What the Scriptures REALLY Teach about Health – Part 5

01/02/16 (09/23) Video Broadcast

Learn how 3 areas of bitterness, along with fear and anxiety actually can, according to both science and scripture, produce disease in our body.

Video Transcript

This is a direct transcript of a teaching that was presented via video. Due to the fact that we often speak differently than we write, the written text may not flow and/or sound strange in some places. There may also be grammatical errors and unintended mistakes. It is encouraged that you to watch the video to complement this written transcript.

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We are going to go into Part 5 of “What the Scriptures REALLY Teach About Health.” I wasn’t sure I was going to share this this morning, but through the encouragement of a brother, an elder in the faith, I was encouraged to go forward with this.

Yahweh, I believe, gave me a blessing this morning, a revelation, and I wasn’t sure I was ready to share this part yet. But through prayer and seeking Yahweh and things, I sense a clear leading He wants me to share this this morning with you, or in some cases this afternoon, depending where you are at in the world.

But it has to do with relationships. And there are three particular areas where if our relationship is not where it needs to be that it can have an impact on our health. And that is, our relationship with Yahweh. If it is not where it needs to be, it can impact our health.

It can be our relationship toward each other. If it is not where it needs to be, that can impact our health. And then, finally, our relationship with ourselves, our identity, struggling with who we are, struggling with self-worth, struggling with whether or not we are loved. Our relationship with Yahweh has a lot to do with that.

But we are going to talk today about some important areas. And the reason why they have an impact on our health is because we were not created to live in a condition where we either don’t love Yahweh as we should, we don’t trust Him as we should, or our relationship with each other, we have some bitterness that we are holding onto…

Or in terms of our relationship with ourselves and if we don’t love ourselves. Did you know if we don’t love ourselves, we are not loving whom Yahweh loves and we can’t even love others? (“Love your neighbor as yourself.”) And so, we are going to talk about these areas because they have a lot to do with health… a LOT to do with health.

There are many, many diseases and problems that come out of bitternesses, fears, anxieties, a lack of trust. A lot of things come out of problems in our relationships.

And we are going to show this to you again. We kind of covered it last week some. We are going to do a brief review here again.

Scripture tells us in Proverbs 17:22:

Proverbs 17:22 – A merry heart does good, [like] medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.

Scripture says:

Deuteronomy 28:45 – Moreover all these curses shall come upon you and pursue and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of YAHWEH your Elohim, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you.

And the curses are, in this particular context, the diseases that would come upon men.

Deuteronomy 28:46 – And they shall be upon you for a sign and a wonder, and on your descendants forever.

47 – Because you did not serve YAHWEH your Elohim with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything,

And so, this is connected to this Scripture:

Proverbs 17:22 – A merry heart does good, [like] medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.

This is healing. A joyful heart is healing. And a lot of times we understand, “Okay, thanksgiving is an important key to healing,” but for some reason, we just can’t seem to get free by that alone.

There are things that are keeping us from really receiving this joyfulness and gladness of heart– experiences that we’ve had, things that we have gone through, abuses that we have experienced. But the Scripture remains the same.

For optimum health we need to have a heart of joy. We need it. But if we have a broken spirit, it dries up the bones. In a previous segment, we talked about a principle in the Torah regarding that need to serve with gladness and thanksgiving.

Well, I am going to expand on that and talk about the health dangers here. The word for “medicine” means “healing,” “cure.” And so, we are going to expand on this even more and we are going to examine some of the things that can actually cause the broken spirit to begin with and how the broken spirit dries the bones.

We saw last week (quote from Wikipedia): “Bone marrow is also a key component of the lymphatic system, producing the lymphocytes that support the body’s immune system.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone_marrow

And so, what they are finding medically is backed up by what Scripture has already said. Yahweh knew exactly what He was talking about.

According to Wikipedia: “Our bone marrow produces blood cells, called red blood cells, platelets, and white blood cells. White blood cells are [named] Lymphocytes, neutrophils, and monocytes… and they fight against invading bacteria, viruses, or fungi to help destroy infection.

“Each of these cells differs in appearance. Eosinophils and basophils white blood cells respond to allergens that can invade our bodies.” Christine Armstrong, RN, MScN, NP Peds & John Doyle, MD, FRCPC, FAAP.

If we have problems with allergies, if we have chemical sensitivities, did you know that can be resolved? That can be resolved. And we are going to talk about exactly how that can be resolved.

But this is just medical facts here. If our bodies are not producing the white blood cells needed to respond to allergens, what happens? We are going to get some kind of negative response in our body that is not healthy for us.

Scripture says:

Proverbs 17:22 – A merry heart does good, [like] medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.

The word “broken” means “stricken” and “wounded.”

Lexicon: 05218 nake’ {naw-kay’} or naka’ {naw-kaw’} Meaning: 1) stricken Origin: from 05217; TWOT – 1362a, 1362b; adj Usage: AV – broken 2, stricken 1, wounded 1; 4.

“Stricken” means “to strike,” “to scourge,” or “to smite.”

Lexicon: 05217 naka’ {naw-kaw’} Meaning: 1) (Niph) to strike, scourge, smite Origin: a primitive root; TWOT – 1362; v Usage: AV – viler 1; 1.

So what can cause a broken spirit? Scripture says:

Proverbs 15:13 – A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance, But by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.

By sorrow of the heart. That is how it happens. That is how the spirit becomes broken.

Proverbs 18:14 says:

Proverbs 18:14 – The spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness, But who can bear a broken spirit?

If the spirit is broken, there is nothing to sustain him in sickness. These are health scriptures! And they are important ones and they are backed up by Torah. They are backed up by other scriptures as well.

The word translated “sorrow of the heart” is the Hebrew word “atstsebeth,” which means “hurt,” “injury,” “sorrow,” or “wound.”

And so, we have to be on guard against things that can create wounds in the heart, because when we have a wounded heart, it can cause our spirit to be broken, which impacts our bone marrow. It says it impacts our bones. And so, therefore, we have medical studies showing this very thing.

“Hormonal reaction to stress is tied to disease, researchers say. Stress and depression that send emergency hormones flowing into the bloodstream may help cause brittle bones in women, infections, and even cancer, researchers say.

“A natural fight or flight reflex that once gave ancient humans the speed and endurance to escape primitive dangers is triggered daily in many modern people, keeping the hormones at a constant hyper-readiness, experts say. Even some forms of depression bring on a similar hormonal state.

” ‘ In many people, these hormones, such as cortisol, turn on and stay on for a long time,’ Dr. Philip Gold of the National Institute of Mental Health, one of the National Institutes of Health, said Friday. ‘If you’re in danger, cortisol is good for you… but if it becomes unregulated it can produce disease.’

“In extreme cases, this hormonal state destroys appetite, cripples the immune system, shuts down processes that repair tissue, blocks sleep and even breaks down bone, Dr. Gold said.

“He was among speakers of a two-day conference of the International Society for Neuroimmunomodulation, a group of experts who study the effects of stress and depression on physical disease.

“Dr. Gold presented a study of bone density among 26 women, half suffering from depression and half with normal emotional states. The depressed women all had high levels of stress hormones, he said.

“Although the women were about 40, he said those with depression uniformly ‘had bone density like that of 70 year old women. They were clearly at risk of fractures. The magnitude of bone loss was surprising.’ ” “Health and Science.” Dallas Morning News – 11/16/96

So it shouldn’t be surprising to those who are in tune with the Scriptures, because Scripture itself tells us:

Proverbs 17:22 – A merry heart does good, [like] medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.

If the bones are not producing the cells needed to fight infection, a good description: a drying up of the bones. Dry bones is the indicator of death.

Proverbs 18:14 – The spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness, But who can bear a broken spirit?

Proverbs 15:13 – A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance, But by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.

Remember these Scriptures. This is what the Scriptures REALLY teach about health.

When our hearts are wounded, it can result in a broken spirit. When our spirit is broken, it can affect our bones. It can affect, medically, our immune system. Absolutely, it can.

Cortisol is, as we saw, a stress hormone…

Wikipedia article on “Cortisol”: “Cortisol is a steroid hormone, in the glucocorticoid class of hormones, and is produced in humans by the zona fasciculata of the adrenal cortex within the adrenal gland. It is released in response to stress and low blood-glucose concentration.

“It functions to increase blood sugar through gluconeogenesis, to suppress the immune system, and to aid in the metabolism of fat, protein, and carbohydrates. It also decreases bone formation.”

So I am repeating these things because I think that we need to have them repeated. Because maybe what I have to share today may not have quite the impact if you don’t see it medically.

We shouldn’t need to see it medically. We should just see it in Scripture, and say, “Well, that must be correct.” But we do see it through medical study it is true. It is true.

And so, if the heart is wounded, what happens is we have difficulty after that trusting. We have greater problems with fear. We have greater problems with anxiety.

If that trust was violated by someone who was supposed to be loving us at some point in our lives, we can be in a constant state of hyper-readiness, a constant state of fight or flight, and a near constant state of anxiety. And we struggle. We struggle with life.

Normal things that happen to certain people don’t affect them, but then those who are carrying around these wounds, it affects them in a greater way. For instance, let’s suppose that you were bruised on your thigh. If you were bruised on your thigh, and someone bumped against the thigh, then what would happen is, you would cry out, “Ouch!”

And you probably would be much more sensitive to someone bumping into your thigh. Or if you get a bruise on your arm, you would be more likely to kind of protect it, right? It is a natural thing. And the same is true for wounds that are in the heart.

When we have wounds in our heart, we are more easily hurt. We are more easily damaged. Someone could say something that reminds us of something that wounds us, and therefore, we may respond negatively. We may choose to hurt the person, whatever we normally would do to defend ourselves, to protect ourselves.

Perhaps we would flee from the situation. Perhaps we would just hunker down and weep. But there are all kinds of different ways that we come up with to try to protect ourselves from wounds of the heart. And wounds that are in the heart can produce bitternesses. “Never forget what that person did to me.” “Never forget what happened that day.”

You feel like if you were to forget, you would be in great danger because you were greatly hurt by whatever happened.

And so, there are three places where we are in danger of having bitterness, and they are: 1. Bitterness toward Yahweh 2. Bitterness toward men (or women) 3. Bitterness toward self. These are the three areas where our relationships are impacted– our relationship with Yahweh, our relationship with man, and our relationship toward ourselves.

So if we have a wounded heart, and therefore a broken spirit, it can have this impact on our health, stop our bodies from producing an adequate number of T-cells and killer cells and white blood cells that fight off cancers, viruses, bacterial infections, allergens, and many other things.

Because our bodies were not built to handle bitterness and to carry bitterness, to carry wounds. If we carry around wounds in our hearts, we will have difficulty living in freedom, difficulty living in the joy of Yahweh, difficulty living in peace, difficulty trusting in Yahweh.

Now I am thankful to Yahweh I have never suffered physical or sexual abuse as a child, but I know of so, so many. Some of you are listening to the broadcast right now who were abused in these ways as children. My heart goes out to you.

Some of you are still carrying those wounds that come from sexual abuse, and if you allow yourself to think about it, tears will start coming like a fountain. You were caused to feel so dirty inside and the heart was damaged and the pain resurfaces and you have difficulty loving yourself.

Some of you were physically abused. Maybe an alcoholic or unloving parent. Others were verbally abused and told you were worthless and were told that you were not worthy of being loved. Some of you, deep inside, there is a little boy who is crying, or a little girl who is crying, and who is wounded. I understand.

Some of you, as I speak these words, tears are forming already. It is always on the surface and you have difficulty trusting, trusting Yahweh, because of what you went through as a child. Some of you feel guilt and feel shame and you hate yourself because of what happened. I understand.

What you are going through is very, very common. You are not the only one. There are many people like you. I have counseled with them many times. Many times. And I have some news for you. One of the reasons why Yahushua came was to bring healing to that wounded heart. That is one of the reasons He came.

The prophets Yahushua often quoted– and this is one He quoted and directly said applied to Him– He said, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Isaiah 61:1 – The Spirit of the Master YAHWEH [is] upon Me, Because YAHWEH has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to [those who are] bound;

“Yahweh has anointed Me.” The word “anointed” is “mashach” meaning “Messiah.” This is the Messiah speaking. “Yahweh has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor.” And this can be those who are poor in spirit or even broken in spirit.

“He has sent Me.” Here is the mission He was sent for. Do we understand this message? This is why Yahushua came and died for us– to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, the opening of the prison to those who are bound. This is why Yahushua came and died for us.

Isaiah 61:2 – To proclaim the acceptable year of YAHWEH, And the day of vengeance of our Elohim; To comfort all who mourn,

3 – To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of YAHWEH, that He may be glorified.

Some of you have mourning. You feel like a pile of ashes. You have a spirit of heaviness that is afflicting you. Yahweh wants to give you the garment of praise, the oil of joy and adorn your head with beauty… “That they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of Yahweh, that He may be glorified.”

That, my brothers and sisters, is good news. That is what the good news is. He wants to heal the heart that is broken. He wants to bind up the broken heart. What causes a heart to be broken? The Hebrew actually reads “bind up the broken heart.” What causes the heart to be opened up with a gaping wound? It is wounds.

If you got wounded in the arm, you go to the doctor and maybe get stitches, and you would bind it up with the stitches. That is the modern way of binding up an open wound. Well, Yahushua is the doctor of the heart and He wants to bind up the wound so that your heart can heal.

Yahushua does not want you to have that pain anymore. He is saying to you, “I will take your pain. I will bear it. I don’t want you to feel that dirt inside. I don’t want you to feel unloved. I don’t want you to feel worthless. The very hairs of your head are all numbered. I came to heal your broken heart and bind up your wounds.”

He came to set you free from the prison of sin, from the ashes of despair, from the spirit of heaviness. And He wants to heal your heart, set you free and give you the joy of salvation, the joy you need to be healed, and place on your bodies this garment of praise, this robe of righteousness so that you understand your worth.

How does Yahushua do that? How does He bring healing to the heart? I can tell you I have seen it happen. I have seen Yahushua heal someone’s heart to the extent that what happened to them, while it is still a memory in their minds, it no longer impacts their lives today.

The memory of what happened is of no more consequence or significance than a grocery list. Yeah, it happened, but it doesn’t affect them negatively anymore.

Now physical and sexual and verbal abuse can not only come into a person’s life from in their childhood, but it also can happen when they are an adult– an abusive relationship with a spouse, a former relationship with a boyfriend or a girlfriend, or even if someone was robbed or raped, or some act of violence was done to them from a total stranger.

Any of these things can affect a person’s ability to live and walk in the peace and joy of Yahweh. But it is when it happens to children that it usually has the greatest impact. And it is probably for that reason Yahushua said to His disciples:

Luke 17:1 – Then He said to the disciples, It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe [to him] through whom they do come!

2 – It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.

I notice He said it is impossible that no offenses should come. Why is that? Why is it impossible that no offenses should come? It is just a part of life on the earth right now. Man chooses wickedness again and again, one generation to the next. Parents abuse their children.

Children suffer every day from abusive parents. There is a child somewhere in this world right now who is being abused as we speak. And there are some of you who are saying, “Yahweh, why aren’t You doing something about it?”

Some of you are going, “Yahweh, why do You just stand there and watch? How can You stand there and just see this going on and not stop it?”

And some of you are angry and bitter at Yahweh because of it, and you kind of go, “Oh, it is kind of shameful to think about that, but I do have a little tinge of that in my heart. I don’t understand why He allows that.”

Even if you are a believer, you wonder in the deep recesses of your heart, “Why is Yahweh not stopping this? How can He just sit there in the comforts of heaven and do nothing?”

That is the argument of the atheist. How could there be a just and loving Creator in heaven when there is so much death, disease, abuse and evil on the earth?

And such an argument, if you don’t know how to respond to it, the enemy can plant in your heart and it can bear the ugly fruit of unbelief and even a bitterness toward our Creator.

You might not confess it openly, but down deep the devil is having some success at causing you to question Yahweh’s love. Job had a problem like that, too.

Job: “Why are you doing this, Yahweh? What did I ever do?”

And so, if the enemy can wear down Job with that question, probably a lot of us could be affected, also, by the same thing. And the ugly fruit that comes out of that is a lack of trust.

Some of you have difficulty with faith and trust in Yahweh because you feel as though Yahweh has let you down at some point. You wonder, “How can I trust that Yahweh will be with me when He allowed so and so to hurt me so deeply in the past?” And so, you take steps to protect yourself. You feel as though you need to.

You trust Yahweh to a certain point, but at some point you may feel like, “I have to take charge here.” And so, actually, you live in fear and anxiety that something dreadful is going to happen, because something dreadful has already happened.

You already felt violated. You already felt hurt. You already felt wounded. And while you really want to trust Yahweh, you just can’t seem to shake it. You do with your head, but not with your heart. I understand. You have difficulty trusting.

And sometimes that is why a wife feels a need to be in charge of her husband. She will say he is the head of the household, but she feels the need to be the neck that turns the head.

It is also why husbands have difficulty trusting in Yahweh. They recognize Yahweh is the head, but they still feel the need to take charge and do things their way every once in a while– even though their way, they know, Yahweh expressively forbids.

And they don’t understand how to trust, like a man taking a job that results in violating the Sabbath, or a job that would require them to compromise obedience or dishonesty, or whatever. They know Yahweh expressively forbids it, but they say, “Well, you know, sometimes you just have to provide for your family. You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.”

That is the manly way of not trusting in Yahweh. There is not that trust factor there because down deep inside they felt as though Yahweh has let them down in the past– childhood abuses, or whatever. But both husbands and wives are subject to these things and I have seen it many, many times in my walk with Yahweh the last 26 years.

So people who haven’t been abused as children usually have an easier time with the concept of trusting in Yahweh, with trusting in their spouse, or just people overall. They are not bound with fear and anxiety because they have not had all those things. They have not had all that bad of a life.

And a person in that position is actually also in danger and more susceptible to being indifferent toward the hurts of other people than what they are carrying, less likely to care all that much when they see somebody struggling, more likely to be judgmental.

More likely to look down on their fellow man who is struggling with fears and wounds and hurts and bitternesses, less likely to have compassion and mercy because they don’t understand it. They can’t relate to it because they haven’t experienced that level of pain before.

And that is why those who have had wounded hearts, they wonder, “Does Yahweh really care for me? Can I trust Him? Does He really love me? He seems to love other people. They haven’t gone through what I have gone through. Why doesn’t He love me? Maybe they are more worthy than I am. Maybe there is something wrong with me.”

And down deep they wonder, “Does Yahweh really care about me?” They might even be believers and they are having these thoughts because the enemy likes to plant those thoughts in our hearts. He knows our weaknesses. He saw what we went through and he knows how man functions. He has been practicing for six thousand years.

He knows what makes man tick. He knows where his weaknesses are. And so, he will lie to you until there is no tomorrow. He will just keep lying and lying and lying, especially if you believe it.

And so, those who have had abuses, those who have been through difficult times, are more susceptible to having a difficulty in trusting in Yahweh, but Scripture says this:

Hebrews 11:6 – But without faith [it is] impossible to please [Him], for he who comes to Elohim must believe that He is, and [that] He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

He who comes to Elohim must believe two things: He is, and He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. You cannot please Him without faith. And without faith, all these other things take over– a lack of trust, bitternesses, difficulty in our life. We are created to live in faith. That is how Yahweh created us to live.

Now there isn’t anything that Yahushua went through that wasn’t common to man. He suffered immeasurably at the hands of men. Some don’t understand why Yahushua did it, but He came to right every single wrong that has been done to us. Not only the wrongs that have been committed against us, but the wrongs that we have committed ourselves toward others.

Us being abused is no different than us lying or stealing or breaking the Sabbath day or doing any of the other things that are harmful. We all are sinners. We have all abused Yahweh in our lives. We may not like to talk about that, but we have. So Yahweh knows what it is like to be abused. He is abused every single day.

And some are saying, “Well, uh, Tom, come on now. He is up there in heaven. He is the Creator of the universe. He doesn’t suffer. He is up there, you know. At His right hand are pleasures forever. He doesn’t grieve like we do and go through the pains that we do and face what we face. And easy for Him to say.”

The existence of violence and of people hurting one another actually grieves Yahweh and hurts Him greatly. Scripture says so.

Genesis 6:5 – Then YAHWEH saw that the wickedness of man [was] great in the earth, and [that] every intent of the thoughts of his heart [was] only evil continually.

6 – And YAHWEH was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

Do you know what the word “grieve” actually means? To experience “hurt, pain, grief, displeasure, to vex, to wrest.”

Lexicon: 6087 atsab {aw-tsab’} Meaning: 1) to hurt, pain, grieve, displease, vex, wrest.

This word “atsab,” you might remember, is similar to the previous word we looked at earlier, which talks about “wounds of the heart.”

Lexicon: 06094 atstsebeth {ats-tseh’-beth} Meaning: 1) pain, hurt, injury, sorrow, wound Origin: from 06087; TWOT – 1666d; n f Usage: AV – sorrow 4, wounds 1; 5.

Same word family. This is actually from 6087. What is 6087? This thing that Yahweh Himself experienced when He witnessed and saw what man was doing to each other and to Him.

When He saw it, when He beheld it, when He saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and every intent of the thoughts of the heart was only evil continually, He was hurt, grieved, displeased by it. He felt what we feel– “atsab.” Scripture says so.

Now I can’t fully understand it myself. I mean, how can Yahweh, the most powerful Creator in the universe, actually experience hurt? But He does. That is what Scripture says He does. Maybe I do understand it. Maybe I do. Scripture says:

Genesis 6:11 – The earth also was corrupt before Elohim, and the earth was filled with violence.

This is abuse.

Genesis 6:12 – So Elohim looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

13 – And Elohim said to Noah, The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

It is because of the violence, people abusing each other, corruption, perversion, that Yahweh sent the flood on the earth. And He was grieved. He was hurt in His heart because every thought and intent of the heart was evil continually.

And the violence that was everywhere, the corruption that was everywhere, Yahweh literally felt grief and hurt and displeasure. You might wonder how is it even possible that Yahweh, the most powerful Being in the universe, could experience the very thing we experience– grief, hurt. But Scripture says He did.

We might wonder why Scripture would say Yahweh was sorry He made man on the earth as if He lacked foresight, like He didn’t know. “Oh, look what man has done now! I snapped My fingers and I didn’t know that was going to happen.”

As if He didn’t know man was going to make the decision to not love Him, as if He didn’t know man would choose to abuse each other and be violent. Of course, He knew! He knows the end from the beginning. So why would Scripture speak of Him being sorry He made man on the earth? Interesting word study here.

The word “sorry” in the Hebrew here is from the Hebrew word “nacham,” and it is in the Niphal form. There are different Hebrew verb forms and different verb forms can have different meanings. We have the Piel. And they are usually related. They are close to each other– Hithpael, Piel and Niphal.

This has to do with “to be sorry,” “be moved to pity,” “to have compassion,” “to be sorry, rue, suffer grief,” and “repent.”

Lexicon: 05162 nacham {naw-kham’} Meaning: 1) to be sorry, console oneself, repent, regret, comfort, be comforted 1a) (Niphal) 1a1) to be sorry, be moved to pity, have compassion, 1a2) to be sorry, rue, suffer grief, repent 1a3) to comfort oneself, be comforted 1a4) to comfort oneself, ease oneself 1b) (Piel) to comfort, console…

1c) (Pual) to be comforted, be consoled 1d) (Hithpael) 1d1) to be sorry, have compassion 1d2) to rue, repent of 1d3) to comfort oneself, be comforted 1d4) to ease oneself.

Now Yahweh’s repentance is not a repentance in the sense that “I have sinned and did wrong and I need to change.” His repentance has to do with He is willing to change when man is willing to change. And then look at this. It also has to do with “comforting oneself” and “being comforted,” “to comfort oneself,” “to ease oneself.”

Now it is the context that determines what the meanings of words typically are. But we see here being moved to a point of being comforted, and yet, also compassion, also being moved to pity. What in the world is going on here? What was Yahweh experiencing as a result of seeing these things?

The Hebrew word in its most basic form has to do with taking a deep breath. Sometimes we take a deep breath because we are grieved about something. Other times it is a sigh of relief. Well, I see, actually, both of these things regarding Yahweh’s creation of Adam.

Yahweh did not lack foresight, but in order that He might see love being accomplished, there had to be some ugly things for Him to behold, things He never wants to see, things that are necessary, though, in order for love to be accomplished.

What do I mean by that? When Yahweh created man, He had to give man a free choice. The computer screen you are looking at is serving you right now. It is blessing you with an image, and a man there, he is showing you scriptures, right? Okay… can that computer love you? Can the screen love you? It is doing something for you. It is blessing you.

Can the screen love you? No, it is just programmed to do something. It is programmed, with wires and circuits, and different things, to do what it is doing. It is incapable of loving you because it is incapable of having a choice whether it does what it does or not.

And Yahweh was not creating robots when He put man in the garden of Eden. He was creating a creature that was capable of loving. And a creature is not capable of loving unless that creature has a choice to do otherwise.

Love, by definition, implies a choice to love. A robot can’t love you because it doesn’t have a choice to love you. If you went to your son or your daughter and you grabbed them by the head and you moved their mouth and said, “I love you, Daddy. I love you, Mommy,” that wouldn’t mean anything to you, really.

They mouthed the words, but they had no choice– right?– but to love you. And the same is true about us. If Yahweh created us and we were puppets on a string and we had to love Him whether we wanted to or not, that’s not really even love. It is just He created a machine.

And so, in order for our love to be true and genuine love, it has to be out of a free choice of whether we want to love or not love.

Now if your son or your daughter of their own volition, of their own will, just come up to you and wrap their arms around you, and just say, “I love you, Mommy, so much. I love you, Daddy, so much,” that’s when you know that child loves you. That’s what I’m talking about.

Yahweh wants His creation to love Him out of free will, out of free choice. And in order for our love to really be genuine love, He can’t control and stop men from failing to love. He has to give us free choice of whether we want to love or not love.

And so, when He looked upon the earth, in Genesis 6, and He saw that the wickedness of man was great, and every intent of the thoughts of his heart was evil continually, He was sorry, He was grieved, yet He was compassionate, and yet He was comforted that He had made man on the earth.

Why? He was also hurt in His heart. Of course, He was hurt in His heart. We know why, because the wickedness of man. Man chose not to love one another, chose not to love Him. He knew it would happen, but He was comforted in some way, and He was compassionate and He had pity. He said:

Genesis 6:7 – So YAHWEH said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.

That is the reason why He had pity, compassion, and sorrow and grief, and all these things that a lot of times we feel as well. But look…

Genesis 6:8 – But Noah found grace in the eyes of YAHWEH.

If we examine this passage closely, we are actually looking at the gospel. In 1 Peter chapter 3, verse 18:

1Peter 3:18 – For Messiah also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to Elohim, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,

19 – by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison,

20 – who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while [the] ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.

1Peter 3:21 – There is also an antitype which now saves us — baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward Elohim), through the resurrection of Yahushua Messiah,

We are also saved through water by grace like Noah.

1Peter 3:22 – who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of Elohim, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.

And so, we, like Noah, have found grace in the eyes of Yahweh and we are saved through water. When Yahweh created the Adam man, He was grieved and hurt over the wickedness, but moved with compassion and pity, yet comforted that He had created Adam. Why?

Because, firstly, He was going to destroy the old man. And that is what the flood is a picture or an antitype or an example of. He is going to destroy the old man, but there will be some who will find grace and will be spared from utter destruction and will live.

Yahweh is going to create a second Adam, Yahushua the Messiah, a Man who out of love for man and love for Yahweh, would bear all of man’s grief, all of man’s sorrow, all of man’s pain, all of man’s sicknesses, all of man’s everything, everything negative. He would bear it for us. And all we have to do is seek grace.

So Yahweh was grieved over the works of the first Adam, but rejoiced over the works of the second Adam, Yahushua the Messiah, the perfect One, the One who did not choose to sin. And Yahweh, through what Yahushua has done for us, is showing He is willing to bear the pains and abuses and suffering that we have been through.

He is willing to show that while we will suffer in this age, we have a compassionate Elohim who is hurt and grieved with us. We have a Savior who knows what we are going through and willfully came down to the earth to suffer along with us and to even bear our suffering and our grief.

He, also, like so many of us, was despised and rejected by men.

Isaiah 53:3 – He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, [our] faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

Do you have a father or a mother who rejected you? He was despised and rejected, too. He knows what it is like to grieve. He carried many sorrows.

Isaiah 53:4 – Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by Elohim, and afflicted.

Do you believe that? He can bear your grief and carry your sorrow. He came to bless us and bear it for us. What are we doing with this Man, Yahushua?

Do you know the word translated “griefs” in the Hebrew has to do with sickness? It is translated “sickness” 12 times and “disease” 7 times. There is an interconnection between the two.

Lexicon: 02483 choliy {khol-ee’} Meaning: 1) sickness Origin: from 02470; TWOT – 655a; n m Usage: AV – sickness 12, disease 7, grief 4, sick 1; 24.

It has more to do with Him bearing our sicknesses, and our sorrows can refer to both physical and mental pain according to the Hebrew. Meaning: 1) “pain” and “sorrow” 1a) “pain” (physical) and 1b) “pain” (mental). “Mak’ob” in the Hebrew.

Lexicon: 04341 mak’ob {mak-obe’} sometimes mak’owb {mak-obe’} also (fem. Is 53:3) mak’obah {mak-o-baw’} Meaning: 1) pain, sorrow 1a) pain (physical) 1b) pain (mental) Origin: from 03510; TWOT – 940b; n m Usage: AV – sorrow 12, pain 2, grief 2; 16.

The book of Matthew connects the Scripture in Isaiah 53 with Yahushua’s healing of the multitude. It says:

Matthew 8:16 – When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick,

17 – that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: He Himself took our infirmities And bore [our] sicknesses.

See, Yahushua bore and carried our grief, our hurt, our rejection, our infirmities, our sicknesses. It means He healed them. He is willing to heal them. He is willing to heal you in the heart and in the flesh. Sometimes the heart has to be healed first.

We see He healed the people en masse in ancient times. Does He still heal today, and if so, by what means does He heal? We saw He was the Healer. We saw He manifested Himself as a great Healer. Does He still heal today? If so, by what means?

Isaiah 53:5 – But He [was] wounded for our transgressions, [He was] bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace [was] upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.

Can we receive that? They accused Yahushua as having been cursed by Elohim. It is true even to this day some among the Jewish people believe He was cursed. It is true He was hanged on a tree and therefore cursed by Elohim, but it wasn’t for His own sins He was cursed.

He bore our chastisement so that we could be at peace with Elohim, so that we could be healed. His stripes result in our healing. Do we believe that?

Isaiah 53:6 – All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And YAHWEH has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

The same Elohim who stood there and watched as maybe you personally were abused, and you wonder where was He at that moment, He also stands there and watches while you have hurt others, while you have hurt Him. Why? Because He is longsuffering.

I am glad He waited on me. I am glad He didn’t cause me to die before I became a believer.

We have seen so clearly there is a clear connection between sin and disease. We see Yahweh laid on Messiah the iniquity of us all, and therefore, it is through Yahushua we can receive the healing.

And once the sin is laid on the Messiah Yahushua, it opens the door for healing to take place. And one of the most important aspects of His ministry was how He healed people. And why did He heal so many? To show He was the One through whom we would receive healing, to show He was the One that Isaiah 53 spoke about.

Do we get the message? Do we understand He cares about us? Do we understand that He is not only capable of healing the body, He is capable of healing the wounded heart?

Do we understand it was impossible that offenses would not come because there was no other way for man to demonstrate true and genuine love unless man had the ability to choose otherwise?

Yahweh does not want to see man choose otherwise. He does not want us to choose to hurt Him and to grieve Him with our own sin. He does not take any pleasure in it at all. And one day He will end it all. And not right now, but He will in the future.

And you say, “Well, Tom, what is He waiting on? Why doesn’t He just end it right now? If He really loves us, why doesn’t He put an end to it right now?”

2Peter 3:9 – YAHWEH 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.

This promise that it is speaking of contextually here is speaking of the promise of His coming. The reason why He hasn’t come yet is because He is longsuffering.

I have a book on my shelf: “100 Reasons Why Messiah Will Return by 1988.” They have a hundred reasons why He was going to come back. In 1988 I wasn’t serving Yahweh. I am really glad that book was a false prophecy because I would have perished in my sins.

It wasn’t until 1989 that I gave my life to Yahushua. I am glad He waited for me and for you. So we don’t need to be bitter that He doesn’t come right now and end it all or that He didn’t come at some other time in history and end it all.

It is because of His love, His compassion, His longsuffering, His mercy. He is waiting for others, also, to come to a point where they see a need for a Savior, to see that Yahweh is love and He loves them.

1John 4:16 – And we have known and believed the love that Elohim has for us. Elohim is love, and he who abides in love abides in Elohim, and Elohim in him.

Do we know and do we believe the love that Elohim has for us? Do we understand that, by definition, Elohim is love? And if we abide in love, we are abiding in Him, and Elohim is abiding in us. It cannot be that Yahweh doesn’t love you. It can’t be that He doesn’t love.

Do we believe and know the love He has for us, that even though we have suffered, we can trust that He still loved us at that moment? He cannot take away man’s free will. Otherwise, man would not be able to love. But He watches and He grieves and He is hurt with us over the wickedness of man.

He is not weak in that He couldn’t stop it. He is not weak. He is just compassionate. And if it wasn’t for that attribute of compassion, we would have died a long time ago. He would have killed us in our sleep last night.

Yahweh does not promise us that we will not suffer in this age. What He does promise is that He will be with us through it all. And He will help us to bear it.

Just as He couldn’t promise Yahushua that He wouldn’t suffer, but He did promise there would be a purpose in it, a plan in spite of it. And that in spite of men’s attempts and the enemy’s attempts to thwart Yahweh’s plans, Yahweh will cause that suffering to turn around in some way so it hits the enemy right back in the gut.

Look what happened to Paul. He caused men to suffer, persecuted them, hurt them, abused men, sitting right there and watching Stephen get stoned to death. But because Stephen did not become bitter, but Stephen said, “Do not charge them with this sin,” what happened to Paul? He became a great man of Elohim.

Do we believe that Yahweh is grieved, too, and He also experiences the hurt along with you? But He knows, even though that is the case, it is a necessary step for man to demonstrate love.

And so, I want to say again, I know some of you listening to this broadcast, maybe you doubt the love of Elohim, but He is love. That is His character. That is who He is. And you can know and you can believe the love He has for you and for me and for all of us.

His compassion and His mercy and His longsuffering and all these things are just manifestations of that love. But the enemy wants to lie to you, and say, “Because you are just not loved, therefore, He allowed that to happen to you.”

The enemy wants to lie to you, and say, “Oh, because He doesn’t really love, therefore, that happened to you.” But Scripture says He can’t be anything other than loving because that is what He is.

And, as I said, my heart goes out to you. Some of you are still carrying the wounds that come from sexual abuse, from physical abuse, from verbal abuse. If you allow yourself to think about it, the tears just start flowing down. You were caused to feel so dirty inside and the heart was damaged.

But I have a message for you. Even as that pain resurfaces and you have difficulty loving yourself, He does love you and always did.

Some of you are weeping even as I speak. You don’t need to feel guilt and shame and hate yourself because of what happened, because Yahweh was loving you through it all, and He was hurting right alongside of you through it all. And I have good news for you.

Yahushua came and He has some good news for you. He came to heal you. He came to heal the broken hearts. He came to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.

He wants to give you the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, so that you can be a tree of righteousness that Yahweh Himself has planted, who will be a wonderful, wonderful glory for His name.

Isaiah 61:1 – The Spirit of the Master YAHWEH [is] upon Me, Because YAHWEH has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to [those who are] bound;

2 – To proclaim the acceptable year of YAHWEH, And the day of vengeance of our Elohim; To comfort all who mourn,

3 – To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of YAHWEH, that He may be glorified.

Do we believe His word or do we believe the words of His adversary? That is the difference between one who believes and has faith in Yahushua and one who is really lacking in that area.

I want to say a prayer with you because I want to pray that Yahweh will heal you in Yahushua’s name.

Dear Father Yahweh, Thank You for Your love toward us. Thank You for Yahushua whom You have sent. Thank You for all that You have done in our lives.

We know, Father, that You love us, that You have not forsaken us, that You do care for us, and that You do grieve with us when others come along and hurt us. And Father, Thank You for being an Elohim of love. We are going to right now choose to believe and know that love that You have for us.

And we want to abide in that love, Father Yahweh. We want You to abide in us. We want to abide in You. And Father Yahweh, we know that You were there when the people who hurt us did the things that they did or the person who hurt us did the things that they did. And we know that You saw it, Father.

And Father Yahweh, we come to You, and we believe that You were hurt right along with us and that in some ways we were actually protected from something even worse and that You preserved us all of our life, and that because You loved us, You sent Yahushua the Messiah, even if it was only us who had sinned, because You are love and that is who You are.

Yahushua would have died for each one of us personally, even if we were the only ones who sinned, because that is who You are. That is Your nature to love. And we know and believe Your Word that Yahushua came that we might be saved, that You did love us.

And it is for that reason Yahushua bore our pain and our sicknesses and our diseases and our hurts and our wounds. And Father, we come to You seeking that healing that is promised. We know You have loved us all the way and that You preserved us to this moment that we might be Your children.

And You looked upon us with mercy and compassion and opened up our eyes to know You and to know Your Son whom You have sent.

And Father Yahweh, I pray that the oil of joy will be poured out on those who mourn, that the garment of praise would be granted to those who bear the spirits of heaviness and that beauty would be placed on the heads of those who mourn in dust and ashes…

And that You would heal the broken heart for Your name’s sake and that liberty would be granted to the captives, and the opening of prison to those who have been bound by bitterness toward You. Thank You, Father, for Your love toward us. Thank You, Father Yahweh, for Your longsuffering.

Thank You for showing us that You really care about us and the pain that we suffer to the extent that You are willing to bear them Yourself through Yahushua whom You have sent. We love You. We love who You are. We love all the things that You are about. We love Your plan of salvation and we embrace Your healing.

Through and by Your Son, Yahushua Ha Mashiach, we pray these things. For truly Yours is the Kingdom and power and glory and majesty, and all praise, honor and worship belongs to You, Yahweh Elohenu, Yahweh our Mighty One, forever and ever. In Yahushua’s name. Amein.

Brothers and sisters, I have much more to share. I get a sense that someone has gotten healing today. Maybe it is a full healing or maybe it is a partial healing, but I have more to share. If you have not gotten the full healing, I have more to share and I look forward to sharing that in the future segments.

And until then, my brothers and sisters, may Yahweh bless you, and may Yahweh have mercy on us all, and may Yahweh cause us to rise up from the dust of despair to fly like an eagle. In Yahushua’s name.