The Year of Our Lord 5782

Refuge for the Righteous

Genesis 11:6 ESV

And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.

To better understand, rather than speculate, why God confounded the languages and what the power of the peoples unity was, we need only turn to Scripture itself.

Job 42:2 ESV

“I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

Job innately understood something about the nature of God Almighty, that when God sets His heart to do something you can count on it getting done.

The people in the story of the Tower of Babel had such a mindset, not of God, but of themselves. But it went much further than their thinking.

The people had realized they had the power within their words to do great and mighty things. They realized that they were unrestrained in the power of their words.

Proverbs 18:21 ESV

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.

In Genesis there were two trees, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil of which brought death upon their rebellion and doubt; then there was the Tree of Life. once out of the Garden of Eden, Cain demonstrates the power of death that man possessed. The people of Babel still possessed a power that we often fail to remember in our current era.

The word used in Genesis 11:6 for “impossible” is the word batsar בָּצַר meaning retrained. But in Genesis 11:6 it is used in the context of being completely and utterly unrestrained. As a result they could do “great” things or gadol גָּדוֹל meaning great, awesome and mighty in the context of haughtiness.

Psalm 12:3–4 ESV

May the Lord cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that makes great boasts, those who say, “With our tongue we will prevail, our lips are with us; who is master over us?”

They become one powerfully proud people boating with proud tongues of their ability to do great and mighty things as one people against God. We live in such a time when men seek to throw off all moral restraint and rebel against the authority of God.

Our nation for generations has been blessed (barak בָּרַךְ) by God. But our nation has become like those of Babel. From the root word barak בָּרַךְ comes the proper noun Baruch בָּרוּךְ. I believe we, the nation of believeres within a nation of godlessness, have become Baruch. Hear the word of the Lord to Baruch (Blessed).

Jeremiah 45:2–5 ESV

“Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to you, O Baruch: You said, ‘Woe is me! For the Lord has added sorrow to my pain. I am weary with my groaning, and I find no rest.’ Thus shall you say to him, Thus says the Lord: Behold, what I have built I am breaking down, and what I have planted I am plucking up—that is, the whole land. And do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not, for behold, I am bringing disaster upon all flesh, declares the Lord. But I will give you your life as a prize of war in all places to which you may go.”

Baruch received a promise and he treasured this promise. The promise was, that even in God’s judgment upon the nation, he would find refuge in God’s mercy toward him.

For those who follow the way of the Christ there is refuge for the righteous. Are you counted among the righteous remnant of those who walk (halak הָלַךְ - lifestyle) upright before the Lord? Or are you among those who have recognized your own power to do your own thing and used it to compromise the uprightness of God? Jeremiah knew where to find his refuge in Adonai.

Jeremiah 33:2–3 ESV

“Thus says the Lord who made the earth, the Lord who formed it to establish it—the Lord is his name: Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.

Rashi states that God was telling Jeremiah that He would inform him of future things to come regarding the things that were on God’s heart to perform.

The word for “great” is gadol גָּדוֹל meaning mighty, awesome; things that are impossible with men but are not impossible with God. Things that if men could once again do them, it would fill their hearts and mouths with pride and they would only serve themselves and not the glory of God.

The word “hidden” is batsar בָּצַר again, meaning restrained, fenced in, or things that have been hidden in secret until God wills to reveal them to those whom He chooses.

We see this with Mary.

Luke 1:46–49 ESV

And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.

To Mary, God had revealed one of the most powerful and mighty secrets of all time - the plan of Adonai to redeem us through Yeshua Hamashiac.

So how does all of this apply to us today in the year 5782 or 2022?

The following provides some prophetic insight painting with words for us a picture of God’s design in His plans among men as revealed in Scripture:

82 – Bet (ב); Pey (פ)

22 – Bet (ב); Kaf (כ)

(Hebrew is read from right to left)

Hebrew meaning of characters –

(80) Pey (פ): The mouth, the Word of God spoken and made manifest;

(20) Kaf (כ): Palm or hand; in ancient script the crown of a prostrating king; authority in the nature humbled before the supernatural power of God; that which is impossible in the natural is made possible in the authority of God

(2) Bet (ב): God’s House revealed; His heavenly place; a space drawn, boundaries revealed. The giving and receiving of Divine answers from heaven to earth, the fruit of prayers; all through the Son of the Living God.

What does all of this mean? Boundaries are being drawn and sides have been chosen, as space is made for the new things that God has purposed in His heart to do. New houses, new enterprise, new things throughout the earth and nations will start to take shape. A great divide between the kingdom of darkness and the Kingdom of our God. Governmental and ruling houses will see great change as the old falls away in utter failure and the new emerges. They will try to hold on and preserve the old. They will speak with proud tongues and say in their hearts there is no god but us. The voice of the Son of God and Man will be spoken and heard. The righteous will find refuge in the way of the Lord. Those who walk upright before the Lord will find the impossible possible and the power of life and deliverance in their words. But the unrepentant who in their pride have compromised righteousness for self gain will find themselves uprooted and plucked out.

Read Psalms 107.

Interestingly, Strong’s 5782 is the Hebrew word Ur עוּר meaning to awaken as an Eagle stirs up her nest in Deuteronomy 32:11.

Deuteronomy 32:9–12 ESV

But the Lord’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage. “He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness; he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions, the Lord alone guided him, no foreign god was with him.

There is refuge for the righteous ones who stay their lives upon the way of the Lord.

Deuteronomy 32:15 ESV

“But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked; you grew fat, stout, and sleek; then he forsook God who made him and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.

Jershurun (yeshurun יְשֻׁרוּן) means the upright ones. People of God, make your way certain before men and God. Make clear your place among those who walk upright before the Lord God Almighty. Choose you this day whom you will serve and seek not they ways of the wicked or the rewards of compromise. But seek the Lord while the day is here. For the days are short for those who would straddle the fence. Take refuge in the righteousness of God. Cling to the way of the Christ.