 |
|
וְהָלְכוּ עַמִּים רַבִּים וְאָמְרוּ לְכוּ וְנַעֲלֶה אֶל הַר יְהוָה
|
|
And many peoples will come and say, ―Come, let us go up to the mountain of יהוה
ISAIAH 2:3
|
|
א |
 s a result of certain significant events in my life, I came to understand that I was being prepared for a life-changing journey to encounter His hallowed name. In the spring of 2002 I traveled to Jerusalem, Israel, in response to what I believed to be an invitation from our Heavenly Father to an appointment on earth. The time of the meeting was set for the biblical holy day of Shavuot/Pentecost.1 What I encountered radically changed my life, my family, and my ministry. Until recently I kept most of what happened at that meeting private. Before I could share it publicly, I felt compelled to take the time necessary to better understand who our Heavenly Father is according to His word and who I am called to be according to His will. I am now ready.
Before my trip to Jerusalem, I had traveled to the top of Pike’s Peak near Colorado Springs in 2001. As I stood on the top of the mountain on a clear day where I could see for what seemed like hundreds of miles in every direction, I prayed the most radical prayer of my life: “Father, teach me to love what you love and hate what you hate.”
At that moment the great maestro in heaven raised his hands and prepared to conduct a beautiful symphony in my life. I began to see and understand His will and His word in a new way. I could not get enough of the things He loved, and I could not stand the things He hated. I found myself looking for my identity in Him more than trying to find my significance in society.
Eventually a passage in Scripture gave me the freedom and confidence to walk the path He was laying out for me. In fact, it freed me from having to explain why a United Methodist pastor would be so keenly interested in His hallowed name. Neither do I have to force my encounters in Israel into a claim of Jewish blood. It would be impossible to produce records from either side of my family to connect me to one of the tribes of Israel. However, I am privileged to embrace all that my Heavenly Father offers to His children. Here is a portion of the passage that started me on my journey:
|
|
Also the foreigners who join themselves to יהוה , to minister to Him, and to love the name יהוה, to be His servants, everyone who keeps from profaning the Sabbath and holds fast My covenant; even those I will bring to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer.
ISAIAH 56:6–7
|
|
I am a foreigner with no known Israelites in the family tree. Yet my Heavenly Father invited me to join myself to Him, to minister to Him and to love His name. I could not resist. Over the following year I began to study His word as never before. I wanted to know everything I could about the language, history, and culture of my most prized possession: my Bible. I didn’t realize until recently that the invitation in Isaiah was related to my appointment in Israel on His holy mountain.
What I find really encouraging as well as revelatory is that I experienced three encounters that continue to mold and shape me from the inside out. The preacher inside of me wants to say it like this: I encountered His time, His Torah, and His Tetragrammaton.2 Since then I have learned the biblical precedent for my experience. When the people of Israel were delivered from Egypt, they encountered His time, His Torah and his Tetragrammaton.3 Likewise, Isaiah 56:6-7 encourages the foreigners who join themselves to יהוה to also encounter His time, His Torah and His Tetragrammaton—His hallowed name. Amazing.
|
1 Shavuot is a biblical holiday that is celebrated on the fiftieth day after Passover (Leviticus 23:15–22). Pentecost celebrates the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and pilgrims who traveled to Jerusalem for Shavuot (see Acts 2). This is the only holiday that both Jews and Christians jointly acknowledge and celebrate at the same time! |
2 The Tetragrammaton is the technical term for the four Hebrew letters that represent the name of our Heavenly Father. These four Hebrew letters are represented on the front cover of this book. |
| 3 See Exodus 12:1-2 and Exodus 19:1 regarding His time, Exodus 20:1-17 for His Torah, and Exodus 3 and 20:1 for His Tetragrammaton. |
| Continue Reading… |
