The Birth of Beth Avi

WHEN Jacob fled from the face of his brother Esau for fear of his life, he once passed and slept at a place previously called Luz. He took one of the stones of that place, rested his head on it, and fell asleep.

Then, he dreamed of a ladder that reached to the top of the heavens and the angels of God ascending and descending on it. Then the Lord stood above it, and said:

"I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.”

Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!” (Genesis 28:13-17).

Following that event, he called that place Bethel which means House of God (Beth is house and El is God).

The name Beth Avi bubbled out from this story of Jacob at Bethel. Now that we are under the New Covenant, not only did we become God's people, but we also have the blood-bought right of calling Him our Father. 

As the Scripture says in Ephesians 1:5:

"...having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will".

And also in another part in Romans 8:15-17:

"For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together."

Jesus Christ came and turned as from slaves of sin to sons and daughters of the living God, Him being the firstborn over all the creation, bearing the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15).

In Beth Avi (House of My Father), we envision to unveil God as our Father and reveal Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. We aim to share the unadulterated Word of God to people who are willing to receive Christ into their hearts and into their lives. 

We also believe in Sola Sciptura (By Scripture alone) and esteem highly the authority and inerrancy of the Bible. We believe in rightly dividing the Word of Truth (2 Tim. 2-15) and in interpreting the Bible in its context.

Above all, we do not believe that one must have a religion inorder to get saved. Rather, one is saved by confessing in their mouth the Lord Jesus Christ (that He is his Lord and Savior) and by believing in his heart that God raised Him from the dead (Rom.10:9). This is how the Bible teaches us about salvation. It is not by works, but by the Grace (undeserved favor) of God. 

We hope to see you in one of our weekly eBible Study. It is absolutely free. Blessed weekend to all! God bless us all!

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HAPPENING THIS MONTH OF NOVEMBER

Light Of The World

In the beginning, when the original creation became without form and void in judgement to Lucifer's rebellion, God spoke light. He said "Become Light!", or in the Hebrew "יהי-אור" (Ye Hi Or!).

Genesis 1:3

Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

English translations and traditional teachings say "Let there be light!". While it's not wrong to say that, it can be a little misleading from what the original words really meant. There is a hidden message in those words that can only be seen in the Hebrew.

God's name is YAHWEH (יהוה), the covenant-keeping God. Where it says LORD (capital letters) in the English Bible, it says YAHWEH in the Hebrew. The Jews today, in their reverence to God, calls Him Adonai or HaShem (The Name). But for us who belong to Christ and are Abraham's seed, not only we call Him YAHWEH, but also ABBA, which means "Father".

So when God said "Become Light" or "Ye Hi Or!" (יהי-אור),In essence, He is saying: "Jesus, become Light!". This is that hidden message that was lost in the English translations.

The Name Jesus in the Hebrew is ישוע (Yeshua) which means YE saves (YE is a shortened from of YAHWEH).

Hebrew reads from right to left. So when reading in English, start with "And said.."

So when the original creation became without form and void (Genesis 1:2), YAHWEH called on YESHUA to become light, and indeed YESHUA became light!

It is also noteworthy to see that it was only after God made Jesus the Light that He proceeded on to restore everything in the Creation. As the Gospel of John proclaims: 

John 1:3

All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

And also in Colossians:

Colossians 1:16-17

For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.

Many years passed, YAHWEH came in the flesh as Jesus. He then declared this openly in John 8:12  saying "I am the Light of the world". 

What can we learn from this?

In our lives, when everything else is falling apart, when the world seems dark and all that's left are ruins, it is the perfect time to call upon that Great Light named Jesus. Surely, He is able to turn things around for our good (Romans 8:28). This we know that whoever calls upon the Name of the Lord will be saved (Romans 10:13).

He will not nag at us for causing ourselves the trouble that we are in. But in love, He will deliver  and supply us the wisdom to keep us from falling into the same mud over and over again.

To the believers, He will not be a Judge but a Savior. What He will do is carry us, place us on top of His strong shoulders, and rejoice! This is Jesus, our Good Shepherd who laid down His life for His flock. 

Going back to the story of Creation in Genesis 1:3, traditional teachings also tell us that the light that God created on the first day was the sun. However, the Bible is crystal clear in telling us that the sun, the moon, and the stars were all created on the fourth day.

Genesis 1:14-19

Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

From the verses above, we see that the "greater light to rule the day " (which is obviously the sun) and the "lesser light to rule the night" (the moon) were all created on Day 4. So clearly, that particular light in Day 1 was not the sun, but the SON!

Why is this so important?

The world today is in the midst of chaos and darkness once again. People call black white, and white black. Deception is widespread and many nations are gradually erasing the name of God - by pointing people back to themselves, or by introducing another 'god'.

In the midst of all these darkness, it is important to know that True Light can only be found in Christ, and not in any other source, may it be natural or man-made. Christ is the answer to everything and the supply to every lack.

As Bible prophecy continues to roll, we understand that the world will not get better. Satan's deception to the nations of the world will go on and many will depart from the faith. However, this is the time when the church and Israel will get brighter and brighter and the glory of the Lord will be upon them both.

As Isaiah 60:1-3 says it:

Arise, shine;

For your light has come!

And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.

For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,

And deep darkness the people;

But the Lord will arise over you,

And His glory will be seen upon you.

The Gentiles shall come to your light,

And kings to the brightness of your rising.

The darker the world gets, the brighter the Church and Israel will shine. The more the world persecutes the Church and Israel, the more they both flourish, prosper, and grow! Where the light of Christ has shone, no one can ever put to darkness as He draws a clear distinction between what is His and what is of the world.

We are not saying that we rejoice when the world gets darker. However, the world, having turned away from the True Light, seems to be rejoicing that finally, it is able to do so. The glory of Christ is just too bright that the world would rather hide and live in the darkness so that Christ's light wont pierce into their eyes.

Whatever happens in the days to come, this we are assured of: that the light of Jesus Christ will continue to envelope His people until He snatches us away before the start of the Tribulation. Until then, our eyes are affixed on Him. 

Maranatha! 

About the Author

Jenno Marco Misa is the co-founder of Bethavi and is one of the writers of this website. He is largely influenced by the teachings of Joseph Prince, Ideal Baldoni, and Amir Tsarfati. As a Bible student, He believes that the centrality of Jesus Christ  is the key in rightly dividing the Word of truth. He strongly believes that people can only be justified by faith and not by works. 

For comments, reactions, and discussions, you may e-mail him at bethavibs@gmail.com.sg.

The Truth About The Flood

Did giants really exist in the past or are they just a figment of somebody else's imagination? If so, how were they born and when? How were they terminated?

The Bible testifies that indeed, giants did exist and walked on earth during the antediluvian period (the time between Adam's Fall and the Flood).

These creatures were the offsprings of the fallen angels who had sexual relations with the women on earth (Genesis 6:4). They were a race of half-fallen angel and half-human beings.

The demonic power that was behind all these was Satan who wanted to corrupt the human race so that the Promised Seed, the Lord Jesus Christ, would not be born as a human.

The corruption was so severe that there were only 8 pure human beings left. They were Noah and his wife, his 3 sons, and their 3 wives.

It was during these times that God commanded Noah to build and ark so that he and his family can live and preserve the human race.

Inorder to wipe out this demonic widespread of half-fallen angel and half-human beings, God sent the flood. The flood was not just a righteous judgement but also a means to preserve the human race through which the Lord Jesus Christ will one day be born.

Not many understand this but the flood was actually sent inorder to preserve the human race because if it had been totally corrupted, Jesus Christ will not be born, and there wont be any hope of redemption anymore.

The flood totally destroyed everything including all the giants. However, they came back again, not immediately though.

Since God promised Noah that He will never again flood the earth, Satan had a second wave of these giants and they were the Canaanites.

This time, God formed a nation that never existed before, the nation of Israel. And one of their duties was to make sure that they wipe out these giants. If you could recall, David faced off one of these creatures in the person of Goliath.

So the next time you think about the flood, don't just think of it as a judgement. Think of it as God's faithfulness in carrying out His redemptive plan of salvation so that mankind can be restored back to where he was and to what He originally made him to be.

A New Creation By Grace

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

MANY of us have a shady background or a "dark past" as they will like to call it. We all have something in our yesterdays that we are definitely not proud of. How does this affect our first step in reconciling with God?

First thing that we need to establish is the truth that God stands outside time. This means that He sees everything from the beginning to the end. However, this does not mean that He influenced people to become what they have become. God has instituted human freewill and since then, He has been a Great Respecter of that, to the point that even salvation can only come to us by freewill.

Since God stands outside time, He probably knows us better than we know ourselves. For sure, He knows about that past that we are so ashamed of. He knows about every bad thought, bad move, and bad words that had come out of us. Herein lies the Great Love: despite knowing all these things, He still came and died for us.

The bottom line is: God knows about our past and has provided the Way out of it and become a new person. God does not rejoice in punishing us. He delights in extending grace and mercy toward us. Hence, the cross! 

The cross of Jesus Christ will be an eternal testament of a perfectly righteous Holy God making the Way to save us, sinful and wicked humanity. This testament will forever echo in the walls of eternity and will be the imperishable monument of that Great Love with which He loved us.

And the moment we, sinners, accept the Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, God imputes His Son's righteousness to us. This means that God sees you the way He sees His Son. That's unbelievable! Yet that's exactly how it is today. 

His Son did no wrong, while we did not do anything right. His Son did not commit any sin, whereas we sin everyday in our lives. His Son obeyed Him perfectly, while we barely obey our parents. Yet, it was His Son who was nailed at the cross, not us! It was His Son who suffered and died, not us! Therefore, God was so satisfied with what Jesus did that after He raised Him from the dead, He made Him our Great High Priest and have become our representative to the Father. 

Today, God does not look at our righteousness so He could bless us. He looks at the Man at His right hand and what He has done, then turns to us to bless us. Jesus worked and accomplished, and we, His people, get to enjoy the benefits of what He has finished. This is why Christianity is not spelled as 'DO'. It is correctly spelled as 'DONE'. We completely rest and depend on what Christ has done.

Well, one may ask: "How about those criminals who have murdered, raped, robbed, and cheated? If they come to Christ and be a new creation, what about their crimes and all that? Will all those be forgotten?"

These people who have committed crimes will definitely be liable to the law of men. For sure, justice will have to be served. Whichever way they have offended, they must be punished in accordance to the existing laws of the land. After all, a nation's government is established by God to safeguard His people while they are here on earth.

However, just because these criminals are convicted in the eyes of men does not mean they will remain guilty in the eyes of God forever. As His Word declares "if ANYONE is in Christ", this word 'anyone' is inclusive of all sorts of people from different backgrounds, including the very people who nailed Jesus at the cross!

We do not condone sins. We do not make light of criminal offenses. We are irrevocably and strongly against it. However, the Word of God declares in Isaiah 1:18:

"Come now, and let us reason together,”

Says the Lord,

“Though your sins are like scarlet,

They shall be as white as snow;

Though they are red like crimson,

They shall be as wool.".

Criminals may be convicted and punished here on earth as penalties for the crimes they have committed. Yet, if they accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, they are forgiven in the eyes of God.

This is outside human logic. Human reasoning will never be able to completely understand the richness of God's mercy. We will never fully understand how a terrorist against the church would one day become the greatest apostle of all time (Paul). We will never know how a foul-mouthed fisherman would one day stand up and proclaim about the Man he once denied 3 times (Peter). And we will never understand how a king who plotted the murder of his own friend just to steal his wife, gets to be the greatest king of Israel (David).

We are too small to understand grace and we are too short to fathom mercy. Our hands are too small to handle grace and our heads are too minuscule to comprehend mercy. Yet, grace and mercy are the very essence of Jesus Christ. He is grace and mercy personified. If He chooses to extend His grace and mercy to these criminals, who are we to object?

The truth is, we are as sinner as those criminals. It may sound rude but in the eyes of God, a sinner is a sinner, regardless of how big or small the sin is. The 'minor sinner' needs salvation in as much as the 'major sinner' does and vice versa. We are all sinners. We are all dead and spiritually cut off from God. That is why we need resurrection life that comes from the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Unless we are spiritually born again, we will never make it to heaven.

God would not have been unrighteous if He decided to send all of us to the grave. We are sinners and we deserve that. But instead of sending us to the grave, He sent grace in the person of Jesus Christ. Our only part is to receive it, and once we receive it, this grace changes us from within and transform us into the same image of Jesus Christ.

God's Ways Are Higher

Are you frustrated that God's answer to your prayers is not exactly how you wanted it to be?

Are you disappointed at His ways because they seem to be contradictory to your own?

Or do you choose to disregard Him in your life because no matter what you do, it seems like you and God do not have the chemistry to work together?

TODAY'S Bible verse teaches us that as God, His ways are much higher than our ways, and His thoughts are way higher compared to ours. He paints a picture of heaven and earth to illustrate this to us - since heaven is way off the clouds and is much higher than the earth where we all are.

As human beings, we can't help but attempt to understand God's ways. And God does not condemn us for doing that. In fact, Psalm 103: 7 tells us "He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel." This means that God does not take offense whenever we try to understand His ways. However, we can never really do that unless, by grace, "He makes His ways known to us", in the same way as He did to Moses. 

Here's the truth, we are just the Creator's creations. Whether we like it or not, our minds are finite, limited, and many a times, what we think and how we act are much influenced by our emotions and feelings at that very time.

On the contrary, God is omniscient. The fact that He stands outside time and sees everything from the beginning to the end should give us a sense of comfort knowing that we serve a God who sees all things and acts according to what is good for us.

Although many a times we don't immediately understand what He does, we are very much assured that it is always for our good welfare. We are secure in the truth that God's plan is always good (Jeremiah 29:11) and that He always wants to bless us beyond our prayers (Ephesians 3:20).

The more we trust in His ways, the faster we can get to where He wants us to be. When we sync ourselves with His ways and submit to His plans, we will live a life of rest and we will notice that doors just open supernaturally without any struggle.

Well, one may ask : "How do we know that God is not lying and that He means what He say? How do we know that He is not just playing with words just to sound poetic?"

We know from the Bible that God cannot lie (Numbers 23:19). We know that His words are true (Psalms 33:4). We also know that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever(Hebrews 13:8). And there are countless more verses to refer to that will prove beyond the shadow of any doubt that God means what He says, and says what He means.

Just think about this: God sent Jesus to die for us even before we were born, even before we realize we were sinners, and even before we realize that we need of a Savior. If God waited for us to understand first before He could act, then we will all be doomed. But no, God acts according to His wisdom. And when we make the Creator of everything the King of our lives, we can be assured that we will get there. The road ahead may not be as easy as ABC. But if the King leads us to it, we are assured that He will lead us through it.

Who Is Your Shepherd?

PSALMS 23 says the LORD is my Shepherd.

Well, what does it mean?

It means that you are not your own shepherd.

It means He is the one making you lie down in green pastures, not yourself.

It means He is the one leading you beside the still waters, not yourself.

And what's the green pasture for? Is it for the comfort of our eyes only? No! The Green pasture is for food! It is for our nourishment. With Him as our Shepherd, we are secured that we will  always be fed, both physically and spiritually. 

No wonder He said "Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" (Matthew 6:26)

This might sound very allegorical to many but hey, Jesus fed 5,000 men (not counting women and children which will mount up to 15, 000) with just 5 loaves of bread and 2 small fish. What can He not do?

If He did that before, He knows for sure how to get us a good income and not only feed us and our families, but also be a blessing to others. God's blessing and supply are always greater than the demand.

What about the still waters? Is it only for our eyes to behold? No! It is for our consumption too! He does not lead us beside the still waters just so we can gaze and admire it. He leads us there so that He can quench our thirst! 

And more importantly, He is that living water that we must drink. John 7:37 says it this way "On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink". 

Jesus is that drink that will forever quench our spiritual thirst. Once we drink it, we will never thirst again because the water that He gives us will become in us a spring of water welling up to eternal life (John 4:14)

Above everything else, "who" your shepherd is matters so much. In our case, the LORD is our Shepherd.

What does it mean again?

The LORD GOD who created the heavens and the earth, the One who flung the stars and galaxies into the space, and the One who governs the movements of all the celestial bodies, this same One is also our Shepherd. 

He who owns all the beasts and cattle in the field (Psalm 50:10) is watching over us.

He who parted the Red Sea for the Israelites is also thinking about us.

And He who loves us and gave Himself for us is right where we are, leading us out from every valley of death into a glorious land flowing with milk and honey.

If we could just stop trying to be our own shepherd and call upon the One, the Good Shepherd who has it all together, our lives would be much restful. 

We don't really need to be in control of everything. We just need Him  to be in control because after all, His hands are much much bigger than ours and is superbly able to carry us to the place where He wants us to be.

Besides, He is God. If He is in control, what can happen to us?