A Miracle Not to Be Missed: The Rolled‑Away Stone

Matthew 27:62-66— On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, saying, “Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come [a]by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead.’ So the last deception will be worse than the first.”

Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go your way, make it as secure as you know how.” So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.

Luke 24:1-2 —Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. 

It says in Matthew 27:66, "So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard." Therefore, we are led to believe the tomb was sealed. Was it not?  If the tomb was sealed, why would the women expect to be able to get in? Surely they knew they could not roll the stone way. 

Mark 16:3 says, “And they were saying to one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?" This is evidence that the womb had this same concern. 

To understand what happened with the stone I had to gather the details from four Gospels.  John, who ran to the tomb and writes about it, makes it clear that stone covered the tomb and was rolled away after the fact. 

John 20:1—Now the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.  

There is another important point to be made: 

The High Priests and Pharisees went to the tomb to seal it on the day AFTER "Day of Preparation," which is to say, ON the Sabbath. Whereas, Mary weighted until the "first day of the week," which is to say AFTER the Sabbath. 

A Pattern Developed Before This Which Seet the Stage

There is a fascinating connection between the action of sealing the tomb, the miracles Jesus performs and what He says to the Pharisees! 

In Matthew 12:9–13; Mark 3:1–6; Luke 6:6–11 Jesus heals the man with a whithered hand in the synagogue on the Sabbath, with Pharisees watching “to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him.” 

He does good on the Sabbath, and the leaders call it “work.”

Surveys that count them usually say there are seven Sabbath healings. In all the cases, the Pharisees treat healing as forbidden “work.” 

You must see the contrast with the scene at the tomb, the resurrection and the profound point that Jesus makes in response to the Pharisees repeated accusations that Jesus is doing "work" on the Sabbath. 

Mark 3:4—Then He said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they kept silent.

Don't miss the miracle that the stone was "rolled away."

The Gospel accounts give a set of specific details about Yeshua’s burial that invite sober, factual reflection. The focus here is the stone, the tomb, and the language Scripture uses around “rolling” and “removing reproach.”

First, consider the type of tomb. 

Yeshua is buried in the new tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, who is explicitly described as a rich man. A wealthy man in the Second Temple period did not use a simple ground grave if he could avoid it. He invested in a rock‑cut family tomb: chambers carved into limestone, with an entrance and a forecourt. Archaeology of such tombs around Jerusalem indicates that the more elite examples often used a carefully shaped circular stone that rolled in a cut groove to close the entrance. That sort of engineering—carving a disk, cutting a track, preparing a forecourt—is a mark of status, expense, and planning, and fits what would be expected of “a rich man’s tomb.”

The Gospels add that it was a “great stone.” That detail matters. Studies of similar rolling stones from the same period suggest typical diameters of about four to five feet and thickness around one foot, carved from limestone. A stone like that weighs on the order of 1–2 tons or more. That is not a decorative slab; it is roughly comparable in mass to a mid‑size car. When the evangelists single out this particular stone as “great,” it is reasonable to conclude that it was at least at the heavier end of what was normally used.

The mechanics of the closure also matter. These stones did not sit loose in front of the opening. Tomb builders cut a shallow, slightly sloped channel in front of the doorway. To close the tomb, several men could hold the stone partway up the groove, pull a wedge or chock, and let gravity assist as the stone rolled down into place. Closing is the easy direction. Opening is the hard direction: to roll that same multi‑thousand‑pound stone back up the groove requires overcoming the downslope pull of gravity and the friction between stone and rock. This work had to be done in a confined space with limited leverage. Accounts that reconstruct these tombs note that moving the stone in the opening direction was a multi‑man, tool‑assisted job.

From a basic physics standpoint, a healthy man can apply a few hundred pounds of force in a good pushing stance on flat ground. Here, the stone is seated in a groove, pressed sideways into it, with static friction to overcome before the stone will move at all. Once moving, it still must be driven uphill in the channel. This is not like pushing a car in neutral on pavement; it is more like trying to shove that car in a stone trench and up a ramp. On that basis, most reasonable estimates conclude that while two or three strong men with gravity on their side could guide the stone down to close the tomb, opening it again from the fully closed position would realistically require a group of several men using levers and coordinated effort.

The Gospel narrative adds further complications for any naturalistic scenario. The stone was not only heavy but also sealed, and a guard was posted. A "swoon theory" claims that a crucified, scourged, and wrapped Yeshua revived, broke the seal, and then single‑handedly did what would normally demand a fresh team of workers. It must further assume that this happened without the guards successfully intervening. Taken together, the historical burial practice, the known engineering of such stones, and the narrative details make a “one‑man job” explanation very weak.

The Stone Speaks Through the Context of Scripture

“And the Lord said to Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Wherefore the name of the place is called Gilgal unto this day.”— Joshua 5:9 (KJV)

The Commentators explain that "the Reproach of Egypt" as the shame and disgrace tied to Israel’s past: their slavery in Egypt, the Egyptians’ taunts that God had brought them out to die in the wilderness, and the long period when the wilderness generation lacked the covenant sign of circumcision. As long as they wandered uncircumcised outside the land, that reproach still clung to them. 

There is also a linguistic and biblical‑theological layer that reinforces the significance of “rolling stones.” 

The Hebrew root ג–ל–ל (galal) carries the basic idea of rolling or something round. From this root we get Gilgal (גִּלְגָּל), a place name tied to rolling and to circular/stone imagery, and gulgoleth, “skull,” literally a round object. 

Gilgal in Joshua is the place where Israel camps after crossing the Jordan. Twelve stones taken from the riverbed are set up as a memorial, and God says, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you,” and the name Gilgal is explicitly linked to that “rolling away.” The stones at Gilgal are there so that future generations will ask, “What do these stones mean?”

Golgotha, “the place of the skull,” is connected to that same root family via gulgoleth. The “skull place” where Yeshua is crucified thus shares its linguistic background with the “rolling place” where Israel’s reproach was removed and memorial stones were raised. The story runs, in terms of word‑families, from galal/Gilgal (rolling away reproach at the entry to the Land) to galal/gulgoleth/Golgotha (the skull place where the decisive act that removes sin and death occurs).

Adding the Tav (ת) adds another dimension. 

Both Gilgal and Golgotha live in the same verb root family: גלל (galal)

• Verb גלל (galal): to roll, roll away. 
• Noun גלגל (gilgal / galgal): wheel, circle, something round, a rolling object. 
• Noun גלגלת (gulgoleth): skull, literally a “round thing” (head). 

You can see that to go from גלגל to גלגלת all that is added the letter ת. 

Tav is the final (22nd) letter of the Hebrew alphabet. In its ancient pictographic form, Tav was shaped like a cross and meant mark or sign. Various discussions of Hebrew letter symbolism point out that tav functions as a “mark” of ownership or covenant and, by virtue of being the last letter, often represents completion or fulfillment. Thus, the move from galal/Gilgal to gulgoleth/Golgotha can be seen as adding a tav at the end.  I'll leave it to the reader to make the connection. 

These are observations about burial practice, mechanics, word roots, and letter symbolism. They do not in themselves prove ressurection, but they show that the Gospel’s details about a “great stone,” a rich man’s tomb, and the place‑names involved sit in a dense field of meaning, not in random coincidence.

When John stops at the entrance, he is standing at the threshold between two worlds: everything he has known about death, and the new reality that the empty tomb will confront him with. That is the perfect place for my reader to stop as well. The “Rolled‑Away Stone” is not just a narrative detail; it is the first physical sign that the normal order of death and burial has been interrupted.

John 5:28–29: “Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.”

HIDDEN KNOWLEDGE

Genesis 12.1— the Lord had said to Abram:
“Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.

When God tells Abram to leave his father’s house and go to a land “I will show you,” He is not just changing Abram’s address; He is calling him out of a world of household idols and tribal gods. God is chosing him. That moment is the start of what will later be written into stone as the first and second commandments: no other gods, and no carved images competing with the true God. 

Ancient idolatry meant trusting carved figures and the gods behind them for rain, crops, fertility, safety. Today’s occult reaches for the same thing—guidance, power, protection—through astrology, spells, spirit guides, and “hidden knowledge.” In both cases, the heart move is the same: turning away from the living God to place faith in other spiritual powers. In that sense, the "occult" is modern idol worship dressed in clothes.

I often hear New Testament believers talk about “spiritual attacks.” The expression seems to be used quite freely. Not every disappointment, delay, sickness, conflict, or hardship can simply be filed under “Satan did it,” as though every painful thing in life has one obvious cause and one immediate prayer formula. Yet, scripture presents dark and satantic forces as a real enemy. 

Some hardships are simply consequences of our actions, but a spiritual attack is a demonic assault aimed at destruction. Whereas Godly correction, often using natural consequences, is a call for repentance and to turn us back, a spiritual attack calls for resistance. 

As the book of Job teaches us, not every trial in life is a consequence of sin. Job’s friends thought that way, and the book of Job exposes how wrong and small that theology can become. To my mind, that kind of thinking trivializes God and makes Him seem reactive and thin‑skinned.  The biblical witness suggests something far deeper, more mysterious.

The Bible does not shy away from the reality of a spiritual battle, or from the existence of a real enemy who hates what God loves.

It can get confusing. When something devastating hits, it’s natural to ask, “Is this punishment? Is it just the consequence of my own decisions? Or am I under spiritual attack?” Those are not academic questions when you are in the middle of the storm. In this article, I’m not trying to map every possible situation. I want to narrow in on the shape of spiritual darkness as Scripture presents it.

In the Beginning

Spiritual darkness is there from the beginning. Genesis opens with “darkness over the face of the deep.”  That describes a world void of life. The "Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters." Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good."

God’s first act is to speak light and separate light from darkness." We know this light and darkness, is not that of the sun or the moon, which are not created yet. But the text does not immediately define the darkness. It is simply there: a background, a realm, with a boundary, a separation. God tells us that the light is good, but He never calls the darkness good. All we know, is it this darkness doesn't proceed God and therefore it is part of His creation.

 Isaiah 45:7: “Who forms light and creates darkness, Who makes peace and creates evil; I am the Eternal One, Who makes all these.”

As the story unfolds, that darkness slowly takes on a more personal edge. Isaiah 5:20 says, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.”

In Genesis 3 the darkness speaks. A serpent appears in the garden, described as crafty, and begins a conversation that questions God’s word. It is striking that this is the first voice in Scripture other than God and the humans, and the first subject the serpent raises is the one thing God has placed off limits. “Did God really say…?” 

Immediately the conversation turns to knowledge and the threat of death. The knowledge God had reserved for Himself and explicitly prohibited is suddenly put on the table as a shortcut to wisdom and status. A pattern emerges in the bible—There is a realm of hidden knowledge and hidden power that God does not deny but does forbid. 

Some knowledge belongs to God to be revealed by God—through His word, His prophets, and the Ruach HaKodesh; perhaps in a dream or a vision, a still small voice, or an answer to prayer. 

When we reach for “hidden knowledge” in off‑limits ways, we step into the shadows with an enemy who is more than happy to deceive us.

Why a Tree of Forbidden Knowledge?

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil stood in a garden that God Himself had planted. God had claimed the knowledge associated with that tree as His domain and had sealed it off by a clear command: “You shall not eat of it.” The serpent’s temptation was not just, “Taste this fruit.” The temptation was, “Take what God has withheld. Bypass His timing. Step into His role. You can know what He knows, on your own terms.”

That, to me, is the heart of hidden knowledge. It is not that God wants to keep people ignorant. It is that there are things that God reveals in relationship, over time, under His authority, and in dependence on Him. When we reach for those things through disobedience, or through rival spiritual channels, we are not just learning. We are changing sides.

Warfare language in the New Testament focuses less on hunting demons and more on resisting deception with truth and steadfast faith. One well-known teacher argues that Satan’s principal weapon is not raw power but deception, which means the heart of spiritual warfare is “truth encounters” rather than just “power encounters.” 

The bible is not an anti‑curiosity book. God is not trying to shut down every question. But He does draw a hard line around certain means of getting answers. 

Deuteronomy 18:10-12 states:

"There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you."

Note that the reason those things are placed under a ban is not because they are fake. Rather it is “because they are an abomination to the Lord.” God is warning is warning us in strong terms that such spiritual channels for knowledge do not lead to Him.

God reveals deep and secret understanding to prophets such Joseph, Daniel and Ezekiel. 

Innocent Fun or Hidden Authority?

The enemy is deceitful and cunning. It works to his advantage to remain completely undetected. Things like horoscopes, palm readings, or a casual visit to a psychic can feel so harmless—just for entertainment. A horoscope may not carry the same weight as witchcraft ritual, but the deeper question is always the same: where am I quietly placing my trust and looking for guidance? 

When we give authority to a voice that does not belong to God, we are opening doors to places we shouldn't be. We are eating from a forbidden tree.

This becomes harder to shrug off when occult language grows into organized spiritual action like self‑described witches casting spells or “bindings” on the president of the United States. This is a deliberate attempt to move events through forbidden spiritual channels. 

Old Testament’s Warnings in Story Form

Some of the most sobering warnings about hidden knowledge appear in bible. 

Young David playing to soothe King Saul

Israel's first King, King Saul is one example. Earlier in his reign he had driven out mediums and spiritists from the land in obedience to God’s law. Later, when God refuses to answer him through prophets, dreams, or the Urim, Saul panics. Instead of repenting and waiting, he disguises himself and goes to the very thing he once banned: a medium at Endor. Saul asks her to call up Samuel from the dead. Whatever exactly happens in that strange night scene, the point is clear enough. In his desperation, Saul crosses a line. He leaves the place of legitimate guidance and steps into forbidden territory, looking for comfort and clarity from the other side. That decision does not rescue him; it seals his doom.

Jezebel, the 9th-century BCE Phoenician princess became a notoriously wicked queen married to the famously wicked king Ahab. Jezebel brings in the prophets of Baal and Asherah, rivals to the God of Israel. Jezebel fills the land with idolatry, manipulates power behind the scenes, and hunts down the true prophets of the Lord. The Lord’s prophet Elijah conducts a showdown on Mount Carmel, and in 1 Kings 18, proves who is the true God. Nonetheless, Elijah feared Jezebel and ran for his life.

Jezebel’s influence blends seduction, intimidation, and false spirituality into one package. It is not hard to see echoes of that pattern in the way witchcraft and occult movements sometimes wrap their promises in sensuality and empowerment today.

Hidden knowledge is not neutral. The question is not simply “does it work?” The question is “who is behind it?”

Jesus Steps into the Battle

When Jesus arrives on the scene, He does not treat demons as metaphors for ancient superstition. He recognizes them, addresses them, and drives them out. He does not run away from the dark. He calls it what it is.

His ministry announces that the kingdom of God is not just a new ethical idea; it is an invasion into a territory long occupied by hostile powers.

The New Testament says plainly that this was part of Yeshua’s mission. “The reason the Son of God appeared,” John writes, “was to destroy the works of the devil.” Paul says that at the cross Jesus “disarmed the rulers and authorities” and “made a public spectacle of them.” The very moment that looked like Satan’s greatest triumph, the crucifixion of the Son of God, becomes the battlefield where the enemy’s legal weapons are stripped away.

If that is God’s will in Yeshua—to overthrow the enemy and destroy his works—then it cannot be enough for believers to treat spiritual warfare as a cliché. We cannot reduce it to “Satan made me late for work” or “I’m under attack because I have a flat tire.” There is a larger, more serious conflict in view.

Naming the Real Enemy

The Apostle Paul says that "our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against rulers, authorities, and powers of this dark world, against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." That is a staggering claim. It says that the ultimate enemy is not the people on the other side of the argument, the other party, the neighbor, the family member, or the rival believer. Beneath it all, there is a coordinated pattern of deception, accusation, and destruction.

If we do not recognize that, we end up misdirecting our energy. We attack one another. We look for scapegoats. We spend our strength fighting visible enemies while the real enemy works just fine in the background, whispering lies, sowing division, inflaming lust, and dressing rebellion up as enlightenment.

Knowing the enemy, as I see it, means at least this: learning to discern when a thought, a promise, a spiritual practice, or a cultural wave carries that same scent as the serpent in the garden. 

Hidden Knowledge and Modern “Comforts”

Most people today are not bowing at physical altars to Baal. Many do not believe in God at all. But human hearts have not changed. 

We live in a confusing and frightening world. We may feel small and vulnerable in the face of illness, loss, and uncertainty. 

In that space, things like astrology, tarot, fortune telling, crystals, and modern witchcraft step in. For a growing number, particularly Gen Z, the appeal of the dark arts is increasingly appealing. Estimates suggest 1-2 million people in the U.S. identify as Wiccan or Pagan. Witchcraft and various forms of modern neopaganism are experiencing a notable resurgence in popularity across Europe.

The pattern is the same. Guidance, comfort, and a sense of being known are being sought from sources that are not God. The appetite is understandable. The channel is not. The more a person shapes their identity and choices around what the cards say, what the stars suggest, or what a spirit supposedly whispers through a medium, the more they entrust their life to powers Scripture has warned them about.

Jezebel is not just a historical queen; she is a recurring pattern of spiritual seduction dressed in charm and confidence.

Prayer, Comfort, and the Real War

Prayer is often focused on healing, protection, provision, promotion, and the removal of discomfort. None of those requests are wrong.  But we must also ask, do our prayers bring the fight to the enemy?

The serpent is a thief who comes only to steal and destroy our relationship with God. Forgiveness does not take us off the battlefield. In some ways, it puts us squarely on the front line. 

The Gospels don't end with vague hints about a serpent. It ends with the serpent unmasked as the dragon, with beasts that represent corrupt powers and false religion, in a world intoxicated by lies and signs. Revelation is God’s way of turning all the lights on. The dragon is named. The machinery of deception is described. The persecution in full view. Everything that was operating in the dark is dragged into the light. 

Knowing and Confronting the Enemy

Where does that leave me? It doesn't leave me obsessing over demons or blaming them for every bad day. But I do recognizing a pattern that runs from Genesis to Revelation:

That pattern is at work in the occult. It is at work in false religion. It is at work in seductive ideologies and spiritualities that present themselves as enlightened alternatives to “narrow” faith. It can even be at work inside the church. 

To confront the enemy, as I understand it, is first to refuse that pattern. To submit to God. To walk in the light. To call out lies for what and where they are.

Hidden knowledge is dangerous, not because God is afraid of people knowing too much, but because behind certain doors there is someone waiting who does not mean us well. Scripture does offer clues. Those clues expose an enemy who would love to keep operating in the dark. My sense is that part of our calling in this moment is to turn on the light and to call out the enemy.

A Nation Under Pressure

It is not hard to imagine that a nation itself can come under spiritual pressure, and that its leaders may feel that strain whether or not they use that language. 

That question feels even less abstract now. In the present moment, people close to the Trump Administration have openly spoken of “spiritual warfare” surrounding Donald Trump, including in connection with the 2024 campaign and the attempt on his life. Whether one accepts that language fully or not, it presses a real question: if Scripture says that principalities and powers work not only through individuals but through rulers, nations, and systems, why would it be unthinkable that America itself could be under attack? And if that is conceivable, then it is also conceivable that presidents themselves may stand at a point where visible conflict and invisible hostility meet. 

When a Nation Hears 2 Chronicles 7:14

In April 2026, nearly 500 leaders and believers gathered for “America Reads the Bible,” a week‑long public reading of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation hosted at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C.. This was the largest Bible reading event in American history.  

President Trump chose to participate from the Oval Office, reading 2 Chronicles 7:11–22, including that familiar verse many of us can quote by heart: 

"If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." 

This passage that has been invoked for decades on the National Day of Prayer, and organizers openly said they had set it aside specifically for the president to read as a call to national repentance and healing. 

The National Day of Prayer was officially implemented by the United States Congress through a joint resolution signed into law by President Harry S. Truman on April 17, 1952.

This year, on April 25, 2026, just as the bible reading was concluding, on that very evening, at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, an assassination attempt was made on President Trump. One in a bloody line of attempts on his life. 

Starting in early 2017, numerous self-proclaimed witches and practitioners of magic engaged in organized, mass spells aimed at Donald Trump, often using social media to coordinate rituals. In the lead up to the 2024 election thousands of witches around the country and even the world have been attempting to cast spells of destruction on Donald Trump. Interestingly, there are multiple reports by the witches themselves that their spells won't work on him because there are so many people praying for his protection. 

I'm reminded of a famous story related to America's providence as a Judeo-Christian nation. 

An Indigenous sachem (chief) famously prophesied that George Washington was protected by the Great Spirit and could not die in battle. During French Indian wars, in 1755 at the Battle of the Monongahela, the chief allegedly fired at Washington 17 times without hitting him. This legendary account and additional detailed stories highlight Washington's survival despite four bullet holes in his coat and two horses shot from under him.

The chief, in a later meeting, told Washington he had ordered his men to stop shooting because he believed the young officer was under divine protection and "could never die in battle." The chief predicted Washington would become "the chief of nations" and founder of a "mighty empire". The story was famously recounted by Dr. James Craik, a close friend of Washington and a witness to his survival.

Conclusion

When someone feels helpless, the promise of a spell, a horoscope, a spirit guide, or a ritual that can bend reality becomes attractive. But the enemy’s purposes always run contrary to God’s; where God seeks to free and restore, the occult offers “secret” insight and power that slowly bind, deceive, and redirect the heart toward a different master.

God, our nation and the world are under spiritual attack. Believers must come together and fight the enemy. 

TAKE A HIKE

Psalm 119:105—Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

The Bible is like a trail.  That’s how I’ve come to see it. It’s an old trail, cut through time by people who lived in a very different world than ours. As they dealt with their lives, they left a record—stories, laws, poems, letters, and more. Over centuries, those writings formed a recognizable path that people are still walking today.

When I open the Bible, I’m stepping onto that trail as myself. I don’t become ancient or “religious.” I bring my age, my history, my questions, and my limits. I’m still me, walking into something that was there long before I showed up. That alone explains a lot about why different people read the same words and don’t always see the same thing.

Life itself is a journey. That means we’re not all standing in the same place when we read. Some are just starting out. Others have been walking with these texts for years. Some are dealing with loss, others with good news, others with confusion. The same passage lands differently depending on where we are on our own trail. I think that’s normal. It doesn’t mean the Bible is changing; it means we are.

I’ve stopped thinking of “understanding the Bible” as a finished goal. If I reach the end of the trail or a section of the trail, I start again. I am forever on the trail. 

Each hike is worth it. I see certain things on a clear day that I don’t see on a foggy day. I notice some things one day and other things on another. Over time, the path gets more familiar and I recognize certain bends, certain “danger spots,” and certain views. There is always freshness; the trail has more to show us. At times I need to rest.

I am not on the trail alone. Other people have spent a lot of time on certain sections and have become trail guides for me. Some are people I know. Some are long dead and only reachable through what they wrote. They don’t own the trail, and they’re not always right, but they’ve walked enough of it to spot markings I’d miss. A good trail guide points to the actual path, not to themselves. 

On the other hand, not everyone who talks confidently about the Bible is a helpful guide. Some push their own side route and make it sound like the only legitimate option. Others seem more focused on control than on actually walking the thing. Sorting that out is part of growing up and noticing who keeps bringing you back to the actual text.  

All of this connects to why I rely on the Bible itself to make sense of the Bible. If it’s one trail, then the well‑marked, well‑traveled sections help me handle the unclear parts. I don’t let one vague corner override what is said repeatedly and plainly elsewhere. In other words, I try to let the overall path explain the odd turns rather than letting an odd turn redefine the whole path. That doesn’t solve everything, but it keeps me from building a personal shortcut and calling it “the main route.”

One more observation: the trail has an Owner. It has a Creator who designed the terrain. He control the “weather” in my own life—whether I’m reading in a season that feels bright or dark. My responsibility is smaller: to keep walking honestly, to pay attention, to admit what I don’t know, and to help others where I can without acting like I own the land.

So these are just observations, not a sermon:  

- The Bible is like a trail.  

- We are all at different points on our own journeys when we step onto it.  

- Some fellow travelers become helpful trail guides; some don’t.  

- The clearest parts of the trail help us make sense of the confusing parts.  

- And the trail belongs to Someone else, which keeps us humble.

From there, the simple invitation still works for me:  Go for a walk—with the Bible. Bring yourself. 

BOUNDARIES

Deuteronomy 29:29—The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Boundaries, Knowledge, and Trust

Yesterday I posted a blog with observations and thoughts concerning the serpent in Genesis 3. 

I keep circling back to one simple theme: God establishes boundaries, especially around certain kinds of knowledge. Some things are simply off limits, and the Bible keeps showing what happens when people step over those lines instead of trusting him.

In what follows I’m just tracing that pattern. I’m not preaching a sermon. I’m looking at three stories that, on the surface, sit far apart: the serpent and the tree of knowledge in Eden, the Mazzaroth in God’s speech to Job, and Saul’s choice to consult a medium. I’m asking whether they might all be telling the same story about forbidden knowing, boundaries, and trust.

The Garden as Enclosure and Boundary

The Eden story is about more than a piece of forbidden fruit. The whole setting is boundary language.

The word “garden” itself carries the idea of an enclosed, cultivated place, something set apart from what surrounds it. A garden is a defined space, a yard, a garth, a place marked off and protected. In Genesis, the garden is planted by God, given to the human pair as a place to work and keep, and then, after the fall, it is closed and guarded: cherubim and a flaming sword are set there to guard the way to the tree of life.

Even inside that enclosure there is another boundary: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It’s not physically fenced, but it is fenced by a word. “From this tree you shall not eat.” So before anything goes wrong we already have multiple layers of “this far and no farther”: the garden itself, the tree of life, and the tree of knowledge marked off by a simple command.

The Tree of Knowledge as Forbidden Knowing

The name of the tree matters: “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” At minimum, that points to a kind of moral discernment or judicial authority — knowing good and evil in the sense of defining and administering it.

When the serpent speaks, the focus tightens. The promise is not about a new flavor of fruit; it is about a new kind of knowing: “your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The temptation is epistemic. It invites the human pair to move from receiving God’s definitions to taking that role for themselves.

I find it helpful to see this in relation to the “dark arts” that show up later. Occult practices, divination, attempts to speak with the dead, reading the stars for control of fate — all of these are essentially bids to access a God-reserved knowledge or power, to cross into realms that are not ours to manage. The tree is not a spellbook, but it represents the same move: stepping into knowledge God has fenced off instead of trusting him with what he has and hasn’t revealed.

The Serpent and Occult-Style Knowing

The Hebrew word for serpent in Genesis 3, נָחָשׁ (nachash), carries some suggestive overtones. As a noun, it means “snake.” As a verb, it can mean “to practice divination,” to observe signs, to whisper and interpret omens. That’s not proof that Genesis 3 is “about” the occult in a narrow sense, but it does put the serpent in the same semantic neighborhood as secret arts and forbidden insight.

The serpent’s message fits that profile. It presents God’s word as restrictive and incomplete. It presents the tree as a shortcut into godlike perspective, a way to be “in the know” beyond the boundaries God has publicly given. In that sense, it is an offer of hidden knowledge without trust.

Eve’s response fits this too. She sees that the tree is good for food, a delight to the eyes, and desirable to make one wise. The longing for wisdom is not wrong by itself. The twist is that she now believes she can gain it by crossing God’s line, and her own seeing becomes the final authority. She upgrades the tree from “off limits” to “good,” based on her own evaluation over against God’s.

Job, the Mazzaroth, and Hidden Knowledge

Job brings this same theme at a different angle. Job wants to know why his suffering has come. His friends want to know too; they lean hard on explanations, as if the ways of God can be reduced to a system they can read and apply.

When God finally speaks out of the whirlwind, he does not hand Job the secret reasons behind every blow. Instead, he puts Job in front of creation. Among the questions, he points directly to the heavens:

“Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades,  
or loose the cords of Orion?  
Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season,  
or can you guide the Bear with its children?  
Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?  
Can you establish their rule on the earth?”

The Mazzaroth is usually understood as the circle of constellations, likely the zodiacal band. In other words, God is talking about the ordered star paths that later generations would be tempted to treat as a codebook for fate.

Here the emphasis is not “these things are unreal” but “they are not yours to command.” Job can see the constellations. He can track their seasons. He cannot bind, loose, lead, or legislate them. The ordinances of the heavens are real and they touch life on earth, but they remain in God’s hands. That is a rebuke both to astrology and to the broader human impulse to turn the heavens into a system we can master.

Job’s resolution is not that he gains this hidden knowledge. He gains a deeper encounter with the One who has it. He moves from demanding explanations to trusting the God who holds them.

Saul and the Self-Destructive Path of Divination

Saul shows what happens when someone refuses that path of trust.

Blocked by his own disobedience, and with God no longer answering him by prophets or dreams, Saul reaches for another source. He seeks out the medium at Endor and asks to speak with Samuel from the dead. Earlier, Samuel had already told him that rebellion is “like the sin of divination,” which ties the heart of the matter directly back to Genesis: refusing God’s word and trying to secure your own way by other means.

In Saul’s case, that “other means” is necromancy: an attempt to break into the realm of the dead for guidance. The result is not clarity and life. It is confusion, fear, and, soon after, his own death. The biblical summary is blunt: Saul dies because he did not keep the word of the LORD and because he consulted a medium instead of inquiring of the LORD.

Saul’s choice is essentially a royal replay of Eve’s: when God’s way feels closed, look elsewhere. If heaven is silent, force open a door to the underworld.

Boundaries, Gardens, and Guarded Ways

This brings me back to the boundary theme.

The garden already suggests an enclosure, a yard with an edge and a gate. Genesis does not just say there was a garden; it shows that garden being guarded. After the fall, cherubim and a flaming sword are placed there to guard the way to the tree of life. The way is real. The tree is real. The path is now off limits.

That image is bigger than geography. It says there are ways into life that only God can open and close. We are not free to cut another route in through the fence, whether that fence is a word about a tree, a law about divination, or a limit on how much we can know about the ordinances of the heavens.

The same pattern appears again and again:

- In Eden, the boundary is around a kind of knowledge — good and evil as defined by God.

- In Job, the boundary is around cosmic order — the Mazzaroth and the deep structure of suffering and providence.

- In Saul’s story, the boundary is around the unseen realm — the dead, the spirits, the future.

In each case, the human temptation is to step over the line, to get hold of what is on the other side. In each case, the healthy response would be trust: to live within the enclosure God has actually given, and to leave the closed gates closed.

Dreams and Hidden Knowledge

There is one more distinction worth making here.

The Bible presents dreams and visions as real means by which God may speak. God says he makes himself known in visions and speaks in dreams. Job itself says God can instruct a man “in a dream, in a vision of the night.” So dreams belong to the means God himself gave man. They are part of ordinary human life, and God may use them.

But that is not the same thing as using a forbidden method.

That difference matters. A dream is something received. Divination is something pursued. In a dream, if God chooses to speak, he is the one initiating. In occult practices — consulting the dead, omen-reading, sorcery, astrology used as guidance, or any other black arts — the human being is trying to force access to hidden knowledge by stepping outside the boundaries God set.

That is why the distinction is important. The issue is not whether hidden things exist. The issue is whether man waits for God to reveal what he wants revealed, or whether he reaches past God’s boundary and tries to obtain it another way.

Scripture allows for dreams. It forbids divination. That difference alone says a great deal.

Trust in God

I won’t try to land this with a moral lecture. For me, the observation is simple: Scripture keeps pairing off-limits knowledge with the call to trust.

Eve is told she can be like God if she takes what has been fenced off, and she believes it. Job is shown that he cannot think like God or manage the heavens, and he bows. Saul, afraid in the dark, forces open a door God had shut, and it destroys him.

Underneath all the details, the same choice keeps reappearing: will man trust the God who keeps some things in his own hands, or will he try to reach past God’s hand and take them?

In our own time, we’re watching a clear surge in occult practices and “alternative” spiritual shortcuts. Astrology, crystals, tarot, witchcraft and the use of spells, channeling, and a flood of online “mystery” teachings all promise access to hidden power or inside knowledge about our lives. To me, it looks like the same old impulse in a new wrapper: reach past God’s boundaries to get what feels withheld, instead of living inside the limits he has given. The rise of these practices only underlines how strong that desire still is — and how needed simple trust in what God has already spoken still remains.

Closing: The Way Back

These stories all make the same point. Every time people reach past God’s boundaries for secret knowledge or control, they lose him. The garden, the tree of knowledge, the Mazzaroth, Saul at Endor — all of it is about crossing lines God drew.

God has already given us the way back. It is not in hidden techniques or dark arts. It is in the path he has put in front of us, in his Word. The choice is simple: chase what he has fenced off, or walk the way he has actually given.

Underneath all these stories, I keep hearing the same quiet conclusion: it is God’s will that is done, not mine. I can bring my prayers and questions to him, but events still unfold inside a plan I don’t see. My part is not to control that plan, or to get secret leverage over it, but to trust and accept that he is God even when I don’t understand what he is doing. And somehow, in ways I usually recognize only later, he really does work all things for good.

Knowing without knowing. Knowing that there are mysteries beyond our knowing, some very painful and unfair events, but still maintaining faith in the goodness of God. God’s will be done. Surrendering to His will. That is such a vital message that Jesus taught us in THE GARDEN.  (Amazing how this corrects the choice that Adam & Eve made in the first Garden.) 

Epilogue:

As I look at it, the promised land, Israel, is another way God teaches us about boundaries. He doesn’t tell Israel, “Go take whatever you can grab.” He draws specific borders and says, in effect, “This is the land I’m giving you.” It’s the same lesson as Eden, but more concrete

In the biblical story, the boundaries of the promised land are not incidental. They are part of how God keeps teaching the same lesson I’ve been tracing all along: gift, limit, and trust. Numbers 34 spells this out very plainly: “this is the land that shall fall to you for an inheritance… as defined by its borders,” and then it walks the reader around the south, west, north, and east lines in detail. The land is not “wherever you can take,” it is a specific gift with a specific outline. That already tells me boundaries belong to God’s generosity, not just his restriction.

In that same section, God also commands Israel to drive out the inhabitants and their idols before settling, so they won’t be trapped by their worship. The borders, together with that cleansing, work like the fence around Eden: they mark off a space where Israel can live under God’s rule without being swallowed by the systems around them. Commentators also point out how small the territory is compared to the whole earth — a narrow strip rather than a global empire. That makes the point even sharper. God is not handing Israel “everything.” He is staking his name on a particular people in a particular land, and promising to be faithful within those limits.

Later, when prophets like Ezekiel look ahead to a restored future, they reuse the Numbers 34 border language. That tells me the boundaries are part of God’s long-term design, even when Israel’s political control shrinks or expands. The map on the ground can move; the defined inheritance in God’s promise does not. Put next to Eden and Sinai, it’s the same pattern. Eden has a fence and a guarded way. Sinai gives a law with clear “inside/outside” lines. Canaan has borders drawn by God’s own instruction. In all three, God is not vague. He marks out where life with him is to be lived, and he calls his people to stay inside that space — geographical, moral, and spiritual — instead of constantly testing the edges.

2 Kings 14:25-27—He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gathhepher.

For the Lord saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter: for there was not any shut up, nor any left, nor any helper for Israel.

ONE NUMBER - 3 BELIEFS

I didn't think this up. Like other prophecies in the bible, they are hidden in plain sight. One needs eyes to see and ears to hear. 

Genesis 3:1-10 reads: 

1 "Now the serpent was cunning, more than all the beasts of the field that the Lord God had made, and it said to the woman, "Did God indeed say, 'You shall not eat of any of the trees of the garden?'"

2 And the woman said to the serpent, "Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat.

3 But of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, God said, "You shall not eat of it, and you shall not touch it, lest you die.'"

4 And the serpent said to the woman, "You will surely not die.

5 For God knows that on the day that you eat thereof, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like angels, knowing good and evil."

6 And the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes, and the tree was desirable to make one wise; so she took of its fruit, and she ate, and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

7 And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves and made themselves girdles.

8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God going in the garden to the direction of the sun, and the man and his wife hid from before the Lord God in the midst of the trees of the garden.

9 And the Lord God called to man, and He said to him, "Where are you?"

10 And he said, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I am naked; so I hid."

This is one of the most consequential stories in the entire bible. This is the event that changes everything.  Mankind ĥas never been the same since the serpent tempted Eve.

I'd love to breakdown all ten verses, but instead, in this post I am only going to look at the first Hebrew word, nachash (וְהַנָּחָשׁ֙) in the first verse Genesis 3.1. That word is translated as "Now the serpent..."

וְהַנָּחָשׁ֙ הָיָ֣ה עָר֔וּם מִכֹּל֙ חַיַּ֣ת הַשָּׂדֶ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר עָשָׂ֖ה יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהִ֑ים וַיֹּ֨אמֶר֙ אֶל־הָ֣אִשָּׁ֔ה אַ֚ף כִּֽי־אָמַ֣ר אֱלֹהִ֔ים לֹ֣א תֹֽאכְל֔וּ מִכֹּ֖ל עֵ֥ץ הַגָּֽן:

358 is Hidden in Plain Sight

נָּחָשׁ֙ (Nachash) is ordinarily translated as Serpent." You can practically hear the hiss in the word "nachash."

Nachash in Hebrew (נָּחָשׁ֙) is comprised of the letters:

Nun (50)
Chet (8)
Shin (300)
Total 358

Moshiach (or Mashiach) is the Hebrew word for Messiah (מָשִׁיחַ), which translates directly to "anointed one" or "chosen one". The gematria of Mashiach (מָשִׁיחַ - Messiah) is 358.

Jews arrive at 358 another way. It is interesting how this number, 358 is equal to the value of Moses name, 345, plus 13. 13 is the value of Echad (one). 13 is also the value of ahava אַהֲבָה (love).

Jewish tradition states the Messiah will build the Temple, gather the Jewish people back to Israel, and restore the religious laws and court system. This belief is formulated by the 12th-century scholar Maimonides (Rambam) based on his interpretation of a few verses in the Tenach. 

"I foretell the end from the beginning, And from the start, things that had not occurred." Isaiah 46.10

What do Christians make of 358?

While Jews are expecting the Messiah to enter the 3rd Temple, believers is Yeshua have the belief the it will be the antichrist.  Which will it be? There are some fascinating clues in these versue.

Numbers 21:6-9—So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

John 3:14-15— And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

What Do Muslims think about 358

There is another clue related to 358. It is called "The 358 Prophecy." But this comes from Muslims. The "358 Prophecy" generally refers to Quranic predictions surrounding the Battle of Badr. This battle is pivotal in the rise of Mohammed and Islam. 

The Battle of Badr (624 CE) was the first major military encounter between the early Muslim community and the Quraysh tribe of Mecca. It took place on the 17th of Ramadan, two years after the Prophet Muhammad's migration to Medina. Although the Muslims were heavily outnumbered—approximately 313 men against a well-equipped Meccan army of 1,000—they achieved a decisive victory that solidified Islam’s survival and the Prophet's leadership.

What are we to make of 358? 

This copper serpent (358) appears one other time in the Bible, in the description of a religious reform said to have been carried out by King Hezekiah in the 8th century B.C.E, as a part of which he destroys it (2 Kings 18:4):

2 Kings 18:4— He removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down the Ashe’rah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had burned incense to it; it was called Nehush’tan.

The name Nehush’tan is derived from the Hebrew word for bronze (nechosheth), intentionally chosen to mock the object's perceived divinity. Nachash (נָחָשׁ), the general Hebrew word for "snake" or "serpent" that appears in Genesis 3 as the tempter and later in Numbers 21:9 is linked to nechoshet (copper/bronze), emphasizing that the object created was made of bronze.

Over centuries, the Israelites began worshiping the artifact, burning incense to it. King Hezekiah destroyed it, contemptuously calling it Nehushtan to emphasize it was merely a "piece of brass" rather than a divine entity.

As you see, the serpent, number 358, is pretty charged with religious associations. Form your opinion on what it reveals.

The Fall

While there are serpents in our life that tempt us.m:::: Leading us to think we can do that, surely we won't die. We are all vulnerable to a fall. But while the clever evil serpent may lead to us to a fall, Adonai works all things together for the good.

Job 38:31-33—“Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, Or loose the belt of Orion?

Can you bring out Mazzaroth in its season?
Or can you guide the Great Bear with its cubs?
Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?

Sources:

The Numerology of Redemption

An academic article about the bronze serpent

The Battlĵe of Badr

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THE SCARLET CORD OF HOPE

I ended a recent blog post regarding pregnancy and the struggles over "chosing life" with a reference to the spiritual significance of the umbilical cord. A friend asked me to say what I had in mind. Here it is. 

When we look closely at life in the womb, we see detailed, measurable processes, not random events. The umbilical cord, stem‑cell‑rich blood, the early heartbeat, and the steady count of weeks all show order and timing. 

The Bible gives language and images that match what we see: tikvah (Hebrew תִּקְוָה), rechem (Hebrew רֶחֶם), and numbers like 6, 7, 22, and 40. Here I am simply putting my observations from biology next to the words and patterns from Scripture.

The Umbilical Cord As A Sign of Hope

By the end of the first week, a connection is formed between the fetus and it's source of life that will become the umbilical cord. As the days and weeks pass, it develops into a thick, rope‑like cord carrying life giving blood between mother and baby.

Umbilical cord blood contains a rich and abundant supply of stem cells. Even after birth, these amazing cells from the umbilical cord have life giving, healing and forming potential. 

Joshua 2:18-19—unless, when we come into the land, you bind this line of scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you bring your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household to your own home. So it shall be that whoever goes outside the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we will be guiltless. 

The Hebrew word for hope is tikvah (תִּקְוָה). This same word also means a cord or rope. The first time this word appears in the bible is in the story of Rahab’s scarlet cord in the Book of Joshua. The tikvah, a scarlet cord, is a visible line of hope. The umbilical cord is another tikvah: a literal cord that keeps a hidden child alive by joining it to a source of strength it cannot see as it waits to be let down.

By the way, "HaTikvah" (The Hope) is the title of the national anthem of Israel. 

The Womb as Compassion

The Hebrew word for womb is rechem (רֶחֶם). From this word come rachamim (רַחֲמִים, compassion/mercies) and rachum (רַחוּם, compassionate). The womb is the first picture of this: a protected place where a tiny life is sheltered, fed, and given time to grow.

Week after week, the child is woven together by God’s design. Sadly, not every pregnancy reaches 40 weeks. Many early losses are associated with major chromosomal or developmental problems that make survival impossible. The same system that usually protects life sometimes brings it to an early end when it truly is the compassionate thing to do. Medically this is called miscarriage.

Life in the Blood and the Sixth Week

The mother’s blood is the source of life for the baby. Oxygen and nutrients cross from her blood into the baby’s blood in the placenta. Waste and carbon dioxide cross back the other way. The two blood supplies are separate but exchange what is needed.

In the sixth week, the baby’s own heart is beating. A simple heart tube is already contracting and pushing the baby’s own blood through its body. In the Bible, the number six is linked with humanity and work that is not yet at rest: humans made on day six, six days of creation before the seventh‑day Sabbath when God rests. In the sixth week this tiny human heart starts its work. The mother’s heart still supplies everything, but the baby now has its own beating center. It is a dependent, but already distinct life, full of potential.

Forty Sevens

A full‑term pregnancy is about 40 weeks. In the Bible, the number 40 marks set periods of testing and preparation. 40 years in the wilderness. The child’s time in the womb is another 40: a period of hidden preparation before entry into a new world.

We count those 40 weeks in units of seven days. The weekly cycle itself comes from Genesis: six days of work and the seventh day, the Sabbath, set apart. The number seven becomes a number for completion. A baby’s development is tracked week by week. The forming of a human is measured in the Bible’s pattern of sevens as until is counts 40 Shavuot שבועות (weeks) in Hebrew.

Twenty‑two and the “Alphabet” of Life

There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet. Jewish mystics speak of the world being created with the 22 letters.  Traditional counting also speaks of 22 books in the Hebrew Scriptures. 

All 22 pairs of autosomes (plus the sex‑chromosome pair) are present from the moment of conception. The fetus has a design from the moment it is created. 

There are 22 bones in the adult skull where our brain has the free will to continue creating. 

It is at least notable that the same number that marks the alphabet of Scripture also appears in the “alphabet” of our physical design.

Crossing Over and Separation

The destroyer has been kept away. The new baby is ready to come forth. The blood is on the doorposts and it is time to come out. 

The tikvah (תִּקְוָה) has done its job. The compassion of the rechem (רֶחֶם) has carried the child through its 40 weeks.  

At birth, someone cuts the umbilical cord. The bodly seperation is made. The baby now must breathe on it's own. Within seconds, the baby takes it's first breath. The lungs fill, blood flow reroutes, and the cord is no longer needed. The first cry is truly the sound of life. 

Now God provides in another amazing way. God is written in every drop of milk. 

Hebrew Words Matter More

Here is another way to look at the "Umbilical Cord" that follows the etymology of the words more precisely.

In Hebrew, the ordinary phrase for “umbilical cord” is chevel tabur (חֶבֶל טַבּוּר) – literally “the cord of the navel” or “the rope of the center.” חֶבֶל (chevel) is a cord or rope, but it also speaks of birth pangs and the measuring line that marks out a person’s allotted portion. טַבּוּר (tabur) is both “navel” and “center,” the point where a person is “plugged in” to their origin. Put together, chevel tabur names the line of dependence that ties a child to its source of life, the pain through which that life comes, and the center that defines where it belongs.

Ezekiel 16 turns that ordinary, healthy picture on its head. Jerusalem is a newborn whose umbilical cord is not cut, left unwashed, unsalted, and unswaddled in an open field – a child with a cord, but no care; a birth, but no welcome; a center, but no one to guard it. Read against the richness of chevel tabur, the indictment is sharp: Israel has a life‑cord but despises the One who should be its center and portion. When God steps in and says “Live,” He effectively claims the abandoned infant, takes over the care that should have followed the birth, and becomes the true source, center, and hope of the child’s life. The same cord that once only proved her helplessness becomes, in His hands, a line of tikva – a rope of hope binding her future to His compassion.

THE AMAZING PART OF JESUS'S CRUCIFIXION

We are so caught up in our own lives that we don't stop to really think and meditate on things that make a difference. That is why I write.

In my last blog post, "You Had Me At Blood," as I was studying the amazing qualities of blood and the effects of blood loss, I gained a greater appreciation and wonder in the fact that Jesus could deliver "Seven Last Words" from the cross.

I believe it is one of the most remarkable human achievements ever recorded. Jesus's "Seven Last Words" from the cross is a mind blowing physical, mental and spiritual feat. 

First I want to paint a picture. 

You know the scene. After brutaly beating him, Jesus is scouraged beyond recognition. According to evidence on the burial shroud, he recieved 135 scourging lashes. It is claimed that 39 is enough to kill a man. 

After that, a crown made of 2" Jerusalem thorns that are like nails, is pounded into his scalp creating 50 puncture wounds extending from the mid‑forehead to the low back of his neck. 

Then Jesus had to carry his patibulum (crossbeam) weighing approximately 100 pounds on his severely bruised and open back and shoulders uphill for about ⅓ of mile until he has fallen on his face and Simon of Cyrene was compelled to help him.  

The crucifixion begins with rough iron spikes being driven through the highly sensitive median nerves in his wrists. This is one the most painful acts of torture a person could experience. Then his left foot is placed over his right and another long spike was driven diagonally through both his heels/instep area into the upright beam (stipes). 

Then the cross with Jesus nailed to it is hoisted up in the air and dropped it into a socket, causing a violent jolt through his nailed wrists and feet. 

Jesus will hang up there with dislocated shoulders for six hours, from roughly 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on that Friday in the hot sun without any water. 

Every single breath requires agonizing effort to push up on his nailed feet and pull against nailed wrists. This motion sends pain searing through torn wrists, shoulders, back, and nailed feet each time. Jesus has to fight to breath while enduring agonizing pain for six hours! 

It's been scientifically determined that Jesus lost over 40% of his blood. This much blood loss causes the body to go into hypovolemic (low‑blood‑volume) shock. That condition is a fatal if not immediately treated. 

In hypovolemic shock, mental function progressively breaks down because the brain is not getting enough oxygenated blood; people move from anxiety and agitation to confusion, slowed thinking, and even loss of consciousness. 

Keep in mind the state of pain Jesus is in. His suffering plausibly sits at the very top of the human pain experience—what clinicians would call “10/10,” compounded by many overlapping sources of agony. 

Extreme pain doesn’t just hurt the body; it disrupts the mind, producing anxiety, fear, agitation, difficulty thinking clearly, emotional overload.

The fact that Jesus is even conscious is phenomenal. In that state of extreme blood loss and dehydration, Jesus’ tongue would tend to stick to the roof of his mouth and jaws. 

Psalm 22:15—My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death.

You've got the picture. Now for the amazing part.

As Jesus is suffering unimaginable pain and humiliation, while the blood in his body is literally pouring out, Jesus still manages to have the presence of mind to say "Seven Last Words" that are incredibly rich spiritually. 

The profound meaning and the order of Jesus's statements demonstrates that Jesus is completely aware and fully in control of his ministry. 

Personally, I believe the delivery of the Seven Last Words to be miraculous. Knowing the price Jesus paid in order to speak them, I wrote this blog so I could meditate on the meaning of each one. 

First of all, I believe Jesus planned practically everything that happened from day 1. In it fair to say that he even orchestrated events.  The crucifixion is the culmination of it all. 

Every word he spoke has an important meaning which corresponds perfectly to the purpose of his ministry. Yeshua's "Seven Words" are recorded in all four Gospels. They capture moments of suffering, forgiveness and entrustment. 

Here they are:

1. "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34).
2. "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise" (Luke 23:43).
3. "Woman, behold your son. Behold your mother" (John 19:26-27).
4. "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34).
5. "I thirst" (John 19:28). 
6. "It is finished" (John 19:30).
7. "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit" (Luke 23:46).

Now I will expand on each of them. 

Volumes have been written about how deeply profound, prophetic and rich each of these short and seemingly simple "Seven Words" are:

1. The first word, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," is Jesus interceding for His executioners and enemies even as they are in the act of killing Him, revealing the merciful heart of God and fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy that the Servant would “make intercession for the transgressors.”
2. The 2nd word "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise" is Jesus assuring a repentant criminal that, purely by faith, he will enter immediate, conscious fellowship with him after death in the blessed presence of God. 
3. The 3rd word "Woman, behold your son. Behold your mother" is Jesus creating a new family at the foot of the cross, tenderly providing for Mary through John and, symbolically, forming a community in which His followers care for one another as true family. 
4. The 4th word, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Points us all to Psalm 22 and thus declares the prophetic nature of this moment. 
5. The 5th word, echoes Psalm 69:21 as He receives sour wine, just before declaring “It is finished,” so this thirst marks the closing moments of the atoning work. Jesus is also pointing us to Exodus 6:6–7; the "fourth cup" which is tied to “I will take you for my people, and I will be your God.” It is commonly called the Cup of Praise, Cup of Hope, Cup of Acceptance, or Cup of the Kingdom, and is associated with the Passover and the reciting of the Hallel psalms (Psalms 115–118, sometimes 136).  In many seders, it is also linked symbolically with Elijah’s cup and the awaited final redemption. 
6. The 6th word "It is finished" is Jesus triumphantly declaring that His saving work is completely accomplished and the debt of sin is fully paid, so that nothing remains to be added. John records the single Greek word tetelestai, a perfect‑tense verb used in commerce for “paid in full,” signaling that the debt is settled and the task brought to completion with abiding results
7. Jesus' 7th and final word, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit," directly quotes Psalm 31:5 to express total trust and voluntary surrender to God. His final act of submission functionally parallels Genesis 22 by demonstrating total submission of a son to the Father. 

Why 7 instead of 6? Because 8 comes after 7!

REACTION VIDEO

Today it is very common for social media creators to do a "reaction video." The Gospels have their version. They show a Roman centurion who was in charge of the crucifixion. He is our witness. He moves from routine brutality and mockery to terror, awe, and eventually makes a stunning confession. 

At first, the soldiers treat Jesus like a criminally condemned man: they scourge Him, then drape a rough, mock‑royal robe over His shoulders so the fabric drags across the raw open wounds as and they press a crown of thorns into His head and they mock him. They gamble for His clothes in a hard‑hearted behavior for executioners used to blood and death. John explicitly adds, “This happened so that the Scripture might be fulfilled:

Psalm 22:18: “They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” 

But as the crucifixion unfolds—with Jesus’ unusual composure, His words of forgiveness, the darkness, the earthquake, and the way Jesus dies—the centurion and his men “became very frightened” and “terrified,” experiencing a level of fear they were not used to even as battle‑hardened soldiers. 

Theologians and writers who reflect on the reactions of the Roman soldiers emphasize that this is not a naïve bystander but a professional executioner who has seen many men die; his reaction is a shocked recognition that this death and this man are unlike any other.The centurion proclaims:

“Truly this was the Son of God!” Matthew 27:54; cf. Mark 15:39

Believe whatever you wish. But so far as the pain and suffering of Yeshua are concerned, every single detail, from the beating, the scourging, the crown of thorns, carrying the cross beam and falling on His face, the crucifixion and ultimately His death when Yeshua would have given up his spirit, are all recorded on the burial linen clothes left in the tomb Yeshua walked out of. Even his rising out of those clothes is recorded on the Shroud of Turin. 

If you would like to know more about the Shroud, click here: A Love Letter From Yeshua.