Shalom friends. Hey everybody. Welcome back to axcess. This is Timothy and I want to thank you for joining me today in studying the scriptures, being Hovey. God guide us into his truth. Quick question. Have you ever wondered what's the big deal about Israel? Why should believers in your Hovey God or followers of Yeshua?

Hamashiach be concerned with Israel on this side of the cross. And what makes Israel so special and important to you? On this podcast we've been studying through the book of Genesis for the past 28 years. And we've covered chapter by chapter, starting from creation,  uh, dominant Havas, their sons, Cain and hevel to Noah and the flood and his sons, sham, how many effects and the table of nations to the tower of Babel to God's forever covenant with Abraham and then all ramen, lot each male in need, SAC, Esau, oven, Yaakov, all the drama surrounding Yaakov's family.

Everything is. Building up and building up to the establishment of God's people, the Hebrew people, and here Yaakov now called Israel.  Yaakov's his family and the tribes of Israel. So now there are only three chapters left in Genesis for us to study, but we will be breaking down these last three chapters and covering them over the course of five or six weeks.

And we really don't want to rush through the significant prophetic implications of these passages. My wife and I we've begun specifically studying the Torah over the past couple of years. And we've been Uber blessed with the lessons that you hope he, God has been revealing through his holy scriptures.

No matter how many times we read through Genesis, there's always, always, always something fresh and something new that we're able to appreciate about God more and more. And it leaves us in awe and wonder our study today is called grafted. If you need a handout for today's axcess, learn study, please visit our Facebook group Connexiostions, ministries of Canada, and you'll find all of our studies under the files tab.

Also visit our website at Connexiostions, ministries.com. And if you haven't done so already, please subscribe to our podcast. So you don't miss out on any of our studies. As you listened today, I do recommend having a Bible handy to follow along, and I encourage you to take some time with your own axcess communities and review this study together.

Now let's get straight. Grafted in today. My wife Beverly will be reading Genesis chapter 48 from the complete Jewish Bible. A while later, someone told Yoseph that his father was ill. He took with him two sons Menasha and iframe Jaco was told. Here comes your son, USF Israel gathered his strength and sat up in bed.

Yaakov said, El Shaddai appeared to me at Lou's in the land of Canaan and blessed me saying to me, I will make you fruitful. And numerous, I will make of you a group of peoples, and I will give this land to your descendants to possess forever. Now, your two sons who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt are mine, iframe, and Menasha will be as much mine as Raven and Shimon are the children born to you after them will be yours, but for purposes of inheritance, they are to be counted with their older brother.

Now as for me, when I came from Putin, Rahel died suddenly, as we were traveling through the land of Canon while we were still some distance from Efrat. So I buried her there on the way to Efrat. Then Israel noticed Joseph sons and asked, who are these? You also have answered his father. They are my sons, whom God has given me here.

Jaco replied. I want you to bring them here to me so that I can bless. Now Israel's eyes were dim with age so that he could not see, you also have brought his sons near to him and he kissed them and embraced them. Israel said to Joseph, I have never expected to see even you again, but God has allowed me to see your children to Yosef brought them out from between his legs and prostrated himself on the ground.

Then Yosef took them both iframe in his right-hand toward Israel's left-hand Emma Nasha in his left hand toward Israel's right. And brought them near to him, but Israel put out his right hand and laid it on the head of the younger one  and put his left hand on the head of Menasha. He intentionally crossed his hands, even though Menasha was the first born, then he blessed Joseph the God in whose presence.

My father is,  the God who has been my own shepherd all my life long to this day, the angel who has rescued me from all. Bless these boys. May they remember who I am and what I stand for. And likewise, my father is  and needs clock, who they were and what they stood for. And may they grow into teaming multitudes on the earth when you also saw that his father was laying his right-hand on iframes head, it displeased him and he lifted up his father's hand to remove it from iframes head and placed it.

Instead on Menasha's head Yosef said to his father, don't do it that way. My father for this one is the first one. Put your right hand on his head, but his father refused and said, I know that my son, I know it. He too will become a people and he too will be great. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he and his descendants will grow into many nations.

Then he added this blessing on them. That day. Israel will speak of you in their own blessings by saying, may God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh. Thus, he put iframe ahead of money. You, I then said to yourself, you see that I am dying, but God will be with you. And we'll bring you back to the land of your ancestors.

Moreover, I am giving to you a shake him more than to your brothers. I captured it from the Amaury with my sword and bow. Well, this passage that Beverly just read,  it seems to be pretty short and seemingly straightforward.  It's very easy to simply brush over it quickly and perhaps pay little attention to any of the details.

But if we do that, we'd miss out on what it reveals about God's plan and his purposes, his promises, and his divine province. So today we'll spend a bit of time observing this passage and then spending a lot more time, going deeper into study, asking questions about the family of God and, and how Genesis 48 is so important in helping us understand what being grafted into the family of God involves.

And I also hope to clear up any misconceptions and ignorant attitudes that we might be carrying because of religious tradition and denominational doctrines and things like that. So here we go. Genesis chapter 40. At the beginning here, we noticed that,  you also receives this urgent message that his aged father is very ill.

So this ruler of Egypt takes his two sons that were born to his Egyptian wife, astronaut, and, and went to see Yaakov or Israel on his death bed. Now out of respect for the office of his son, uh, Yacob props himself up in bed. And then he recites the Abrahamic covenant to Yoseph, as it was taught to him by his father.

He had SAC who was taught by his father, Abraham. So as Yaakov begins, reciting this paraphrase of the Abrahamic, covenant to Yossef, he begins by recounting an earlier part of his life. When he speaks of meeting El Shaddai at Lu. Loses an alternate name for Bechtel. Uh, the house of God. And this is where Yakoff had met with God and God blessed him there.

Notice how Yaakov doesn't call God you Hovey here. You'd Hey Bob. Hey,  he refers to him as Elisha die. Now up to this point, God hadn't revealed his personal name and we'll find out in Exodus that that didn't happen until God revealed it to Moshay at Mount Sinai. Before we move on with the study. I want to take this opportunity to point out just how tradition plays such a huge role in how we might willingly accept ideas, the way that they're presented to us, because, you know, that's just how it's always been.

And, and we don't question it. It's just easier to nod in agreement and go along with it. Right. Well, ask a Christian today. What else should I means? And you'll likely get the response. Oh, L should I, that means God almighty. Friends. There is absolutely no linguistic basis whatsoever to translate El Shaddai as God.

So, how did we get to that anyway?  If you stop to consider the way that the Bible had been translated through the ages, a lot of the time, this mysterious name El Shaddai would be,  seen through a lens in that era, that whatever particular language was being used,  it had been translated so many times, for instance, the earliest Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, which is called the septum.

Translates El Shaddai in different ways as, as God, or all powerful or heavenly one and even Lord. And then the first Latin translation, uh, makes it mean omnipotent and the Syriac version uses the highest and the strong one. So it's pretty obvious that all these were primarily guesses. Right? However, More recently,  scholars in the field of paleo linguistics have found a much more accurate picture of meaning of some of these obscure words.

Now, since we're talking about Hebrew here, which is an offshoot of the Acadian language, we find that studying language cognates will help us be able to zero in on some of these definitions. Here we go. So Shaddai is almost certainly a language cognate of the Acadian word shadoo and shadoo means mountain.

So El Shaddai means or likely means God of the mountain. So this of course fits hand in glove with both the general mindset of man in that ancient area. By which God's generally lived high up in the mountains and with the understanding of the early Hebrews that God did indeed live on a mountain top Mount Sinai.

So there you have it. I'll should I likely means God of the mountain. So Yaakov is reciting this Abrahamic covenant, and he paraphrases it saying that the Hebrews will become very numerous and they will become a, Kahal a meme, a holy convocation of fellow countrymen. And they will be given the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession.

And then in verse five, we see Yaakov do something. We see Israel do something as he takes possession of your sifts sons. He says in verse five, now your two sons. Are mine. And when he declares this, he's actually adopting his two grandsons to become his own sons. He's not merely taking a foreigner. He's not just taking these Egyptians and adopting them so that they could become Israelites, no Yosef, two sons.

They technically become his brothers and they become. Yeah, I called his own sons who would receive legal status and that entitles them to their inheritance as Yaakov's sons. So technically there were now,  14 tribes of Israel. You could say,  the original 12 brothers plus Efraim and Minette. And then we see Israel do something,  peculiar here.

He crosses his hands when he blesses Efraim and Monashee. So typically the right hand would be placed over the big core of the firstborn. So when Yosef presented his two sons and brought them toward it, Yaakov, he pleased Monashee at the right hand. However, Yaakov crosses his hands, pleases the right hand over the younger brother.

And we'll be studying more about that as we go on and the significance of this cross handed blessing. But for now, I want to focus in on verse 19 where Yaakov states that the younger brother will be greater. Now, FYE did indeed become the dominant tribe of the 10 Northern tribes, eventually being used as a national designate for those 10 tribes in the profits.

We'll study more about that later as well. Chapter 48 closes off in verses 21 and 22, where we have Diane Yaakov giving voice to his undying trust in God that God would take his descendants back to Canaan the forever land that was promised to them. And that's chapter 48 short and sweet. Right. But friends.

I want to point out how Genesis chapter 48 is actually centered around iframe. And you might have questions about why that is. Why is that important and why is it significant? Well, the rest of the study might help stimulate your curiosities, but before we move forward with our questions, I think it's important that we pray here.

Our father, you Hovey God, please guide us into your truth. Grant us wisdom and understanding as we set our minds on you give us eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts that are receptive to the message that you have for each person that studied with me today.

So I grew up in a Christian household.  My grandfather in fact was, was a pastor. My father was a head elder at church and my mom was the Sabbath school teacher, you know, and,  I w we were really involved in church and I grew up in that environment, but it wasn't until I was 10 years old that I made the decision for myself.

To follow Jesus Christ that I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and savior. And I decided for water baptism. At that point, I wanted to declare that I accepted Jesus. And in turn, the, the beauty of that was understanding that as, as I accepted Jesus Christ, as anybody gives her heart to God and accepts Jesus Christ that they become adopted and become part of, of God's family.

Now I got to admit that after my water baptism, which was one of the most beautiful moments and experiences of my entire life. What happened immediately after that a bunch of church members that I had been going to church with my entire life with up to that point and the elders, they all lined up on the stage and they were shaking my hands and the voted me into church membership.

And I guess that's just one of the denominational practices that, that occurred in the church that I grew up in.  And I remember some of the people saying, oh, welcome to the family, welcome to the family. And I'm thinking. Okay. What th th the church family, or, and I understood that, you know, I was now adopted into the family of God.

Right. But I got a question for you, friends, who is the family of God. This is a really important issue that the church seems to have forgotten. If we look in the holy scriptures, it's very clear. It's a, so plainly that the family of God is Israel. I'm quite certain. That is not a message that you hear in most Christian churches today.

Right? Well, you might say isn't the real family of God, the church. Well, yes, but what makes the church, the church is that as disciples of your shoe, uh, read Gentile, believers have been grafted into the covenants of Israel, not instead of Israel and, and not as a replacement for Israel, but alongside Israel, but here's the thing.

It's not about physical Israel, either. It's more about the spiritual element and ideal of Israel. Okay. So you're probably sitting there now with even more question marks spinning around in your head. So let's break this down a bit. Okay. Both the older covenants and the newest covenant were given to Israel.

And there was a promise of another covenant after the covenant with Moshe on Mount Sinai. That's prophesied about throughout the, tonight, the Hebrew scriptures or what we call the old Testament. And one of those passages is found in Jeremiah chapter 31. And right now we're looking at verses 31 to 34. It reads here.

The days are coming, says out. And I, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Yehuda, it will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers on the day. I took them by their hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt because they, for their part violated my covenant, even though I, for my part was a husband to them.

Since that. For this as a covenant, I will make with the house of Israel. After those days says, I deny I will put my Toro within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God. And they will be my people no longer. Will any of them teach his fellow community member or his brother? No. Out of NY for all will know me from the least of them to the greatest, because I will forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more.

It's a question with whom is the new covenant going to be made? Well, it said right there, Jeremiah 30, 1 31 with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, you see nowhere in the scriptures remotely suggests that God will make his covenant with Gentiles. Gentiles would have no part in the new covenant, unless we are seen by God or declared by your Hovey to be part of either the house of Israel or the house of Yahuda playing into.

It gets even more clear as we continue Jeremiah 31 verses 35 to 37. This is what, and I says, who gives the sun as light for the day who were deigned the laws of the moon and the stars to provide light for the night who stirs up the sea until the waves roar out an ice off-road. If these laws leave, my presence says out of NAI, then the offspring of Israel will stop being a nation in my presence forever.

This is what out. And I says, if the sky above can be measured in the foundations of the earth, be fathomed, then I will reject all the offspring of Israel for all that they had done. Since that. So plainly if the sun stops giving off light and the wave seems to occur in the oceans and the stars disappear and the moon stopped shining then, and only then will God cease to consider Israel and their offspring as his people.

And that's what a nation before me means. Like, there's simply no way around this guys. There's something called replacement theology. The belief that the church has replaced Israel as God's people. This isn't the result of,  you know, error or ignorance, right? It's not innocent at all. This was a premeditated attempt by the church to dishonor God's chosen nation of Israel and to steal from them, their inheritance.

Remember God's covenants were made with Israel. But after he issue his death and the destruction of Jerusalem, you know, people started to ask questions for decades and they, they thought, well, if Israel supposed to come back as a nation, as was prophesied, then where were they? And this is what gave rise to the replacement theology.

But like we just read in Jeremiah 31 and there are a number of other prophecies on the same thing about this new covenant that it was going to be made with the house of Israel and with the house of you. Now you're probably thinking well, good for Israel, but what about the Gentiles? Well, from the time of Abraham onward, you see God made provisions that any foreigner or stranger that wanted to give up their allegiance to their own pagan gods and, and be joined with Israel was far more than welcome to do so.

And that those that joined Israel had just as much right to the inheritance of those covenants of God as any natural born Israeli. Now I really hope you understand and hear what God is saying here. Outside of becoming part of Israel, there was, and there remains absolutely no way to partake in God. Now, once again, this isn't physical Israel that we're talking about, but the spiritual element and ideal that is.

Now you might be wondering, well, what's the big deal about this physical Israel and, and spiritual Israel? Well, to God, it was a big deal,  throughout the messianic writings, in the new Testament,  all these letters from Paul, we see, we see him writing about this,  distinction between physical and spirits.

And what we're going to discover as we start to put together these pieces of scripture and the messianic writings is how God had created a plan.  That's in essence, a circle. Okay. We see that he created physical Israel. These human beings called Hebrews as his chosen people. And they were to bring the knowledge of the one, true God by the means of the laws and the commands of God.

 And bring them to the world. And he brought the word forth from Israel, specifically from the Jews then, because most Jews rejected the incarnate word of God, the issuer or Jesus Christ. He gave the duty of spreading the gospel to who the Gentiles. Right. And then after a long time, when the Gentiles spread the word of God to the entire world, he has the Gentiles take the word back to the Jews.

The Jews are to accept the word who is issuer and they are saved. And in this way, all Israel is saved and it's just this really big circle. Now we're going to take a look at a few Bible passages that make this plan of God. Very clear. Let's take a look at Romans chapter two verses 26 to 29. Romans two verses 26 to 20.

Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the Torah, won't his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision. Indeed, the man who is physically uncircumcised, but obeys, the Torah will stand as a judgment on you who had the Mila and have Torah written out, but violate it for the real Jew is not merely Jewish outwardly true circumcision is not only external and physical.

On the contrary, the real Jew is one inwardly and true circumcision is of the heart spiritual, not literal so that his praise comes not from other people, but from God. So you might notice how Paul uses the word. Yeah. Jew in place of the word Israel.  Because at that time the Jews were all that remained in their time as a remnant of the, the Hebrews that were representing Israel.

So now we could just kind of reverse what he's saying there, and he's saying that the true Israelite is one that is a spiritual Israelite,  a true Israelite one inwardly and not outward. I'm spiritual, not physical. Let's continue reading Romans three verses one to four. Then what advantage has the Jew, what is the value of being circumcised?

Much in every way in the first place, the Jews were entrusted with the very words of God, if some of them were unfaithful. So what does their faithlessness cancel? God's faithfulness heaven forbid God would be true, even if everyone were a liar, as the Tanakh says, so that you got, maybe proved right in your words.

And when the verdict, when you were put on trial. So according to this passage, what advantage has it. Everything. I mean, they were entrusted with the words of God and Israel is also referred to as, as the fewest of all peoples and instill you hope you loved them and chose them and separated them to himself.

They were his chosen people. Right. And then what Paul is doing here, he, he sets at the forefront. God's eternal covenant with the Jewish people and his refusal to set them aside. Now, while there is a distinction between a physical Jew and a physical Gentile, there is no distinction as to who is a spiritual Jew, except, you know, based on the condition of their heart, those who trust you, Hovey, whether the Jew or Gentile, they are spiritual Jews or spiritual Israel.

And those that don't trust God, they're not. I'd like to share a note from Bible teacher, Tom Bradford, as he defines the kingdom of God, the kingdom of God is people who have given themselves willingly over to the Lord. People who acknowledged the God of Abraham Yitzhak and Yakov as the one and only true God, but more.

It is those who acknowledged this truth by means of having faith in the Messiah. God sent to be our substance. Because it is this faith that God counts as a sole identifying factor as to who his people are and are not yet the entire legal reason that this is even possible is contained within the covenants that God made with Israel.

And nowhere else. Spiritual Israelites are the sole residents of God's kingdom. The kingdom of God is spiritual Israel. Spiritual Israelites are Jews and Gentiles who trust your shoe as savior. Spiritual Israelites are not Jews who have taken on physical Gentile identity in order to worship Christ and spiritual Ishmaelites are not Gentiles who have taken on physical Jewish identity to worship.

Jews remain Jewish and Gentiles remain Gentile ish. The common point is union in your shoe. Uh, a spiritual union see friends, Jess as a physical symbol of being an Israelite was circumcision. The spiritual symbol of being a spiritual Israelite is circumcision of the heart. That's trusting the issue. Now, the last thing that we're going to look at before we close our study today is how God grafts Gentiles into Israel.

And we're going to be bleeding through some passages here. So if you'd like to turn your Bibles to Ephesians chapter two, verses 11 to 13, that's a Fusion's chapter two verses 11 to 13. It says, therefore, remember your former self. You Gentiles by birth called the uncircumcised by those who merely because of an operation of the flesh are called these circumcised at the time had no Messiah.

You were a, from the national life of Israel, you were foreigners to the covenants. Embodying God's promise you were in this world without hope and without God, but now you who were once, far off, have been brought near through the shedding of messiahs. This is saying that Gentiles by birth are brought near and declared citizens of Israel.

Part of God's family by the work of Yeshua. Let's look at Romans chapter nine, verses six to nine. That's Romans nine, verses six to nine. But the present condition of Israel does not mean that the word of God has failed for not everyone from Israel is truly part of Israel. Indeed. Not all the descendants are seed of Abraham, rather what is to be called your seed will be in Utah.

In other words, it is not the physical children who are children of God, but the children, the promised refrigerator. Who are considered seed for? This is what the promise said at the time set. I will come and Sarah will have a son. So the children that are promised, referred to are the true children. Those who trust God in their hearts.

Let's look at Galatians chapter three, verses 26 to 29. Galatians chapter three, verses 26 to 20. For in union with the Messiah, you are all children of God through this trusting faithfulness, because as many of you as were immersed into the Messiah have clothed yourselves with the Messiah in whom there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave, nor Freeman, neither male, nor female for in union with the Messiah Yeshua, you are all one.

Also, if you belong to the Messiah, You are seed of Abraham and heirs, according to the promise. So friends, if you belong to your issuer, whether Jew or Gentile, then you are seed of whom that's right. Abra hum. The first Hebrew, the forefather of the Israelites, not the Gentiles and our only hope is Gentiles is becoming spiritual Israelites, which we could become how by trusting issue.

So that we could become partakers in the covenants that were made between God and Israel. And it's the issue late Messiah issuer that leads us to that. Okay. He makes it possible by his sacrifice on the cross. Amen. And let's wrap up our study here for today and pick up next time as we continue our study of Genesis 48, and we'll be looking closer at the cross handed blessing and how it affects the descendants of iframe.

And Monesha far into the future. Friends. I know that we've covered a lot of information today. I hope that you would prayerfully review this study and read through all the passages at your own pace. Please know that I am lifting you up in prayers and asking you how we got to shine his light on you. And aluminate the path that he set before you, but he grow a desire in you to continue seeking him and his.

Friends. Thank you so much for joining us for today's axcess learning study. As always, it's such a joy to be able to get around God's word and learn more about his plan and his purposes, and about his amazing love and his promises. I'm so excited to see where he lead us next. We have the grace of our Lord issuer and the Shalom of God.

Our father be with all, I mean,