Your Daily Bread for December 10-16, 2023

Welcome to Your Daily Bread for December 10-16, 2023, by Dr Apelu Poe!

Key Torah Code for this Week: “Bo” (Come with Me): Exodus 10:1-13:16.

Basic Principle of Our Judaic-Christian Faith: Our God has seen the suffering of his children; he has heard their cries, and he has come to set them free.

“On some mornings, as I woke up to the news of new terrorist threats, my search for the code key seemed like a dream. With the memory of 9/11 still seared in my mind, with the terrible certainty that neither New York nor the world had seen the last of it, my desert adventure seemed irrelevant. But I had an instinct that it was the solution, perhaps the only solution. We needed a miracle, an answer to a danger that existed on the scale of mythic horror.” I’ll get to the point in a minute.

But let me, first of all, say Talofa, and Shabbat shalom to you, my friends, in the name of “Yeshua HaMashiach”, Jesus the Messiah! I’m Dr Apelu Poe, a Torah-Bible Code developer and a 3-Times #1 International Best-selling author from Samoa, now residing permanently in LaVergne, Tennessee, USA.

Getting back to the point. If you have been following God’s calendar, which dictates and foretells the events of our lives, as the above quote indicates, you will know that we are now entering the third week of the Incarnation season. What is the Incarnation season? Well, just as the word itself suggests, the Incarnation season is the third week of God’s calendar with Christmas, December 25, as its festival. It is perhaps the most anticipated season of the year. Why? Because it is the time that we celebrate God’s coming into the world, taking up human flesh and dwelling among us full of grace and truth. The prophet Isaiah said, “Unto us, a child is born; unto us, a Son is given. His name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).

Question: Do we have the Biblical evidence that further supports this? Of course, we do Listen, again, to these Biblical witnesses that provide a solid Biblical basis on which one could reflect on this critically important season of God’s calendar: God himself said, “I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise her heel. (Genesis 3:15). This means that the Saviour, the Messiah who is going to come to redeem us, is going to come through the seed of a woman with no earthly father.

With this in mind, the prophet Isaiah put it this way, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14).

This is why Job acknowledges it, saying, “If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my service I would wait, till my renewal should come” (Job 14:14).

The apostle John, therefore, summarizes, saying, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God…And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1, 14).

Before we take a look at this week’s Torah portion, let me also say “thank you” to all of you, my readers, for taking the time to access my teaching on Facebook and LinkedIn from week to week. It is a great delight and inspiration to know that so many of you worldwide find my special Torah gift helpful in your daily walk with God! I call my Torah gift for you this week “Your Daily Bread for December 10-16, 2023.”

Why am I saying this? Well, for those of you who have been following my teaching, I’m saying this because, as you might have noticed, I have been using this same gift that God has given me for the past 41 years to help guide the destiny of those whose spiritual welfare God has entrusted to me. And now that I have retired from the ordained ministry in July 2021, I want you to have free access to it. My pastoral desire is simply this: For you to be the person God has created you to be. My prayer, then, is that you would be able to live according to God’s time so that you may discern God’s Divine path for your life and how it is that God wants you to live to receive his blessing best and shine his holy light.

Your Benefits from My Torah Gift I Can Give You This Week

So what exactly can you expect from the Torah gift I’m giving you this third week of the Incarnation season? Well, the first and foremost is self-awareness. It’ll help you become aware of the fact that the most surprising or the most fantastic thing about our God is not so much the fact that he is the Creator God who created us alike in his image, incorporated us alike into the Body of Christ, and blessed us alike through the gifts of his Holy Spirit. That’s not the most surprising thing about our God because we already know that. Read Genesis 1:1, In the beginning of space and time, he referring to the Infinite God created his Word identified in the text as Elohim (God), along with the Hebrew alphabet (Aleph-tav), a metaphor for the Spirit of God hovering over Jesus. And with these two: Jesus and God's Spirit, the Infinite God created the heavens and the earth.

The most surprising thing about our God is not that he is the holiest God, meaning that he is separated from all things worldly; and all things mundane. That’s not the most fantastic thing about our God because we already know that, too. Read 1 Peter 1:15-16, “But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy. You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.”

The most surprising thing about our God, and perhaps, the least understood, is that our God can see practically any challenging situation that we go through in life. He can even see our tears and can hear our cries.

How do we know that? How can we be sure of that? Well, listen, again, to what our God himself said, “I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey…” (Exodus 3:7-8).

Please note that the word “Egypt” does not just refer to the name of a country in the Middle East that we hear about in world news. Egypt can be understood as a metaphor that stands for or symbolizes anything that restricts you from enjoying the freedom that God intends for you to enjoy in your life.

Let me ask you a question. Are you struggling to figure out why you do not seem to have the freedom to live the life that you’ve always dreamed of? Do you have difficulty understanding why others enjoy a more successful career while you’re not? Does it bother you to see that no matter how hard you work, you can never get what you deserve? Do you ever get angry that the distribution of wealth in this world is not only ill-advised but immoral?

If you answer yes to any of these questions, then I have great news for you. Today, our God wants you to come with him so that together you can overcome whatever it is that you’re struggling with. Whether it be your career, your finances, your personal growth, your family life or your spiritual health, it doesn’t matter. Because our God has the power in his hand to perform miracles. “Lift up your eyes,” God says, “and see who created these?” (Isaiah 40:25).

Perhaps, it is in admiration of God’s power and God’s creation that NASA is inspired to further strengthen its space ties with India’s Space Research Organization by offering to train Indian astronauts for a voyage to the International Space Station as early as next year.

Listen to Bill Nelson, NASA’s Administrator when he spoke on Wednesday, November 29, at an event in Bengaluru, India where he inspected the NISAR satellite, “This a golden age of space exploration, offering an opportunity to share science,” Nelson said.

Question: Why the heightened interest in exploring the hidden marvels and wonders that God has filled his universe with? Because it helps us to better understand the mystery surrounding our life on earth. NASA-India satellite will map the entire planet every 12 days, providing data for understanding changes in ecosystems, ice mass, vegetation biomass, sea level rise, groundwater and natural hazards including earthquakes, tsunamis, and landslides.

Remember this. God did not put you here on this earth for no reason. God dispatched your soul from its spiritual birthplace in heaven to the earth. What for? To help build a home for God so that God will dwell in our midst. Read Exodus 25:8: God said, “Let them make for me a sanctuary (a home) so that I may dwell in your midst.”

The second benefit that my Torah gift will give you this week is a greater sense of mental stability. It’ll help you let go of your negative and limiting beliefs while at the same time strengthening your emotional, psychological, and social well-being.

How do we define mental or emotional stability? By mental or emotional stability, we mean a sense of being in control of one’s thoughts and actions. In other words, a sense of (general) well-being. For example, friends and family are generally confident in the individual's ability to care for themselves physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Why is this important? Because it affects how we think, feel, and act, and helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. And the devil knows when we are most vulnerable.

Think about the mission of the 12 spies of Israel in the wilderness that ended up in a complete disaster. How many times that God keeps assuring them, “I will deliver you. I will redeem you; I will bring you unto me on my outstretched arm.”

Unfortunately, when they got closer to their destination, they started doubting the covenant God made with them on Mt Sinai. Why? Because their minds and even their hearts were unstable.

Perhaps, it is for this reason that one can understand China’s latest proposal to seek a ‘concrete’ roadmap for the two-state solution to solve the Gaza conflict. On Thursday, November 30,

China called on the United Nations Security Council to formulate a "concrete" timetable and roadmap for a two-state solution to achieve a "comprehensive, just and lasting" settlement of the Palestinian issue.

The proposal was laid out in a paper stating China's position on resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict released by the Chinese foreign ministry, and as China took over the rotating presidency of the Security Council for November.

The 15-member council needs to intensify its diplomatic mediation, relaunch the two-state solution and convene a "more authoritative and effective" international peace conference as soon as possible, the paper said.

China's President Xi Jinping on Thursday also reiterated Beijing's support for the Palestinians' quest for statehood.

"The bitter lessons of the cycle of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict fully demonstrate that only by upholding the concept of common security can sustainable security be achieved," Xi said.

Perhaps, this is why God said, “For if this first covenant had been fruitless…But the days are coming when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and Judah. Not like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I set them free from Egypt because they did not follow through with that covenant. But this is the new covenant I will make with them. I will put my Torah in their minds. I will write them on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be my people. None of them shall say to their neighbours; none shall say to their brothers, Know the Lord because they shall all know the Lord from the greatest of these to the least of these. And I will be merciful unto their unrighteousness. And their sins and their unlawful deeds I will remember no more” (Hebrews 8:7-11).

The third benefit that my Torah gift will give you this week is a deeper sense of gratitude and full-hearted appreciation for what God has done for us when we do not deserve it. It’ll help you appreciate God’s constant infinite kindness to us and all people.

Why is that important? Because our souls did not just pop up from down here somewhere. Our souls, it was God who dispatched our souls from their spiritual birthplace in heaven to the earth. For what purpose? To help transform this chaotic, corrupted world into a peaceful and harmonious world. In other words, to help make this world a better place for all of us. And so when God dispatched our souls from our spiritual birthplace in heaven to the earth, God did not just say, Go, you shall go. No, God dispatched our souls equipped with a clear vision of how we should go about evangelizing the world so that God may dwell in our midst.

So how do we respond to God’s constant infinite kindness to us and all men? Through a deeper sense of gratitude and full-hearted appreciation.

The problem with most if not all of us today is that, as a society, we’ve lost touch with the true meaning of gratitude. And that’s understandable because gratitude requires reflection and stillness, two things that can be difficult in our busy, overstimulated everyday lives.

As a result, we’re also missing out on the benefits of gratitude, which may be greater than many people realize. As it turns out, the effects of gratitude can be important for our overall well-being for several reasons.

Think about the events that took place last Thursday, November 30, the tears of joy when the Thai hostages held by Hamas were reunited with their families in Bangkok. After seven weeks in captivity in Gaza, these Thai hostages’ ordeal is finally over.

Listen to one hostage’s words of joy, “I’m so excited my hands are shaking,” Ms Ma-arsa, perched on a bench in an airport hallway, told The Telegraph before the flight from Tel Aviv carrying 17 Thai hostages, the first held in Gaza to make it back to southeast Asia, landed on Thursday afternoon.

Mr Angkaew was one of at least 32 Thai workers taken by Hamas on October 7. Dozens of others were killed by the terror group. An agricultural worker, Mr Angkaew had been labouring on an avocado farm in Re’im, a Kibbutz in southern Israel near the Gaza border for two years when he got caught up in a conflict 4,000 miles from home.

For his wife, the only sign he was alive was a photo released by Hamas last month – in it, her husband had a gun pointed at him. But on Saturday morning, she woke to a very different image: her husband and 10 others, safe in a hospital in Israel.

And less than a week later, Mr Angkaew arrived on home soil, an Israeli flag poking out of his rucksack as he hugged his disbelieving wife, in a clip captured by local media.

It is no wonder why David exclaims, saying, “O let’s give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. Let all those redeemed by the Lord say so, whom he had redeemed from trouble” (Psalm 107:1-2).

The Historical Proof that Supports our Need for Your Daily Bread that Sustains Us Spiritually.

Does it surprise you that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, did not forget to remind us about these things? That is why last week you heard Jesus speaking to us, saying, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you that everything that is written about me in the Law of Moses [Torah] and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled…” (Luke 24:44).

Jesus, then, did something which I thought was quite remarkable and quite extraordinary. He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. Jesus said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:45-49).

Overview Summary of this Week’s Torah Portion

With this in mind, let us look at this week’s Torah portion, Exodus 10:1-13:16. In the Hebrew language (God’s sacred tongue) from which our English Bible translation was taken, this week’s Torah portion is called, “Bo” translated “Come [with me],” see Exodus 10:1.

To understand this, one has to, first of all, identify the double references in the text. On a superficial linguistic level which is intended primarily for the Jewish audience, this week’s Torah portion, focuses on the code “Bo,” translated as “Come [with me].

Thus, in the opening part of the reading, God gives instruction to Moses to come with him so that together they can go to Pharaoh.

In the central part of the reading, we learn that the final three plagues are inflicted upon the Egyptians. For example, a swarm of locusts devours all the crops and greenery; a thick, palpable darkness envelops the land; and all the firstborn of Egypt are killed at the stroke of midnight on the 15th of the month of Nissan. God, then, issues three (3) commandments to be given to the people of Israel: Firstly, establish the calendar based on the monthly rebirth of the moon. Secondly, bring a “Passover offering” as God has instructed. That means a lamb or kid is to be slaughtered, with its blood sprinkled on the doorposts and lintel of every Israelite home, so that God should pass over these homes when he comes to kill the Egyptian firstborn.

Please note that the roasted meat of the offering is to be eaten that night with matzah (unleavened bread) and bitter herbs. And thirdly, they sanctify themselves through good deeds. That means consecrating all firstborns and the first of the first fruits of their land to God. The final plague, the death of the firstborn, finally breaks Pharaoh’s resistance, and he literally drives the children of Israel from his land.

Indeed, on a profound theological level, this week’s Torah portion, “Come [with me],” has an important message to us, the Church, and the Body of Christ. This message is evident when the reading is interpreted in the context of this third week of the Incarnation or Advent season, And that is, just as the Israelites were enslaved by Pharaoh, who is the embodiment of a dictator, oppressor, killer, tyrant, and a worshipper of self in Egypt, we, too, are enslaved by the spiritual darkness of this world. How do we know that? Just look at what is going on in the world today. For example, look at the continuing violence and bloodshed in our world, the moral and spiritual corruption in governments, in business, in education, and even in churches.

It is no wonder why in this third week of the Incarnation season, we hear God saying, “Come with me so that together we can overcome the spiritual forces that are oppressing God’s children…that I may show these signs of mine among them,” (Exodus 10:1). The prophet Isaiah acknowledged, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined,” (Isaiah 9:2). David, the psalmist, put it this way, “The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1). Perhaps, it is for this reason that John testified, saying, “The true light which enlightens everyone was coming into the world,” (John 1:9).

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