With God, there is no shortage of ways He communicates the message of redemption found in His Son Jesus (Heb. 1:1-2). Besides the Word of God, besides supernatural manifestations of His Presence, besides angelic appearances, besides pictures in nature, God uses other methods. The Hebrew alphabet was one such method He used to declare the hope for mankind. Way back before Jesus ever came to earth, God foretold of His coming in the living pictures of the Hebrew alphabet. In the first of this series we will look at some elements of the Hebrew alphabet along with the first letter Aleph ¹.

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Jesus Is Everything

Colossians 1:17 (KJV)
17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

• Jesus identified Himself with the Greek alphabet in Rev. 1:8.

Revelation 1:8 (KJV)
8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

• Alpha means beginning.
• Omega means ending.
• If He is at the beginning of the alphabet and at the end, it stands to reason that He is all in between.
• That’s a great comfort for your life.
• He is at the beginning of your life and at the end and all in between.
• He is at the ‘A’ of your life and the ‘Z’ of your life.
• He will never leave you, forsake you nor cast you out.

Isaiah 41:4,10 (KJV)
4 Who hath wrought and done it, Calling the generations from the beginning? I the Lord, the first, And with the last; I am he. 10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: Be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

• No matter what you are going through HE IS THERE with you.

The Hebrew Alphabet

• Just as Jesus is the beginning and end of the Greek alphabet, the same is true concerning the Hebrew alphabet.
• The first Hebrew letter Aleph: means sacrificial animal.
• The last Hebrew letter Tav: means the cross.
• Can you see Jesus in those letters?
• The Hebrew language is the original language of planet earth.
• The earliest human names were Hebrew.
• The earliest human inventions were named with Hebrew words which are still in use today.
• The earliest tribal groups and geographical regions are all in Hebrew as seen in Gen. 1-11.
• Zephaniah 3:9 sheds light on the subject of language.

Zephaniah 3:9 (KJV)
9 For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent.

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• The Living Bible states the same verse as.

Zephaniah 3:9 (TLB)
9 “At that time I will change the speech of my returning people to pure Hebrew so that all can worship the Lord together.

• Early writing came in the form of pictures, symbols and hieroglyphics.
• You’ve seen these on ancient cave walls.
• We could say that early writing was PICTURE WORDS. That is pictures used to communicate words.
• Hebrew writing is the opposite, WORD PICTURES. That is words that communicate pictures.
• In fact, as we will see, even the letters themselves have pictures attached to them.
• Out of 6043 regular Hebrew words, 3491 of them are 3 letter words (60 percent).
• Hebrew is a triad language. A picture of the Trinity.
• You’ll find out as we do this study that the Lord was extremely definitive when it came to this language.

The Hebrew Alphabet and Psalm 119

• The Hebrew Alphabet is part of the original King James text.
• The translators of the King James bracketed Psalm 119, dividing it into divisions based on the Hebrew alphabet.
• Each division of the psalm starts, in order, with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
• There are twenty-two divisions as there are twenty-two letters in the Hebrew alphabet.
• Each group for each letter is eight verses long.
• Every verse starts with that particular letter.
• For example in the first group Ps. 119:1-8, each of the eight verses starts with the letter ALEPH.
• The next eight verses start with the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet BETH etc. etc.
• It seems obvious that by inspiring David to write the 119th Psalm in such a way, that the Lord wanted to give us yet more insight into His being and plan.

The First Letter of the Hebrew Alphabet: ALEPH

• The first letter of the Hebrew alphabet is ALEPH which means oxen or sacrificial animal.
• The Greek equivalent to ALPEH is alpha.
• The Hebrew ALEPH is equivalent to ‘t’ not ‘a’ in the English alphabet.
• ALPEPH is pronounced AW-LEF and is found in Ps. 144:14.

Psalm 144:14 (KJV)
14 That our OXEN may be strong to labour; that there be no breaking in, nor going out; that there be no complaining in our street 15 Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD.

• The word “oxen” in Ps. 144:14 is the word Aleph.
• Oxen were used for many reasons.
• They were used for service in the agricultural society of the Israelite’s.
• They were used for sacrifice unto the Lord in the Israelite system of blood covenanting and sacrifice.
• Leviticus records oxen or bullocks were acceptable sin offerings.

Leviticus 4:4 (KJV)
4 And he shall bring the bullock unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord; and shall lay his hand upon the bullock’s head, and kill the bullock before the Lord.

• Oxen are noted for strength.
• Have you heard the phrase “Strong as an ox”?
• Service, strength and sacrifice is the word picture attached to the Hebrew letter Aleph.
• Remember the story in 2 Samuel where the Ark of the Covenant was sent back to the Israelites on a new cart pulled by oxen (2 Sam. 6:3)?

2 Samuel 6:3 (KJV)
³ And they set the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah: and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drave the new cart.

• When the ark finally came to rest in Jerusalem, the oxen who pulled the ark were sacrificed.
• After the oxen were used for their strength and service to deliver the ark, they were sacrificed unto the Lord.
• Again, you can see these three pictures, strength, service and sacrifice.

Jesus in the Hebrew Letter Aleph

• Can you see Jesus in the word pictures seen in Aleph?
• Let’s look at the ‘service’ facet.
• Was Jesus a picture of service for us?

John 4:30-34 (KJV)
30 Then they went out of the city, and came unto him. 31 In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. 32 But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. 33 Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat? 34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.

• What about the ‘strength’ aspect?
• Wasn’t Jesus a picture of strength for us? Certainly He was.
• Think about the Crucifixion for a moment. One of the greatest displays of strength you’ll ever see was Jesus on the cross.
• While He was on the cross, the Bible records these words.

Mark 15:37 (KJV)
37 And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.

• Jesus shouted with a loud voice on the cross after having been beaten, scourged, without food or sleep during the time of His trial before the Romans.
• But yet, he still had enough strength to cry out with a loud voice.
• This feat took severe inner strength.
• Jesus was a man’s man. A perfect specimen of health, vigor and vitality.
• There are other strength pictures.
• Doesn’t the Word tell us that Jesus has ascended to the right hand of the Father and that He is our strength?

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Philippians 4:13 (KJV)
13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

• Finally, look at the sacrifice dimension.
• Wasn’t Jesus a picture of sacrifice for us?
• The very first letter of the Hebrew alphabet draws attention to this.

Hebrews 9:22 (KJV)
22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.

• Blood had to be shed in order to eliminate the sin issue between God and man.
• Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us.

1 Corinthians 5:7 (KJV)
7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

The Letter ‘Aleph’ in Psalm 119:1-8

Psalm 119:1 (KJV)
1 Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.
2 Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.
3 They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways.
4 Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently.
5 O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes!
6 Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments.
7 I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments.
8 I will keep thy statutes: O forsake me not utterly.

• Aleph is in the word ‘Blessed’ found in verses 1-2.
• The word blessed is a three letter ‘triad’ word.
• Aleph is the last letter of the word ‘blessed’.
• Blessed is defined as ‘happy’.
• Which implies, there is no ‘blessing’ or ‘happiness’ in life apart from accepting and walking in God’s sacrifice of His Son.
• You are wasting your time trying to find happiness outside of the blood covenant. It simply doesn’t exist.

Call to Action:

Have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior? If you haven’t, now is the right time to receive Him into your heart and life. Jesus was and is the only sacrifice for your sins. He is the only way to heaven. Pray this prayer with me.

Father God, I come to you now in the Name of Jesus your Son. I do believe He died for my sins. I receive Him right into my heart. Thank you for saving me. I now declare Jesus as my Lord.

Episode Resources

You can find more information on Jesus by visiting the following page:

1. Encountering Jesus In Your Everyday Life here.

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Question: What other predictive pictures of Jesus have you found in the Old Testament which helped you know Him better? Please share your comments in the comments section below.

References

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