Are we ready to inhabit eternity?
And to be in His presence Who in
Isaiah 57:15 is called
“The One who inhabits eternity.”
Shochen Ad.
שֹׁכֵ֥ן עַד֙
sheen/shin- kaph/kaf – nun – ayin – dalet
15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
The other Hebrew words are:
shakak ‘ad
The letters (recall no letters for vowels, a,e,i,o,u)
just consonants that make up the words are:
shin – kaf – kaf – ayin – dalet
Inhabit eternity
שׁככ עד
The Hebrew letters of the alef bet our Alphabet:
Another Hebrew word for eternity is:
olam עוֹלָם
INHABIT ETERNITY שׁככ עד
(reading from right to left)
Another Hebrew word for inhabit.
verb לָגוּר. live, dwell, reside, sojourn, lodge.
So what do these words mean
and where is eternity?
In the Hebrew mind it is simply:
what is at or beyond the horizon, a very distant time.
A common phrase in the Hebrew is:
l’olam va’ed
and is usually translated as:
forever and ever,
Another interpretation of the phrase
inhabiteth eternity is
abides forever.
שכן can be translated:
to reside,
which implies: a stationary condition.
This could also be said of Ecclesiates 3:11
that eternity is in our hearts.
A place where it,
eternity,
stays continually.
In Hebrew the words used for
space are also used for time.
The Hebrew word qedem means east
but is also the same word for the past.
Gives us a little more insight into the scripture:
as far as the east is from the west so far are our transgressions removed from us… to the east = they are in the past! gone!
The Hebrew word
olam
literally means:
beyond the horizon.
olam: long duration, antiquity, futurity
Original Word: עוֹלָם
Part of Speech: Noun Masculine
Transliteration: olam
Phonetic Spelling: o-lawm’
When we look off into the distance it is very hard to make out any details and obviously what is beyond any horizon is impossible to see.
In Hebrew thought, this concept is the olam;
because the word olam is also used for time.
It is used for:
the distant past
or the distant future
with the understanding that:
this is a time that is difficult to either perceive or know.
Eternity is the most common translation of this word and has the meaning of:
an ongoing span of time that never ends.
Again, in the Hebrew mind/way of thinking, it is
that which is at or beyond the horizon,
a very distant time.
In Hebrew forever and ever,
is usually translated from the words
l’olam va’ed
is a common phrase but in the Hebrew it means:
to the distant horizon and again,
meaning: a very distant time and even further beyond that.
The one Hebrew word for
eternity – עד –
spelled in Hebrew with the letters
ayin and dalet
or
AD
we often see these 2 letters after the numbers of a date.
They mean Anno Domini (AD) and before Christ (BC) and are used to label or number years in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The term Anno Domini is Medieval Latin and means ‘in the year of the Lord’, but is often presented using “our Lord” instead of “the Lord”, taken from the full original phrase “Anno Domini nostri Jesu Christi”, which translates to ‘in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ’.
עד ayin dalet
is a Hebrew word with the same letters
ad meaning eternity
however, in the scripture verse in Isaiah 57:15
it’s not the usual word used.
For thus saith the High and lofty one that inhabited eternity ….
The word usually used is OLAM
(we looked at it in a previous post Olam hazeh olam haba.)
https://www.minimannamoments.com/olam-hazeh-and-olam-haba/
Eternity means forever.
AD comes from the word
ADAH which means: to advance, past by or come.
It means: past time, present time and future time.
This no doubt reminds the reader of
yesterday, today and forever…
He is forever the same – He is ADAH!
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Hebrews 13:8
Hebrew scholars teach that it is related to the word
HADAH
which means to
STRETCH or MANIPULATE.
So we could understand from this that:
our Heavenly Father, Creator of His universes is
stretching or manipulating time.
It also reminds us of a day being as a 1000 years
and a 1000 years as a day….
Psalm 90:4 For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.
Meaning our time is not the same as His time and it cannot be calculated in the same manner.
Malachi 3:6. For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.
Isaiah 44:6
Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.
2 Peter 3:9 and He is not slack concerning His promise, waiting for the precious fruit of the earth. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.
Revelation 1:8
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Is He stretching time for more souls to be saved as His children pray and ask for extended grace and mercy; or is it for His children TIME to get their lives right before He returns?
He is after all omni present, omniscient and omnipotent, everywhere all at once. Time does not affect Him for He lives/exists outside of what we experience as time.
This verse in Is 57:15 is actually telling us that He exists in the past, present and future simultaneously, which confirms the above descriptions of Him and His Word.
Human scientists are always trying to prove what believers already know to be true that…
God inhabits the past, present and future.
They try to go back in time and to go forward also; and try to prove that it is possible for something to exist in the past, present and future at the same moment. Their experiments are only supporting reality, not discovering or proving it! God’s Word has already told us.
He is ‘ADAH: to advance, past by or come.
We need to understand that existing outside of time as we know it, this is how He is able to spend every moment with each of us and can move through time to always be with every one of His children! Our concepts are so limited … This is why men ought always to pray…
Luke 18:1-8. And he spoke a parable to them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint/lose heart
why?
Because it’s a sign of spiritual life.
Just as the physical body needs oxygen, the spiritual life begins with prayer. Because He wills it and it is a statement of His eternal wisdom and truth. It is the command of absolute righteousness and justice, showing us the direction of His infinite goodness and love. It is impossible for us to fulfill His will, or employ the abilities and gifts He has imparted to us, unless we pray, communicating with Him.
Prayer is as timeless as the concept of eternity itself because the throne of prayer is always accessible,
Hebrews 4:16
and the Hearer of prayer is always willing; and because the power and privilege of prayer has a direct connection with the whole sphere of our daily life, and the whole circle of our daily needs.
As our petitions and intercession ascend before His Throne/presence they are reaching into His dimension and the realms of existence where God oversees everything and He and His angels/messengers, can move in and out of time to assist in the fulfillment of His will.
It is described as
the throne of Grace
Our Heavenly Fathers’ pictograph letters for this word, CHEN/channah, paint a picture of pitching a tent with Him, God/Adonai. Just like He pitched a tent/the Mishkan Tabernacle in the wilderness with His children of Israel. More at link below:
https://www.minimannamoments.com/ancient-pictographic-hebrew-language/
This is also where the Blood of our Messiah has been applied
His Blood cries Mercy
and Mercy and Grace flow continually as His Blood speaks…
and He intercedes for us.
Hebrews 12:13 says the blood of Jesus speaks better things than that of Abel. The blood of Abel cries for vengeance, the blood of Jesus cries for mercy.
So Are We Ready To Inhabit Eternity?
this means an Eternal Life …so what is that?
This is eternal life…
John 17:1-5
verse 3… To KNOW God..
to know Him the one true God and Him whom you sent Jesus/Yeshua the Messiah.
Eternal life is not merely survival after death of these physical bodies …it is having intimate knowledge of the Father and His Son; His Spirit of Holiness is His agent by which this is achieved.
Relationship is accomplished and developed by
spending time with Him,
allowing His presence
to cover us and infuse us
with all that He is..
then we are changed from glory to glory.
If we do not know Him and Him Who was sent Jesus/Yeshua,
how can we be ready for eternal life…
The Hebrew word for
knowledge is DA’AT
using the letters dalet and tav.
The dalet is a picture of a door and the
tav is a picture of the cross…
more at
https://www.minimannamoments.com/ancient-pictographic-hebrew-language/
Jesus/Yeshua said I am the door/dalet (4th letter) and His sacrifice on the cross/tav (last letter), opened the WAY back to our Heavenly Father. This is the WAY to KNOW/gain knowledge of Him. Jesus/Yeshua said …I am the WAY!
It tells us that it is not only gaining understanding and comprehending the acts and circumstances of the world that is important, but also, we are to gain the most intimate experience of the author and creator of all knowledge. In James He tells us to ask for wisdom which is:
the ability to apply the knowledge we gain.
James 1:5 Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.
If we pray the will or heart of our Heavenly Father
then it is important that we have to first KNOW what that is;
and then it follows that we will be
praying concerning and in harmony with,
a heart that exists/lives/abides in the past, present and future.
Science has proven that it is indeed possible for something to exist in the past, present and future all at the same time.
Not that we needed proof!
There was an article published by Vanderbilt University about the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland; which is the world’s largest facility to smash atoms. This article said that it could be the first machine capable of causing matter to travel backwards in time. This collider has succeeded in producing the Higgs bosom and some scientists predicted that it would create a second particle at the same time, called the Higgs singlet. (the god particle).
The Higgs boson is the fundamental force-carrying particle of the Higgs field, a field that gives mass to other fundamental particles such as electrons and quarks.
The Higgs boson is a wave in that field. Its discovery confirms the existence of the Higgs field.
How do particles get mass?
Particles get their mass by interacting with the Higgs field.
According to these scientists these singlets have the ability to jump into an extra, fifth dimension where they can move either forward or backward in time and reappear in the future or past. In other words these particles can travel back in time to appear before the collisions that produced them.
It sounds completely crazy and yet our Heavenly Father does even more than this!
Here the word KNOW is used exactly as it is in Jeremiah 31:33 the passage promising Israel a new /renewed covenant.
This of course was fulfilled with Messiah Yeshua/Jesus coming in the flesh.
The apostles explained, He is the image of God in 2 Corinthians 4:4, He is the image of the invisible God, the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature. Also Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:3.
His physical appearance was and is not so important. Yeshua/Jesus revealed our Heavenly Father’s character and truth. As the sent one of the Father, Jesus/Yeshua perfectly represented the Father.
He has gone to prepare a place for us…in eternity and is often quoted but many times misunderstood Bible verse. Jesus/Yeshua said that He would go to prepare a mansion for those who believe in Him. Many believe that these mansions are literal buildings in heaven where they will dwell.
John 14:2 KJV “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” In the NASB it says, “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.”
In the Vulgate, the Bible translation into Latin, they used the word mansiones in that verse, and the King James Version followed by using mansions.
The word for “mansion” is μονή, monay.
It means a dwelling, an abode.
In my Father’s house οικος (oikia) are many mansions μονη (mone): if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. – John 14:2 (KJV)
The noun οικια (oikia), meaning house.
The verb μενω (meno)’s only pure derivation is the noun μονη (mone), which describes a
“place of remaining”, a home
We have a “place of remaining“
being prepared for us by the
Messiah Jesus Christ/Yeshua haMashiach
This place of remaining
is into/to the oikia – house of the Father.
Messiah is not telling us that heaven has compartments, or that we will have little places in which to live. He was likening it to their understanding in ancient culture, where a father’s house was where the extended family lived. Rooms were often added on as the family grew through birth and marriage. What He was doing was using the present-day illustration of a loving, tight, family community.
We are not to be so earthly and materially minded to interpret the scripture to our own liking and benefit, thinking people get promised mansions and riches. Why? because the values of the seen world are different from the unseen world, where God is, and they can distract us from the reality of His Kingdom in eternity..
So, Messiah is saying that in Hebrew/Aramaic,
a Beit-Av which literally means house of a father,
and using the term,
My Father’s house is an idiom for my family.
He is preparing a place for us …
Prepare in Hebrew is – KUN – כון – Kap Vav Nun
Prepare can be understood in the life of Ezra
Ezra 7:10: “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.”
Ezra devoted himself to the Word of God. Jewish tradition teaches that his knowledge of the Torah was equal to that of Moses. Not only was he determined to make sure he himself obeyed every letter of the law but he was zealous to make sure others followed the directions for life in the Torah teaching/law as well. Ezra was responsible for restoring the Jewish identity which had been lost during the captivity when Hebrew men married non-Hebrew women and it was Ezra who helped initiate one of the greatest revivals in their history. Specifically what made him so notable is written in chapter 7:10, he prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and teach it.
He prepared his heart to seek the word of God. Ezra was very motivated to prepare his heart. The word in Hebrew for
prepare is kun.
Spelled with the letters
Kap, Vav and Nun.
There are very many meanings for the word kun = prepared, ready, steadfast, firm, fixed, fashioned, establish, secure are just a few. Ezra prepared to seek the Word of God, by being steadfast in his goal and firmly fixed in his desire to KNOW God’s heart through the study of His Word. Jesus/Yeshua has gone to prepare, fix, fashion, establish, order, secure a place for us…
He is preparing a place for us in heaven/eternity
where we will dwell with our Heavenly Father
in close communion with Him – a place of remaining –
and there is room in eternity/heaven
for ALL whom He calls to salvation.
Further to this we are reminded that Jesus/Yeshua spoke in the Old Galilean dialect of Aramaic. The Aramaic Bible, Peshitta, uses the word bt which we render as beyt/beit house,
however, like the Hebrew, the letters b and t
could also be used to express the idea of
the place of the heart,
which is identical to the Hebrew word bayith /house, which is the word used in Psalms 127.*
House – Place of the Heart – BAYITH – בית – Beth Yod Taw
When Jesus/Yeshua said:
In my Father’s heart/house are many rooms.
We must remember that only He can build that
place in His heart for us.
If we try to build that place with all our ministries and monuments to ourselves, our labors are all wasted.
Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that build it.*
The Apostle Paul tells us …
Do you not know that your body is the temple/sanctuary of The Spirit of Holiness who dwells within you, whom you have received from God, and you are not your own? 1 Cor. 6:19.
The heart of God is meant to reside in us and to abide – make His home in us.
Isaiah 57:15 contains an interesting phrase that is used nowhere else in the Bible. Here, our Heavenly Father is referred to as
One who inhabiteth eternity.
looking at the sentence construction and the context of the verse, Isaiah’s description reflects symbols in which the Israelites found deeper meaning, that of:
the tabernacle and temple/sanctuary of God.
The entire verse says:
For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones (KJV).
The phrase in Hebrew is עד שכן.
The first word, שכן means: to reside or inhabit.
This verb is in what is called the active participle form, which in the KJV was translated as: inhabiteth,
it indicates the action is ongoing,
both now and continuing in the future
or in modern English,
inhabiting.
The second word, עד, can mean either:
perpetual continuation; enduring future,
or time without end.
In the KJV the word in this verse was translated as: eternity.
Interestingly, this is the only time the word eternity appears in this translation of the Bible. The uniqueness of this combination of words allows for many different translations and interpretations.
One way of interpreting this verse is from the context of
a kingship, so some read the phrase
the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity
instead, as..
in the height as Holy One I sit enthroned,
or who sits enthroned forever.
This imagery is seen in Isaiah:
In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up …Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory…Mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. Isa. 6:1, 3, 5.
God’s kingship be seen as a royal representation for the great sovereign who from the exalted throne room extends the royal presence and the royal concern to His subjects.
Another interpretation of the phrase
inhabiteth eternity
is
abides forever.
שכן can be translated to reside,
which implies a stationary condition.
The following word, עד was cited before as:
implying perpetual continuation.
This second word could be seen as describing and adding to the first verb; then the whole phrase shows the eternal and unchanging nature of God.
This principle is repeated in the scriptures:
in Psalms, the author wrote,
even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
Ps. 90:2
and
thou [God] art the same, and thy years shall have no end.
Ps. 102:27.
and
For I am the LORD, I change not. Mal. 3:6.
Because our Heavenly Father is an eternal Being, He is not subject to mortality, to death or any other type of change.
This interpretation changes the meaning of the verse and instead of the image of a royal setting, it now focuses on God’s unchangeable nature. A king can be seen in relation to his subjects, but how can a supreme and unchangeable being possibly relate to those who are always changing?
Isaiah helps us answer this when he wrote this in chapter 55:8-9:
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
The high and holy place where our Heavenly Father’s residence is located is mentioned in Isaiah 57:15, as not being anywhere on earth, but in heaven/shamayim.
We know that our Father has supernatural and eternal characteristics, and the words used in this verse do not necessarily describe one who is totally unreachable.
The verb שכן can mean to dwell and this word does not necessarily infer one that never moves at all, it can also mean: a move into a temporary place, in an as yet unspecified condition.
It can also be translated as: to rest; which implies some sort of transition/move/change. The word used for the Israelite tabernacle was משכן/mishkan, which is made using the same root letters as שכן/dwell. The tabernacle was a temporary structure that was moved many times during the Israelites journey in the wilderness. When they were finally settled in the promised land, they built a permanent place for their God: the temple/sanctuary.
The temple was not referred to as a משכן, mishkan
but as a הכל, a בית, or a מקדש. Temple/House.
The visible difference between the letters the Hebrew words used to describe the moveable tabernacle and the stationary temple, helps to further show the inferences of the word dwell – שכן.
An interesting parallel is found in the New Testament where the Greek word σκηνη means tabernacle. John states: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God … And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” John 1:1, 14. The word translated as dwelt is εσκηνωσεν which literally means to tent or tabernacle.
Another connection can be made with the words Isaiah used because some scholars suggest that the translators may have favored this specific Greek word for tabernacle because in the spelling of the word, the consonants σ-κ-ν equal the Hebrew consonants for the word Shekinah – ש-כ-נ, which is God’s presence/Glory.
In this scripture, a divine and eternal being is seen as transitioning/moving from an eternal realm into a temporal realm!
The words used in these verses seems to refer to Israelites Egyptian exodus. God was not stationary during their time in the wilderness; He was seen as a powerful being/God who regularly made contact with them.
He temporarily left His heavenly dwelling place, to abide/be with the Israelites by means of the tabernacle.
Exodus 29:45-46
I will dwell [w-shakahn’ti] among the sons of Israel and will be their God. They shall know that I am YHWH their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell [l-shak’ni] among them; I am YHWH their God.
For us a dwelling is where we put down roots, where we intend to stay/abide; but how do you meet or speak with God when He is in the shape of a cloud by day and fire by night? The children of Israel needed a physical place to connect with Him, so the tabernacle/mishkan was built, providing that place for God’s shekinah/presence to be dwelling with them.
Connected with the word dwelling, is the concept of purpose.
If you dwell somewhere, you have a purpose to be there!
There for them, and now for us, our Heavenly Fathers’ purpose is our refuge and security, echoed in both in Ps.91. and in the letters of the Hebrew word for GRACE.
Deuteronomy 33:27-28
The eternal God IS a dwelling place [refuge: m’ohnah], and underneath are the everlasting arms; and He drove out the enemy from before you, and said, ‘Destroy!’ So Israel dwells [wa-yish’kohn] in security, the fountain of Jacob secluded, in a land of grain and new wine; His heavens also drop down dew.
John likened this image to Messiah, Who transitioned from heaven to earth, just as the God of the Israelites had done in the wilderness.
When the different translations are viewed in connection with the temple, it reveals a harmonious picture of our Heavenly Father, Who is an eternal King, whose rule over His people is with faithfulness, fairness and justice.
Even though He is superior and divine, He could be approached by His people in the Temple/His Holy palace. The temple was a place where sacred space meets sacred time. The verb שכן, as mentioned earlier, refers to dwelling in a certain place. The place where God dwells is considered sacred, referred to in Genesis 26:24-25, 28:12-18, 35:1; that, at the places where God appeared, altars and memorials were set up.
Connected to the concept of holy/sacred space,
is the element of
time
understood and contained in the word:
עד – ad – eternity
Our Heavenly Father sets apart
sacred time,
as shown in the Ten Commandments:
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy … wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Ex. 20:8-11.
The Holy of Holies brought together both the elements of sacred space and sacred time. It was the most Holy Place within the tabernacle and the temple Ex. 26:34, and was to be entered only once a year on the Holiest day, known as the Day of Atonement. Ex. 30:10.
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