in both of their names.

10 – THE GREAT I AM

We have previously been studying the Hebrew Word H1961 Hayah and how it caused God’s creation to come to pass when God said “Light Be” and then “Light Was”. Now take a look at another usage of this key word containing two “Hey” letters. Rember the first letter Hey occurrence begins this word and the last occurrence of the letter “Hey” ends this word. Does that sound familiar? Who claimed to be the beginning and the end, the first and the last? We better all know it is Jesus in Revelation 22:13. But let’s go back to the Law again. However, this time in the second book called the Exodus.

Exodus 3:14 – And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

God appears to Moses in the form of a burning bush that is never consumed by the “Fire” of God. God commands Moses to go to Pharaoh and deliver the natural nation of Israel from Egypt. But Moses asks God, “Who shall I say has sent me”. God’s response is very profound for us in learning the meaning of our letter “Hey”. As you can see in this verse the Name of God to be Sent to identify God is called “I AM”. This name is spelled:

Hey + Yod + Hey = Hayah

Remember what these letters mean. And let’s see another new prophecy. Here is what the letter meanings placed into a sentence say to us:

“I AM” means:
“Behold!, The Hand (the POWER), Behold!”

We have just learned that God identified Himself as the name “I AM” that “I AM” to Moses. We also learned this name is spelled “Hey” + “Yod” + “Hey” containing a double letter “Hey” like the name YHWH LORD. The only letter missing in the name “I AM” is the Vav (Nail). This appears to say this is a prophecy about God before the “Cross” and His “Vav” nail experience which just so happens to be the next letter in the Alphabet. Is that a coincidence? I do not believe there are any accidents found in the writings of the Bible.

Here in this name of God “Hayah” (I AM), God is declaring His hand is His Power that created everything that we can see (Behold). And this same powerful “Hand” will deliver us all. This clearly describes the life and delivery ministry of Jesus for 3.5 years before being nailed to a cross. There is no “VAV” nail prints in this name. Do you see it? What did Jesus do for us to “See” and “Behold” when He physically walked the face of the earth? God begins this statement with “See” and ends the statement with double emphasis of saying “See” again. Whatever Jesus was sent to the earth to do, must be going to be very amazing to see, and it was!

In fact, as Moses delivered the children of Israel from the power (Hand) of Pharaoh and Egypt, so has Jesus delivered the human race from the hand (Power) of Satan. Certainly we can see the parallels and pattern types taking place between a natural deliverance and a natural deliverer and a spiritual deliverance and a spiritual deliverer.

Read the Gospels and learn the miracles, signs, and wonders that He performed in mass to everyone that came to Him. He healed the sick, raised the dead, and cast out devils, made the blind to see, made the deaf to hear, and many such other miracles. This was the “Power” of God at work in the flesh of His Son Jesus Christ. If you look at Acts 10:38, God says to us “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth, with the Holy Ghost and POWER (YOD) and went about healing all that were oppressed of the devil. And many people witnessed all of these great works to Behold Him. In fact, we find multiple times in the Gospels where Jesus claimed to be the “I AM”. Here is only the first one:

John 8:58 – Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

Jesus knew exactly who and what He was claiming to be in this verse. He was, and is, and will always be, the same God that appeared to Moses who claimed to be the “I AM”. And when He appeared on the earth in the flesh, Jesus was claiming to be the God YHWH that said his name was “I AM”. Jesus knew this name well as did the Jewish Hebrew leadership and they wanted to stone Him for what they thought was a Blasphemous claim. Yet we know now that Jesus was definitely not telling them a Lie. Let’s review some other verses:

Reference	Jesus Claims to Be I AM
John 6:35, 6:48	I Am the Bread of Life
John 6:51	I Am the Living Bread (Manna) Sent Down from Heaven
John 8:12, 9:5	I Am the Light of the World
John 10:7, 9	I Am the Door (Dalet) (for the sheep)
John 10:11, 10:14	I Am the Good Shepherd (Lamed)
John 11:25	I Am the Resurrection and Life
John 14:6	I Am the Way, the Truth and the Life
John 15:1, 15:5	I Am the (True) Vine

There are also other times Jesus refers to Himself as “I Am” in relationship to his identity.

REFERENCE	JESUS IS I AM
John 4:26	I AM (he) referring to being Messiah/Christ
John 8:24	If you believe not “I Am”, you will die in your sins
John 8:28	When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that “I Am”
John 8:58	Before Abraham was, I Am Explicit reference to being God
John 13:19	“You may believe that, I Am”
John 18:4-5	Jesus asks “Who do you seek?” They answer “Jesus of Nazareth” and Jesus Replies “I Am”.

I believe we can easily see how the “Hey” + “Yod” + “Hey” (H1961) translated as “I Am” name of God revealed in Exodus 3 is claimed by Jesus to be His personal identity over and over. I feel this is more than enough evidence to also teach us that Jesus is the “Yod” + “Hey” + “Vav” + “Hey” YHWH LORD God also.

11 – The Risen New Covenant God
Putting the Spirit’s Breath (HEY)
Inside of the Church

John 20:22 – And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:

Notice what Jesus is saying to the disciples and telling them. It is so amazing that after Jesus was raised from the dead he meets with his disciples and “Breathes” the Spirit (Hey) upon them telling them to Receive the Holy Spirit. This is the moment they were “Born-Again”. The Spirit again comes out of the mouth of Jesus and was given to his disciples. The letter “Hey” sound cannot be correctly made without exhaling the inner breathe. Therefore, we are learning this letter is intimately involved in the release and impartation of God’s Spirit.

12 – Hey – Behold Look the Birth of Jesus Messiah

Every time we see the word “Behold” anywhere in scriptures it is a great idea to stop and “Look” at what is being said because it is usually very important. However, there are over 1300 times this word occurs in the English KJV Bible. We cannot look at everyone of them. But we will find a few of the utmost importance.

For example, in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke Jesus’s birth and entrance into the planet earth was loudly announced and proclaimed for everyone to “Behold”. This is the Letter “Hey” being shouted to the world “Here is Your God”. Let’s start with the prophecy in Matthew 1:23.

Matthew 1:23 – Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

This is a quotation from Isaiah 7:14. Where God spoke through the prophet Isaiah proclaiming a loud “Behold” (HEY) about a virgin’s conception of the Son of God. And we can read in Luke after the birth that Mary brought forth of the Son of God:

Luke 2:9 – And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

Luke 2:10 – And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

Luke 2:11 – For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

Luke 2:12 – And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

Luke 2:13 – And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

Luke 2:14 – Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

This announcement takes place in the heaven being delivered to shepherds in the fields. They very clearly say this is a Great Event to be witnessed because it will affect all humans. But this time it will be “Good” and bring “Peace”. Jesus was and is the focus of the entire Bible and His personal appearance upon the earth was earth shattering. The final outcome of this Word of God in person would be an offer of FREE Grace for Our Salvation! This is one of the main stories in the Bible. However, there is another side of this truth. Jesus also entered our world to eliminate Satan and all evil. And that is occurring right now and is a work in progress. But the end is coming soon.

13 – Hey Behold – Jesus Messiah the Passover Lamb

This is one of the most important events after the birth of Jesus physically as a human. Here we are talking about His death at 33.5 years old. If you did not know it, one key reason for being born into our world was to save us from eternal death and separation from God, but the other was to divide and eliminate evil from good that was joined together by the first Adam’s choice in Genesis 3. This was accomplished by His death. And the prophet John the Baptist declared this in the book of John when baptizing Jesus:

John 1:29 – The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

John 1:30 – This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me.

John 1:31 – And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.

The key here is to know and understand the Exodus 12 Passover lamb sacrifice accomplishment that God established as a pattern for the Lord Jesus Christ’s death upon a cross. In this chapter of Exodus a lamb of perfection without blemish (sin) was brought into every household. It was kept for 7 days and then it was slain and the blood was placed upon the doorpost. The lamb’s body was then roasted in fire and had to be fully eaten that night before sunrise.

While this was occurring death passed over every house and any house with the blood of the lamb on the door was spared (saved/delivered). But every house without the “blood of the lamb”, the firstborn was killed. Uh oh! This is all typological patterns for what Jesus was going to accomplish on the “Cross” which was also made out of wooden posts like the doorposts. But Jesus places his own blood by willing sacrifice for the offering for the sin of the entire world. Wow! That is amazing!

14 – Behold the Precious Corner Stone and Stumbling Block

Now we have gone from Behold the Birth to Behold the Lamb representing the Death of Jesus. This means the resurrection of Jesus from the dead to build a New Creation, Temples, City and Bride is the next subject. In this process, our present world creation will be consumed with fire. And this is happening about 1000 years from now according to Revelation 21 and 2 Peter 3:10. God’s elimination of all evil will have taken place when this occurs and His gathering of all His works to create a new Family of a “righteous” creation will be finalized as stated in Revelation 21.

But what is this Work of God and how is it being accomplished? We are now Beholding a New Work that God is working out. And it was initiated as a large scale building process but made simply by assembling 1 stone at a time. We are about to see how God is placing one righteous building stone upon another while simultaneously throwing down into hell every other stone that has been rejected because of their refusal to accept His free gift of Salvation. Let’s start with this part of the lesson with a key verse from Isaiah:

Isaiah 28:16 – Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.

This is a certain prophecy concerning Jesus again. And it is a direct prophecy about Jesus being a “Stone”. And this appears to be written about a time after Jesus was born on the earth. We know this because of verses that we are soon going to see.

Remember, Jesus was born a human baby in a manger in Bethlehem. And then grew up in Nazareth and lived on earth for a total of 33.5 years. His natural life was finished on earth when He was crucified on a cross as our (human) Passover Lamb. During His human mortal form, He was primarily sent to the lost sheep of the natural nation of the house of Israel. This was God’s attempt to work out His plan by first offering Salvation personally to them. After all they were the keepers of His Law through the Old Covenant. This caused them to have preferential favor because of this past covenant relationship role. All other Gentile nations on the earth were complete strangers to God’s covenants, having no knowledge of Him through His Words.

Notice what God says in Isaiah 28:16, that He was laying down a stone in Zion. Then notice the emphasis upon a “Stone” being laid down. And think about what happens to a human when they die. Their bodies are laid down in a casket or tomb and it looks like they are sleeping. Isn’t this what happened to Jesus being laid in a Tomb after crucifixion?

This is an important time to ask a potential new question, which Zion? There are more than one. But most Christians only think and know of the natural one.  Too many times Christians think too naturally and do not prioritize the existence of parallel spiritual realities. For example, in the New Testament books of Matthew through Revelation we can learn of a “New Covenant”, a “New Jerusalem”, a “New Heaven”, “New Earth” and even a “New Creation”. All of these “New” realities are clearly spiritual with the exception of the New Earth. And the existence for a “New” strongly suggests to us that there was a major problem with the “OLD” parallel items. And these problems were called “Sin” and “Satan” which corrupted and cause the old creation to be cursed. The New will eliminate all unrighteous, all corruption, chaos, and curses. Now look at this verse:

Hebrews 12:22 – But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,

This verse proves to us that there is a spiritual Mount Zion. And it is located directly near the Heavenly city of Jerusalem. This verse proves two realities quickly. God claims there is a city in heaven named Jerusalem where a very large company of angels live. This city is also associated to be with a location called Mount Zion. This too must be in the spiritual realm. Therefore, we have proven there are at least two realities called natural and spiritual.

Therefore, we need to determine is God laying down a Stone upon the earthly Mount Zion or the Heavenly Mount Zion. Can you see that this location would matter significantly? Remember our previous analogy of being laid down to be like natural “death”. Let’s go to another prophecy written by Moses to see a new detail about this “Stone” being laid down by God:

Genesis 49:24 – But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)

This is a truly amazing verse. First, consider the mention of the Patriarch Jacob who was chosen and renamed “Israel” by God after wrestling an angel. God chooses this natural man Jacob to build His natural covenant family household. Which is coming from this man’s natural seed producing 12 sons. But this name Israel was given to him by an angel that we learn came down from heaven. Uh oh? If the name Israel originated from Heaven and we just learned there is a Spiritual Mount Zion and City of Jerusalem, does this mean there could also be a Spiritual Israel that existed before Jacob had the name? Can you see that this sounds like God transferring His name down to the earth upon His Old Covenant people of the new natural nation of Israel? Let’s look at a new verse to help us learn what is potentially going on:

2 Chronicles 7:14 – If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

What name is God speaking of in this verse? If we go back in the context to verse 3 we will find it is plainly stated that God is speaking directly to the “children of Israel”. This leaves no doubt in my mind that God’s name is Israel. And we can confirm this by the simple definition of the name’s meaning “He will Rule as God”. This is a dual prophecy and a declaration. God is declaring His name to be Israel in this verse while also prophesying of coming “Stone” in Genesis 49:24.

Hopefully we can begin to see how this verse in Genesis, speaks of one “Seed” that will become Israel’s Chief “Shepherd” and “Stone”. And this changes everything about how we see this verse as a prophecy. What we will soon discover is this stone and shepherd, was, is, and will always be Jesus Christ. He is the prophesied “Stone” from the Heavenly Zion coming down to the earthly Zion, to become the stumbling block for the natural nation of Israel and then the Cornerstone building stone for a completely New Jerusalem foundation.

Let’s allow the scriptures to prove this claim to us. We will first focus on a parable Jesus told about a householder that plants a garden vineyard then leases it out to husbandmen. Please read this over and notice the quotation of the “Stone” written about in Isaiah, at the end of the parable. Because this is being spoken about, by this Living Stone named Jesus.

Matthew 21:33 – Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country:

Matthew 21:34 – And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.

Matthew 21:35 – And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.

Matthew 21:36 – Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise.

Matthew 21:37 – But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son.

Matthew 21:38 – But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.

Matthew 21:39 – And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.

Matthew 21:40 – When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?

Matthew 21:41 – They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.

Matthew 21:42 – Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?

Matthew 21:43 – Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.

Matthew 21:44 – And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.

Mat 21:45 – And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them.

This parable is another example of God’s parallel natural descriptions that are revealing far greater spiritual realities of Truth. Every natural thing in this Parable has a direct parallel Spiritual association. In this Parable the Land Owner represents God the Father maker of the heaven and the earth. Then we see He planted a vineyard and this was described in Genesis 2 in making the Garden of Eden. God leased this Garden out to mankind (Adam) for him to steward and manage the earth for exactly 6000 years. God’s first commandment was for them to be “Fruitful” (Genesis 1:28). Therefore, God is expecting Fruit and this is the way it will end in Revelation 22. The first Adam was delegated and authorized by God to rule over and guard his Garden (Genesis 1:26, Genesis 2:15). But Adam failed to do so, allowing Satan, sin, sickness, and curses to enter into the world.

The first humans from Adam began to work the land and we see the first murder of a righteous man named Abel occur in Genesis 4:8. Thus Satan through Abel’s brother Cain was proclaimed to be the beginning manifestation of the wicked killing the righteous on the earth. And this pattern of evil continues through the natural nation of Israel. By God sending prophet after prophet that was slain by the unrighteous rulers. As you can see the rulers in Matthew 21:45 heard this parable and they perceived it correctly, by believing that Jesus was telling the parable about them. Interesting isn’t it? 

Therefore, the land owner (God) sent to the nation of Israel His Son in the form of a man named Jesus of Nazareth to look for fruit and He found none. Jesus chose to curse the fig tree so that it would bear no more fruit in Mark 11:14.  Jesus also wept over the natural city of Jerusalem concerning all of his servants (the Prophets) that were slain (Luke 13:34) by these leaders ruling in this Great City. And now notice how that these rulers in Jerusalem were about to Crucify the “Son of God” as Jesus had just foretold openly to them they would do in the parable. The ultimate leader of all of the men on earth doing evil was Satan, of course.

Therefore, we should now know clearer what Jesus was speaking of in the context of verse 42 where Jesus begins to quote the Old Testament verse Isaiah 28:16. First notice, verse 42 ends with the phrase “Marvelous in our Eyes”! That is a synonymous description of the Hebrew letter “Hey” we learned is God speaking “Behold the Wonder”.  Jesus is very boldly claiming to be the Stone which natural Israel would stumble over to motivate them to kill Him. That is extremely sad, but God knows the end from the beginning. And He knew how they would react to His appearance as their “Spiritual Lamb”. Do you see how their reactions is still happening with natural thinking Christians and people today? Now notice another witness that will speak and confirm this Stone is Jesus Christ:

1 Peter 2:6 – Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.

As we can read God through Peter quotes the prophecy in Isaiah 28:16 declaring it has been fulfilled. What is all of this about? Do you remember in the Old Covenant and the temple that was destroyed completely in 70AD? What did Jesus say about this temple and all of its stones?

Matthew 24:1 – And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.

Matthew 24:2 – And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

What do stones represent in this prophecy? We are learning they represent dual truths of natural and spiritual realities. The disciples are clearly amazed at the magnificent architecture of the temple in the natural city of Jerusalem. The disciples are “Beholding” real natural stones built into a magnificent architectural wonder with their natural eyes. And they are in “Awe” in their hearts.  These natural stones were very amazing but Jesus begins to change their focus back to our new subject of the stumbling stone that would be murdered on a cross.

Jesus begins His statement with the Greek word G991 “blepō” and this word is translated as “See” in this verse and others. But in many other verses it was translated as “Look”, “Behold” and even “Beware”. Therefore, we are directly over our target subject of “Hey” (Behold).

Next, notice what Jesus is describing to the natural nation of Israel which is showing them that His response is a direct warning to them about their future. Remember all of this conversation is literally happening only a few hours before Jesus was going to be crucified by this city and their rulers and their people.

Jesus is prophesying that this natural stone temple in the natural city of Jerusalem will be laid waste and made desolate, utterly and completely. Today, most everyone in the church is seeing this as the destruction of the temple that took place in 70AD. And this certainly happened, 100% guaranteed. But I believe this was a natural prophetic pattern that will repeat again in a higher spiritual reality that would also come again a long time after 70AD. Like most prophecies in the Word of God they can have two application simultaneously. What else happened to Jerusalem during that time of this destruction in 70AD?

You should know that masses of the Jewish natural nation were slaughtered and only a small remnant was able to flee to safety in various parts of the world being scattered as the natural “seed” of Jacob. Natural Israel being scattered abroad was about them being spread out to grow in many places other than their natural home land. All of these survivors became scattered “foreigners” and “strangers” in other nations without any temple of God’s presence. Does all of this sound familiar? It should! It is a pattern that repeats in the Bible more than once. Let’s look at these verses to observe a reversal of experiences that occurred to natural Israel being restored to spiritual people choosing to live and abide in Christ.

Ephesians 2:16 – And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:

Ephesians 2:17 – And came and preached peace to you which were afar off (Gentiles), and to them that were nigh (Natural Israel).

Ephesians 2:18 – For through him (Jesus Christ) we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

Ephesians 2:19 – Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;

Do you see it? The natural nation of Israel was being scattered to become strangers and foreigners into other nations and God appears to be regathering them and us (Gentiles) back together in the One man Jesus Christ. As we can clearly read God is saying natural Israel use to be close to God while Gentiles were “Far Off” from him. But now in Christ we are all given direct access into God’s Household through Jesus Christ. This was accomplished by Jesus destroying the enmity between God and sinners on the cross. Wow! We are back to the Passover Lamb that took away the sin of the world.

However, let’s go back to Matthew 24:1-2, and notice the Greek word G3037 “lithos” which is translated as “stone” in this verse. We need to examine this because this is the word that is linked back into the Old Testament to our beginning foundation verses about stones in Isaiah 28 and Genesis 49.  Here are verses that confirms this Word applies to Jesus personally:

1 Peter 2:4 – To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,

1 Peter 2:5 – Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 2:6 – Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.

1 Peter 2:7 – Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,

1 Peter 2:8 – And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.

1 Peter 2:9 – But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

1 Peter 2:10 – Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

Let’s begin with verse 9 because most in the church have heard this verse while ignoring the context verses. God is declaring in verses written to the church that we are the following:

1. Chosen Generation
2. Royal Priesthood
3. Holy Nation
4. Peculiar People

This verse 9 description again parallels old natural patterns that are now being repeated to speak of higher new spiritual things. For example, God directly chose Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to bring forth a natural chosen people produced through the 12 sons of Israel. Then notice Jesus who is one of our key subjects in this lesson about the Hey (Behold), also chose 12 disciples to build His church family upon.

Next, notice the church is called a Royal Priesthood. And remember the natural Old Covenant nation of Israel had both kings and priests. While now Jesus Christ has become both the church’s High Priest and our highest King of kings according to New Covenant scriptures.

Next notice the very direct parallel connection that both the church and the natural people of natural Israel are being called a “Nation”. Uh oh! But notice God added the adjective descriptor “Holy” to the Church. Does this make the natural people of the natural nation Israel the unholy nation? This is very strongly implied even if not explicitly mentioned here. There are a lot of people that struggle with the Bible in this area. However, God addresses these concerns in the Bible. For example notice this verse about the natural nation of Israel:

1 Corinthians 10:18 – Behold Israel after the flesh: are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?

This verse is very direct and claims there is One Israel that is “After” the flesh (meaning Natural) and is implicitly stating there must be another Israel that is “After” the Spirit. Uh oh! Lot of Christians have problems with these Truths like this. But, I didn’t write these verses, God did. I just teach His Words and do my best to leave my words and thoughts out of the lessons.

I am not antisemitic whatsoever either. So please don’t accuse me of your contrived accusations from Satan. We are Reading verses written in the scriptures and seeing what they say. That is what we are supposed to do. We have probably stirred up a hornet’s nest by quoting these verses and dealing with these truths about two parallel realities. So let’s get back to the verses that we were reading in 1 Peter 2.

Now, verse 4 is written about Jesus being the “Living Stone”. This word stone is the same word we have been learning about from Matthew 24:2 and many other verses. But this reference is definitely not a big block of inanimate rock. No Jesus is again being hailed to be the “Stumbling Stone” that the builders (natural Israel) of the old covenant rejected and disavowed.

But in Verse 6 God then through Peter,, again quotes Isaiah 28:16 connecting us back to the prophesied coming Stone from Zion (Heavenly). However in verse 5 between these two verses 4 and 6 is where we are introduced to a new spiritual concept. Jesus being the Cornerstone and everyone else that is in the Church also being called “living stones” being built together with Jesus as a Spiritual House. And I believe this is referring to the Spiritual House of God as His Living Spiritual Temple.

In other words, in the days of the Old Covenant the first temple was a tabernacle of animal skins making it a mobile home for God as Israel walked about the wilderness. But after the land of Israel was conquered by Joshua. There came the first temple built by Solomon using dead stones that could never worship and praise the God that indwelt in it.  

But in the New Covenant God says we are also the “Priest” as well as the “Temple” in which He will live forever. And we as kings and priests will “praise” Him forever also. Do you see it? This is something amazing to “Behold”. This is God’s demonstration of natural realities being patterns for spiritual realities that are far greater and much improved. Let’s confirm this with another witness:

Ephesians 2:18 – For through him (Jesus) we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

Ephesians 2:19 – Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God;

Ephesians 2:20 – And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;

Ephesians 2:21 – In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:

Ephesians 2:22 – In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

We already looked at some of these verses previously. But now all of these verses are making more sense and confirm exactly what we have been learning. The “Chief Cornerstone” is Jesus Christ being joined together with all other living stones that have been saved through faith in Him are joined with him into a growing temple. Therefore, Stones represent people that are able to be saved. Do you remember what John said in Matthew 3?

Matthew 3:9 – And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.

Matthew 3:10 – And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

These verses like this are beginning to mean so much more. God appears to be saying “Stones” after they are birthed produce God’s children. And these will be children unto Abraham. Remember Romans 4:16 claims Abraham is the father of every born again believer in Jesus Christ. This is truly amazing. God is speaking of a family Household that is built upon the “Faith” of Abraham believing in Jesus Christ.

Once a dead stone person becomes “Born-Again”, they are made a “Living Stone” in the temple of God. And this corporate body of believers are the Living Temple of God.

This Living Temple will become a completely New Creation that never existed before and become the eternal habitation of the Spirit of God. This Act of God began with the “Resurrection from the dead of Jesus Christ. And it further began a process that has initiated a separation of God’s Spirit from all of the other “unrighteous spirits” that have rebelled against Him.

15 – Conclusion

We have just barely been introduced to the study of the letter “Hey”. Which is a picture of a human with hands raised in Awe “Beholding” a sight that is almost too wonderful to comprehend. Yet this subject named “Jesus” is written about from cover to cover. And when we begin to see Him we just can’t stop seeing Him enough.

Hopefully, you enjoyed this lesson about the Ancient Hebrew Alphabet letters focused on the Letter Hey (Behold). This letter occurs twice in the name of God YHWH and we all now know this is a prophecy of Jesus after being raised from the dead. We learned a short overview of Jesus in some of the stories of His Birth, Death, Burial and Resurrection. And we saw how He is building God a New Spiritual Temple that consists of kings and priests as is alluded to in Revelation 1:6.

Each one of us that has been “Born Again” (John 3) has become a part of God’s “New Creation (2 Corinthians 4:4). And if you have not yet made Jesus your personal Lord and Savior, now is the time to do so, before it is too late. You can go to the link below and learn how to join the New Family of God. When you do this, you will never be sorry that you did. There is nothing in this world that is as “AWESOME” as Learning about and Knowing Jesus Christ.

Thank you for your time in reading studying the Bible with Agapegeek in these lessons. I am amazed every time I learn something new about Jesus, and that is every day. There is a never ending supply of goodness and mercy from the LORD. If you will, please leave a comment and share with us what the Lord is doing through His Word. If you need prayer, you are welcome to leave a prayer request. God Bless you all continually in the fulness of His Great Grace. Until the next time may God fill you with all of His manifested Goodness of Grace and Peace in the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

If you would like to continue to read in this series, please pick an Alphabet letter:

Intro Alef Beyt-1 2 Gimel Dalet Hey Vav Zayin Chet Tet Yod Kaf Lamed Mem 1 2 Nun Samekh Ayin Pey Tsade Qof Resh Shin Tav Alef-Beyt Chart (Series updated as LORD directs and permits)

Are You Saved? Do you Know Jesus? Life is Short! Jesus wants to Know You! Please come and get to Know Him!